☆～Wings of Dreams～☆

Chapter 9: An Unwanted Memory

    I shrieked in pain. Acorn had pinned me down by my wings, pummeling my stomach with her hind legs. Cloud, wanting to join in on the fun, pounced on Birch, pinning him down.

    "It didn't have to be this way," Shadow said, right before Thunder barreled into him, the two tussling on the ledge.

    "This is exactly why I said no!" I growled, clenching my teeth in pain and anger. Then Acorn put her paw on my throat, suffocating me.

    "What's going on here?"

    A black and white she-cat was standing in the tunnel, having pushed through the shocked threesome. She was black with splotches of white, and had a gray four pointed star on her forehead, like mine. Her eyes were a pastel sky blue. Both of her ears were folded.

    "Help!" I managed to squeak before Acorn pressed hard enough that I couldn't breathe at all.

    "What are you doing?! You're going to kill her!" screeched the she-cat, who sounded horrified and furious at the same time.

    "Stay out of it, Eclipse. I'd hate to get blood on my claws. I suggest you leave," growled Shadow, his voice sounding farther and farther away every second.

    There was a bit more growling and screeching back and forth, but I couldn't make out the words. The world was starting to grow a bit fuzzy, and everything sounded distant. 

     Suddenly, the weight on my throat vanished, and I could finally breathe. I took in great gasps of air, and my vision cleared almost instantly. I realized that the black and white she-cat, Eclipse, had lunged herself at Acorn, barreling into her and forcing her off of me. Then Tanager and Shadow were shoved away by Swan and Thunder. I got up and immediately tackled Cloud, freeing Birch.

     "Prey-brained rat-pelts," Shadow growled, then slashed at Eclipse and staggered back to the entrance. "Do that again, and your pretty friend here might just disappear."

    Taking our chance, we ran into the Sky Tree, and finally stopped when we got into an empty den. We all paused to catch our breath, the only sound coming from us being our heavy breathing.

    "Well, at least no one got hurt too badly," Eclipse said. When we looked at her, though, we had a new reason to become silent; Her side had a huge gash, cut right across it. It was bleeding pretty badly.

    "What?" she asked, noticing our horrified expressions. Then, she promptly collapsed, her eyes rolling to the back of her head.

    "Oh my... Did she just..." I said in horror, scared I had just caused a cat I didn't even know to die.

    "No, but she might if we don't get help now!" Swan said, then turned to Bean, Ember, and Thunder, instructing them urgently. "Go find Dusk and Moon, and hurry!" They dashed off to find these two cats, and Swan turned to me. "Look, I need to quickly grab some leaves to put pressure on the wound. I'll be right back. Just make sure she doesn't stop breathing," she said, then bounded away to get some leaves.

    The sight of Eclipse unconscious on the floor, bleeding, and most likely on the brink of death, sent me spiraling into a painful memory.

☆⋯～—【=^·.·^=】—～⋯☆

    "Daddy? I'm hungry," I said, walking down the stairs. I was suddenly a six-year-old human girl again, back in my old house. It was the weekend, and my mom was at the grocery store.

    "Daddy?" I said, confused to not seem to find him anywhere. I suddenly pictured grass and what looked like the bushes in the backyard. I walked outside, and saw my dad on the ground, bleeding heavily and breathing raggedly.