Shadow Claw: The Life Story - The Fourth Chapter

Ch. 15 - Face Me

The night was long and excruciatingly agonizing, from what I recall, but the main thing I remember is my father staying by my side the whole time, telling me it was going to be alright.

Jenny and James screamed and hollered from outside the Hospital Wing door, as they were not allowed to see me.

I was forced to shift back too, and magic didn't do anything to me, so it was all remedies and old-fashioned waiting-it-out. My screaming stopped in the early hours of the morning, and then I was allowed back to my human form, where I slept with my father close by.

*

"Shadow... please... wake up." It was Jenny's voice, and it brung me out of my slumber. I groaned and let out a gentle whimper of pain as she touched my arm. My eyes flittered in and out of vision, before I adjusted to the light and gazed at my two friends with a deep set frown. "Jenny... Ja-James..." My hand slumped to Jenny's shoulder and she looked as if she was biting back tears. She held my hand with caution and care, before I spoke to James. "Hey James." He was sitting on the end of my bed, his tongue hanging out of mouth and his paws pawing the covers. I smiled softly and he whined at me, snuffling up to my side and giving my face a good couple of licks.

I stroked his head weakly, "What happened?" Jenny asked nervously, "What happened to you, Shadow? They wouldn't let us in, and your dad came and left a few times when you went silent... Nova went back to your clan a few hours ago..." There were tears dripping from her eyes and I frowned. Maybe my memory wasn't that great... I shook my head, "He... he was beside me the w-whole time..." I uttered, throwing a sideways glance at my silent father.

Except he wasn't there.

There was a furious roar from somewhere in the forest and I recognised it as Shade's pained cry. I immediately made a connection. Pierce had smelt Shade all over my wounds - he'd gone after him to confront him. I wasn't sure if I was scared or content with that thought. I began to panic, "N-no, he- he did this a-and dad-" I spluttered for words, and Jenny held my hands a little more firmly.

"Who did this to you, Shadow?!" She was crying at that point.

I was crying too, but I didn't know it.

I shook my head in denial, but I said his name, and it hurt.

"Shade."

*

Later that day, Madame Pomfrey reluctantly discharged me from the Hospital Wing, and gave me strict orders to not do anything too strenuous. It was the weekend, and I had done all my homework the day I had got it, so even though it piled by the day, I had nothing to do anyway. I let Jenny and James guide me around, and slowly but surely, I got more used to hobbling around on my weakened legs.

I gave shifting a good go, and even though it was incredibly painful, I managed it. Nova returned, but she didn't talk to me, nor did she do anything in particular, except lay under a tree with Hawthorne who kept shooting me anxious glances.

James gawked at my wings, and I felt Jenny graze her hands over them. "Shadow..." She whispered, but I shook my head and stayed silent, ignoring the massive scars and disfigured, ripped membrane on them. They were the worst for pain, and it was all I could do not to find my father and make him take me away from the world. I lay on the grassy hill, my paws crossed and my head slanted across them, James stroking my head slowly as he scribbled on his messy notepad, while Jenny and Draco sat a small distance away, their voices hushed so I could not hear.

When I looked down my muzzle, there were four diagonal scars stretched across it, and by the feel of things and a notification from James, I knew there was a scar across my right eye. My fur was torn is a few places, and my neck was bruised quite harshly; my back legs were still weak, but the scars only made me stronger as I healed inside - my mind was only just leaping the hurdles of giving up on Shade.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

There he sat. At the precipice of the forest, his face somehow different. His left eye was swollen slightly, and I noticed how he had bags under them both, and his shoulders were slumped. I didn't stand, but instead hissed at everybody to shut the fuck up, and I raised my head, my ears pointed forwards.

Pierce, my father, padded out beside Shade, and Shade flinched as he passed. He had obviously been compromised by my dad. Pierce was shortly followed by Svana, my mother, who snapped at my ex-mate viciously, causing him to lower his head and half-hide in the bushes and trees. Svana bounded quickly up to me, and she checked me over with hurt eyes. "Oh, my poor Shadow." She licked my ears and I whined up at my dad who touched my nose with his, gliding it along my cheek in a worried greeting.

"I'm alright. Really. I'm okay." I said to them softly, and they lay beside me, glaring daggers at Shade who was shadowed by the bushes, and seemingly creeping closer.

"Shadow..." He uttered as he neared, but I shifted back very slowly, as did he. I hobbled up to him, despite warnings from my father. I kissed Shade every so gently upon the lips and his eyes lit up, but then turned to horror once I stated my last words to him:

"Savour that kiss, because it's your last."

And then I punched him right in his stupid face.