Warrior Cats: Cleardawn's Secret [Book TWO]

Chapter 3

It was late, close to moon-high. My jaws were aching from the weight I was holding and I felt the tiredness creeping up my eyelids.

The little light left stretched its bright arms across the sky in a soothing hug, bringing clouds closer to its presence which resulted in a slight fog that hovered patiently over the surface of the moon.

The trees danced while the wind whisked around its dark colored leaves, a shower of them pouring down to the ground, followed by a few broken twigs and branches.

My jaws stretched wide in a relieving yawn as I made my way over to a cozy, warm spot near the edge of camp.

A few cats were scattered around, but the majority of them were sleeping peacefully in their dens.

I, however, was receiving unending, restless sleep because my dreams were filled with dark images, so I usually came outside to catch a cool breeze to blow through my stiff fur in order to calm me down.

The dream I had just a few sunrises ago about Snowkit and Snowfall still had me shaken. It was as if it were really happening, like I was watching over the future. It was such a frightening feeling. What if that bright figure really was me?

I could feel the cold shivers running down my spine and my paws slowly becoming numb as I thought about it. I sent a silent, quick prayer to StarClan that it wasn't me who abandoned my family to a devastating storm and left them to die and fend for themselves.

I could feel my shoulders becoming stiff in fear and when I came back to reality, I shook my pelt out and curled my paws underneath my chest and just observed... Something I haven't done in many moons.

The camp was almost complete again. It wasn't the same feel or look as it was before that horrible storm happened, but it still felt safe and warm.

The last remaining cats soon made their way to the den and the ones closest to me gave me a curt nod to say goodnight, which I politely mimicked back.

I could feel my skin buzzing from the cool air, and I started to shiver. I ruffled my fur more, making it feel as if a heavy bundle of feathers was lying on top of me.

I could slowly feel the urge to close my eyes, but I managed to keep them open just in time to spot Flamestar climbing outside his den in dead silence.

I blinked my eyes to get a clearer view. He was looking frantically around camp as in attempt to escape, and it had me suspicious. What was he up to?

He slowly started to stalk towards the camp entrance and past the snoozing guard who watched over at night. I was surprised by this. Usually he would wake them up and order them to take a quick walk to wake themselves up more, but he didn't even seem to care about that.

I watched with narrowed eyes. I was conflicted on whether or not to follow him. I was telling myself he was probably just going for a night walk, to get his mind off things and just release stress, but deep inside I felt it was something much deeper than that, so I decided to break Sparrowdusk's orders (to stay in camp at all times, especially at night) and go after Flamestar.

I stood, first wobbling because of my weight, and then ungracefully bouncing across camp towards the entrance of camp. As I got closer, I soon recognized the face of Applefall. I chuckled in amusement as I stumbled passed him, surprised he didn't awaken when I accidentally stepped on a crinkled leaf.

As I thought about the ginger tom, I started to remember how we used to be kinda close. I deeply wished I could go back to those sunrises where I was innocent, focused and independent. But, sadly, those days were gone. I had to face reality, and so far right now reality didn't like me too much.