Alive

Chapter 2

Published on June 21, 2016.

"Paranoia is just a heightened sense of awareness."

    -John Lennon

"Deerclaw is dead."

    Buzzardfang eyed Hawkstripe with a mixture of pity and irritation. "You can't keep the good things in your life and take out the bad things. She's dead, Hawkstripe."

    "N-no! She's alive! Stop - stop it!" snapped Hawkstripe, lashing his tail. "Nobody - not even a fox - would kill her!"

    Buzzardfang sighed. "Cats die all the time. It's part of life."

    "She was supposed to live to be an elder! Not - no! She's alive!" Hawkstripe unsheathed his claws, digging them into the ground.

    "If you can't hunt, then do something productive. Join a border patrol. Help Robinberry and Duskpaw gather herbs. I don't know, something."

    Hawkstripe decided on the latter, and stalked off, his fur bristling.

    Buzzardfang is just a mousebrain. Of course Deerclaw's alive.

    She must.

    Soon enough, the striped tom arrived at the medicine cats' den. Robinberry was busily sorting herbs, while her apprentice, Duskpaw, was nowhere to be seen.

    "Um, Robinberry? Can I help you gather herbs?"

    The orange-and-white she-cat turned towards Hawkstripe and nodded. "Yes, Duskpaw's doing that right now. There should be plenty of borage near those big, cracked stones. Try to see if you can find any chervil, we're running low on that."

"Okay, thanks." replied Hawkstripe. He turned, and began to walk over to the rocks.   

    "Wait!" called Robinberry.

    Hawkstripe faced her, tilting his head.

    "Hawkstripe - Duskpaw has been acting a bit...odd."

    "Odd?"

    "Ever since yesterday afternoon, he's been absolutely terrified of everyone and everything. I believe it's something related to Deerclaw -"

    "She didn't die." Hawkstripe interrupted.

    Robinberry flicked her ears. "I never said she did. She was his half sister, you know, and I think it's been hitting him hard."

    "Deerclaw's coming back." Hawkstripe informed the medicine cat.

    "Yes," replied Robinberry, her ears flicking again. "Of course."

***

    "Duskpaw?"

    A scream pierced through the forest as Duskpaw whirled away from the blue and purple flowers he was gathering.

    "Oh, thank StarClan it's just you," the brown apprentice sighed with relief, but he was still tense and his fur was fluffed up.

    "What do you mean?" Hawkstripe asked.

    "N-nothing. Forget I said anything. Why are you here, anyway?"

    "I'm helping you collect borage and chervil."

    "Oh, thank you. The blue and purple flowers that look stars - those are borage, for creating more milk for queens and for bringing down fevers. Chervil has green stalks, and big leaves with little white flowers. It smells nice and sweet. We use it for infected wounds and bellyaches."

    Duskpaw had calmed down considerably after the herbs lesson. His fur had returned to normal, along with his general stance.

Hawkstripe began to dig a hole in the ground, to store the herbs, similar to how he had done with prey in hunting.

    Just as Hawkstripe began to think about hunting, he saw Cherrytooth walk through the trees, her eyes glimmering with surprise.

    "Hawkstripe? What are you doing here?"

    "Helping Duskpaw," Hawkstripe replied, glimpsing at Duskpaw. Strangely enough, Duskpaw was frozen. His fur was fluffed up again, and his hackles were raised. Duskpaw's golden eyes were the size of moons.

    Cherrytooth looked at Duskpaw, and unsheathed her claws, but in a moment they were sheathed. She gave Duskpaw a sweet smile. "Why are you helping Duskpaw?"

    "Cherrytooth!" called Graychaser.

    Cherrytooth sped away, and Hawkstripe turned to Duskpaw. "Why are you so afraid of Cherrytooth? She's Deerclaw's sister, so she's your half sister, isn't she?"

    "Yes, I know." Duskpaw said, barely relaxing from his stiff position. His voice was strained and high.

    "Is it because you think Deerclaw's dead, and you miss her? She's not, Duskpaw. Don't worry, StarClan would never kill a she-cat so beautiful and strong."   

    "I don't think so, Hawkstripe." Duskpaw responded. "Not even StarClan can control everything."