Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 56: Dark Days

Chapter 56: Dark Days

Scorch sat, her tail wrapped over her paws and her eyes staring down at the motionless body patched with white and ginger fur. "How did she die?" Scorch asked, her voice hoarse and her eyes fixated on the closed eyelids, half waiting for them to blink open. This couldn't be happening, not really, right?

"She had an odd illness. It was genetic and triggered for one reason or another. It had been killing her for a couple moons," Time mewed, his voice wasn't sad, but it was quiet out of respect for her feelings.

"Did she know?" Scorch could recall Sonya's cheerfulness, her promise to always be by her side, to follow her everywhere.

"Yes, she was well aware of it." That was what hurt the most, not that Sonya was gone, but that she had promised not to leave, knowing that she could not keep her promise. Did she think she was protecting me, by lying?

Regret- bitter and cold- washed up in her mouth. Had she known Sonya was going to die, she would have done things differently. She would have spent more time getting to know her friend, rather than always burdening Sonya with her problems. She was always so happy to help me, but I never really thought about helping her.

"So, what now?" Scorch asked. Was there something wrong with her? Grief clamped her throat so tightly she could barely breathe. Yet her vision remained clear; there were no tears for her friend.

"You should bury her. I would help, but I can't touch real things," Time mewed.

"You don't seem very sad," Scorch mewed, almost accusingly.

Time sighed, "It is always sad when a cat dies- especially a young cat- but I've lived for generations, I've seen cats come and go like water passing along in a stream. There will be more, and she will be forgotten."

"I won't forget!" Scorch mewed fiercely. "And neither will the earth. Her memory will always be here for future kits of the moon."

Time shook his head, "What has been lost can never again be regained. You talk as if she will live on in the earth or in your memories. But those will only be memories, she won't ever live again."

Scorch trembled, was he trying to make her feel worse? She knew that life couldn't be taken back when it was lost. But was Time right? Even her memories would fade, becoming hazy as they had with her parents. Was she struggling in vain to hold onto the lives of all her departed friends?

No, I hold them close because they are a part of me. In the face of death, though, did that mean she lost a bit of herself every time they died? And now so many of her friends were dead or gone, was she even herself anymore? "Come on, staring isn't going to change anything," Time mewed.

Scorch nodded, standing up, she'd been told that a few times too many to resist it. Sonya had died in her den, which was a honeysuckle bush growing next to a thorn thicket. When Time had led her to her friend, Sonya had been curled up in a moss nest- as peaceful and calm as if she were just sleeping.

"Did it hurt her?" Scorch asked, starting to dig in the earth.

"I never asked. I know she felt it, but I couldn't tell you how much," Time mewed.

Scorch worked for a time in silence. As she dug deeper and deeper the sky turned from pale blue to rosy pink to yellow as the sun rose over the horizon. The sky was free of clouds and a soft breeze carried along the morning scents of dew grass and blooming flowers. "Why didn't you tell me?!" Scorch burst out, whirling on Time. "Why didn't you tell me Sonya was dying? I know about herbs, I could have found something to help her!"