Maple's Bloodlust

Chapter 6

  Mapleriver padded back into camp, still stricken with grief, only to see a crowd of cats yowling in fear in the middle of the camp.
  She approached the panicked cats, and yowled at the top of her lungs, "SILENCE!" The cats looked to her in worry. Then in alarm.
"It was you!" A voice rang out through the clearing. "What? I don't even know what's happening!" Mapleriver shoved through the other cats to see the body of Blackheart. Her eyes widened and she looked around frantically. "What happened?!" she asked worriedly.
  When she got no answer, she looked at the corpse and saw none other than the flower she kept behind her ear. She twitched her ear and realized it was missing.
  Panic surged through her paws. "It wasn't me! I was framed!" Her Clanmates looked at her with mistrust.
  "Cats of ThunderClan." Sunstar's voice parted the uncomfortable weight of silence. "As you all know, Blackheart has been murdered, and the only evidence we could find was Mapleriver's flower."
  Please... don't exile me... "It wasn't me, I'm telling you! Please believe me!" Sunstar seemed to ignore her pleas. "Due to Mapleriver missing at the same time as the murder, I have concluded that it was her."
  Mapleriver screamed, "NO! Please! It wasn't me!" Sunstar looked her dead in the eyes. "Mapleriver, please step forward."
  Mapleriver tearfully approached the Highrock. She hung her head low and muttered, "It wasn't me..." "Due to your traitorous act of murder, it has left me no choice." Mapleriver stared with dread. "Please.. don't... It wasn't me."
  "There's no point in defending anymore." Sunstar looked to the bright sky. "By the powers of StarClan, I, Sunstar, leader of ThunderClan, declare Mapleriver exiled."
  Mapleriver yowled out in grief. "NO!" Tears soaked her muzzle and flowed from her eyes. "Goodbye, Mapleriver." Sunstar had a look of grief and regret, along with betrayal in his eyes.
  Mapleriver stared for a long moment, then glared daggers at him. "Fine. You know what? I don't care anymore. Kill me if you want. I loved you." Gasps rang out through the ThunderClan warriors, and Sunstar stared. He moved his jaw to speak.
  "No." Mapleriver cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. I thought you would at least look for more evidence. If you smell the body, you could tell who the real murderer was."
  There was a log moment of silence, and Mapleriver felt something in her snap. She began wheezing with laughter. The cats stepped back and Sunstar stared in confusion and slight fear.
  Her laughter rang through the clearing. She raised her head and looked Sunstar in the eyes. Her wide, insane and tearful eyes bore into his.
  "Is this what you want?!" Her laughter merged with her sentences. "I heard your conversation the other night! I heard you say you love me!"
  Sunstar flattened his ears and looked away. Mapleriver was wracked with another fit of laughter.
  "You want me to be a murderer?!" She felt the last bit of what remained of her sanity slip away. "You got what you wanted!"
  "Look what you've done to me!" She turned to the warriors, who were no longer her Clanmates. "Do you get pleasure from this?! Do you enjoy seeing this?!" Her laughter had died away and she was now glaring, her eyes full of rage and words soaked with venom.
  "You'll see what karma will do to you! I did everything to help you! Despite your cruelty, I still did everything I could to satisfy you!" She suddenly got an emotionless look. "I guess that didn't matter." She grinned a grin that stretched from ear to ear and the cats shuddered. "I'll come visit sometime."
  With that, she stiffly exited the ThunderClan camp, letting out audible giggles every few heartbeats.

"I'll see you all dead."