Hiddenstar's Lament

Chapter Four

"She's gone." Cypressclaw repeated in a quivering voice, as if he couldn't believe it himself. "We did everything we could, Specklelight. She walks with Starclan now." Stormheart gently said to Hiddenkit's sobbing mother. Specklelight let out a broken wail, and thrusted her muzzle into the nest, licking and nuzzling her stiff, cold kit. Hiddenkit was too young to really understand death. "What do you mean... she's gone? She'll come back, right?" He asked, his eyes starting to tear up. Stormheart and Cypressclaw exchanged a glance as Specklelight continued to wail over her daughter's mangled corpse. They didn't answer. Specklelight whipped her head around to look at Hiddenkit. "She- she isn't coming back..." she simply sobbed, leaning down and beginning to violently shake. No! That wasn't true. "Don't cry, mother..." Hiddenkit sniffled, bounding over to wake his sister up. He gently nosed her lifeless shoulder. "Wake up, Orchidkit!" He meowed softly. "Come on... this isn't funny..." he added with a whimper. Orchidkit didn't lift her head to playfully bat at Hiddenkit like she used to. She remained there, her eyes looking up at the ceiling inanimately. Her body remained cold. Not a single muscle moved. Not a single whisker twitched. She truly was gone.

A cold, heart-wrenching feeling of realization hit Hiddenkit. He felt as if the walls of the den were about to cave in on him as he began to back away, hot tears beginning to rapidly stream down his face. He heard the voices of Stormheart and his parents speaking to him, but they were muffled. Hiddenkit forced himself to his paws, and backed away, his eyes brimming with tears. Without another thought, he was gone, racing out of the healer's den, his pulse thumping heavily in his throat. This wasn't happening. This wasn't real. Orchidkit wasn't dead! She was just... sleeping. His sister was still alive- she was. She had to be! He shoved his way through multiple other cats, one of them being a very surprised Batfang. Several cats yowled at him to stop, but Hiddenkit was so shaken up that he wasn't able to hear them. The bengal kitten dodged the long legs of a few guards, until he finally stumbled out of the camp, his heart pounding in his throat as tears flooded his cheeks. Stormheart... Stormheart had been lying! Orchidkit was okay... he just had to find a cure... the tiny cat found himself tumbling through the snow, most of it climbing up his legs as he tried to get as far away from reality as possible. He was young and naive. He didn't understand how dangerous the forest was, especially during wintertime. After a few minutes of allowing himself to sob as he ran, he finally stopped at a weird, oddly shaped cement road. It smelled oily and strange, but he didn't care. He didn't want to be around anyone. He didn't want to be an apprentice. He had promised Orchidkit that they'd get to be apprentices together! He just had to find a working, functional herb so she'd wake up again... he knew that his sister, Fallenkit was still back at camp, but he knew that she had Cypressclaw and Specklelight... Choking out tears, the young cat placed a quivering paw softly on the road. He didn't feel anything. He knew that lots of cats had talked about monsters that were on paths like this. He didn't see a big scary monster though. So it had to be safe to cross, right? He had no idea of the danger that he was truly in. The aroma of another cat crossed his senses, but he ignored it, and blindly began to pad quietly against the path, until a roaring noise filled his ears. Frozen in terror, his pupils reverted to slits as a massive, rancid machine roared up the pavement loudly, heading right towards him. The metallic monster had big, round black paws, which made loud noises when it moved. It was already upon Hiddenkit, until he let out a horrified, shattering shriek. The noise became louder, until his vision was soon overcome by a burst of blinding light.