Elemental Claws: Cliff's Perspective

No Excuses

I didn't mean to be gone for so long. I didn't mean for 4 years to pass so quickly. Time is such a slippery thing. It never cooperates how you want it to; unless you are a time elemental, I guess. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, time had flown. 

I had gone from one goal to another. Finding a former tribe member was not enough closure, it turns out. I craved more. I needed more. So I went out and found it.

It was relatively quiet when I entered camp again. My heart sagged as I couldn't see my friends. My eyes fell on Velocity. She had grown... and her eyes were orange. 

"Cliff?" she spoke, surprised by my sudden reappearance. 

"Hello.." I answered quietly. 

I wasn't in the mood to talk with her, so my answers were dry. Apparently I should have kept talking to distract her, because before I knew it, I was pulling her off another cat. She had become a fighter, always looking for the blood. I dragged her to the shaman den roughly. 

"I'm always taking care of things around here," I muttered angrily. 

"I was fine before you stepped in," Velocity grumbled back. 

I cleaned her scratches and bandaged the cuts. We hardly spoke, only if necessary. All I wanted to do was see the people I missed. I had just left Ice, Nathan, and Juniper. Would they forgive me? I needed to know. 

"Don't start anything else, because I'm not going to help you," I told Velocity as I stood to leave and sleep.

"Wow. Goodnight to you too," she responded snarkily. 

I padded down to my old nook. I curled up and smiled to myself. Just as uncomfortable as before, yet somehow I liked that. To me, it was comfortable. I drifted off to sleep, not ready for my first nightmare in a few years. 

I woke up in a cold sweat, my claws unsheathed. I quickly sheathed them again and stood. After a good stretch, my ears perked up. I had missed the sound of his voice. I bounded up the ridge to see Nathan, Juniper, and a few others sitting around. A couple cats noticed me, and Nathan turned to see what they were looking at. 

"Cliff!" he shouted, jumping off his rock and hugging me. 

"I missed you," I managed to say. I wanted to somehow take back my years of disappearance.

I hugged Juniper too. He didn't seem as enthusiastic as Nathan, but he seemed pleased to see me again. I didn't realize this would be the last time he looked at me this way. If I had known, I never would have left.