Thought I found a way...
It was late at night; one filled with clouds and covering up the light from the moons and stars, leaving the moors an empty wasteland of darkness. Like her heart. The empty, deserted, and shroud-filled grass was a perfect representation of how Coyotegrin felt on this night, only a few moon-rises since Goldenpaw's mangled body came into camp.
She slipped away from Hawkheart, not without pause. A tail-length away she stopped to tilt her head back to watch his sleeping form curled up in the nest, around an empty circle where her restless body was laying a few heartbeats before. Turning her head to the side, Daisybreeze now slept nearby- a replica of herself in what seemed to be every way. Personality and now the walking death that always crept back no matter how hard Coyotegrin tried to stop it. She paused here, taking in the sights of her only remaining family taking their deep slumbering breaths. But instead of cherishing the breaths they took as a symbol to their life, she could only help by wonder how much longer they had to fill their lungs before they too, fell to the curse she seemed to possess.
...Thought I found a way out...
Her heart raced faster with this thought, so she turned her attention back to the entrance of the camp. Slowly weaving herself into the quiet abyss of WindClan territory, the warrior didn't feel free like usual when he paws touched the long grass and hard dirt. Instead of her usual sprinting pace, she lumbered slowly and aimlessly. Part of her hoped she would meet her unfortunate end in a way that could take all blame from her lack of care, and another part knew that this curse, whatever it was, would never take her until every cat she loved had fallen around her. A swelling of emotion threatened to come racing out, so she picked up her pace to create the distance she felt emotionally from the clan physically.
...But you never go away...
Her paws still acted on their own, carrying Coyotegrin far from where she started to the top of a moor swell. They came to a halting stop; racing down would be too much fun, and fun wasn't in their agenda for the night. Instead she sat and paused in the silent night; only the soft swish of the grass to keep her company in the moment. The feeling in her stomach felt like bile, gurgling and threatening to rise despite her struggles to keep it down, which only made the sensation in her stomach and the thickness of her chest grow.
...So I guess I gotta stay now.
Until it all came up, but not as bile. Her head was thrown back and a long, mournful cry pierced through the veil of quiet and gave way to mourning sobs as she threw herself to the ground. The mother stayed like this, wracked with spasms until she was breathless and utterly empty on the inside. Her fur was stuck out in multiple places and dirt clung to her like a tick feasting. She remained on her side, staring straight ahead and silent when a quiet voice came from under the moor.
"Oh, I hope some day I'll make it out of here..." Perking her head up, she became alarmed. As far as she knew, she was the only WindClan cat to have exited the camp this night; she had watched the camp entrance in a sleepless fit for what seemed like eternity. Heart racing; not out of grief but out of fear of invasion, Coyotegrin stood slowly with stiff limbs.
"Even if it takes all night or a hundred years..." The voice called again, luring her down the hill. Slowly and carefully, Coyotegrin slunk down the steep decline- there was no use to trying to find shadows to sneak up in. The whole moor was littered with them.
"Need a place to hide, but I can't find one near..." Despite Coyotegrin being halfway down the slant at this point, she could still see no figure to utter the sounds she was hearing. The voice was pained, yet melodic and sweet. She swore on Starclan, the voice sounded familiar but she couldn't place it. Breaking out into a reckless sprint, the warrior mis-stepped and came crashing down the hill in a roll. Her calico pelt was even more dirtied now, with blades of grass sticking out of her pelt in various places like the quill on a porcupine. After she came to a halt, she raised her head and blinked, looking around. Her breath caught in her mouth as she finally found the figure causing the disembodied voice.
"Wanna feel alive, outside I can't fight my fear." In front of her stood Daisypaw, her sister. Despite the low light of the night, she was glowing as if she was a star herself. Her eyes had no irises, but instead were replaced with a harsh blue glow; the same color swirled around her useful pelt that no longer bore the harsh death she faced. Hesitantly, Coyotegrin stood and blinked, not believing what she was seeing.
"Daisypaw?" She whispered, stretching her nose to touch noses with her long lost sister, only to see the vision suddenly disappear into nothing at the point of contact. Out of frustration, she slammed down onto her haunches and stared at where the apparition of Daisypaw once was.
"Isn't it lovely, all alone?" Another voice sounded from behind her and she sprang back to her feet and spun around in the blink of an eye. Once more, she was shocked.
"Heart made of glass, my mind of stone." Goldenstar now stood before her, with the same glowing eyes and color swirl around her. Frozen to her spot, she dared not move as if not to scare away the form of her mother like she did with Daisypaw.
"Tear me to pieces, skin to bone." A third voice, but this time the mother knew the voice instantly; Goldenpaw. She craned her neck to the side to see the approaching figure of her recently deceased son. Thank StarClan, he was free of the wounds inflicted by the fox. Taking a deep breath, she couldn't help but take a step towards him, though he was a few tail-lengths away. She blinked her pale green eyes.
When she opened them again, all three of them stood side by side.
"Hello, welcome home." They said in unison, before turning and sprinting away. Immediately, she began to chase them, tears brimming her eyes.
"Walkin' out of town, lookin' for a better place..."
No matter how fast Coyotegrin ran, she could never seem to catch up to them. She called out for them with strained breath, begging them to slow down and talk. Just talk to her!
"...Something's on my mind...
The trio seemed to be determined to race her across the span of the entire WindClan territory. Her body straigned with the effort and her paws felt raw and bleeding from the constant friction. It was no use crying out to them, she determined; they would never stop their cruel prank and just
talk to her. She was almost convinced that this was
not her family and some sort of Dark Forest trick meant to completely break her down and cause her to lose any sort of mental light she had left.
"...Always in my head space."
Coyotegrin blinked away drops of rain from her eyes from a sudden rain storm that came out of nowhere. When she opened them up, less than a heartbeat later she realized that Daisypaw was the only remaining figure she was chasing... Goldenstar and Goldenpaw had vanished once more. But, Daisypaw was slowing down and finally Coyotegrin was making ground on her deceased sister.
"But I know some day I'll make it out of here..." Daisypaw repeated her weird mantra. Despite the distance and the rain, her voice rang loud and as clear as a crisp New Leaf day. Coyotegrin kept running, and the distance between them was closing.
"Even if it takes all night or a hundred years..." The breathing warrior was catching up, now only maybe ten tail-lengths away when they topped the crest of another hill before plunging back down into the utter darkness.
"Need a place to hide, but I can't find one near..." It took a couple seconds for Coyotegrin's vision to readjust to the light but when it did, she once more was greeted with Goldenstar, Goldenpaw, and Daisypaw waiting for her. They were clustered around a small hill, gaping black behind them. Her stop came suddenly and her paws skidded on the slick mud, leaving trail marks from her slow down. Chest heaving, Coyotegrin was left unable to do nothing more than gasp for air and stare in confused awe.
"Wanna feel alive, outside I can't fight my fear..." With those words, she trio separated and Daisypaw, who stood in the middle disappeared into the nothingness of a tunnel, quickly swallowed up by the void that clung to a cat's pelt down there. The piercing pain of remembering her being swallowed alive by the very gap flashed through her mind and she lunged forward to stop her with a cry. Goldenstar blocked her, shaking her head as if she was disappointed in her daughter and her actions while facing this unholy trinity of weird phrases and messages.
"Isn't it lovely, all alone?" The very much adult cat winced and backed up as if she had been scolded for not doing her apprentice duties and instead goofed off all day. Goldenstar slowly started backing up into the dark, still shaking her head. Half of her body was engulfed and gone when she paused her shaking.
"Heart made of glass, my mind of stone." Her finally words left her to continue backing up until she too was gone and engulfed. Eyes still wide, she turned her attention to her son, who still stood there with his head held high and proud; his weird glowing eyes seemingly still had that cheeky look to them, despite portraying no actual emotion.
"Tear me to pieces, skin to bone." Instead of leaving her like the other two, Goldenpaw hesitated as if he wanted to say something up. He started to leave, his paw posed for a step, before he shook his head off and went away before she could beg him to do other wise. Gasping in a breath of just... Every emotion... Coyotegrin moved to start entering the tunnel but it felt like her body hit an invisible barrier, her gait stopped mid-step. She was forced to stare at the entrance to the tunnel, frozen in spot and unable to move; forward or back, it didn't matter.
"Hello, welcome home." Their three voices called out from the belly of the caves, echoing off the walls and reverberating back to her ears. Her breath caught in her throat and she put her foot down... Was... This the message? was the tunnels her...
When Coyotegrin woke the sun beat down on her heated pelt. Her throat was dry, parched, as if it hadn't been graced with waters for moons. She still laid splayed and her body ached with stiffness. Slowly, she stood and gazed across the moors...
Hello, welcome home...
