Silent Sadness

Mapleface sat in front of the medicine den, her shoulders slumping and her head hanging low. Her face was partially bathed in dark shadows; a fortunate event for any cat walking past. It has been a while since her incident and she had finally started to recover from the attack. However, her face had not fared well, and her jaw was no better. Mapleface sat straight up, the light finally catching her mangled face and the shadows bathing her legs. The once beautiful she-cat was no longer the stunning look she once was. Her jaw was crudely sticking out on the left side of her face. Her tooth had poked up over her lip in a tiny yellowish peak resting across the top half of her mouth. A thin line of drool was constantly dripping from the uneven bone structure. She couldn't help it. On top of that, it was almost impossible for her to eat, or talk, even though it was getting better. Thrushstripe would help out when he could by chewing up her food for her, and grooming her pelt. StarClan, grooming was impossible.

The right side of her face was no better. The place where her once beautiful green eye was an empty hole; gaping, ugly, and frightening. The skin beneath the the black cavern was torn off, leaving bright reddish pink scar tissue. She was still lightly clothed in cobwebs, and had a small amount of a herb concoction plastered on her face. The wound reached raggedly to her left side a little, where her face continued on like nothing was abnormal on the other side.

Mapleface's stomach growled. Standing up and stepping foward, you could see how skinny she had become. Her ribs were sticking out, and clear bumps along her spine showed how little food was actually reaching her stomach and providing nutrients. Her skin lay loosely on her body in a slightly unkempt way. She padded foward, stumbling slightly as her balance had been put off with the lack of her other eye, and continued on to the fresh kill pile. Mapleface paused, straining to find something to eat.

Mallowroot stepped up next to Mapleface, laying next to the cat he'd been treating. "It's not that bad," the medicine cat reassured, wiping some of the drool off of Mapleface's mouth with his paw. "It's not your fault..."