Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Scratchclaw twitched in his sleep. "No, no, don't kill me!" he muttered, his hind legs thrashing. He shuddered once, then stilled. Snapping open his eyes, he gazed around and shuddered once more. The tom had been having nightmares for a long time. Nothing he did could take his mind off of the things that happened during his sleep. Scratchclaw shook his head, and stood up, flinching as the wind whipped in the trees, casting shadows of branches snapping toward him. They still reminded him of the WindClan cat's claws closing in on him, raking him. Without watching where he was going, he tripped and hit his face on a rock. The cat stiffened as he smelled the sharp tang of blood. Bad blood...My blood is bad blood.. He winced as the scarlet liquid dropped into his eyes and blinded him. He stood up and turned around, attempting to find the right tree where he slept. Instead, he headed the wrong direction and started toward a monstrous-looking tree with branches looking like jaws. He stumbled forward and wiped his eyes on a shriveled, black leaf. Looking up, he gulped and teetered backward. He was staring at the giant tree, trembling. Turning around, he rushed toward his nest, making the trees look like one big blur. The cat found his nest and lay there, shaking. When he woke up, his sharp amber eyes were dulled and he was shaking and shrinking back at everything he saw.