Happiness in just a blink (solo)

Turtlefur laid on a stone jutting out from the bank. His eyes watched the ebb and flow of the water that lapped at the edge from beneath broken ice. The snow had mercifully ceased, though the air still had a nip to it, and the weak sun didn’t lend any warmth. Droplets from smashing open the ice froze on his front paws, but he barely felt the chill.

A deep ache pierced his heart and flooded his lungs. The patched warrior longed for the heat of his love pressing close to his side, whispering gentle affections, commenting on the progress of their kits as they grew stronger every day under their mentors’ training. He would never have that again. Birdsong was gone.

One day her bright green eyes welcomed him to fish with her, and the next day they stared coldly into the distance, blood smeared on her perfectly soft pelt that bore deep gouges. He spent that night with his nose buried into her side, their kits sinking into him to stay warm as they shared in his mourning. It had been so brief. Turtlefur had felt more happiness and grief in these few moons than the rest of his life before her. Suddenly Wisteriabloom’s retirement to the elder’s den made sense.

The grieving tomcat laid on his cold rock, eyes closing after staring at the water for too long, and curled tighter into himself. Cloverheart said the pain would end someday. Turtlefur had no choice but to trust her and hope that there would be a morning where he woke up from his suffering.