Run

Crickets chirped in the tall grass, hushing momentarily when
a spotted form padded swiftly past and continuing once the scarred
feline had passed.
Scarheart slipped silently through the undergrowth, her stub
tail twitching and one eye bright in the dark. She was leaving. She’d known she
was leaving for a while, she’d felt it stirring, that thing inside of her demanding
that she Run run run and don’t ever look
back. The restless, haunted, frightened thing that pushed her on and on, like the biblical ''
Cain, doomed to roam the Earth until her death. She’d thought it was over.
She’d thought she could rest now.
Well. She’d been wrong before.
She knew when the others woke up they’d look for her, wonder
what had happened to her, worry about her, but after a while they’d forget and
move on. She’d left too many Clans to count, this one should be no different.
But she’d been so comfortable and happy here, why couldn’t
she just stay? Why couldn’t she just let herself rest? Snapshots of her
Clanmates flashed through her mind like a slideshow. Fangkit, now Fangstorm,
taking on a dog thrice her size, spitting and yowling, so much misdirected
rage. Quietspirit, a warrior then, so innocent and naïve, slacking off per
usual and purring like a motor. Genjistar, brave and passionate in his youth,
now tired and somber, standing over his Clan like a lion, protecting them all with his fierce love. Names and faces bombarded her from all directions, cats and dogs she
had spent her days with, who all smiled when they saw her, all looked out for
her, all smelled like home and safety and rest. She cursed the tightness in her chest as she pelted faster
and faster through the forest, weaving her way through the trees, fighting back
a scream. She willed herself to stop, to turn around, to go home, but there was
no home. Home was so many moons ago she’d lost count. She’d tricked herself,
believed she was safe, thought she was done running. But old habits die hard.
Run run run run run-
Her claws scraped against the ground painfully as she
skidded to a stop at the edge of a Thunderpath, stretching across the horizon
as far as her one blue eye could see. She stood there, panting, as a few
monsters flashed past, faster than she could ever run, farther than she could
ever go. She gazed at them enviously, wishing she could go on and on down the
seemingly endless Thunderpath, never faltering, never stumbling. A little voice
inside her, one that had been starved for far too long, screamed faintly at the
edge of her consciousness, begging her to go''
home go home turn around stay turn around turn around turn around.
Run run run and don’t
ever look back.
She didn’t turn around.