Again, Cometpaw did not speak. A part of her yearned for Lionroar, the other for nothing. No, the other part yearned for her family, for the freedom she had once felt. For all these years, Cometpaw had felt like she was someone else, leaving paw prints of another creature, at every step she took.
Cometpaw felt as though she were different.
Her parents had died when she was simply two moons old. She had gone through hardships. She had had to hunt for herself. So obviously, a part of her was disconnected. What was it in Applepaw that could see this? Cometpaw was confused at this ignorance, at how people though that her past was simply oblivion.
Why was it that people came to conclusions so easily? Cometpaw did not know. Her mind was swirling with emotion and with untamed thoughts, and she was thrown into a flashback:
Flames leaped high into a gallery of stars, reaching for the ashen blue sky. Wood fell to the churned ground and disappeared with the slightest breath of the fire. The forest.... she thought. The forest is dying. Sobs erupted from her throat, her eyes filled with sad despair as tears rolled down her orange tinged cheeks. Her cry rang out in the forest, wild and untamed, stunning and wonderful. Yet under that layer of beauty, rage and depression shook. Her small legs didn't seem to want to carry her because soon Comet fell to the ground. She yowled with a rhythmic beat as sound flowed out of her mouth and she thought, They're gone. My parents. Why?
Cometpaw snapped out of it with a sudden flash. But as quickly as she had regained her senses, she was thrown back into another sickening nightmare.
Sobs and screams of anger came from the forest. Blood was splattered softly on the carpet of dried leaves as a fox hovered over a dark tabby she-cat. Her blue eyes sparkled with terror. "Comet," She mewed. "Good bye." Comet didn't feel like screaming anymore. Her voice was disappearing from her throat, and she recalled Birch's answer when she had asked, to no one in particular, why her parents had to die, "Because life never lasts, Comet. There is an end to everything, no matter how strong, now matter how swift. We must move on and become what Cloud and Hawk wanted us to become." She took a sad glance at Moth's frozen body when she was sure the fox had left.
Her sister lay in the middle of the clearing, her eyes brimmed with fear, her paws stiff. Her face was still twisted in a despaired expression while blood gushed from her throat. Comet's anguished eyes began to let the tears come out once more, and she thought,
What did I do to deserve such a fate? Such a melancholic atmosphere to trap me in tragedy? Comet staggered around the clearing, tears still dancing absentmindedly around her sad face. With shaky legs she walked forward and bent down to lick Moth on the cheek, and whispered, "Go meet Mother and Father and Birch." Her beautiful green eyes turned into small slits and closed as she retreated her pink tongue and fell asleep next to Moth. She was the survivor, and she couldn't let her family down. This time, her dreams weren't contented and lulling, but they flashed with pain and horror. It was a rocky nightmare, and in between the bumpy chaos, a voice rang out, white and pure, "Be grateful Comet, be grateful. You're alive..." She didn't hear the rest because she woke up, gasping for breath. A part of her had been destroyed, wasted away.
As Cometpaw came out of that nightmare.... or, that daymare, she angrily thought, I won't ever be grateful! Her eyes turned towards Applepaw, and they seemed to say, "It's not you, Applepaw." It's my life.