I fear not the dark itself, but what may lurk in it...

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The wind screamed through the camp, tearing out branches, leaves, twigs with its fury. It rose up and howled in rage, as if calling down a storm. The sky responded, clouds darkening, thunder growling. The sky released its tears, raindrops as large as pebbles, splashing incessantly onto the land below.

"Waspsting! Get the kits! A flood's approaching! They'll drown!" a faint voice frantically screamed outside.

Maplekit's eyes opened, everything seemed blurry, the edges of shapes seemed soft.

A wave crashed into the clearing, announcing its presence as cats scrambled around.

"Father! Father!" she mewed, her siblings chanting the same mantra, hoping to escape. They were all frozen with shock, not knowing what to do.

The dark golden tom gracefully leaped into the den. His golden eyes scanned the Nursery for a mere second, after locating his target, picked up her brother and Maplekit stumbled on the now-damp floor of the den. She reached out a paw to him, but his father bounded outside without tossing a glance at her. Maplekit watched the other kits running outside, although they were stumbling every few steps, they were making their way to dry land. Maplekit tried to follow them to safety, but realised her paw was stuck in the damp ground. She writhed around, hoping to free herself, yet the more she struggled, the more she seemed to unable to move. Her pelt was becoming brown from the watery mud that seeped inside the Nursery.

A dark shadow loomed over her followed by a deafening roar and she looked up, a murky wave of water rushing down towards her. She felt her paws lifting off the ground finally, the cold water seeping into her fur, biting at her paw pads. She opened her mouth to yowl for someone, for anyone to help her, but water flooded into her mouth and  felt something lodged into her throat, scratching its walls and within seconds, she could taste a metallic tang within her mouth. Small wisps of pinkish-red floated out of her mouth as she watched them entwine with the delicate stream of bubbles darting upwards. She couldn't breathe and dark patches began to hover in her sight. She felt her lungs beginning to burn, claws crushing them from the inside as  the darkness swarmed around her before she vanished into its dark grip.

"MAPLEKIT! WAKE UP! MAPLEKIT!" a frightened mew called into her ear.

Maplekit's spring-green eyes snapped open as she let out a shuddery exhale, fur raised on her spine as she flattened her ears, still hearing the roar of the flood echoing within them.

Maplekit looked at her sister who was worriedly checking over her, a trait that she must've gained from her foster mother, Dappledlight, the sister of Ghostwhisper, one of the two medicine cats of MistClan. When Dappledlight had learned of what had happened to Scorchflame, she volunteered to become her sister's foster mother in less than a heartbeat. Dappledlight had looked up to Scorchflame, yet it wasn't surprising, for everyone in the clans looked up to her mother. 

Scorchflame spoke in a manner that could make you feel like you were someone entirely different, that you were someone special, that you were the one she worshipped instead of the other way round. And yet, she could make you feel that you were nothing more than rotting prey, she could make you flee back to your parents, mewling and bawling like a newborn kit. 

Well that's what she had been told by Heatherstalk. Silentkit and her foster mothers' personalities were so different. Heatherstalk was the sister of Scorchflame but lacked the fragility and delicateness that Scorchflame possessed. Heatherstalk was more...diaphanous. Everyone could see through her, everyone knew her secrets but not that Heatherstalk minded; she believed that secrets would only lead to the corruption and ruin of an individual.

Unlike Dappledlight, Heatherstalk was not one for kindness. From the first day when Maplekit fell into her care, Heatherstalk, like an elder, told her story after story, quote after quote, without a break until she had memorised what Heatherstalk had told her word for word.

Silentkit nudged her sister gently with her nose. Although Maplekit never showed it, she felt pity and contempt for her sister. Silentkit was aptly named, only talking when it was necessary, but the trait that irked Maplekit the most was how Silentkit could see the good in everybody. How her sister could justify anyone's actions and give them a second chance without another thought. Silentkit was affable and always said that a new day should have new thoughts, new chances and new dreams. Maybe it was their foster mothers that caused their personalities to be so different to each other. And not just their personalities, they sat on opposite of the Nursery like they were warring clans or something.

"Are you okay, sister?" Silentkit whispered, Maplekit knew that Silentkit had frightened herself by raising her voice to such a volume.

"Yes, Silentkit. I'm fine," Maplekit replied back. And bitterly added in her mind,

If only Shadekit had lost his hiss in the flood, I'd be more than fine, I'd be brilliant in fact...

Her brother was the golden child of the trio and from the moment her father laid his eyes on Shadekit, he had swathed him in attention and praise. It was no secret that Shadekit was their father's favourite. Waspsting himself had declared that no one but himself will raise Shadekit to warrior-hood. 

Once Shadekit had learned that she couldn't hiss, he had decided to take pokes at her weakness every day. Maplekit cursed herself for opening her mouth to yowl for help. If she didn't the stupid twig would never have been lodged in her throat, completely annihilating her ability to hiss.

"How is I-lost-my-hisskit? Feeling alright? Let's see if you are. Hiss for me please...oh wait, I remembered, you can't hiss, how depressing," laughed Shadekit as he snapped the peaceful silence that had settled inside the den.

Maplekit instinctively tried to hiss at Shadekit but fell into a coughing fit. Shadekit sniggered, gleefully watching his sister roll around on the ground, trying to regain control of her own body.

"Don't be mean to Maplekit. Yes, she might not be able to hiss like us, but there are so many more things she can do that you can't and will never be able to do," Silentkit faced Shadekit, blue eyes stern.

Shadekit glared daggers at his sister, grin wiped cleanly off his face before he spoke slowly, pronouncing each syllable in a crystal-clear manner,

"If you think that," he paused slightly and scrunched up his muzzle before continuing, "Maplekit is my sibling, you are wrong. That piece of crow-food is worth nothing more than the Starless Forest cats, in fact, she's even worse than a Starless Forest cat. And I am able to do everything that she can do, and much better than what she will ever be able to accomplish. As for you, I think you should quit seeing the good in everyone. For some cats like Maplekit, there is just no good in them. They are not possible of doing anything at all."

Silentkit lowered her muzzle slightly as she whispered back,

"Very well then. If that's what you believe-"

Shadekit thrust his muzzle right in front of Silentkit's and snarled, fur bristling,

"Yes, it is what I believe in. And my father thinks it's correct too. If Waspsting, the deputy of our clan believes that this is correct, then you cannot fault it and there is no way that you can fault it."

Maplekit watched her brother saunter off, her still lying on the ground, chest heaving from the exertion of her coughing fit. Maplekit could taste the familiar tang of blood and shuddered as she fought back another flashback emerging from her mind. It was the flood. It was always the flood. If she wasn't living through the experience again, then it would be that she escaped and the flood chased her through the forest, howling and screaming with rage, like the wind.

Maplekit shuddered and drew in a deep breath as she looked at the ground and saw small flowers blooming in a patch in front of her, a cheery crimson and flinched, believing she could almost see her mother's blood tainting those petals, before a shadow loomed over her and she involuntarily flinched.

"Maplekit! I hope you've remembered what I told you last night. Could you please tell  me what it was?" Heatherstalk's booming voice echoed in her ears.

Maplekit hauled herself back into a sitting position and coughed slightly before answering,

"Be careful of who you trust. Salt and sugar look the same."

"Remember that. Not everyone who smiles at you is your friend," Heatherstalk nodded before settling in her nest.

Maplekit had always wondered how Heatherstalk was so wise. She could fit in a quote to whoever she was talking to. Even if it was a yes or no question, she could still offer a piece of advice.

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Be careful the environment you choose, for it will shape you; be careful the friends you choose, for you will be like them