Best to Flee

This is mainly to get me into the mood for writing after being absent from the wiki for a certain amount of time.

Flee. That's the main policy of my life, what I do when danger strikes. It's the best option in my opinion, certainly the safest, and the reason I'm here, huddling under a tree, instead of with my clanmates. Flee.

At first glance, I'm happy, my blue eyes bright and my fur sleekly groomed. But what the others don't know is that that smile was once open in horror and sadness. That pelt was once matted, tangled in burrs. Those eyes were once filled with tears. I wasn't always who I am now. Let me tell you my story.

It all started with an assessment.

"Come on, Snowpaw!" my sister, Daisypaw, called. "This is our assessment, and you don't want to fail!"

"Coming!" I replied, eyes shining with delight and excitement.

"Good luck," our mother, Whitefrost, told us warmly. "And remember, if you fail-"

"Not gonna happen," I told her. "'Bye!" With that, I zoomed off like I was running from a badger. Daisypaw could barely keep up.

I buried a piece of fresh kill. A mouse, by the looks of it. This is fun! Suddenly, I saw something that I had longed to catch for a long time, something that could have fed half the clan. A chaffinch! Carefully, I stalked over to it, using my best hunter's crouch. Soon, I was right next to it. I was just ready to pounce when suddenly, it ran away into a cave.

I have to catch that chaffinch! I thought as I ran into the cave.

Crack! I heard the sound and looked around, startled. Turns out, the sound had come from me stepping on a twig. The chaffinch got away, but, as I would soon find out, that was the least of my problems.

"Well, well, well," I heard a voice from the darkness. "What do we have here?"

I looked into the cave and noticed a pair of yellow eyes looking back at me. As they moved into the light, I noticed that they belonged to a gray tom, who looked at me evilly.

"Haven't killed in a while," he hissed.

I yelped in fear and decided to try to fight him. Leaping on him, I pinned him down, but the rogue was stronger and he pinned me down too. Just when I took a deep breath, ready to die, I heard a very familiar voice, one that comforted me.

"GET OFF OF MY SISTER, YOU FOX-HEART!"

I looked up at Daisypaw with gratitude, which was soon replaced by horror as the rogue swiftly killed her.

"No!" I wailed, running after the rogue, thoughts filled with revenge.

The last thing I saw before I returned to the cave were his evil yellow eyes.

Those things were going through my head as I ran. Not to my sister, but from the clan. I had seen those eyes again. Those eyes that had once looked at me tauntingly now looked at the Clan fiercely. He and the rogues had attacked camp, and I didn't want to interfere.

If Daisypaw had fled, she would still be alive. That also ran through my head as I sheltered under a tree. I had matured since then - I was a warrior, Snowfoot - but I was still haunted by the rogues. By Daisypaw's life spilling out on the floor of the cave. It had all started with a-

Rogue. I interrupted my own thoughts angrily. ''Daisypaw was saving you. She was brave. And you reward her with cowardice!''

This was the first time this thought had run through my head. Daisypaw would have wanted you to help the clan.

I sighed, took a deep breath, and ran. Not away from the clan or toward my dead sister, but towards the clan. Away from my cowardice.

Away from fleeing.