#voideyes

Blankpaw woke up with a start. He looked around, and then noticed a white cat standing by him. “You woke up!”, the cat said to him. “Good, i’ll need an apprentice to help me. But I guess you’re hungry. Go and take something from the pile.”

The cat walked outside, and Blankpaw followed, a bit confused. As he left the apprentice den, he noticed a huge boulder on top of the warrior’s den. He gasped in surprise. “See? Almost everyone is out of the camp,” the cat spoke up again. “Wish I had someone else to help, but I only have you.”

Blankpaw, still confused, decided to ask some questions.

“Wh-who are you?” he asked, a bit shaken by the sight that he had just saw. “What?,” the white cat replied. “Well, at least I know who stole my catnip.” They then cleared their throat. “I’m Voideyes, ThunderClan medicine cat,” they said, answering Blankpaw’s first question. “Try to focus for now, catnip shouldn’t last too long,” they added. “What happened to the warrior’s den?” Blankpaw asked.

“Rock fell onto it. Everyone died,” replied Voideyes. “Well, not everyone. Only about half of the warriors. My version sounds more interesting, though.”

“You don’t have eyes..” Blankpaw said, noticing for the first time that the eye sockets of Voideyes were black and empty.

“If I don’t have eyes, how can I see you?” Voideyes replied, sounding a bit offended. “Dear StarClan, I really got the most stupid apprentice this time..” they muttered under their breath.

“What do you need help with?” asked Blankpaw, a bit offended himself.

“What’s the hurry?” asked Voideyes to Blankpaw. “There’s no hurry,” they replied, not giving Blankpaw a chance to reply. “I’ll tell you when you need to know.”

“You don’t have a mouth,” said Blankpaw, noticing that there was no mouth for Voideyes to speak through. Are they speaking to me by sending messages through my brain? Blankpaw thought, suddenly a little scared.

“You don’t say?!” Voideyes exclaimed, clearly offended. “I’ve never noticed,” they added sarcastically. “Has a squirrel fallen on you when you were sleeping?” they added rudely.

“Where is everyone?” Blankpaw asked, wondering where all the non-dead cats were.

“Hunting. Fighting. Mating. Sleeping. How am I supposed to know?” replied the eyeless cat.

“Is this a dream?” Blankpaw asked.

“More like a nightmare,” Voideyes replied. “For me at least. You must have lots of fun pestering me.”

“Alright, let’s go,” said Blankpaw, deciding that he had asked enough questions.

“Yes. Eat first, and then you’ll help me,” said Voideyes.

Blankpaw headed over to the fresh-kill pile, expecting normal prey to be there. Instead, he was granted with the horrifying sight of the corpses of his leader, Briarstar, and his friend, Nettleclaw, on the fresh-kill pile. He gagged at the sight, resisting the urge to throw up. 

“What’s going on?” Voideyes growled. “I don’t have time for you to sun here.”

“Wh-why are cats on the pile?!” Blankpaw nearly screamed.

“What would you want? Grass? You can munch it fresh from the ground, our glorious leader!” Voideyes spat. “What an expectation. Are you going to eat or not?” he asked.

“I-i’ll pass..” Blankpaw replied, looking away from Voideyes in shame.

“Picky eater, huh? Fine then, you can starve. Still, I wish I had a fed apprentice to help.”

“We need to take care of ticks,” Voideyes said after the interaction. “Let’s head to the elders.”

Blankpaw, before heading to the elder’s den, decided to take a bit of time to recollect himself and build up courage again. He headed to the nursery. Sureley, there would be something nice inside? The nursery was always a peaceful place.

When he went inside, however, he saw something scary. There were multiple kits inside, staring at him. They all looked somewhat upset. 

Before he could turn around to leave, the kits spoke to him.

A light brown kit with amber eyes and without a name, went first.

“Sometimes I dream that I was born. And then I have to live, see my friends die, get hurt, suffer from hunger,  be cold, sick... and die. I’m happy I was stillborn.”

Next was a golden kit with eyes green like the forest, named Dawnkit.

“Scaredy-paws is so brave now. I was holding him back the whole time. That’s when I realized I didn’t deserve life.”

After Dawnkit was a white kit with blue eyes named Snowkit.

“That badger was very naughty,” they said.

After Snowkit was a blue kit with darker tabby stripes and purple eyes named Minnowkit.

“Splashstar threw me into the river, because I wasn’t a true RiverClan cat. Guess she was right, since I drowned. Real RiverClan kits could swim.”

The last kit was a black kit with amber eyes named Breezekit.

“Mama told me I couldn’t fly, but I proved her wrong.”

Blankpaw then ran out of the nursery, tears falling from his eyes. Why had the kits died like that? None of them deserved to die, even if it was by their own stupidity! He was breathing hard when he got out. He now knew that no place was safe here. He had to face the rest of the dream’s horror.