❝ ᴅᴏɴ'ᴛ sᴇɴᴅ ᴍᴇ ғʟᴏᴡᴇʀs ᴡʜᴇɴ ɪ'ᴍ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴍᴇ, sᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ɪ'ᴍ ᴀʟɪᴠᴇ. ❞

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ᴘʀᴏᴍᴘᴛ | ᴀ ᴅᴇᴀᴛʜ.

ᴡᴏʀᴅ ᴄᴏᴜɴᴛ | 499

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Martenclaw... I'm sorry.

For many nights, the grey tom writhed in despair, clawing desperately at his remaining thread of sanity. The excruciating grief tormented him everyday; no longer did his amber eyes burn with fervour - all that had remained was a hollow vessel, his sense of self bled out.

He was nothing but a shell of a fallen warrior.

Deleterious effects of grief started emerging - his fur dulled into a melancholy grey, riddled with the fetidness of grief. His gaunt form caught the pity of his Clanmates, but he did not want it - he wanted Martenclaw.

Dholegaze was once a proud warrior, with a beautiful mate and two kits - blessings many envied. Until a monster claimed the life of his mate, Martenclaw. He remembered the cursed day when the mocking rumbles of the monster ambushed her; he had failed to warn her. The guilt that lingered was his albatross. It tainted his spirit like a cloak of dirty mud, a relentless reminder of her mangled body caked with blood.

Grief was his new smile.

Until he saw Martenclaw - or so he thought.

Dholegaze saw her spirit, trapped within their daughter, Cardinalwing. Cardinalwing grew to look even more like Martenclaw each day. An image of her lacerated body flashed across his mind. I must free her. She's calling for help.

Hope kindled in his belly - he had a plan to make everything right; to give Martenclaw the peace she had deserved.

It's time.

Dholegaze remembered it vividly - how he had asked Cardinalwing to follow him into the forest, and how he slashed at her pelt mercilessly after muttering the words, "I'll free you, Martenclaw."

Cardinalwing did not retaliate, for she did not want to fight her own father. Betrayal tugged at her heart - why did her father have murderous intentions? She saw the crazed look in his eyes, but she also saw something deeper than just insanity - she saw heartache and despair. By then, the reddish-brown she-cat had already given up thrashing about. Dholegaze raised an unsheathed claw, ready to deliver the killing blow.

Slash.

A yelp pierced through the air - but it did not belong to Cardinalwing. The she-cat widened her eyes and an anguished yowl escaped her jaws. A brown tabby pelt fell before her eyes - her brother, Lynxsprint.

Lynxsprint writhed about in agonising pain, blood oozing out of the large gash on his neck. Cardinalwing choked on her tears as she dragged her battered self towards her littermate.

The scorching pain that Lynxsprint felt started to numb into an icy coldness. Black edges dotted his vision. He could hear his failing heart beating with all its might, but he knew it was to no avail. Cardinalwing was devastated.

Why?

Lynxsprint gave his sister a weak smile before welcoming the darkness that hungered to consume him. Before giving in, he heard the contrite yowl of Dholegaze.

Then it was silent.

Except for the bittersweet song of StarClan.

Grief is the price we pay for love.

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|| ᴀᴜᴛʜᴏʀ's ɴᴏᴛᴇ ||

I've been planning this story for quite some time now. Spent two days planning, and two days writing. Well, I think I spent most of the time cutting down on words, really.

This one-shot is for WattyWarrior's Scriptorial, Round Alpha. {helloilovecats}

In case some of you don't know what "dhole" is, here is an explanation from Wikipedia:

The dhole (Cuon alpinus) is a canid native to Central, South and Southeast Asia. Other English names for the species include Asiatic wild dog, Indian wild dog, whistling dog, red wolf (not to be confused with Canis rufus), red dog, and mountain wolf. It is genetically close to species within the genus Canis, though its skull is convex rather than concave in profile, it lacks a third lower molar, and the upper molars sport only a single cusp as opposed to 2-4.

[ Source ] http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4_Xsi7npOVg/VnR9lW5m8EI/AAAAAAAAi6k/fNeHULJgtAY/s1600/OrpieLover31.jpeg

I came across this beautiful canine-like animal, and immediately decided to use its name for Dholegaze, the main character for this one-shot.

I subtly hinted that Dholegaze is based after a grey dhole, due to his grey pelt. Too subtle, I'd say. Dholegaze is a grey oriental shorthair tom with light amber eyes.

I chose the oriental shorthair breed in particular, as they have a higher chance of developing Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS). Dholegaze is suppose to have developed it after witnessing the traumic death of his beloved mate. Although the cause of FHS is not determined in real life, I decided to tweak it a bit to fit in Dholegaze's story.

I had originally wanted to elaborate on his symptoms and slow descent into insanity, but the 500 word limit restrained me from being too descriptive.

I hope anyone who have read this enjoyed it! I worked really hard on this, going through drafts multiple times.

Thanks for reading! A trivia will be placed at the bottom of this author's note, in case anyone is interested.

~ Sky ❄

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|| ᴛʀɪᴠɪᴀ ||

➵ Dholegaze was originally going to be a brown oriental shorthair, but was changed to a grey oriental shorthair as I found a pretty picture of one, and later based him off the appearance of a grey dhole.

➵ The story started when a friend in real life suggested me to write about a suicide, but I decided against it due to the fact that it may be offensive to readers online. It was then when I started looking for different types of murder, and eventually decided on Filicide - the act of a parent killing his/her son or daughter.

➵ The main character was originally going to be a she-cat and a queen, but it was later changed when I was researching on schizophrenia; males are affected by it more than females.

➵ Searching up for schizophrenia led me to the discovery of Feline Hyperesthesia Syndrome (FHS), which was later given to Dholegaze.

➵ Since there was a word limit of 500 words, I decided to skip descriptions of the symptoms of FHS.

➵ I discovered that oriental shorthairs are more likely to develop FHS, hence making Dholegaze one.

➵ Lynxsprint's name was originally going to be Cranerush - a name generated by a close friend who knew nothing about Warriors. Both of us realised it sounded ridiculous, and I changed the name Lynxsprint.

➵ Martenclaw was originally not suppose to die, but her death was added after considering the possible causes of FHS - trauma.

➵ Cardinalwing was originally not going to appear in the story. However, I decided that she should have an appearance.

➵ Originally, Cardinalwing was not meant to resemble her mother, Martenclaw. But it was later changed to complement the plot.

➵ Originally, Lynxsprint was going to die without Cardinalwing in the picture. However, it was altered to complement the change of plot. Therefore, he is killed while protecting Cardinalwing from Dholegaze.

➵ I had a hard time narrowing the words down to 499 words, as the original number of words written for the first draft was 589 words.

➵ I edited this so many times, I actually lost count. Just exaggerating; the actual number of times I edited should be in the range of six to nine times.