| abstract | - skymist*eight i know that things are good now all amends have been made but i feel like i still owe her something i don't want to leave her dismayed ~ The sunlight of early morning wakes me up. The other four are still asleep. My eyes sweep across our surroundings, and they find a rest on Owlmoon. She looks so peaceful, and happy, even - I can't help but smile. Her problems with Autumnbreeze are solved. Everything is perfectly fine. Yawning, I walk over to Autumnbreeze's nest. "Autumnbreeze." I hiss. She opens her eyes and I'm staring into her narrowed green gaze. "What do you want, Skymist?" She whines, closing her eyes and rolling over. I laugh softly, poking her with my tail. "Come on, Autumnbreeze. Let's go for a hunt." "Is this another scolding venture? If it is, I don't want to go." I roll my eyes, poking her again, harder. "Let's go hunting. I'm not going to scold you." "Good." Her eyes are still closed. "Because Owlmoon and I have already fixed everything." "Autumnbreeze, come on." Sighing, she gets up and gives herself a wash before following me out of the den. "So... why are we doing this again?" Autumnbreeze inquires, a sly smile lighting up her face. "Seriously, Autumn. Stop with the questions!" "Fine." We get to the edge of the camp, where Autumnbreeze starts to jog. "Autumn, wait! Seriously -" "Race you, Skymist! To the river!" She takes off, and I'm close behind her, not wanting to be beat. Autumnbreeze and I are very competitive about things in general. Who can catch the most prey, who can run the fastest, who can be the most stupidest. Not that we've had that contest yet. The river comes into view and - obviously - Autumnbreeze is waiting there, grinning. "That's unfair," I say, catching my breath. "You had a head start." "No one had to say it was fair, Sky. Deal with the unfair." We start walking in the direction of the flowing river, and I don't notice when Autumnbreeze stops. "Autumnbreeze, com-" "Shh! Skymist, look." She whispered, and I walk silently back to her. Looking up to where she's pointing with her tail, I see a bird's nest sitting in the tree. It's small, but I can hear the chirps loud and clear. "That's a hunting jackpot." Auutmnbreeze says wistfully. "I'm gonna go and get it." She starts to the base of the tree, but I stop her. "Autumn, are you insanely stupid?" I say in a loud whisper. "Uh, maybe?" "You could fall off and kill yourself like that!" "No I wouldn't." Autumnbreeze scoffs, but I shake my head. "Yes. Yes you would, Autumnbreeze! Because that nest is fifty feet up in the air! You could kill yourself!" "I'm not afraid of death." She says, trying to get past me, but I block her. "But I am." I shake my head. "I'll go. I'm not risking your life for something as stupid as a hunting jackpot." Autumnbreeze looks like she wants to slap me. "No, you aren't! You have a better chance of killing yourself than I do!" "But Owlmoon will miss you more -" "Skymist, seriously. Shut up." "But I'm not letting you go there. I'll go and scare them off right now just to stop you." "You know I'll probably kill you if you do, right?" "Right. I'd rather that than you dying a painful death when you break all your limbs." "Okay. So basically, I'm not letting you go, and you're not letting me go, right?" "Right." "I have an idea." "Oh, really?" I say, drily. "Yes, really." She sticks her tongue out at me. "You don't have to admit that you're jealous that I'm full of good ideas, and you're full of bad ones." I snort. "And when have you ever had a good idea?" "Just now." "Okay, spill." "We can have a race. Winner gets the privilege to climb the tree," she points up to the birds' nest above. "nd the loser has to bask in their loss. How's that sound?" "You know, that wasn't really a good idea." "Yes or no?" "Fine." ~ this is a very bad idea something will definitely go wrong something i'll regret regret even when you've become strong ~ "Okay, so - plan. There is a fir tree about seven trees to the right of this one. So we'll run there, circle the tree twice, and then run back here. First one back gets to climb the tree." "And how am I supposed to know that you'll be fair." "Me? Cheating?" She says mockingly. I laugh. "Yeah, because you're definitely not a liar. Or a cheater." "Yeah, you are right, I'm not." "I can go ask Owlmoon right now." "And you know that I'll probably just go and climb the tree." "Yes, but I can -" "Okay, Skymist. How much are you betting?" "Oh, just shut up." "Okay." She grins. "Let's start." We go to the designated start line, and I narrow my eyes, focusing only on my destination - the little green fir tree seven trees down. "Ready, set, Go!" Autumnbreeze calls, and I take off as soon as I can. It's like I'm flying. The wind in my fur, the wonderful sensation of just letting myself out. I get to the fir tree, when I realize that Autumnbreeze isn't with me. It's actually happening. I'm winning. I close my eyes, joy filling me as I ran around the tree twice, and I as I ran back, I realized that something was wrong. Autumnbreeze wasn't there. Opening my eyes, I look to the tree in horror. I was right - Autumnbreeze wasn't racing. Because she climbing up the tree right this second. "Autumn!" I call, running faster than before - I'm not risking Auutmnbreeze's life because she wants to be a complete idiot. "Autumnbreeze, are you insane?" I call when I get to the base of the tree. I look up at her, but she doesn't look back. She's totally focused on the birds. "It's a jackpot, Skymist. I'm not letting it go to waste." "Autumnbreeze, if you don't come down right now, I swear -" "I'm hunting right now, Skymist. Be quiet." I shake my head angrily, but I know she won't listen. Autumnbreeze just isn't like that. She's on the same branch as the nest is, right now. She walking along it, slowly, her eyes focused on the nest, and the birds inside. Nothing's happening - maybe she will be fine. But I hear it then. A noise - a crack. I scan the branch Auutmnbreeze is walking on, until I notice it. There's a tiny crack in it. It's starting to sag under Autmnbreeze's weight. "Autumn. You're not gonna make it!" I call out, but she ignores me. The branch starts cracking again, this time, a longer line. Every step Autumnbreeze is taking is pretty much leading her to her death sentence. "Autumn! Come on! You won't make it!" I call out, louder. "Skymist, be quiet. I'm almost there." She comes a good distance where she can kill the birds, but suddenly, they flutter away alarmingly. They must have sensed it - sensed what Autumnbreeze couldn't. "Skymist, that's not funny." She says, and the branch starts to crack again. She hears it this time, and her eyes widen, and are suddenly full of fear. "Sky, I -" The branch tumbles underneath her, and a scream is at the tip of my tongue, unsaid. Autumnbreeze is falling - and there's nothing I can do. ~ i did absolutely nothing to stop this tragic event but i was frozen in fear couldn't do what i really meant
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