i need more dreams | OPEN

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slipping out of the camp before the morning patrols had been far easier than he had originally thought. the dry heat the new leaf had wrought made it hard to get up in the morning, the sun draining all the energy from the forest. stormheart enjoyed the heat despite his long pelt that seemed to amplify the effects. it made the sunset that much more breath taking as the forest cooled down, and so did he. his decision to dodge the morning patrols was also a way of cooling down, though the fire he felt wasn't from the weather.

his sleep had been plagued with nightmares; his mind reliving the day his brother forever maimed him and then fled like a rogue. hawkstrike amber eyes had blazed with malice, unrecognizable in the horror of his own crisis, and then the blinding pain. the memory caused him to wince, triggering a full body flinch that had pulled him from his restless slumber and back into reality. his reality though, was far scarier than any nightmare he had ever experienced. not knowing whether hawkstrike was alive, if he would come back to finish what he started, or if he wasn't alive anymore and that moment all those moons ago would be the last they ever spent together. stormheart wasn't sure which he dreaded more. if he was dead, he would never know; that thought was almost too painful to bear.

stormheart came to a stop abruptly a top a felled log, with a perfect view of the lake. his heart thundered in his ears, drowning out the noises of the forest and his own sporadic thoughts. now that he was out in the territory, staring out on the soft hues of oranges and reds playing upon the waters surface, he had no idea what to do. the prospect of hunting was as unappealing as applying mouse bile to a grouchy elder. it just seemed so tedious, all of it. it didn't seem to matter how many times patrols went out, someone was always hungry; the ticks always came back. there was no getting on top of anything that needed to get done in the camp. it was exhausting. the large tom closed his eyes, and let his haunches sink down to the brittle bark and wrapped his tail around his paws. for a moment, his world was calm.

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tags: @open