User:Furzetuft/Work/1

''The gorge. Solid rock beneath paws, dazzling sunlight overhead. The echo of rushing water far below. Pebble'pelt looks across the deep crack in the landscape, her eyesight strangely adequate for a cat who has recently lost an eye. She stares across the rocky plain, the sunlight bouncing off the rounded stones and creating heat waves cascading towards the sky. The light is almost blinding, sending a migraine through the scrawny oriental's skull. The land ahead of her is swamped by a white light, as is all means of possible escape. Her head pounding from overstimulation, Pebble'pelt turns around, and spots a muscular silver tabby who bears striking similarity to herself, behind her. Pebble'pelt utters a greeting to her sister, an uncomfortable feeling shuddering throughout her fragile body. She tries to calm down, convincing herself that it is okay, reassuring herself that Minnow'fang would never harm her. As the uncomfortable encounter continues, Pebble'pelt forces herself to breathe, pushing her paranoia aside, waiting for Minnow'fang to respond but instead watching her stand motionless a few tail-lengths behind her. Her sister's sturdy frame was tensed, her fur on end, without uttering a word. Minnow'fang glares at her sister, harbouring an expression that Pebble'pelt could only decipher as pure hatred. Without so much as a warning, Minnow'fang leaps at Pebble'pelt, who has barely any time to react, and collides with her, her heavier weight pushing Pebble'pelt towards the drop. Pebble'pelt tries to squirm away, her body struck with a wave of panic, but her limbs seem paralysed, refusing to work no matter how hard she tried. She staggers backward and tumbles over the gorge, the wind clashing with her fur and the rumbling of the unforgiving waves advancing closer with every heartbeat.''

Pebble'pelt awoke, her eyesight blackened for a second in panic. She stumbled to her paws, looking around wildly, before realising that she was back at home in WindClan. She panned around the camp, her breath still stagnant, as she took in the sight of her clanmates sleeping peacefully and the stars shining in the sky. The dark gray oriental stood in disbelief for a moment, before settling down, taking deep breaths to calm herself. She looked upwards and studied the stars in the sky, hoping to find familiar shapes of plants and prey, as a means of distraction. This time, though, the stars could not comfort her. Pebble'pelt curled up into the tightest ball she could, trying to warm herself from the cold wind rushing across the moor. Her frame wasn't built for these conditions, and she knew it. None of the other cats in camp looked like her.

Her abnormally large ears, her skinny, lanky body, her elongated muzzle, her seemingly stretched limbs- Pebble'pelt knew that she didn't belong here. She didn't make a big deal of it- after all, if she victimised herself she would come across as pathetic- but that didn't stop her mind from scrutinizing every aspect of herself whenever she screwed up. ''You can't hunt properly because you're not strong enough. You can't fight properly because you're too weak. You don't look like the other warriors because you're not supposed to be one. You're supposed to be in a Twoleg nest, looking pretty and having lots of kits, because that's all you're good for. Should you ever meet another cat in battle, you're dead.''

Pebble'pelt pushed her paws over her ears in an effort to blank out this assault on her confidence, but this had no effect. She looked up, trying to discern where the moon was in the sky. If the moon was facing westward, the sun would come up soon and she could distract herself, going about her day on patrol or hunting, pushing aside any feelings of self-doubt or worthlessness. But the moon was almost directly above camp, protruding waves of light onto WindClan territory and practically illuminating the clearing. Pebble'pelt sighed in dismay.

She didn't understand why other cats seemed to love sleeping so much- what was so good about it? Pebble'pelt couldn't remember the last time she had a pleasant dream. Half of the nights she was plagued with discomfort during her sleep- ranging from nonsensical tales her brain was spewing about clan life and prey turning sentient, and at the worst, horrific nightmares where she was running from a terrifying beast, her limbs slowly freezing up as she tried to escape, or being pinned down and ripped to shreds by a faceless rogue with blood dripping from their fangs, or being forced to watch the cats she cared about horrifically slaughtered in gruesome detail, one by one. The other half of the time Pebble'pelt couldn't remember her dreams, and instead lay tossing and turning, unable to fall into the deep sleep she so desperately needed. After a while of rolling over and staring around the camp with drooping eyelids, Pebble'pelt finally fell asleep. Her brain spared her from the paranoia-fuelled dreams this time and instead she lay in a deep slumber, her head still pounding from the built-up stress she couldn't escape from.

The scrawny she-cat awoke to the unwelcome sound of birds chirping and the sunrise burning into her eyelids. She initially turned around trying to hide from it, but soon she could feel the sun rays blazing into her pelt.