{A}fter **Dark**--Open--

[{[TeAL]}]

Ah, little Silverkit. She picked up her head and wriggled impatiently in the darkness of the nursery. It was so quiet and so boring! The large she-kit picked herself up onto all of her four paws and plopped herself down on her haunches. She couldn't sleep and she didn't want to sleep. She hardly ever slept and yet she had so much energy inside and outside of her, it was surprising that she didn't fall asleep right when dusk fell. She was always the one who would growl and squeal just for a few more moments of play while the others retreated into the nursery to fall asleep. How they ever became so tired? She didn't know, but she wanted to know! She was wondering what time it was. It felt early, maybe moonhigh?

Sighing, the she-kit shook her head from sleep. It was a long way until the morning, but she didn't want to sleep. She refused to close her eyes. Clamping her eyes shut just brought more confusion, more darkness, and more fidgeting, so what was the use? She didn't need her eyes closed, it was dark enough outside. She made her way across the floor of the nursery to sit at the entrance way of the nursery. The moon was high in the sky, but she didn't know what that mean. The stars were twinkling brightly and she wondered if StarClan was watching over her. She sighed and smiled, closing her eyes for one heartbeat, before looking back up into the sky happily.

Sure, the little she-kit loved to play and loved to create anything that created attention toward herself and others, but the quiet of night always calmed her down. It certainly never calmed her enough to fall asleep like the other, but it brought a certain peacefulness over her. It dulled her playful and rambunctious side and brought out her quiet, more thoughtful side. She was thoughtful all day and every day, yes, but this was a different kind of thoughtfulness. These questions that tore through her mind were ones that the warriors couldn't answer. How many stars were in the sky? Were they our ancestors or others as well? Would she be a star up there when she had finally passed away?

Pulling herself downward, the she-kit tucked her back legs under her and stuck out her two front paws. She placed her head on the tips of both paws, breathing in and out deeply, but keeping her green-yellow eyes wide open. She glanced around the clearing, wondering if anyone else was in the clearing. Probably not. Nothing special had happened so there were no newly appointed warriors sitting there until the first cat woke. Silverkit always seemed to be that one who was up all of the time. At night, she rarely caught another warrior or kit inside the camp or up at all unless they were off to make dirt. She didn't need to disturb them, so she was silent every night she was awake.

She did start to feel tired, but she refused to nod off. Shaking her head internally and externally, she hoped that drowsiness would finally subdue, fading away. It didn't though, but it happily came slowly. So slowly, she didn't realize at first. "I don't want to sleep!" she almost cried out. Luckily, the she-cat's voice was muffled due to her maw being rested on her paws. She didn't want to be heard She had yet been caught for staying up late and she never intended on being caught. She knew that when she became an apprentice, she would fall asleep easily because of training, but chasing butterflies and fighting with the other kits just never seemed to be enough to take much out of her.

A yawn split open Silverkit's maw and a small squeal escaped her. Small. Silverkit hoped that it was small. She tried to make herself appear smaller by slinking into the shadows, but he pelt was such a radiant white, it was hard to mistake the ball of fluff. She was large for a kit, too, so that didn't help her poor cause. She wouldn't get caught, she'd never get caught as long as she was a kit. She would make sure of it. If another cat came to speak to her, she'd sit like a statue and not say anything. Or maybe she could play dead! No, no that would be terrible, because what if she did a good job of it? She'd hurt many people!

As the she-cat began to think of many different ways to escape being cornered and yelled at, she didn't realize how her eyelids were slowly drooping. It was like a drug that was taking over her whole body, releasing some sort of liquid poppyseed inside of her. She sighed a muffled, grumbled sigh against her paws and didn't even pick herself up to drag herself to her nest. She lost the battle against tiredness, but she supposed it was alright. Maybe she could stay awake the next night. She had plenty more nights to meditate by herself until she became an apprentice. She smiled one and gave a sigh as she finally closed into the realm of her dreams, where she chased butterflies happily, and adventured to unheard of places that would soon be forgotten as she opened her eyes the next morning.

Out of Character::

Muse:: Wonderful, for it being 12:17 a.m. on a Wednesday morning when you know you have to go to school in 6 hours. Truly wonderful. Heh. Imagine what I can do at three in the morning. I can create long posts at 3 a.m., so I should do this every night.

Inspiration:: I'm tired. Very, very tired. I should be, but I drank some caffeine and it worked wonders.

Status:: Finished!

Word Count:: 1019

[N i G H T i e e *]

I'LL POST W/ NIGHTSHADE : D

tomorrow.