Never the Same

It had been some time since the fire happened. It had all been a blur to her, the memories a little fuzzy by day, but at night...terror struck her almost nightly. The pain she felt on the right side of her face had dulled a bit, but she had not looked at herself since. Her singed fur was regrowing a little, but only the parts that hadn't gotten too burned. She had no idea what was going on with her face, nobody told her the extent of the damage. They came, tended to her wounds, and left. Mostly because she refused to speak to anyone...it hurt too much.

But tonight, she slunk out of the den and hobbled along the Rapids, carefully placing her paws one in front of the other under the midnight moon. She doubted anyone was awake now, but she wasn't sure. She wanted to find a secluded spot where the water was calm...she needed to know what she looked like now.

Mismatched paws brought her to a slow, steady part of the river that broke off into a tiny puddle on the shoreline. She felt her heart pounding hard against her chest, afraid of what she might see...maybe it wasn't as bad as she thought it might be. Maybe she was just over exaggerating...being overdramatic...swallowing, she carefully scraped off the herbal bandages, wincing when her nails accidentally bumped or tugged the skin underneath.

When she felt like it was all off, she slowly opened her eyes and stared at the puddle. She was confused at first, because half of that puddle looked darker than than the other half. With a pounding heart, she leaned in closer until her face was right above the water and a frightened gasp escaped her. The right side of her face was marred, the burned flesh visible and no fur remained. She didn't know if it would grow back or not, but...that wasn't all she had lost. She noticed her right eye was partially clouded, and she swallowed as the reality sunk in.

She had lost more in that fire than she thought.

Her right eye was partially blind, the fire had taken more than it's fair share from her. She was hideous, now. The young destruction slumped to her haunches and quietly began to sob. Why hadn't she been more careful?