Skip to main content

He didn't want to scare him

Storm woke to the sun shining through the leaves of the Fledgling den. Birds chirped occasionally, though not nearly as much as they did most mornings. He raised his head and looked around the mostly empty den The only other Fledglings in the den with him were Bone Ripple, and Tremble, the other Fledglings who had gone to the Meeting last night.

Squirrel pushed his way into the den and his face lit up when he saw Storm awake.

Squirrel tiptoed around the still-sleeping lynxes in their cuddle pile and came to lick Storm’s ear. “Good morning,” He purred quietly as he groomed Storm’s ears. “How was the meeting last night?”

Storm sleepily told Squirrel all about the meeting, even mentioning when he made new friends from the different tribes.

“Your new friends sound fun! BleedingJay sounds like he needs to calm down, though.”

Storm nodded. He was feeling more alert as his brain woke up. The day birds were chirping softly, way softer than the morning birds.

“What time is it?” Storm asked, standing and stretching. He took a moment to lick his fur and groom it down from where it stood on end, being pushed that way from how long and heavily he slept on it.

Squirrel purred a bit as he helped groom Storm’s fur into submission. “It’s noon. Ember made an announcement this morning about all Fledglings being trained in different tribes to build camaraderie between us and strengthen relationships. You wouldn’t happen to know what that’s about, would you?”

Storm paused for half a second in his grooming. He wasn’t sure if he was allowed to share the bad news with Squirrel. He didn’t want to scare Squirrel, but he had a right to know about the foxes and the crows. 


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

She's not afraid of anything

       The four kids huddled around the small flame of the candle, hoping their bodies would be enough to shield the tiny flame from the massive winds.      "So." One of them, a small boy with mousey brown hair and eyes to match, started. "We know that all of us see the monster differently."     "Yes." The kid next to him, a smaller girl with wide, blue eyes and blonde pigtails agreed. "I've never seen a snake so big!"     "Right." A second boy with curly, ginger hair and blue eyes responded. "And I saw a big, big dog."     "The first boy spoke again to bring up, "I saw my doctor with a needle bigger than his arm."     The ginger boy looked at the last child, a girl with short, brown hair and green eyes. "What did you see, Adeline," he asked her.     She looked up from where she had been playing with a bug, trying to get it to crawl onto a stick she'd found nearby. "Oh, I-I haven't see...

Do you believe in fate?

 Ken awakes as a groggy mess. He's had that exact same dream again. The one where the woman whom he doesn't know bleeds to death in his arms, and as she's choking on her own blood, she begs him to not blame himself. He's never understood why he has this dream so often, but it's a little concerning.  He considers bringing it up to his therapist as he stumbles from his room to the bathroom to get his day started. Once he's able to shake the cobwebs of his nightmare off his brain and get some caffeine in his system, he's on his way to work.  Halfway through his shift at the cafĂ© he's pretty much forgotten his dream and he's gotten into a groove of busting tables, taking orders, and making drinks when a new face walks in. Only, it's not entirely new to him.  She's the woman from his dreams. It's nice to see her not covered in blood. She gives him the same look of bewilderment and slight freight he's sure he has to be giving to her. As she...

This will hurt

 The abandoned child I'd taken in earlier that day slept peacefully in my lap. The voice of the god who gave me immortality wiggles its way into my head.  "This will hurt." I take a deep breath. "I know." I know just how much it'll hurt to watch this kid grow up, fall in love, get his heart broken, make friends and lose them, become an adult, and old man, and eventually die. It's going to hurt to watch all of his achievements and failures. All of his best and worst days.  The early days are going to hurt a lot too, as I help him overcome his traumas, as I teach him there is love in the world and I hold some of that love and am willing to share it with him. Holding him after nightmares, sitting with him as he breaks down over triggers I don't fully understand, showing him all for patience and softness I can as he struggles to understand I'm not going to hurt him. "Why do you keep doing this? It always hurts you." "I want to help......