sooty travels

Chapter 1: First plays

a small, spotted grey and desaturated brown creature lays on the grass, moonlight slowly becoming blocked by clouds the moment it opens its eyes. tiny gasps can be heard around the field. the cows began to crowd, their calves confused on their mother's shocked expressions. "It's.. black. And grey.." they all whispered between eachother, till one stepped forward with a mighty stomp. "Back off the calf. I am aware such....colorations bring bad luck. But it's not right to crowd a calf, let's all back up and leave it with its mother." They walked off.

"Hey are you guys playing tag?" The three other calves stepped back. "Not with you. You'll make something happen to us." Sooty frowned. "That's not true! I'm not bad luck." they giggled a bit. "Yeah sure." They said, walking off. Sooty dejectedly walked to his mother. "what happened this time, sooty?" "They won't let me play tag, say I'm bad luck." She sighed, sitting down to sooty's level. "Look sooty; I know you aren't bad luck, but others don't. It's a weird deep-rooted tradition, and I know it's stupid, trust me I do; but it's okay." Sooty nodded, and laid down. The moon shone bright; sooty looked up at it and the clouds closed off its light. Of course. The next morning, sooty awoke with a yawn. He got up to go eat some of those nice berries growing on the edge of the field, but his mother stood in front of him. "Now now sooty, you know I gotta come with you!" He groaned. "I'm a big calf! I can go eat some lousy berries on my own." His mother snorted. "No, now come on." She said, taking him to the river for a drink. Before he bent down to sip, he watched all the other mothers with their calves, eating, drinking, playing. He sighed. Why did nobody want to play with him? He got a quick sip, he wasn't very thirsty. His mother was still drinking. He got a...idea. He snuck back behind her while she drank, and slowly trotted across the field to the berry bushes. Trees looked over there, creating the forests edge. He nibbled at the berries, good as always. As he gorged himself on the berries—he heard a rustle from the bushes. He looked up, gazing into the crowded forest of shrubs and low hanging trees. Probably nothing. He shrugged, bending back down. Crrrackk! He snapped back up. He got a bit closer, looking at the forest. He looked behind him, and with a deep breath, stepped inside. Bushes and branches brushed him, he had only ever been in the field. He looked around, still not far from the tree line. Then he stepped on something. He bent down, it wasn't snapping like a twig. He squealed in fear, it was a bone. The bone had already been cracked, as if snapped in half by chomping jaws. He practically flung himself back into the field, before being cut off by his mother. "Now what do you think your doing?!" He looked down while his mother guided him back to the field, still scolding him. He was in shock—a bone? Cracked in half at that! What could've done that? Why was it cracked? Why was it so close? Why was it—He was cut off by his mothers words. "That forest isn't usually that dangerous.." though it was more of a mutter to herself. Of course. It was me. IM a weirdo black bad luck calf who made the forest scary! He sighed, dejectedly following his mother. Daylight still shone bright. It was a clear sky, barely any clouds, like a ocean. He lifted his head, figuring he could probably go play with other calves, maybe. CRRRRACCKKK! He jumped. Lightning. He looked up, and of course, clouds had surrounded the sky, closing it off. And not long after, it started to pour. What did I expect? I'm bad luck. The other cows led their calves under trees and other things to block the rain. His mother did the same, leading him to a crowd of trees, surrounded by budding flowers of some kind. He watched the rainfall. The sun set faster then normal, it seemed. He laid his head down, might as well sleep. His mother was already dozing. He fell asleep with a sigh. The next morning, he woke up. As he stood, he felt a itch on his head. He shook his head, hoping it was flies or something. Nope, still there. He groaned. Why am I so itchy? His mother was awake, but gently laying beside a tree. He bounced closer to the tree, and rubbed his head on it; surprisingly it was scratching that itch. He kept rubbing his head on it, back and forth, side to side. His mother looked at him, then his head, and giggled. She crept closer to him, and nudged him with a hoof. "Huh?" He said, shaking his head to look at his mother. "I know why your little head is so itchy." He smiled. "Really? Why? Do I have fleas or something?" "No silly, come look." She said, leading him to the river. "Look in your reflection." He looked at his reflection, as told. On his head were two little buds. "Antler buds!" He said excitedly. Yessss! I'm getting antlers! He tapped his hooves with excitement. He had always heard stories of big bulls with huge antlers slamming them into trees, fighting other bulls with them, and most importantly.. using them to absolutely destroy wolves! His mother giggled at his excitement. "Alright settle down a bit, get a drink then we can go eat some of those berries." "The ones that grow on the edge of the field?" He questioned. "Nope, the ones by the top of the stream." He groaned, but nodded. After they finishing drinking, they trotted over to the top of the stream and munched on the little purple-ish berries. The twigs of the bush had thorns however; meaning sooty may or may not have gotten a splinter in his nose. After they finished munching, his mother grazed around near a tree while sooty ran about. Sooty ran and jumped over pebbles, he had learned his lesson to not try and jump over the big boulders; since last time he did that he hit his head. After he got bored of running around, he went by the tree his mother was grazing around, and scratched his head on it. "Look mom, I'm a big bull." He said, ramming his head into the tree softly. His mother giggled. "Be careful now, don't hurt yourself mr. big antlers." And kept grazing. Sooty turned to look at her, she was moving and eating. He had never learned to do that. So he bounded up beside her and tried to copy it. He kept biting his tongue or tripping. He couldn't figure it out. "Mom, how do you do that?" "Do what?" She questioned, raising from her eating.
"Eat while moving." "Oh, it's kinda simple. Just chew and walk." That's what I've been doing! He sighed and decided to give it another shot. He bent his head down, and tried to do as she said. Chew and walk. Surprisingly, he figured it out! He managed to actually eat some grass while moving; though he was kind of tripping over himself as he was so focused on chewing. I did it! What a great day, antler buds and I'm eating like the big elk!

1260 words