Lost Change - Snippets

Alone

Or, as the encyclopedia in my head informed me, its 'drey'.

A slow glance at the watch told me it had been barely half an hour when the squirrel returned. It had a large acorn jammed into its mouth and seemed rather pleased with itself as it scurried up the side of the tree.

I stared at it, still trying to process what I intended to do.

The squirrel paused halfway up the tree and looked around. It fluffed out its tail and whipped it through the air a few times, making an odd chittering noise and looking around in all directions... then it darted the rest of the way up the tree, disappearing into the nest.

Or rather - into the 'drey'.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. This is for Susie. You have to do this. If you don't, Susie is going to starve to death. She will get slowly weaker and weaker, and fall apart, and be in pain, and then die a horrible, painful death, all while you watch and do nothing. You have to do this, Nate. You have to. She doesn't know how. She needs you to do it for her.

I took another deep breath.

You have to.

I glided from my hiding space and sunk my claws into the bark of the tree trunk. I scurried upwards, following the path the squirrel had taken and darting up to the small hole in the mass of leaves and twigs. I paused just long enough to pull my wings all the way in, making myself as small as possible... then I slipped into the nest.

A sudden explosion of noise filled the air around me. My eyes were still adjusting to the darkness, but an instinct drove me to hiss in the direction of the noise. The screeching sound ended as my angry hiss echoed through the small hollow, and I felt a faint shaking in the walls around me. Something trembling.

I waited while my eyes adjusted to the darkness. Or at least, that's what I told myself I did. I could still hear the sound of panicked breathing just a short distance ahead of me. The walls were tiny, and there was nowhere else the squirrel could be. I didn't need to see - I didn't want to see; I could just swipe ahead with my claws, slash at the empty air in front of me... and at the not empty air in front of me... then I could climb back out with food for Susie. With another few days of healthy life for her.

I waited while my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

My eyes gradually made out the sight of my surroundings. Faint light filtered through the tightly clustered leaves - not as bright as the outside world, but enough for my eyes to pick up on. The squirrel slowly appeared from the darkness, and my ear tufts flicked with sympathy. The animal was clearly terrified. It was scratching away at the top of the 'drey', shoving aside the leaves and twigs that made the roof. The ceiling that had protected it from notice of predatory birds, but which now trapped it inside with a predator.

It was frantically tearing everything apart so as to escape. In a few seconds it would tear open a hole, and it would be gone.

I took another deep breath and prepared to lunge forward. Just a quick bite at its neck. Crush its windpipe, sever its spine, and that would be... it would all be...

A soft mewling sound came from the darkness, and the squirrel froze in renewed terror.

My eyes widened... and with the extra light, I saw the faint outline of something small and pink at the far side of the tunnel. Just barely visible around the fluffed out tail of the terrified squirrel.

More mewling sounds started to fill the air as the squirrel and I both fell silent. Three? Maybe four?

The voices of the terrified squirrel babies called out to their parent, begging for comfort from the terror that had invaded their nest.