The Elk

Draft 2

The boy carved his name into the oak. From the brush, the elk focused on him. It had been following the boy for months, turning into a year. It watched the boy destroy every tree with the sharp point he had. The elk didn't know exactly what it was. The elk emerged from the forest edge after the boy moved on to see the damage. The boy heard the elk's hooves on the sidewalk and turned to watch the elk weep over the scars on the trunk. Its tears dripped into the scratches, closing them. Then, it stared at the boy with hatred. The boy stepped back before glaring in return. The elk then turned away and mourned the tree.

The boy came home to find the elk by the birch in his yard. Why did it love trees like this? They are just trees. The boy tossed his backpack down and took out his pocketknife. The elk's eyes grew into the tree. The elk winced in pain, howling without opening its mouth. It reared up with a bray and bit the boy's shirt. He struggled as the elk ran into the forest, leaping over bushes and logs. It then stopped in front of a glowing tree. Flower patches lay scattered in various places around the tree. The elk then dropped the boy. Vines descended from the tree's branches and dug its ends into the elk's skin. The boy recoiled in disgust as its fur peeled off, but instead of revealing muscle and blood, it revealed a texture of back as if the entire animal was made of wood. Scratches covered the creature's body. The boy recognized the scratches. He had destroyed this animal.

The vines then sprouted flowers that secreted a substance. They began patching the cracks, making the wood smooth once more. The vines put the skin back into place as the elk turned to the boy, weeping sap. Guilt tugged at the boy's stomach.

The elk turned its head to a rustling. An older elk came stumbling into the woods practically crawling toward the tree. Before it could reach it, its legs crumbled under its weight like twigs. It collapsed, closely followed by the bone shaking sound of a grown tree falling over. The elder's skin and fur dissolved into the ground so its mangled wooden insides touched the grass. Moss crawled onto the wood and flowers sprouted on the body. Another grave settles into the earth.

The elk stares hard at the boy, as if wanting him to understand something. The boy looked at the graves. He felt like he didn't understand the elk's point of view. He turned to it, looking deep into its eyes and whispered,

"Help me understand you." The elk huffed and lowered its head. Its antlers slowly unraveled into vines and they wrapped around the boy, pulling him closer. Their eyes seemed to become one as the elk's eyes glowed. It blinked once and the glow transferred to the vines, then to the boy. The vines resumed their position on the elk's head as the boy began to change. The glow soon left, revealing a younger elk. He looked at his new body. A sprout then grew out of the ground. A new tree for a new elk...