Crystal Water

Chapter 5

And he did. Hady left. There was no sight of him after I went back inside the den, furious of his words. I guess you could say I didn't regret it. Even though he was my last living sibling, he didn't feel like one to me. It was they day after burying Hail and Hady leaving, and Mother and I hadn't even bothered to look for Hady. He decided to leave. Or at least that's what mother thought she knew. She still didn't know I told him to go, and I didn't plan on telling her that. She didn't need to know. It was better off having her know Hady as a selfless, heartless kin like he was. It was morning now, and Mother and I were about to leave to go find food.

"Wait," Mother said as we were about to leave to go find food. "Maybe you should stay and guard the den while I go find something to eat.

I sat by the box entrance. "Are you sure?" I asked. Mother nodded.

"What if Hady comes back?" She asked.

Sitting back, I nodded. "Yea, you're right." I touched my nose to her's as she stood up. "I'll stay."

Mother smiled. "Okay." She said. I watched her leave the den, and pad across the clearing, where the snow had already half-melted. Maybe the sun's happy Hady's gone, and that's why it's out. I thought to myself and giggled. It's the first day he's gone, and the weather is already way warmer than before. But maybe it's just because spring is just around the corner.

Once mother disappeared, I lay down and rested my head on my paws, my muzzle facing the den exit, my nose just sticking outside. Tiredness swept over me, but I forced my eyes to stay open. I let the sunlight shine in my eyes, and keep them alive. I needed to stay awake and keep guard. But as minuted past, the sun didn't help keep me awake, but just made my eyes even more tired. I dozed off.

The next time I woke, I didn't know how long it had been. I couldn't remember where the sun was last, just before I woke up, so I couldn't tell the time. Sitting up, I was now alert, watching every move around, from either a bird in the distance or the rustling of leaves. I became bored. It felt like forever keeping watch, waiting for mother to come back. I stood up and shook out my pelt, stepping outside where the sunlight still shone. I let it warm my fur. Checking the scent for any new smells, I found nothing but the squirrel that was nibbling on something by a tree root to my right. I watched it for a while, looking at him or her eating food. At least they could easily find food. We positively couldn't. It was almost impossible. But mother was gone for a while now. I never remembered being gone for this long while looking for food, but maybe she just couldn't find anything. I don't even know how long it had been anyways.

So the sun began to set, and I've become worried. She'd left about noon, when the sun was in the middle of the sky. Hady hadn't come back, and neither had mother.

It was almost night now, and I gave up on waiting for mother. I didn't know where she was. Maybe she was lost. It was too late in the day to go find her, so I just decided to go to bed and wait until tomorrow morning. My stomach growled as I padded back inside the box and lay on the corner side of the den, where the blanket folded up into comfortable pillow-like comforters. I rested my head on one of the blanket's lumps and closed my eyes. But suddenly I wasn't tired anymore. Just knowing the fact that my mother was missing, that she was outside in the cold, not in the box next to me, taking each other's warmth and snuggling into the blanket. The red blanket that I was the only one laying in. This never happened. I never slept alone, not once in my life. It scared me. I sat up, the moonlight trickling into the box, setting the ruffled red blanket a silver. Maybe sleeping in mother's usual spot would help me sleep. So I can pretend she's right next to me. So I can sleep. I got up and took a couple steps over to the other corner of the box. The blanket there was matted down from mother always sleeping there. It was her spot. Memories flooded back from when I was just a little pup, snuggling up next to mother, trying to catch her warmth as my small body hadn't been big enough to produce my own heat. But the horror of pup-hood came back as I settled down into mother's spot and closed my eyes. I remembered opening my eyes for the first time, seeing Markus. My best friend. My brother. He was gone now. Taken by some humans, and possibly, most likely, killed. And it was all my fault. I found that smell that led me to that building. I led Markus and myself in. I led him to his deathbead.