Swan Song || The Lost Boys - & The One Who Found Them...

Chapter I ~ ᚠ ( Fehu ) New Beginnings

" What the--?! "

" Sorry, ma'am. Sorry!", the little 'fox' replied with a nervous voice shortly before a human face emerged from in between the antlers, smiling at me in an apologetic manner.

" I know it's still early, but we were just on our way to school & passed by your house like so many times before so, ehm... yeah, we decided to finally say Hello! "

I pushed a strand of hair out of my face before stepping closer again, blinking against the sun. Upon closer inspection I recognized the fox to be a taxidermic one, although so well preserved that it looked still very much alive. The set of antlers happened to be just one of those 'trophies' I remembered from my uncle's house who had been a devoted huntsman for the longest part of his life, resting in the arms of a young boy who smiled at me like there was no tomorrow, probably to make up for the little scare from earlier.

" Our grandpa sends his regards... or his little dead 'friends' to be more specific, heh... "

" Oh, how... very mindful of you... Thank you! "
It was rather obvious that I wasn't quite sure how to respond; of course I was touched by the kind gesture & the good intention behind it. If only I could say the same about the gift itself...

" You don't have to take them, ma'am. We'd totally understand! We told grandpa that this is not much of an appropriate welcome gift, but he insisted... If you want we can dump this stuff somewhere in the forest or —"

" No, no! It's fine, I'll... I'll take them...
A gift is a gift after all! " Slowly but surely a grateful smile began to blossom on my lips as I reached out to accept the peculiar gifts, much to the young boy's delight. Once the antlers were in my arms I kind of began to understand why; they were insanely heavy.

" Thank you so, so much for the sweet gesture... uhh........? " I raised a brow at my opponent, my spine slightly crooked due to the massive weight of the antlers.

" Sam, ma'am! My name is Sam. Sam Emerson! We live with our grandpa & our mother five minutes away from here, in the house on top of that hill over there! "

He pointed to the left & my eyes followed his lead yet I couldn't see all that much since the antlers were blocking most of my vision.
" We heard you moved here two weeks ago but somehow never managed to introduce ourselves, so we decided to be a little 'bold' today. We apologize if we woke you up though... "

" No need to! I had to get up early today anyway. You actually saved me a lot of trouble. Getting up at such an ungodly time isn't really my strong suit to be honest ~ "
I bent a knee & let the presents slide down my arms to carefully place them onto the porch, stretching my limbs once I got up again.

" It's nice to meet you, Sam. My name is Lilyora-Fay Hella , but people call me Lily. Feel free to do the same. Ma'am makes me feel so... old. Older than I actually am... "

Sam grinned as he extended a hand for a surprisingly strong handshake, his blonde hair glowing in the morning sun.

" Nice to meet you too. Again, I would've come over at a later time, but my brother wanted to do it right after breakfast... Speaking of which, where on earth did he go?! "

Sam turned around mid-sentence, peering over to the white van a few steps away which I assumed belonged to his brother. He stepped away from the porch, straining his neck like a giraffe while trying to overlook the area.

       " Mike?? MIKE! Get your slow ass over here & say Hello! What are you doing there anyway??"

Not even five seconds later another, much taller & visibly older boy appeared in my line of sight, emerging from the shadows of the nearby trees & making his way across the front yard, in his right hand a bunch of what appeared to be freshly picked flowers glowing in vibrant colours.