The Cinders of Dezu

6th: Keeping Dark (5)

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Julian realized the light was beginning to fade as he latched the cage closed. They had set up both of the traps that Harper had given them just a little ways into the forest around their property. They had placed them in an area full of brush that was peppered with a kind of seed the manual had said was a local treat for small animals. The bait was a smelly paste they had carved out of a local tree.
They had spent the rest of the day trying to sort out how to catch food and this was the last of Julian's tasks for his trapping tutorial. He stood up and looked around. The ground was covered in a raised bed of dark green leaves splayed out trying to collect the last bits of sunlight. The last time he had seen Cairo, he was headed down a hill to his right and had disappeared.

Julian headed over and saw, just a bit down the hills incline, his friend kneeling in front of something. Julian wandered over and looked over Cairo's shoulder. In his hand was a creature that was shaped like a small diamond. It had an exoskeleton like a grasshopper and small insect legs on the bottom edge of the diamond shape. In the center was a large eye. It was eerily human and was wide, darting around in what could clearly be interpreted as fear.

"YO!!!" Julian said, jumping back, "You're touching that thing! Why're you touchin' it??"

Cairo stood up.

"You're gonna need to too. This is it. Watch."

He turned around and held it in front of him. They both watched in silence and stayed still. The eyeballs on either side of the thing wandered around looking at the two of them carefully. Slowly the eyes started to relax. At the top point of the diamond opposite the side with the insect legs, a tiny little floating ribbon began to peak out. Gradually, it revealed itself to be three translucent glowing ribbons that wafted from the diamonds point. They floated upward and began to spin and dance creating a dazzling display of alternating color.

Julian heard himself let air out of his chest as he took in the sight. Cairo lifted up his other hand holding the hunters cage. Julian helped him hold down the metal spring trap so he could carefully place the creature inside. It was large enough that it couldn't quite fit through the openings of the cage. It wandered around continuing it's light display. They both looked around and gradually the forest floor began to be littered with ribbons of flashing color peaking up above the foliage.

"Okay, nine more to go," said Cairo.

It didn't take long to collect all that they needed. There was a sea of dancing rainbow lights as the little things signaled to each other. Julian had to get past his fear of the creepy-crawly long enough to pick them up with the tips of his fingers. But once he did, it wasn't so bad. The bugs weren't overly concerned with self-preservation. When they were approached, their ribbons would die down a bit and they would give the boys a bit of a chase before letting themselves be picked up. Once placed in the cage with the others, they seemed to interact with each other by using their ribbons as feelers. Julian thought he could hear them making tiny chirps to each other as well. Once they had all ten, Cairo placed the cage on the ground in front of them.

"Okay, you ready?" Cairo said.

"Yeah."

Several of the little creature's expressive eyes looked up at the towering figures above them while the rest continued interacting with one another. Cairo took a deep breath.

"One... Two... Three..."

Both of them screamed down into the cage at the top of their lungs. The eyeballs in the cage all widened and shot in all directions. They could see them tremble in the flash before all of the ribbons retracted and the cage went dark.

Julian began laughing. Cairo smiled in the dark and shook his head as he leaned down to open the trap.

"That's messed up."