A Gift To You

Home underneath | Norton

Out in the cold forest among the rich shrubbery and growth you'll find many man- sized holes. If your eyes are sharp, you might catch a glimpse of an albino bunny or two,hiding inside their warm burrows; If you watch the tree line you'll hear the sound of birds at war, fighting over territory and if you really look close enough you'll find an adventurous turtle recording it all for one of his many stories to tell later. But even with all that, there are still more animals to be seen. There are still so many hidden behind trees and rock,deep in the forest where the hybrids live and wander,there something for everyone if you look hard enough.

By the forest sits a mountain, it had long been stripped of all its superficial ore. To anyone else to would be an empty mineshaft but to Norton it was practically buried treasure hidden in plain sight!

"Where are we again?" Ever since you gave him that Shiny shell necklace from your trip to the beach he'd been obsessed with getting you to see his collection as a 'fair trade'. Since you often made trips out near the ocean,too far for him to go, he offered a sort of trading deal,"Norton,aren't we getting a bit far?" You couldn't see the forest path you took anymore and it was getting a bit late.

"Just...come" he tugged you along to a small hill side near a tree at the foot of the mountain. He stopped and dug his hand into the moss and yanked on it,there was a metal door handle that pulled the moss and dirt away revealing a large human sized hole. Inside the hole there were small,tiny light bulbsthat lit the cave up,there was no way he wanted you to go in there! It looked way too tight!!!

"Norton I can't go in there! What if I get stuck?"

"You won't, just Follow me" he crawled in,leaving you outside as dusk started to fall,he wasn't leaving you any choice in the matter. Climbing in after him you hoped and prayed that this wasn't some weird prank or kidnapping. Norton was a quiet man who minded his own business,he never interfered with others and was often seen with his head in the ground. You'd known him for a few months now and formed a nice,steady relationship with the mole.

Norton would trade you gems and rocks for anything he considered valuable, maybe he had something he just couldn't wait to show you? He had a funny way of expressing himself like that.

"Here" you almost bumped into his butt.

"At least warn me first,where the heck are- WE!" You tripped over an unseen root and and the both you tumbled onto hard,polished wood and wait- wood? Stealing him and you he leaned down to examine the floor.

"Dont scuff up my floor" Norton checked the hard wood to make sure it was ok,there weren't any deep scratches,thank goodness.

"Oh yeah don't worry me campbell,I'm fine! Nothing bruised or anything,just peachy!" You knew he'd purposeful let you land on him back when you both fell,it was obvious.

"This way" he pushed another door open,leaving you no time to explore your surroundings. From what you could gather this place was basically a house underground. There was electric wiring and light bulbs that hung from the 'ceiling', a cool breeze blew from somewhere maybe an AC unit? But that wouldn't make alot of sense,how could an AC unit-

"Ow! Tell me when your going to stop! That hurt!" Your rubbed your nose after ramming into Nortons back. He smelled like pine trees and dirt.

"In here" he pushed you along in front of him by the small of your back and closed the door behind himself.

"Oh wow..." the room he'd pushed you into was filled with rocks and gems of all shapes and sized, on the shelves were fossils with cards next to them with names of people who they were,you could only assume, being sold too. And at the very back of the collecting sat a small self of personal looking items and sitting there was the sea shell necklace you'd made for him.