Your Trail of Blood in the Snow

Chapter 1 (Montimer)

Larry got up earlier than usual. The firewood was exhausted and there was nothing to light the fire with to prepare breakfast. The night before suffered an onslaught of a torrential storm and to avoid the cold he and Montimer decided to have the children sleep with them. Ronnie and Richie were happy, and they all snuggled in as best they could in the small bed, the company and the freezing weather making them all heavy sleepers. They all covered themselves with the same fur, Larry and Monti on the sides, Ron and Richie in the middle, hence why no one noticed Larry was gone until a little later. Montimer was the first to notice. He saw that only he and his children were in bed. It wasn't all that strange, but when he felt an emptiness in the house, he had a slight feeling that something was wrong. A bad feeling. He saw the children sleeping peacefully and covered them with the thick fur they had managed to get in one of the many explorations they had done some time ago. He got out of bed and went to the kitchen, hoping he would find Larry, sitting, drinking hot tea, waiting for him with a cup for him and some dried fruits that tasted so good with the black tea that only Larry knew how to prepare, but he found no one and had a slight shiver; one that entered through his feet and went through his spine reaching the tip of his ears.

He checked all around the inside of the tree they lived in, but he was nowhere to be found. Larry sometimes went outside without telling Montimer, so he figured he was outside. It couldn't have been many minutes since he went off to do who knows what.

He made his way to the entrance of the den and just before pulling back the curtain that awkwardly insulated them from the cold winds he sighed with concern.

When he came out, he saw how the white snow reflected the sunlight. It was a perpetual and merciless white from which no one could get rid of, but he was used to it, even if it always bothered him when it was the first thing he saw in a morning.

Montimer took flight to search around the tree.

"Laaarryyy!" shouted the bat from above.

He landed on a branch and screamed again.

"Laaarryyy!"

Montimer's heart began to race with despair. He didn't know what was going on and many thoughts came out of him. "What if he left?", "What if he left the children and me for good?", "If he left, he had no attachment to us", "It was all a lie!". He began to tremble. He felt a lump in his throat, as if he had something stuck in it, and he couldn't help but feel hurt. It was a pain he had never felt before.

"Larry," he whispered. He brought his right hand to his chest because he felt his heart squeezing.

He continued to look around, but to no avail. His tears emerged like drops from a light opalescent crystal reflecting the sun. He glided to the bridge he built with his own hands for Larry and stopped at the end of the island. Behind him he could see perfectly the tree they had inhabited for a year and he couldn't help but feel dejected. It was then that he noticed something. In the snow, just past where the bridge ended, he saw something sticking out, he couldn't define what it was, but it was moving gently to the sound of the light, flat morning breeze.

He flew to where the moving thing was and a slight uncertainty gradually turned into horror, into fear. It was a feather, large and brown, dancing to the gusting of the wind. "It can't be," he whispered. He picked it up. He knew them. He had seen them before. It was an owl feather. A big one judging by the size of this one.

"Damn it!" he exclaimed.

His eyes opened wider when he saw that in the snow he could see footprints, footprints that showed someone's struggle to escape imminent death and they were first going towards the bridge. He saw some scattered twigs, and it was then when he remembered what Larry mentioned the night before: he had to go to collect firewood, the one they had was only enough for that moment and he told him he would go, not to worry, but for some reason Larry decided to go alone, without telling him anything and now from what he can see... No! he thought, he continued walking and the whole time he was succumbing to tears. Just before he reached the bridge two large holes reflected that the owl landed before the mouse arrived. Larry stopped and then backed up, Montimer imagined, then he ran to the opposite side with all his might, as one can see in the footprints. He followed them and after a while, they just disappeared, just like that.