Rio walks through the arctic regions, searching for something to eat. Ever since he was kicked out of his mother's territory, he had to care care for himself and make sure he survives without assistance.
"Where, oh where could the food be?" Rio asks himself, his ears twitching and perking as he attempts to listen for prey, his eyes looking out for anything that poses as a danger to him.
Rio stands still after hearing the squeak of a rodent. A mouse.
Rio stands still, trying to identify where the mouse could be, his black-tipped tail wagging anxiously as he waits and watches for predators.
"Come on..." Rio whispers to himself.
"The arctic life is tough for we arctic foxes," Rio's mother used to say. "Polar bears, wolves, eagles, grizzly bears can kill us." Rio's mother warned.
"One day, you'll have to leave my den. My territory. And fend for yourself. You can find rodents, lemmings, voles, and other mammals to eat. And if you can't find those, look for birds, insects, eggs, berries, reptiles, and amphibians," Rio's mother suggested. "Find none. Try again. Something else catches it. Find something else. Try not to starve." Rio's mom would say.
Rio was 4 when she said that. When Rio turned 7, he and his 10 sisters and 4 brothers were kicked out of his mother's territory.
Rio was... the smallest of his kin, you could say. His eldest sister, Adair, would say.
"Being small allows you to better hide from predators!" Adair said.
Rio's eldest brother, Alun, was the opposite of Adair.
"Being small makes you more vulnerable to predators!" Alun would complain.
Finally, Rio hears the exact position where the mouse is and he silently digs the snow above the mouse before pouncing into the hole.
He grabs the mouse with his mouth, teeth digging into the soft flesh, staining his muzzle with its blood as he emerges from the snow to eat it.
"You're too small to be a predator!" Rio's other brother, Alwyn, complained.
"Rio is too scared to hunt!" Anahita, Rio's second sister, would complain to their parents.
"He probably won't mark his own territory and die the second he's kicked out!" Arms would say, worried for her youngest brother.
Rio always felt like an outcast.
"Is that what I am? Weak?" Rio would ask himself.
Rio rarely left the den, too scared of what might endanger him.
"Rio, your sisters and brothers have already learnt how to hunt. It's about time I teach you, too." Rio's father would say.
"Do I have to? Why can't we and the smaller live in peace?" Rio would question.
"In the arctic regions, life is tough. Eat what you can catch." Rio's father explained.
Adair, Anahita, Arna, Avonlea, Clodagh, Duna, Eyre, Guadalupe, India, and Kallan. Rio's sisters.
They were always the kindest to him because he was the youngest.
Alun, Alwyn, Bainbridge, and Bradford. Rio's brothers.
They were always ruder to him because he was the youngest.
"Will I even be able to survive? I've only survived out here alone for a year..." Rio asks himself as he walks away from the mouse's carcass.
Rio was always the one seen as "weak" in his family. His mother would comfort him when he got scared, his father would get him extra prey because of his small size.
It sucked.
His brothers viewed lowly of him. And so did some of his sisters.
His parents would do their best to encourage him to hunt so he could survive.
Rio is scared. How long will it take before he dies?
Rio wants to die. He's only barely avoided predators. They got too close for comfort.
Rio doesn't want to live in the arctic. It's too dangerous. Too rough.
Will he ever find a friend? He's too shy to ask.
