Two Worlds

Unanswered questions

The way River said it made Ky worried,"Mother? What is man?" He didn't receive an answer. "Is it dangerous?" She nodded. "Very dangerous" Man wasn't just dangerous, he was very dangerous. The most dangerous of all. Now Ky was petrified.
Something shook the leaves above and made Ky run for cover under his mother's legs. "Was that man?" His large ears flipped forwards and backwards, listening to the forest around him. "No, man is-" this time a twig snapped and Ky shrieked. "It's man! MAN! Run for your lives, hide!"
Ky's sound of alarm echoed off the trees and reached the pheasants and turkeys. "Man?" They chirped. "Man. Man? Man! Man-man? MAN!" It became a game of listen and repeat, as they bobbed their heads and fluffed their feathers. They were all rigid and awake, waiting for someone to make the first move.
A twig snapped. "MAN!" Screeched a fearful pheasant taking flight. She was followed by a flock of pheasants screaming and flying, retreating to their nests and chicks. "MAN!" They called to the animals below.
Soon squirrels and chipmunks abandoned their acorns and rushed to safer tree limbs. "MAN!" They squeaked and cried to the songbirds. Who in return, called to the mice, who called to the lizards, who called to the Badgers, who woke the sleeping raccoons, who warned the skunks. (At a safe distance)
The only animals that didn't move were River, Ky, and the sleeping owl. Pheasants swooped low, and their tail feathers smacked River's hide and snout. "It's the end!" Screeched a young pheasant. "Hide your chicks, look for cover!" River huffed and peered down at Ky, huddled under her stomach. "Do you see the mayhem you caused?"
Eying the tree tops River spotted a pheasant and made her move. She soared over rocks and logs, with frightful Ky trying to keep up, until she was below the birds stomach. She revered on her back legs and yanked his tail feathers down. He screeched from the mighty force pulling him down, and flapped his wings furiously. "Let me go Hunter! I wish to live another day!"
Once Ky finally caught up, he saw his mother standing over a poor pheasant with her hoof planting his tail feathers to the ground. "Momma, why are you doing this? We're not going to eat it are we?" She looked at him, completely surprised. "Heavens no! I only wish to speak to him, if he'd stop chirping his silly nonsense."
The pheasant finally calmed down enough to view his hunters, who were just a small family of deer. "Oh." He replied, quite embarrassed now. "Forgive me, miss, but could you please let go of my tail? There's man out here, I don't want to be killed!" Ky was speechless. All this was caused by him speaking the word. Just imagine how they would react if an actual man was in the forest!
"There is no man." River spoke bluntly. "Everything is safe" he looked back at her for a long time, before viewing the forest around him: everything was eerily quiet, as it should have been. Aside from the occasional birds or animals, racing away from an invisible threat, their was no danger. The forest was calm, and still in shock from the sudden rise of action.
"I see." The pheasant cleared his throat and addressed River. "I suppose your right. But I'm interested about how this all started. Surely someone must have seen a man or smelled him. What was the reason for all this?" Now it was Ky's turn to feel embarrassed. His mother turned to look at him, along with the pheasant, expecting an answer. Ky's ears were flattened to his head, and he slowly sunk low, hoping he could disappear.

. . . . . .

After the pheasant bid his farewell and promised to assure the others it was safe, River and Ky continued on with their journey. They remained silent the entire way, until Ky remembered what caused him all this trouble: the open area. With its lack of trees, blue sky, and strange plants. The ones mother scolded him for destroying.
"Mother?" She flicked and ear back. "Are we aloud to eat those strange plants?" She knew what he was asking, but she hoped he was talking about a different plant. "What strange plant?" She asked. "You know" Ky's eyebrows furrowed. "The ones in that strange area." River pursed her lip. "You said I couldn't destroy it, but can we eat it?"
River didn't know how to answer his question. He was trying to get answers, but she didn't think he was ready to know all about man. But she needed to get her point across without scaring him too much. She finally sighed and faced him.
"No Ky. You cannot eat those plants."
"Why not?"
"Because we have plenty of food here."
"But...but besides that. You said man could hurt us, or take us away. Why?" Their was no use sheltering him from the truth. River knew he'd find out eventually, and it was best that she told him.
"Ky, this is very important so listen carefully. Alright?" He settled himself on the ground and looked up at her with big, innocent brown eyes. They wouldn't be innocent for long. "Those plants are man's. They belong to him, and only him."
She could see him understanding so far. "Man does not want us eating his plants." The first question was asked. "How do we know which plant's are man's? There's a lot of green around." River listened closely and nodded. "Man likes to grow his plants outside of the forest. Anything that grows in the forest is safe. Outside plants are not." Then came the second question. "Why are we afraid of man?"
"We're afraid of a lot of things, but man especially. He is not like Cougars or wolves or any forest predator. Man is different. Instead of having sharp claws and teeth, he has metal tools that spit sharp teeth and nails for him. When you see a man, do not fight back like you do a wolf. You must run, and hide."
Then came the third and final question. The one River could not answer, the one she was dreading to tell the truth. "What will man do if we eat his plants, or he sees us Momma." Visions of screaming animals and blaring sticks haunted River's mind. She saw it so clearly: her father's blood, her mother's carcass. She didn't want Ky to see it to.
She leaned closer, to the point where she and Ky were inches apart. River whispered the words so softly, the wind couldn't hear her. "Very bad things, Ky. Very, bad things." His brown eyes were no longer innocent, but slightly clouded and wiser. But safer, now that he understood the true danger of man."What kind of things mother?" Ky asked, but she refused to answer. "I'll tell you when your older."
The sun began to slip below the forest treetops, like a slippery, golden yolk, with the sky being a brilliant shade of red, orange, and yellow. Red like a cardinal's crest, yellow like sun burnt corn, and orange like a monarch butterfly's mosaic wing. Soon the sky became dark like the deep end of small stream, with tiny flashing pebbles sparkling under its surface. The moon came out, but it looked more like the slit of a cougar's eye painted white.
Everything else turned dark and black, as if they were giving up their fantastic colors so night could have the stage.
"Mother" he whispered. "Where are we going tomorrow?" She groaned silently and rolled over to face him. The moon reflected off her eyes and gave them a quiet twinkle. "To the meadow, with all the other deer and fawns. Like you."
"You mean there's more deer? Like us?"
"Yes. There are lots of...there are deer there, yes."
"How come we've never seen any."
"They probably ran and hid from your man alarm." She giggled, but Ky was upset. "It's not funny." He pouted. But when his mother leaned over and kissed him, he couldn't hide his smile.
"The meadow will be fun. You'll meet plenty of friends to play with." She yawned and laid her head on the soft grass. "I know you will. Now go to sleep. We'll leave in the morning." It's funny how when such exciting things are bound to happen in the morning, you can't sleep. Ky rolled around and kicked his mother a few times, but he couldn't stop thinking about the meadow. He couldn't wait to meet fawns like him. Fawns like him. It was weird to hear there were others like his mother and him, since he believed they were the only two in the forest. It disappointed him to hear they weren't special, but he was more excited to hear he wasn't alone.
As the stars grew brighter and the moon rose higher, Ky fell into a deep sleep and dreamed about the meadow filled with fawns and deer. There he would meet the twins he'd become partners in crime with, his father, and the young, strong-headed fawn that would come around and steal his heart. But I believe I spoiled enough for now.

*Author's note*
-first of all, I want to thank everyone for reading my story so far. There's way more to come, so stay tuned
-second of all, sorry about the spoiler at the end. But every good story has a hook of some kind, that will make you want to read on.😋 (please don't think I'm being mean.)
-anyway, I'll try to get the next chapter done either this weekend or going into the week. I have a lot to do today, with school coming tomorrow, and I need to get them done. I hope you understand
-I've decided to update the story on the weekends from now on, with the possible exception of the next chapter. School comes first, always. I really want to do well in school, so I have a good chance at college in the future. (I really want to become a children's book author) well, I'm rambling now, so I'll sum it up: thank you for reading, there's more to come! (I think I've said that at least eight times now)