Child of Earth

1

Author's Note:

Hey guys! Thanks soooo much for giving COE a chance, it really does mean a lot. I know that I've already got quite the following but every time someone votes or the views goes up by a hundred in a week, it really makes me smile. So thank you all again for making this possible. It's a dream come true.

- Em

-X-

As the last few minutes of light shone through the forest's almost none-existent canopy of leaves, I knew I had to be quick; my time was almost up.

Winter had hit home harder than usual, but with the cold season almost over, the confidence I had in my home's flimsy walls had grown. At least it never snowed around these parts, making tracking a lot easier and the possibility of my ceiling collapsing in on itself less of a worry.

Pushing these thoughts to the back of my mind, I crept closer to my prey, crouching amongst the thin shrubbery as I pulled out my loyal dagger, making sure to keep all my movements slow and silent as I un-sheathed the beautiful weapon.

Knowing that tonight would be cold, I wore my grey jeans and a dark pull over hoodie. Because of my not-so-small fear of being blind (whether literally or figuratively), I never had my hood up, unless it was raining, making thick shrubbery and moonless nights another reason for my life to be difficult.

I knew I couldn't shoot the damn animal; I was so close to it that it would hear me knocking an arrow no matter how slowly I did it. I'd just have to hope that my dagger could bring this thing down.

See now, deer don't live here in Australia, but it might've just run away from a zoo or something... But I really don't care; I would never question the opportunity of fresh meat like this (even if it was under such strange circumstances).

I focused my sharp, storm grey eyes on my unsuspecting target and with my free hand, tucked my long, dark brown hair over my right shoulder to keep it from obscuring my view.

Being that I was tall, thin and athletic, I would have been considered attractive if I'd been a normal girl, but when you live alone and haven't had a social interaction with a person for just under a year, you don't really care how well your shirt matches your jeans.

But, like always, my dagger's sheath was at my belt, my binoculars around my neck and my bow and quiver resting between my shoulder blades.

Hunting was the only thing I really did these days.

My dinner had decided to hide behind a large gumtree. So, to keep my dinner in sight, I had to creep around it. But when I rounded the tree's thick, mangled trunk, the deer was no longer there.

I cursed my bad luck in muted grumbles and scoured the bushes around me, looking for where it might have gone. There was no sign of it anywhere.

Sighing softly, I collapsed against a tree stump, brought my knee up under my chin and whistled softly, a signal for my friend to appear.

A mere minute later, the big beautiful owl I know and love as Awnnie, landed on the trunk behind my head, buffeting my hair in all directions with his large wingspan before ruffling his feathers proudly and letting out a small squawk of power, just to show who's boss.

I smiled slightly, reaching a hand behind me to stroke his feathers. "Awnnie, could you see where it went?" I asked, staring him straight in his yellow eyes over my shoulder.

Awnnie regarded me for a second before turning his head in every direction and then back to me as if to say; No I thought you could...

Sometimes I felt as if I knew exactly what he was trying to tell me.