A Furry Tale

1.) One Last Sunset

It was this one moment that made Skyler more aware of the things that nature had to offer.

The two brightest shades of pink and orange combining in the distant horizon only brought out he beauty in the brightness of the sun. Cars drove by, soon to be consumed by the colors off in the distance, and Skyler was able to witness it all. The cool summer breeze that appeared here and there only added on to what seemed to be the most perfect evening. Skyler's short blue hair only coincided with the flow of the air, occasionally blowing past her face. Her snow white fur only followed in suit with the direction of the breeze, making her feel the comfort and relaxation you would only get from nature. Skyler closed her eyes, but couldn't imagine anything better than what she was experiencing as of right now. She leaned back in her mahogany rocking chair, using the force from the ground to push her forward and back again to get a good, comfortable front row seat in the show of nature.

Skyler reached into the front pocket of her slightly torn jeans and pulled out a blue iPod. She then digged through the pocket more and pulled out a pair of white headphones and quickly inserted them into her device. She turned on her iPod and shuffled through a list of songs until she found some smooth jazz. She plugged the headphones into the both of her pointed ears and got another glance at the sun; this time descending halfway along the horizon. The colors had begun to fade away and nighttime was slowling filling up the sky as the sun found it's way under the infinite horizon. Skyler looked up and white stars had already begun to spread out across the sky, shining down on her.

Skyler looked around and noticed that the cars that occasionally drove up and down her street had lessened; no more people walked along the sidewalks. In essence, the streets were now empty. With a long sigh, Skyler put a pause on her music as she slowly got up from her rocking chair and walked toward her front door. She looked behind her and got one last look at the night sky before opening the door, emerging into her home.

Skyler closed the door behind her and soon noticed her mom was in the kitchen. The blue apron covering her was covered itself, but only by stains from food. The heat circulated all around the house, even though all of the smoke was only coming from one area. Skyler saw her mom suddenly rush over to her, her glasses covering her gray eyes whole. Skyler had once put them on herself when she was younger, but she never could see anything through them; everything became a blur. Her mom always told her it was only for people with bad eyesight, but she never understandood how that was possible. Even now at 17 the purpose of them were still an enigma to her, and nothing her mom could say would clear up anything.

Skyler's mom took off her place oven mitts and threw them on the table. She then threw her arms around Skyler, pulling her into a tight hug. Her mom's snow white fur brushed against hers, giving her a sense of comfort that only her home could bring to her.

"Got some fresh air?" Skyler's mom asked while slowly pulling away from the hug, meeting Skyler's eyes.

"Yes, mom," Skyler giggled. Her mom always asked her that throughout her entire childhood, and each time she did, she always felt like she was a small child once again. "the weather was perfect."

"Well I hope you enjoyed it," Said her mom, turning around and walking back into the kitchen. The mood had suddenly lost it's affect. "because it's going to be raining all this week. Don't forget your umbrella when you're off to school tomorrow."

Skyler opened her mouth, but hesitated. She almost forgot that tomorrow started her senior year of high school. It never occurred to her through the past few minutes. She was too caught up in the blissful mood for school to come across her mind.

"Yeah, school." Skyler quickly replied with a sigh. The weight of going to a new school had found it's way on her once again. After moving to Texas, her mom and her brother had always talked about getting used to the new environment they would live in. Her mom never talked about school though, almost as if she expected her to know how to deal with going to a new school. Skyler did know, but it would be nice to have some reassurance once in a while...

Skyler looked down the white narrow hallway and saw a staircase which would lead to her bedroom. She started to walk toward it, but her mother soon interrupted her slow pacing. "Hold on dear," She interfered, placing herself in from of Skyler. "Don't forget to walk with your brother tomorrow, okay?"

Skyler listened closely and she could hear her brother from upstairs; he sounded like he was playing video games in his room, with the occasional outbursts and the sounds of buttons being pressed now and then. Her brother, Zane, was in his last year of high school. He got through his first 3 years as an A and B student, so their mom always told Zane to help her younger sister if she needed it. She had to admit, her previous years of high school were quite the challenge, but it seemed that Zane never had any problems with school. Every day when they got home from school he would immediately go to his bedroom, finish his homework, read a book, and maybe play video games if he had the chance. Sometimes he'd invite Skyler to play Black Ops 3 with him later on, but she usually refused. Skyler would only come in to watch him play the game rather than play it himself.

"Sure," Skyler said, letting a smile creep across her face. Although she wasn't all that excited for tomorrow, she decided to give her mom a break and try to make it seem like she was. "But isn't Zane a senior now? Doesn't he have more important things to do?"

"You're both going to a new school, give yourselves a break." Her mom soon replied, slowly going back into the kitchen.  "I made spaghetti, want some spaghetti?"

"I need to do something first, " Skyler answered hastily, now heading toward the staircase for her brother's bedroom. She needed to talk with him before going to bed.

As soon as she got up the stairs she headed down the hallway to her left and soon she was standing in front of her brother's door. She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it, now standing inside of her brother's new bedroom.

Zane was sitting on the floor criss-cross style with his controller in hand, playing Black Ops 3 on his PS4. The bed to her right had a ton of opened boxes, filled with a lot of the things he didn't put up inside of his room. The walls were plastered with posters of various women from anime's that Skyler couldn't recognize in the fly. In the corner to the right of her brother was an opened drawer with tons of clothes inside of it. The walls were about as white as his fur, it seems that being an Arctic fox does give your fur a bit of a vibrant color, Skyler thought.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Zane suddenly said, his eyes still glued to his TV. "You could at least knock first before just coming in here."

"Oh shut up," Skyler quickly replied, leaning in the door frame with her arms crossed. "It's your fault for not locking your door."

"I've been busy with unpacking all of my stuff," Zane said, laying his controller on the ground. He leaned over his right shoulder to pick up the remote to his TV and the turned it off. "Shouldn't you be doing the same?"

"I wanted to talk to you first," Skyler said, now looking down at her feet. "Y'know, with school starting tomorrow and everything."

"Don't tell me you want me to walk with you," Zane said, almost as if he was reading her mind at that momoent. "Haven't we both gotten a little too old for that stuff?"

"Mom told me to tell you," The words coming out of Skyler's suddenly lost meaning now that she thought of it. Why would her mom make her walk to school with her 18 year old brother?

"How far is the walk?" Zane questioned. "Hopefully it isn't too much of an exercise. Maybe I will walk with you."

"You will?" Skyler said in surprise, now looking up to meet her brother's eyes. "I thought we've gotten too old for that stuff."

"I don't know anyone else that I can walk with," He quickly replied, lowering his sister's hype. "Remember? New school? Maybe when I meet some new people we won't walk as much in the future, got that? Just for until we both get new friends, deal?"

"Deal." Skyler quickly reached out her hand and placed it inside of her brother's, shaking on the deal that they had now created. Skyler new it would take her some time to make new friends at this school, so she new that she would be walking with her brother for quite some time.