Hanauma's Story

Prologue (914 Words)

"Come on little ones. Time to wake up," she heard her mother's soft voice. I rolled around, not wanting to wake up. "Don't you want to explore? You guys didn't want to go to sleep yesterday and now you won't wake up!" She heard her brothers jolt upright. "Oh yeah! That's today!" She heard her brother Silver say. Suddenly she got nudged off the soft comforting moss, following along laughter. "Get up sleepyhead!" Her other brother Crab said. She finally sat upright, "Fine. I'm up!" She heard her mothers soft laughter, "Come on kits. Let's go before the people start rushing in." As I shook the dirt of my fur I watched as my two brothers followed mother out of the cave. The cave. How would they want to leave the safety of this cave. I've heard story's from father about how dangerous it is out there. She soon followed behind them, not wanting to be left alone.

After spending nearly the whole morning wandering the beach and exploring the walkways, that's what mother said they are called, I heard a soft dinging noise. Mother heard it too. She turned to us, "Are you kits hungry?" We nodded. Wandering has made us hungry. "Good. Because breakfast is ready!" She flicked her tail as she walked towards a small building. The closer we got to the building the clearer the things around it got. A human waited in the distance, holding a small gold item in its hand. Mother walked right up to it, purring as it patted her head. Silver and Crab exchanged glances, then did the same. Though I hesitated, Why is mother getting so close to the human, father says they are violent and mean. Mother saw me hesitate and she walked right up to me, "Don't be shy. He isn't going to hurt you." I nodded, mother has never been wrong before. I mimicked her movements as the human petted me. Though it didn't feel... Right. The human left, mother explained he was getting food for us. But I didn't know what she meant. Was the human going to hunt a mouse or fish? Soon the human returned with bright colored bowls. "See this." she pointed at the mushy stuff inside, "it is food and you can eat it." Crab and Silver understood this, they ran right up to it and started eating. I stood there shocked. How can they eat that! Mother looked at me, "Why aren't you eating?" She said as she nudged a bowl closer to me. "How can I? It looks all gross and mushy! Can't I eat a mouse instead. Like dad used to bring us!" I realized I said something wrong as my mother had unsheathed her claws. "Your father is not here! Now eat it!" I shook my head, "No I don't want to!" She hissed louder, "Eat it now! Your father is not returning so you must listen to me!" The tension in the room was major, my two brothers stopped eating and even the human could tell something was wrong. "W-what do you mean?" I said stepping back slowly. "Your father has left us. So now this human is going to take care of us. We just have to show him we are good. Now eat you little brat!" Shocked I shook my head again, father was gone? Father told me everything, every argument with mother he had. This is how I knew she acted this way sometimes. "So your not going to eat? That's fine! You can starve! See how I care!" She lifted her paw, and striked .

Everything happened so fast after mother clawed me. I heard Silver start to cry and mother shush him as she threw me across the floor. The human tried to stop mother but she clawed him too. It rushed inside to get something. Mother yelled at me. What had triggered this? Was it me? Was it mention of father? She has never acted this way before. I remembered something father said, when I was so young I wouldn't understand. Hanauma. You see... Your mother has some problems, but I love her a lot. If she keeps acting this way... Even if it hurts me to say this. I might leave. Be careful around her if I do. But until then I will protect you from her. Soon everything stopped. I huge ear shattering bang hit. I turned at saw the human holding something black and long... It was a gun! This must if caused the bang. But the human was aiming right at... Mother! I turned at saw mother laying on the ground motionless. I slowly got up. What just happened. Mother was dead. I looked at Silver and Crab. Crab was comforting Silver. Trying to get him to stop crying. I walked over to them and Crab caught my eye. "WHY?! HOW HARD IS IT TO EAT?!" I stepped away. The human was reaching out at me but I ran away. I looked back at the tiny house as I ran. My brothers probably hated me and I didn't want any trouble with humans. I was alone. My father has left and I was alone. I ran until I got back to my cave. I looked at it and started to cry. Why couldn't I of kept my big mouth shut! I will never ever speak again! I won't ruin somebody else's life again this way. So for now on. No speaking.