400 years ago there was a boy named Cole Sherwood. This boy was sneaky and mischievous and a master at the art of theft.
He had to be. His mother was gone and she was the only one with a job. His father had fallen extremely ill and he was unable to take care of his cattle. Plus Cole's younger sister, Lexi, was much too young to help out. She was 5 years old.
"Go outside. Before you end up here like me." Cole's father said, still smiling gently as if he wasn't ill at all.
"What about you?" Lexi wandered into the room.
"I'll be okay, Lexi. Go and play outside."
☁
Lexi and Cole wandered outside after getting dressed in the clothes Cole swiped from the Tailor a week ago.
The clouds hung close to the ground as if it was the sky. It was mild outside. Something rare for where Cole lived.
Lexi stomped in the muddy puddles left from the past heavy rainfall. The ground was barely drying and the fog was dark grey.
'Lovely...' Cole thought to himself. 'More rain then.'
Splash! The sounds of jumping and the water flying away neared the river.
Splash! It got closer. Cole looked over to the source of the sound and terror spread across his face as Lexi neared the river, eyes closed tightly.
Splash! Cole broke out into a sprint.
"NO! LEXI HOLD ON I'M COMING TO GET YOU!" Cole grabbed the nearest thing to him. A stick. It was sharp like a spear. It was a spear.
"Lexi! Hold on!" Cole shouted. He stuck the spear in the water. Both sides were too sharp.
Cole threw it away and reached out his hand. "LEXI GRAB MY HAND. WHEN I GET YOU OUT RUN AND GET HELP, OK?" Cole yelled over the sound of the water.
"Y-" Lexi bobbed under the water then back up. She was crying. "-ES!"
Cole dived in, picking Lexi up and throwing her out of the water.
Lexi ran to get help.
Too late.
Cole is dead.
And above the water where he lay hovered a hummingbird.
YOU ARE READING
The Hummingbird Boy
Teen FictionWhen a boy gives his life to save his sister, this is not what he thought would happen when you die.
