Upon Three Paws

Chapter 4 ✅

Years Later...

My eyes stay halfway shut as I doze in my sleeping cave. The squirrel hide beneath me stores my body heat, keeping me warm throughout the cold seasons.

Over the seasons, I've counted four, and since they seem to repeat one another it makes it easier to count the years. First comes rain, then cold and colourful falling leaves, then snow and ice, and last is warmth and flowers. Which so happens to be the current weather, and my favourite out of them all.

A fluff of pollen roles down the entrance of my tunnel. I watch as it's white fuzz assists it on its journey to the far end of my sleeping cave. The cave spans at about twice my length, but doesn't allow me to stand upright.

Shimmying into a crouch, I shuffle over to the pollen and swipe it back up the tunnel with a wing. When I was still figuring out the weather patterns, two things had started growing out from my sides, a little bit passed my ribs. It was painful to say the least, sometimes it got so bad that I stayed laying in my bed all day. Eventually I had two more appendages called wings. They're covered in the same shade of red fur with brown hints hidden beneath the top layer.

The pollen is whisked off by the soft wind and carried away from the tunnel entrance. I sigh in relief as my home is now clean, or as clean as a dirt burrow can be. The dirt doesn't bother me, it's the pollen and leaves that take its place. Alas, my sleeping cave has many dead leaves around the walls to act as an insulator for heat.

My stomach growls for food, forcing my thoughts back to the task at hand. Get some meat. The berries are good, but I need to eat a source of protein every now and then. I've learned a lot over the years.

Hunger tugs at my stomach again and I hurry out the tunnel entrance.

The forest has been thrown into darkness which sends the small creatures into their homes to sleep through it. I no longer understand that logic of sleeping at night and hunting during the day. That way your prey will see you and get away more often.

Using my right wing as a substitute leg, I slip under shrubbery with silent paws. My own large ears can hardly even hear the soil sinking under my weight.

With my nose to the ground, the scents of animals who've passed through fill my head. Rabbit, deer, ...coyote!

Haven't seen any of those for two years. My heart sinks as my siblings run through my mind. I miss them desperately. Rain and Suns endless plots, Ash, Twig, and Dawns laziness, and Streaks teasings. Still, after a decade of searching I haven't found them. Not even a scent. It's as if they never existed in the first place. But they did, and I would have found their bodies already if they died, they have to be alive.

I block out the topic and recenter my focus on tracking. The faint scent of a squirrel is hard to place from the ground, especially because of how they use the trees to travel most of the time. If I were to try tracking one from up there it would take the entire night to find one scent trail. After that I'd need to chase the crafty animal and it'd most likely escape into a hollow.

When the night begins to lighten, I've ended up snacking on countless berry bushes all while searching for any source of meat small enough for me to take down. I'm just about the size of a full grown rabbit, but not nearly as fast as one, so they're off the menu.

A burning scent startles me and I sneeze, backing away from it. My throat burns slightly from the second of exposure and my nose tingles, causing me to let out another sneeze.

Shaking my fur in disapproval, I turn and take to the air. It's obvious where my luck is going, so I'll just try tomorrow night.

The wind picks up around me as I pound my wings down. I nearly collide with a tree branch from the lack of practise, my reflexes twist me out of the way so that I'm rising higher into the canopies. Branches grow thinner and more plentiful, the large green leaves clumping together in masses and proving it harder to avoid flying into them.

All of the branches suddenly fall away and the night sky shines above me. The light from the moon glistens over my fur and fills my eyes with its beauty. How the stars flicker against the backdrop of endless space, some being overpowered by the shine of the full moon has me holding back a howl.

My memory takes my mind away back to that night that we managed to escape the cold creatures, who I know were called humans. At the time I didn't have the time or mood to admire the light show, but the quick glance I got of it doesn't seem nearly as impressive as this sky. There's more stars, a clearer moon, no clouds in sight, and everything seems more colourful and healthy. Like a filth has been cleared off the face of the planet.

As my eyes trace the pattern, I realize that the sun is giving off signs of reaching over the horizon. My wings are also growing tired from hovering for so long. I make a mental note to fly more, preferably before the sunrise as the pinks, purples, and soft oranges fascinate me to no end.

Slowly, I sink into the leafy canopy. My paws manage to find a decent enough branch to land on and I continue finding strong enough branches to land and rest on. The light from the sun hits the leaves around me and gives off a green glow that hurts my eyes. Finally, there's enough room for me to dive comfortably the remainder of the distance to the ground.

Now that the sun is up, my eyes water at the brightness, unused to the amount of light. Everything blurs and I struggle to locate my tunnel, but I still manage to spot the tree trunk with scratch marks running up its trunk. Turn left, ten strides, turn right, three strides. My tunnel entrance appears in front of me and I don't waste anymore time before sprinting inside.

The darkening chambers soothe my stinging, watery eyes. I collapse on my squirrel hide bed and dried leaves with a satisfied growl.

I may not have been able to get any meat, but that scene above the trees is worth a night without catching prey. Hopefully tomorrow night will spare me more luck.

Life's keeping Almond on her toes, that's for sure.
Will it last?
Will she be able to catch meat before it's too late?