•The Baby Bird•

Through the Woods

"If I can talk to you, why can't I see you?"

"I am part of the wind, like many others that have come to my place."

"So when you die you become the wind?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

Ok this was just weird. I'm talking to a dead person who claims to be my mom. It could be someone else playing a trick on me.

"If you're my mom, how will I know?"

"When you come through."

"What do you mean?"

"You'll see..." The voice faded away and I sat down on my hammock thinking about what the voice had said.

Soon I was running through the woods, Mapel in my hands. I was wearing my warrior dress that was black with white dots like stars on it with black tights and a rainbow sweater with my sneakers.

I ran down to the golf course and ran up to a deer and pet it. It started calming and I ran away, it following me. It was Stubs, the male with the lob sided antlers. He knew me well, and we would sometimes play around and I would ride on his back. Today I got on his back and he carried me to the river where he bent his head to get a drink. I went over to the blackberry bushes and gobbled some down, then brought some to Stubs.

After he guzzled down his handful, I got back on his back and showed him Mapel. He looked at her and licked her face. She let out a little chirp and climbed onto my shoulder. I started wondering how she would learn to fly when Stubs took off so suddenly that I almost fell off his back.

When I finally caught my breath, we were in a big yard with a little river running through it. "Where are we boy?" I asked Stubs.

He just looked at the house and then I noticed a girl come out. She had brown hair that went just past her shoulder, blueish greenish eyes and she was wearing a navy blue dress with white flowers on it. She called inside the house and another girl, a little older came out. They looked at Stubs, but didn't seem to see me.

That's weird, I thought to myself. Why can't they see me?

Then I realized that I couldn't even see myself! Then Stubs was running again and I could see myself.

"Ah, you have finally encountered another human." My mothers voice was coming from everywhere again. "When you encounter someone you're not supposed to meet, you will turn invisible to every human being except the ones you are supposed to meet. It looks like you have finally encountered one of these people."

I nodded as she finished. No wonder no one saw me when I snuck into stores to get food and clothes! They couldn't see me!

When the voice didn't say anything else, Stubs went to a new place that wasn't a yard or a forest, but a clearing with nothing in it but deer. I saw Orange, Big Joe, and all the other deer.

"So, your mother can speak to you even though she's dead?" Stubs asked. I started when he talked.

"Sorry, I forgot you can talk." I told Stubs.

"Yes, it's been a while. I noticed you were thinking about how your phoenix can't fly and brought you to the animal clearing. There are plenty of birds here that can teach Mapel how to fly. I hope you like it here."