A Change of Heart

Loosing a Friend

Shinta's POV

I laid on my mossy nest half asleep. The sound of someone walking towards me caught my attention. I perked my ears up and looked over just as my mom walked into the den, a pretty, short espeon with one of her ear tips nipped off. She looked over at me with a soft, caring smile.

"Hey Shinta," she said softly.

"Hi mom," I replied happily.

She sat down besides me and purred, rubbing up against me for a bit. "How are you?" she asked.

"I'm good, Can I go play with Murray?" I asked, smiling timidly. I have never been the most confident or comfortable asking anyone questions.  Now that I think about it, I'm not that confident in general.

"Of course," mom said and got up.

I got up and smiled as I walked to the entrance. "Bye, love you," I said happily before leaving the den. I could hear mom's reply. A soft "Bye, have fun,".

I looked around outside. Our den was under a tree in the middle of a small clearing, surrounded by a large forest. Small white petalled flower clusters covered the forest floor.

It was midday, the sun being at its highest point. A small amount of fast moving clouds scattered around the sky, trees swaying in the wind. It was a nice day.

I left, headed towards Murray's home. Once there, I saw someone, a shiny eevee sitting outside, staring up at the sky. Something seemed off; He looked sad for whatever reason.

"Hey, Murray, what's wrong?" I asked walking up to him. He seemed even more sad now, looking at me. A tear ran down his face.

"Uhm... hi Shinta," he said and shook his head, putting on a slight smile.

"Murray? what's wrong?" I repeated myself.

"My... family is moving, tonight..." he said and frowned again. "I don't want to go... but I can't do anything about it,".

The news hit me harder than a charging tauros. "What? Why?" I asked looking shocked. Murray was my only real friend I had. I've talked to others a few times but never hanged out with or spent time with them that much. A lot of my free time is spent with Murray. My tail dropped to the floor.

"I don't know; I think to be closer to other family. I just learned about it this morning...." Murray said. He was looking at the floor dejectedly.

I stood there and started to cry a bit. "Murray... are you really going?..." I asked, hoping that he was just pulling a prank on me. I knew fully that he wasn't. I was hanging onto a false hope.

"Yes... I'm so sorry Shinta..." Murray said, walking closer to me. "Don't cry..." he tried to comfort me with a hug but I didn't stop.

Instead, I only cried harder. "I hate you....." I said under my breath. I turned around and started walking away. I heard Murray running up to me. I let out a surprised yelp and was knocked over as he slammed into me.

"No you don't! You're just mad... I'm sorry for this," Murray said and pinned me on the floor. I struggled to get up and he let go. As I stood up I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, I don't hate you..." I said apologetically. I looked at him and just shook my head again. "I don't want you to go," I said sadly.

"I know but I have to," Murray said. "Hey, lets just spend some time together, go for a walk or something," he said and smiled a little.

"Ok.... let's go for a walk...." I said and sniffled. I looked around. "Where?" I asked.

"Follow me," Murray's said. I did as told and followed him. Our last walk together.

***

Later that day we had eventually arrived back at Murray's home. The sun was getting low, or looked as such. We stopped outside his home and I looked down at the ground, knowing what was gonna happen. This was it, he was moving later today, he couldn't hang out any longer.

"Bye Murray," I said and put up an arm, wrapping up and over Murray in a sort of hug.

"Bye Shinta," he said, hugging back. He then pulled away and started to walk into his den. "One more thing: can you promise me you'll find some new friends?"

"Why?" I asked, starting to tear up again. Did... Did he just tell me to find a replacement for him? I hated that thought. No one could replace him. "I don't want to replace you," I said angrily.

"Because, I don't want you to be sad and I want you to have some friends to hang out with," he said, smiling sadly. "You won't be replacing me," he reassured me.

"Oh... ok I'll try to, bye. I don't want to waste any of your time so imma go," I said. I turned around and started walking home.

"Bye, again," Murray yelled. I didn't respond. I just kept walking home.

After a few minutes I made it home. I walked inside and towards my nest, walking past Mom on the way.

"what's wrong?" she asked. She must have seen the tears or wetness on my face.

"Nothing... Murray is moving away," I said.

"Oh, so suddenly? That's sad. He's a good kid," mom said.

"Yeah," I agreed and laid in my nest.

Mom walked over and laid by me. "Are you ok?" she asked softly.

"Yes, I just... I don't want him to go.." I said. I hugged her, laying on her a bit.

"It's ok Shinta, I wouldn't want him to leave either if we were friends," she said, comforting me.

"Thank you," I said and took a deep breath, closing my eyes.

"Get some rest," she said and laid with me. I fell asleep quickly. Comfortably in my mom's embrace, laying in her soft fur.

What felt like less than an hour later I woke up. Looking around, I blinked. Most of my vision was blocked by a purple furred shape around me. My mom. She was curled around me and I could only freely see upwards.

I sighed and started to climb over my mom. Hopefully today would be better. I knew it wouldn't though, now that my friend was gone. I just pushed aside that and went over to a neat pile of berries in the far corner of the den, behind a rock about the size of me. I took a few berries and settled. I started eating my breakfast. I'll go visit Murray's old home later. I thought.