The boy who loved to write

Chapter 6

 This is a lead up chapter and probs my best so far, love everyone who's voted and commented, oh yeah, and if you didn't find out already, Loifol is my friend. Check 'im out if you want.

Stanley braved the branches and brambles around the fallen tree to see what had happened to his friend. It seemed to the fawn that the boy was asleep but of course, he wasn't. Thunder and lightning rippled across the sky, causing shadows of light to dance across the forest floor. Stanley started to get skittish. He was not used to this as he had always felt safe with the herd, sheltered from danger. But now he felt alone, too alone. It was as if Leo wasn't even here to comfort him. Stanley started to bleat at Leo, louder and louder until the young fawn realized something was wrong.

It was at that moment that the storm started to intensify. Lightning danced across the treetops, setting a few trees alight and others bursting into sparks. Stanley galloped for cover as a nearby tree fell, sparks coming off of it. He watched as the tip of the sparking tree reached Leo and sent his whole-body shuddering and jittering around on the ground. Stanley's eyes filled with horror as the body of the boy lay on its side facing away from him.

The fawn flew towards his friend, his heart full of anger. How dare that tree hurt Leo like that! He looked into Leo's closed eyes and lent down next to him. The boy started to cough and splutter, Stanley thought that the strange jittering had started again. Seconds passed with Leo coughing and he thought that his new friend would die within a day of meeting him, but then a miracle happened. Stanley felt a warm comforting hand on his back and looked down to see Leo crawl up into a sitting position.

"Oh Stanley, I'm so glad you're alive."

The fawn bleated with delight and let the boy pat his fur. Leo figured that the lightning from the storm had hit him and warmed him up so that he hadn't died, but no matter how miraculous that was, he knew that his back had been messed up pretty bad and he still needed to find somewhere warm to stay. He also knew that if there was a forest, there would most probably be a hiking shack somewhere near. It had not occurred to him before, because at the time he was trying to find home, but now it seemed like his only chance of survival.

Leo glanced at Stanley and saw that the fawn was already half ready for this, his rear legs bent down, ready to accept Leo as rider. The boy clambered on to his back which such difficulty that he wasn't sure he would make it. "Come on Stan, let's find us a small hut, eh, a hiker's hut," Leo whispered hoarsely, "Should be in the middle of the forest, that's where most are found." He knew that the fawn wouldn't understand him, but he hoped that Stan might know the general direction of where they were heading. At least the storm had calmed down a bit.

It turns out that the hut was quite near to where the incident had happened. Leo fell asleep the moment the two entered the hut, with the fawn curled up next to him like a dog. The hut must have been used recently as it was a lot warmer than the outside air. A few pots and pans had been left out on a wooden counter, and some supplies remained from the last adventurers to have come here. The ceiling slanted to the right, but other than that, it was pretty much the same as Leo's shack at home.

After a quick forty-winks, Leo rooted through the supplies and saw to his relief that it included a couple of plasters and dressings for his wounds. It took a while to put the plasters on and Stanley slept the whole time (he needed it after the run they did to get there). The pain was agonizing, but Leo told himself that it was just a small cut even though he didn't believe it. He also felt a bit strange after the bolt of lightning had hit him, he thought himself lucky that it hadn't affected him more.

Although he knew that by coming further into the woods, it minimized their chance of being found. He needed to come up with a simple but hopefully effective plan. He was going to walk in one direction, that way he was guaranteed to find a way out of the forest.

The plan took place the following day. The two had woken up before sunrise and had left a small good luck note for the people who would use the hut after them. The trees left snakelike shadows on the ground, and in more than one occasion, Leo found himself scared of them.

And when the sun came out, his hopes were lifted. It was as if heaven had come to earth. Rays of light reflected through the leaves and warmed him to the bone. Shimmering springs started to appear from nowhere and Leo couldn't help but smile at the beauty of this forest, which the night before had seemed like a monster. Leo breathed in and was greeted by a warm tingling sensation. The forest felt...foresty. That was all that would come to his mind.

Stanley continued to gallop, on and on. It was amazing that the fawn even had enough stamina to continue. Leo stared at a small spot on Stanley that was a lot darker, he recognized it as a birth mark. He had a birth mark as well, right on the side of his extremely pale neck (due to the incident). He glanced at the forest one more time before deciding to fall asleep on Stanley's back. The weather was cool and the morning still hadn't ended. It almost felt like a holiday. Leo laughed and laid his head on the fawn's soft fur. Plenty of people would give anything to ride on a baby deer, he thought, sleep already overwhelming him.

"Night, night Stanley."