Hawks

Chapter 2

Another day. Another morning. More time to live. The hawks drifted awake. They were exhausted. Ghali pat the hole where his eye was supposed to be. He sighed and looked at his sleeping sisters. He got up and stretched his wings. He dove down and glided above the desert of Arizona. He hovered above a specific spot above the Cacti Brush. He squinted his eyes, as a female Ferruginous hawk flew in front of him. "Hi, Ghali!" She smiled. "Oh. Hi, Sahana. Good morning."

Sahana had light light light brown feathers and a tan underbelly. She had glimmering bright yellow eyes and a warm tone to her voice. "Good morning!" She circled Ghali and twirled up into the air. "Come along" Sahana said, a bouncy tone in her voice. She flew to a perch on the side of a cliff and landed. There was a little opening, leading to what looked like blue shine. The two hawks stepped in, and looked around. The place was shining with glow worms and the soft trickle of a waterfall coming from a crack in the wall. The blue shine was a small pond, whos light shone on the wall. "Like it? I went exploring a few days ago and found this! This can be a talk cave," Sahana looked into the pond, her reflection followed by Ghali's. "Its amazing.." Ghali breathed.

"So. Dhandi trouble?" Sahana nodded toward Ghali's eye

"Oh.. Yeah"

"That looks bad.."

"It doesn't hurt much anymore.. Just stings"

"I saw a dead hawk today on the sand. He had a shriveled up eye laying next to him" Sahana thought of the dead body she saw last night. The blood from the eye and his talons stained the perfect ivory sand. The thought brought chills through the pair of hawk's spines. "It was shocking.. Seeing the dead body of another hawk.. Though he was a Harris hawk," She watched carpenter ants crawl on the floor and outside into the soft glow that came from the sunrise. Heat pulsated from the sun and into the cave. The glow faded, and the two hawks walked out, and began to fly. They flew around and back to their nests. "See you tomorrow, Ghali!" Sahana screeched, as she flew off. "Cya, Sahana!" Ghali called back as he landed on a cliffside, where his sisters would be fast asleep. He chirped, and Hgala woke up, followed by Freyha, who was screaming and running around the nest, shouting "INTRUDER!"

"Im sorry, what the hell did I miss?" Ghali asked Freyha. "Oh, she's trying a new siren to alert hawks in the other areas that there's danger" Hgala chirped, but Ghali just sighed. "Alright then. I'll go hunt some breakfast," Ghali said as he dove down, eying a few extra mice and snakes going back into their holes. The sun was finally free from the grasp the mountains had on it. The last bit of red and orange faded away, and the heat started to kick in. He dove down, and soared back up into the air. He was looking around below his wings. Since a hawk can see a mouse from 100 feet in the air, he could see the sand like he was down there, chasing a snake on foot. Spying a rabbit running across the hot sand was no issue for him. He dove down at 120 miles per hour, and landed, turning toward the rabbit and chasing it. The rabbit was running as fast as it could, while Ghali was running and bouncing along the sticks and little cacti to catch up. He managed to get a grip on it, latching onto its leg. The rabbit started to slow down, and Ghali began biting the rabbit's leg more. He moved from its leg to its spine, and bit it. Blood began to flow from the rabbit, as it flopped over. Ghali finished it off by biting its neck. He picked up the dead rabbit and brought it to his small boil.

"Perfect," Freyha said as she tore into the rabbit's flesh. "This is delicious," Hgala said as she ate. "And right before dawn was over," Freyha said.

"I'm pretty sure it was over when I killed it." Ghali said.

"No it wasn't," Freyha started.

"Yes it was."

"No."

"Yes." 

"FINE I guess it was," Freyha continued eating and grumbled. "Good." He began to eat his breakfast, too. He only ate a little bit, letting his sisters eat the rest. He perched on a cactus below, overlooking the landscape. He watched vultures glide down to eat a dead horse laying on the dirt. "Rats.. Never hunting their own food.. Selfish creatures," Ghali flew back up to his nest to greet his sisters again.