if anyone needs a box of tissues I have some *waves a box*. No, no one dies...but it is a rather emotional chap...
Chapter 12
Scrawny felt a lot better about himself. Over the past few days he has been able to make decent sized jumps and was getting better at judging distance. However, he hadn’t been able to build up the strength needed to make the really long jumps. Zig had said it was most likely had to do with his age, whether he liked it or not. Still, he wasn’t going to stop trying and vowed to find a way….
One day he was basking in the village center, casually watching a group of mud kids play. One of them had found a long thin strip of elum hide and was chasing the others, cracking it at them like a whip, laughing. At one point he over extended and the end of it wrapped around a low tree branch. No matter how hard he tried, the kid couldn’t get it release and finally gave up and left it.
Scrawny then stood up and padded over to it, curious. He jumped up on it and hung from it for a moment and found it held his weight. He jumped back down again and looked at it, an idea forming in his head….
Bea was worried. Despite having gained everyone’s respect by saving her life, Spider seemed to be at an all time emotional low. For the past few days he had been moping in the village center, looking depressed. Every time she or anyone else would try to talk to him, he would get up and move away. She mused that what ever it was that was bothering him, he wasn’t ready to talk about. She was hoping that he would talk to someone before he did something drastic….
Early one night, just before turning in herself, she noticed him leaving his shelter and start heading in the direction of the lake. Fearing the worse, she went to follow him, grabbing a mud guard on the way to be her escort. When she reached the lake, she found Spider at the waters edge, just standing there with his head down low. Bea waited from a respectable distance, wanting to see if he was, if anything, about to do something. He did do something, but not what she was expecting:
He raised his head and let loose a sound that wasn’t a roar…but a howl; a long, deep mournful howl. It was quite loud as well, but not so loud she had to cover her ears. Spider took a breath and howled again, this one even louder and longer then the first. Bea could tell that he was letting out what ever it was that he had been holding in.
He howled a third time, a weaker one. At the end of it his voice cracked and he collapsed, sobbing. Bea approached him then, telling the escort to stay back, and sat down next to him.
“Spider…” she said as she lightly stroked his neck, “Do you want to talk?”
Spider turned his head to look at her, tears streaming down his face. Then he adjusted his position so that he was laying perpendicular to her and placed his head in her lap.
“I miss ‘em Bea…” he sobbed.
“Who?” she probed gently.
“Scrawny…”
“Scrawny…” she thought a moment, “he was the one who helped you escape the labs wasn’t he?”
“Uh-huh”
“What happened to him?”
“’Bout a month after we escaped, we were traveling through a dry riverbed and we got caught in a flash flood. I was able ter toss him up ter the bank but I was unable ter make it out myself and got washed away…”
“That explains the injures you had when we found you…but if he wasn’t caught in it…”
“He was so old…and he was very ill at the time. He…” his voice cracked, “wouldn’t have been able ter survive on his own.”
“I see.” She said, sympathic.
“He was always lookin’ out fer me, keepin’ me out of trouble. And if I did get in trouble he would help me get out of it. He always told me what was the best thing ter do, always guided me. Now that he is gone…I…jus’ don’ know what ter do anymore…”
“Spider” Bea started as she rubbed his neck comfortingly, “No matter where he is now…he will always be in your heart, as long as you remember him. Now it is time for you to move on with your life and to start making your own choices. The path will be long and difficult, and you will need to have faith in yourself and your abilities. You have already taken the first step by proving to everyone that you weren’t a heartless killer. You could have just killed that BBS that attacked me…but you didn’t. You need to continue to take those steps and start your life anew. I know you can do it Spider.”
Spider was quiet a while after she finished. He lifted his head and looked out toward the lake, deep in thought. Then he turned back toward her and smiled.
“Thank you Bea.” He said as he embraced her lightly, “I needed that.”
“No problem.” Bea said with a smile.
Spider helped Bea up to her feet and together they returned to the village.
|