Chapter One: Humans

It was a late summer evening in the forest. The sun was shining through the leaves of the birch trees, the ones near Fawn’s home. The early autumn leaves were just beginning to change colors, a sort of disco lighting of red, orange, and yellow. The streak of colors across the sky matched the leaves. Fawn, a young deer, was playing with his deer friend Abigail.

“Fawn, I ever tell you of humans?” she said sweetly.

“No,” said Fawn. “But my mom has.”

Abigail’s head tilted slightly to the right. She looked up at the sky as if she was looking for something… no not something, some story!

“Here we go again!” Fawn mumbled. Just then, the ground began to tremble. I guess the ground is shaking because it is trying to plug its ears, he thought.

“Well I know a story that I bet your mo — ”

But as Abigail said that there was a faint rumble and the ground shook more.

“Abigail, did you hear that?” Fawn interrupted.

“No,” Abigail said, frustrated that Fawn was interrupting her. “So one day my mom was wal — ”

“Listen! There it is again!” Fawn said.

In the distance, Abigail and Fawn heard a loud rumble. It sounded dangerously close and the sky turned dark gray as a huge gust of wind blew in their direction, scattering leaves on the forest floor.

“I do hear it!” Abigail agreed. “And it’s getting louder!”

“The louder, the closer!” Fawn warned. “Let’s get out of here. It’s too dangerous! You can tell me the story when we’re safe in our den.”

“Come on, it’s not too loud. Now, let me tell the story!”

But before Abigail could say anything, a huge, tall, green monster-looking thing was tearing down the beautiful birch trees and charging straight towards them. All the bushes that formed a barrier around them were being uprooted; Abigail’s and Fawn’s hideout was destroyed. Mulch, bark, and twigs flew everywhere and smoke that made Fawn and Abigail cough filled the air. Fawn looked to see where it was coming from: out of the back of the monster. He felt an anger smolder inside of him. His face scrunched up in frustration and his big, soft, brown eyes became watery. This was his home! As much as he wanted to fight the monster, he needed to get Abigail to safety first. She was staring at the monster in awe, and looked as if she were paralyzed.

“AAAHHH!” Abigail screamed when she finally came back up to life.

“Hurry, Abigail. Follow me!” Fawn hastily instructed.

Fawn started dashing towards the other side of the woods where his home was, but when looked back he saw the monster right behind Abigail.

“HELP!” Abigail said frantically.

“I’m coming!” Fawn yelled, charging towards the monster, but he was not in time. The monster trampled over her back leg.

“Owww,” Abigail screeched in pain.

Without thinking, Fawn rammed into Abigail, knocking her into a bush out of the monster’s path. After that, he sprinted towards the bush to help Abigail.

Chapter 2: What is Going On?

“Ow, it hurts!” Abigail cried.

“Don’t worry, it will be over soon,” Fawn’s mother, Rebecca, said, while tending to Abigail’s wounds.

“Fawn, dear, since you are not hurt, can you go get Abigail’s mother and bring her to our den?” Rebecca said.

“Sure,” Fawn said reluctantly, for he didn’t want to leave Abigail’s side. But before Fawn could step out of the den, Lemo, Fawn’s family friend, rushed to the den, his front leg limping.

“Humans, smoke, death!” he panted.

“Lemo, calm down, and where is Juniper?” Rebecca was suddenly worried about her husband. She paused to look at Lemo’s leg. It was bleeding from a huge gash.

“Fawn, continue with what I asked you to do,” she said with urgency.

Fawn dashed with his remaining strength to fetch Abigail’s mom. He came back to the den with Abigail’s mom. When he got there, many animals, excluding their enemies, had arrived. Most were wounded and some couldn’t even budge. Abigail’s mom looked at Abigail. Her eyes started to water, but she wiped away her tears and she agreed to help the other animals.

“My daughter, Abigail,” she said. “That must’ve been very scary for you. And Fawn, thank you for saving her. That was so brave! I didn’t know you had that in you!”

Fawn blushed.

It really wasn’t much. I wasn’t even able to save her from getting hurt! he thought.

More animals arrived. There was still no sign of Fawn’s father, and it began to get very crowded. Thankfully, Abigail’s mother had gone out for more help and come back with several animals who wanted to help.

Chapter 3: Sad Times

Lemo lifted up his head and opened his mouth to say something, but he had no strength. He laid his head back down to rest. Many deaths had occurred in those last two hours. Some of Fawn’s other friend’s parents, brothers, aunts, uncles and cousins had died. No animal in the forest had escaped losing someone. But some of the other animals had gotten better. They still couldn’t speak, but they sat up and looked around, including Lemo, who started looking around wide-eyed. Some of the younger ones even started getting up and playing. It would have been a happy place, if it weren’t for the deaths. More volunteers came to help. Most of them had just been informed about a loved one’s death.

Lemo started limping towards Fawn and his mother. Once Rebecca had made him comfy, he explain what happened.

“Your father and I were on our way home when we saw a human. He was holding a sort of stick, a cane-looking shape,” Lemo paused. “Then before we knew it, the man was holding up that stick to your father. The next thing we saw was smoke everywhere.”

Fawn opened his mouth in fascination, for he didn’t know what Lemo was about to tell him. Rebecca looked very scared. Lemo looked down ashamed.

“Then the man aimed it at me,” he continued. “I managed to escape, but after the man had gone I saw that your father had completely collapsed. I rested my muzzle on him, but it was too late, his heartbeat had gone.

“Juniper,” Lemo paused, “is dead!”

Then the trio all burst into tears.

Chapter four: Aftermath

A week after the incident, on a dark and stormy morning, Abigail and Fawn went back to their hideout to play. As they arrived, they saw all the uprooted bushes, scattered leaves and fallen logs everywhere. In frustration, Fawn kicked a rock only to find that it landed just two feet away.

“Stupid humans!” he yelled.

Abigail shook her head and walked to where the rock was. She placed it at Fawn’s feet, where it had originally been. “Even though they destroyed our hideout, they are living creatures like us. We must respect them,” Abigail said cautiously.

“Yeah, we must respect that they hurt you and KILLED my dad,” Fawn said sarcastically, his voice spilling with anger. “We should fight back! That will show them not to mess with us again!”

Abigail rolled her eyes. Typical boy, she thought. “Well, how are you supposed to do that? Plus, you saw what the humans did. How are you going to fight back against that?” She stuck out her right hoof, just missing his chest.

”Easy,” Fawn said. “With the help of all the forest animals! I bet humans are more scared of bears and wolves than us!’

”Well, don’t expect me to help.” Abigail walked off slowly. She didn’t know exactly where she was going, but she needed to show Fawn that he needed to walk away from what he was planning to do.

“But you’re my friend,” Fawn said, devastated at Abigail’s actions. “We have to help each other!”

“No, I am not going to help you. I’ve already said that, and I am not changing my mind. Besides, how are you going to get the bears and wolves on our — your side?” With that, Abigail ran off.

As Fawn watched Abigail flee into the forest, he dropped onto the ground and bowed his head.

Yeah, how? Fawn thought, with his head still bent.

He trudged home thinking about what Abigail had said.

She can’t just walk off like that — she’s my friend! Fawn thought. And I guess she forgot that I saved her life! If another monster comes her way, it serves her right if she becomes a monster’s lunch! Fawn thought, then sank his head low, a tear escaping his eye. “I guess she’s not my friend anymore.” Fawn cried as he dashed home.

Chapter Five: Plan A and B (and C)

On the way to his home, Fawn bumped into the chief bear. Fawn had heard of the chief bear and had seen him at forest gatherings from time to time, but he had never been this close to him. He jumped back in surprise that he, a young deer, was meeting the chief bear. Fawn had to crane his neck to see him. He was huge with thick, matted, brown, shaggy fur. He had a broad snout and a large face with small eyes, which Fawn thought didn’t go with the rest of his body.

“We have heard of your plan and we agree to help you for revenge on the humans,” the chief bear said in a voice deep from his belly. “We will do everything we can to stop them.” The bear stomped his foot, which made Fawn shake.

“Okay?” Fawn said awkwardly. He was recovering from the shock of the shake and the fact that he was meeting the chief bear. And not only that, the bear was going to help him.

The bear turned around and lumbered toward a rocky mountainside. Then, he rolled away a rock and disappeared into a dark cave.

One burden off, another one to go, Fawn thought. As soon as he arrived home, he started to think about how to get the wolves to cooperate.

Hmmm, what to do? Fawn lowered his ears as he thought. Maybe I could lower them pieces of food? His ears perked up. Nah, how about reasoning with them? His ears went back down. I doubt that will work — wolves like action agreements, not verbal agreements — but I’ll put it down as plan A. Then Fawn wrote it down in clay on the wall.

Now for plan B. How about I lie and say I saw humans kill eighteen wolves and… four pups? That will make them really angry and they will agree to help in order to get revenge on the humans. Fawn dipped his hoof into the wet clay.

Last, but not least, plan C. You never know, wolves are not the easiest creatures to persuade. I think we will fight fire with fire: force them to help with bear influence. Fawn smiled at himself.

As he was writing the last letters of his idea, he heard a voice.

“Those are some nice plans, Fawn.”

Fawn jumped up in surprise.

“You sure wouldn’t want the wolves to know?”

Fawn saw a ghostly shadow from his window, but he was too afraid to even investigate.

“Of course I want them to know, because my goal is to stop you.”

Chapter Six: The Challenge

Fawn’s blood froze when he saw who spoke the threat: Abigail.

She fixed her amber eyes on him while she stood like a statue and stared at him coldly.

“I saved your life,” Fawn managed to say.

“Yes, you did, which means you can spare the humans’ as well,” Abigail replied.

“Never!” Fawn said through gritted teeth. He resisted the urge to tackle her.

“Then you are not worthy of being the one who saved my life.”

There was a slight pang in Fawn’s heart. That was the very thing everyone was praising him about — saving Abigail. It’s only worth praising about if the person he saved thinks it’s still worth praising. All of those praises meant nothing now.

Abigail turned around to leave.

“Be careful,” she said. “I just might do what I said.” Then she bounded away so quietly you’d think she was never there.

“Okay,” Fawn said aloud as if to call after her. “Fine. If you want a battle, I’ll take it.” Then he quickly added, “And win!” I’d better go to the wolves tomorrow, he thought, before Abigail spills my plan. But not today. I don’t think I am ready yet.

The next day went smoothly. Fawn had gotten most of the animals to help, discussed his plans and did some practice runs on ambushing and destroying humans. But then came the time that he had dreaded and wished would never come. The time to consult the wolves.

Chapter 7: Wolf Forest

Fawn trudged toward the forbidden part of the forest. Why was it forbidden? You could guess. The wolves lived there, bathed there, and hunted there most of the time, and nobody wanted to go near them.

As Fawn drew closer and closer, his legs began to shake, his head started to droop, and his hair stood up on one end. He tried to tell himself to be brave, but that made it worse. By this time, he wanted to run to the safety of his mother and never set hoof near the forbidden forest again. Then Fawn heard something that made him jump. A wolf’s howl. Although it was distant, it made Fawn more discouraged to go in. Just as he was about to enter, he decided to give himself a pep talk, which went well on the first sentence….

“Okay, Fawn. You know what you’re about to do is for a good cause.”

But the last sentence made him even more discouraged.

“… Even if the wolves make you lunch.”

When Fawn finally got his act together, he started making his way through the forbidden forest to where the wolves lived. Once Fawn stepped in, it was like walking into an endless night. He could barely see his own legs. There were large, ink-black oak trees, which blended into the darkness and made it harder to figure out what was a tree and what wasn’t. Fawn guessed that there had been a rainstorm because the ground was very moist with damp-looking leaves scattered across the forest floor.

Just then, Fawn passed a bloodstained tree with pieces of fur at its roots. This gave him the creeps. He passed more of them, each more bloody than before, with animal bones or fur scattered around the trees. He remembered his dad telling him that if you follow the fur and the bone markings, you will reach the wolves’ den. Fawn could see the pattern – every five trees there was another marking.

As he approached the last marking to the wolves’ den, there lay one of the scariest sights Fawn had ever seen: a dead wolf with an arrow sticking out of its head! Fawn screamed.

After what had felt like forever, he had reached the den.

“Who’s there?!” the leader of the pack’s voice boomed from the cave.

Fawn gulped, then cleared his throat and said, “I am Fawn… from the other side of the for — ” The leader of the pack appeared, and Fawn stared in awe at the wolf leader.

His usually beautiful, grey shaggy fur was drenched in blood, his muzzle covered in it, and his leg was limping. The pack leader, Kay, tried to put on his wolf stare to shadow his weakness, but failed.

“We do not want you here.”

“I came to help,” Fawn replied.

“We don’t need it,” Kay said, looking as if it hurt to even say that, emotionally and physically.

Fawn gave Kay an observant look, from his head to this claws. “You look like you do.”

“Well….” Kay tilted his head to the side. Then straightened it and narrowed his eyes. “No,” he said firmly. Then he turned around to return to his cave.

“Wait!” Fawn called after him.

“We do not want you here, and I wish not to repeat that ONE MORE TIME,” Kay said through clenched teeth.

Fawn was very tempted to go home, but resisted the urge and gathered up his remaining courage and hope.

“You must help me then…” Fawn’s voice trailed off, unable to speak. His nerves had gotten the best of him. Fawn was always the good boy. He never was rebellious like the others. When the others went to the field, where the mothers didn’t want them to go, he would stay. This was the first time he had ever talked back to or challenged an adult. He had never even disobeyed a mother ladybug!

“Help you!” Kay chuckled. “A little deer wants help from me, the wolf! I can’t believe my ears!”

Fawn felt his cheeks get hot with anger and embarrassment.

“Shouldn’t this baby deer go back to Mommy? He will be safer there. He is too small to do anything.”

For a moment, that reminded Fawn of running back to his mother. No, he thought. I cannot do that. Fawn could not hold it in anymore. He burst with anger.

“Well, I am not as small as you think I am,” he said angrily. “I came up with the plan to destroy the humans. I have set up defense forces against the humans and my forest was destroyed by humans…” Fawn paused to take a few breaths.

“AND THAT IS WHY I AM HERE! TO ASK YOU TO HELP ME TO DESTROY THE HUMANS TO SAVE MY FOREST!” Fawn shouted. He had never been this angry — not since the humans had attacked.

“Okay, okay,” Kay said stepping backwards. “Calm down, kid, we will…”

“CALM DOWN?! CALM DOWN?! OUR FOREST HAS BEEN DESTROYED! HOW CAN YOU “CALM DOWN,” WOLF?”

“Ahem,” Kay cleared his throat. “We will cooperate… if there is something in it for us, which is?”

“The assurance of security against the humans,” Fawn said in relief.

Kay tilted his head.

“Which will make your job as a pack leader easier,” Fawn added.

“Okay, but there has be something. Everyone is getting security! We want something in addition to that,” Kay said.

“Which is… ?” Fawn questioned him, annoyed.

“That we have fresh meat ready for us everyday, meaning four animal sacrifices each day for us to kill,”Kay said with a hint of excitement.

Fawn gave him a “you’re crazy” look and knew what the other forest animals would say if he said yes. Traitor!

I think he turned into a wolf over night! Who does he think he is?! He thinks he is so great he can sacrifice any of us!

Fawn tried to shake the thought out of his head, but it was still lingering in there.

“So is it a yes or a no? If no, deals off,” Kay said impatiently. “We don’t have all day!”

“I – I need some time to think about it,” Fawn stammered.

Kay sighed. “I need an answer in the next three days. If not, the deal’s off.” Then he turned around and disappeared into the den’s deep, damp, and dark entrance.

Chapter 8: Troubling Choices

This probably will be the most challenging decision I will ever make, thought Fawn. He sat on the clover patch under a tree and frowned. He didn’t expect the wolves to have such a ridiculous request. Maybe in the back of his mind he expected it. Wolves are quite vicious and sly. There always has to be something in it for them.

He sighed. He started nibbling at the grass. That was what he always did when he was either anxious or really hungry. He got up and made his final decision — to ask the Animal Council for help. He knew what they would say, but at least he would get some kind of consult. Or get an idea to help him make his decision.

Fawn walked off in the direction of the Animal Oak Tree. It was a huge oak, almost as thick as 50 bears. It was home to a wise old owl, the head of the Animal Council, along with Mr. Rabbit, Fred the Frog and a few other animals. They had a wolf and a bear as part of the council, but they didn’t attend the meetings very often. You’d see bears once in awhile, but it would be a very critical circumstance when the wolves would attend such as when the humans attacked. With a lot of persuading, they finally attended.

Finally, Fawn had arrived at the large oak. As usual, Mr. Badger was at the entrance. He was used to this place. He knew almost everyone on the council because his dad had been part of it. Coming back to the place made Fawn a bit sad. Abigail’s father also used to attend. So did Lemo, who quit, because Fawn’s father was no longer there. Fawn and Abigail used to always hide behind a bush near the window where they held the council meetings, eavesdropping in on what was going on. Then they would inform all of their friends, and their friends would inform their friends. But the one person they never told was Bobby, the mole. One time they told him something, and he dashed down into the ground, buried a hole, and dug a tunnel straight to his parents. He was so desperate to tell his parents because he loved telling others’ secrets.

Fawn approached Mr. Badger.

“Good day, Fawn. I’m very sorry your father passed. The council has not been the same without him.” He put his paw on Fawn’s shoulder. “So,” he continued. “What made you pop by here today?”

“I would like to see Wise Old Owl.”

“Why is that?” Badger asked.

“Oh. It’s just a little something that’s been bothering me.”

“You can come inside and wait in the lobby. I’ll tell him that you want a consult. And by the way, what is it?”

“Don’t worry,” said Fawn. “You’ll find out soon.”

Before Fawn knew it, he was sitting in Wise Old Owl’s office. It was at the very top of the oak so Wise Owl could see the whole forest (or most of it.) Fawn had been here twice before. The first time was when his father was touring him around the place. The second time was when he, Abigail, and a few of their friends played a big trick, and the whole forest got so scared. All of the animals were very angry, and they took it to the council. Fawn remembered very well sitting there, waiting for the Owl to sentence his punishment. They were not allowed to go to the meadow where all of the animals played for three days. Some of the animals thought that was too weak of a punishment, but the rest of the animals knew they were just kids and the punishment should not have been more harsh.

The door behind him opened. Fawn was brought back from his daze.

“Well, hello, Fawn. Badger has told me that you wish to have a consult. What is your problem?”

Chapter 9: Truth and Mistakes

“G-good Afternoon, Mr. Owl,” Fawn stammered. He stared in awe. Mr. Owl looked much different than when he last saw him. His white feathers were now grey. The brown feathers were now dark brown, and the tufts on his head had gone white.You could see rings under his eyes and they were very dark. Mr. Owl approached Fawn very slowly, for he was walking with a stick, something he never had before.”

“Oh,” Mr. Owl said happily. “It’s such a pleasure seeing you again, Fawn. You will definitely grow to be as kind and handsome as your father! Hmmm,” he continued. “Ah, yes, so what was the thing you wanted to share with me?”

“Er…” Fawn hesitated. “You must have heard of my plans to stop the humans.”

Mr. Owl chuckled. “Yes, go on.”

Then Fawn began to tell Mr. Owl about the past morning. How they got through the forest, what it was like, all the way to the part when Kay had struck as Fawn said “a ridiculous deal.”

“Which was?” Mr. Owl urged on.

Fawn took a deep breath then said, “He said they will only participate if,” he paused, “there are four animal sacrifices ready for them every day!” Fawn exhaled. Now it was time to find out the answer.

Mr. Owl closed his eyes in deep thought.

Fawn continued. “I wish there was a way I did not have to choose!”

There was a long silence. Mr. Owl opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling

“You know, your friend Abigail came to me not too long ago.”

“Oh, really!” Fawn said surprised. What does she want?! he thought.

“She came to talk to me about you and your plans,” Mr. Owl said as if he read Fawn’s mind. “She told me not only that she thinks that your plans are wrong, but that it is dangerous for the rest of the animals participating and you.”

Yeah, right, Fawn thought. Like she cares.

Mr. Owl looked at Fawn and sighed. “Children never understand,” Fawn heard him say under his breath.

“You know what? She also complained about missing you and how she was really worried about you.”

Fawn just rolled his eyes.

“Fawn, listen to me. Even if you don’t take Abigail as your friend at least think about doing what she thinks you should do. And I’ll tell you here and now that that’s the answer. Don’t say yes. Don’t say no. Refresh, restart, try again.”

Chapter 10: Unfortunately

Fawn stepped back into the endless night. He made his way to the wolves’ den faster this time. He knew his way better through the forest now. He arrived at the wolves’ den. A sudden feeling of regret and nerves washed over him.

“Kay!” Fawn called nervously.

A booming voice from the cave came in return.”Who’s there?”

Fawn swallowed. “It’s Fawn. I’ve come with an answer.”

Kay emerged out of the shadows of the cave. He sniffed the air then looked down at Fawn. The look of triumph on his face was replaced with a petrifying stare.

“You’re late!” He snarled.

“Sorry,” Fawn mumbled.

“So,” Kay circled around him. “What’s the decision?”

This is it. Fawn thought. He lifted up his head and narrowed his eyes.

“No,” he said firmly.

Kay’s mouth hung open, but when he saw Fawn look at him he scowled.

“So be it!” Kay snarled.

Fawn saw the look of defeat in Kay’s eyes, but the rest of his body remained as stiff as stone. Suddenly Kay looked up and a sudden smirk appeared on his face. Two wolves dropped down behind Fawn, then two others dropped down beside Kay, and then two more appeared! Fawn was cornered! The wolves were snarling, and their hungry gaze was fixed on Fawn.

Kay chuckled. “I knew that you were too much of a softie to let all your fellow animals die for your sake. So I brought influences. My pack is starving. We haven’t had fresh meat for days, and look what we have here a big, plump, juicy piece of fresh meat! I should’ve done this long ago!”

The wolves were closing in on him. Fawn tried to figure out what to do. His mind was racing, he couldn’t think straight anymore. One thing Fawn never thought of was dying. Of course, he knew that he would die someday, but he definitely didn’t seriously think about it.

Slash!

Fawn was knocked to the ground. Blood was pouring down his chest. He was struggling to keep his eyes open. He could barely see the wolves crowding around him. Then he heard a voice.

“Fawn!” It was Abigail!

“Help me!” he moaned.

“I’m coming! Just hold on! I’ve got to get you home!” she replied.

Fawn knew that would be impossible. He closed his eyes for the last time and took one last deep breath. As he exhaled he knew no one could stop death.

Epilogue

It had been two weeks since Fawn’s death but no one was as stricken as Abigail. The little voice in her head kept saying over and over You failed Fawn, you failed him, you failed him… and it never stopped. Abigail walked to their old hideout; it felt weird to be there again, especially without Fawn. She had not been there since… she and Fawn had that fight.

“I wish I never fought with Fawn. That started this whole thing!” she whispered to herself. She could faintly hear Fawn jumping and saying, “Abigail, come play, come play, come and play!”

A tear trickled down her cheek, then she burst into tears.

“You had so much ahead of you Fawn! Why did you have to do this? You shouldn’t have gone to the wolves’ den. It was a trap!” she shouted to the air. Abigail sighed. “It’s just not the same without you!” she whispered.

That night as Abigail laid down to sleep she began to talk to herself. “You’ve got to stop grieving. You can’t be crying and feeling bad about yourself your whole life!”

Yeah right! another voice popped up in the conversation. How can I stop when it is technically all my fault! You failed him and you deserve to feel this way!

“Well, I for one believe that you tried your hardest and now all you have to do is….” By that time, Abigail was drifting off to sleep.

As Abigail looked around, she saw the hideout that she and Fawn used to have. The birch trees that surrounded her had beautiful, new, green leaves. She felt the fresh, spring breeze rustle through her fur. The sunlight danced around her and the newly grown blades of grass felt as soft as cotton.

“Wait!” she said in confusion. “This isn’t right. It’s supposed to be winter, not spring! It’s cold out and there are no leaves. In fact there is supposed to be snow outside!”

Then she heard a voice: “Yes, that is true. It is winter, but not in this memory.”

Abigail spun around to see who said that. Tears began to fill her eyes. It was… no, it couldn’t be… Fawn!

“Fawn, is that really you?” she croaked.

“Yes,” he replied.

“How the heck am I seeing you and feeling you — and you’re supposed to be DEAD!” Abigail screamed in outrage. “This is impossible!” Then she burst into tears.

“Abigail! Don’t cry!” Fawn said, annoyed. “You have to stop wasting your time grieving for me and get on with your life!”

Abigail looked up and smiled. It felt great to hear that familiar, annoying, playful voice again.

“But how?” she asked.

“That, you already know. Think deeply about it, the one thing that made this how it is now.”

Abigail stared at him blankly. Fawn just chuckled.

“Goodbye, Abigail. And remember what I said. Oh, and say hello to my mother for me.”

“Bye Fawn! It’ll never be the same without you!” Then she gave Fawn a hug. Abigail’s vision began to get hazy then…

Plick.

Abigail awoke to a drop of snow on her nose. Last night’s conversation was still quite vivid in her memory, but the warm feel of the sun disappeared and was replaced with the harsh, cold, biting feeling of snow. She got up out of her sleeping spot and trudged through the knee-high snow to the Animal Oak Tree to get shelter from the falling snow, that was starting to turn into a blizzard. She entered the oak to the sound of constant chatter. The noise was so deafening

Abigail had to plug her ears, while she pushed through the crowd to get to Wise Old Owl’s office.

She groaned. The line in front of Mr. Owl’s office was so long she couldn’t even see his office door. The hallway was crowded. Animals here. Animals there. Abigail could hear the fast chit chatter of the rabbits, the hollow voice of the toads, and the high pitched squeaks from the mice scurrying to get more food.

She sighed. And all I wanted was to have a simple conversation with Mr. Owl! She thought angrily. Abigail shot out the hallway as fast as she could, chatter flew behind her, animals turned to stare as she whizzed by. She knew what Fawn would say: “Abigail, stop overreacting!” Overreacting! I’m not overreacting.

She forced back tears, but before she knew it, streams of tears flooded her face and the cold wind made it sting. Abigail ran. She ran like she had never run before. Then silence. Abigail sighed in relief. Finally somewhere quiet where I can think.

She slumped against the wall and began to wonder what Fawn meant. How am I supposed to know? Okay, Fawn thinks I am pretty smart, but that doesn’t mean I know everything! What did he mean by “the one thing that made this how it is now.”

Abigail grunted in frustration, then it hit her. She was supposed to finish what he started — without the wolves’ help. How could this be! That killed Fawn. A sudden memory flashed in her mind. It was when Fawn said, “But you’re my friend, we have to help each other!”

Abigail smiled, “Well, Fawn, if that’s what you want!” She exclaimed as she left the room.

Abigail looked back at the spot where she had rested and vaguely saw Fawn lying down, beaming at her.

Fawn smiled in contentment as Abigail left the room.  My work here is done, he thought. As Fawn closed his eyes for the very last time, a rainbow showered over the entire forest.