I don't know where this is really supposed to be, but I hope people here will enjoy and appreciate it. This is my latest work:



The Animal

It came early in the morning while the grass still was wet and cold. It sneaked through the narrow path, between the conifers and the leafless Oak trees. A squirrel jumped from one branch to another and collected nuts for its winter storage. The sound from the squirrel’s small feet calmed the big animal and made its legs move slower and take more measured steps. The animal was in no rush. It knew, that it had all the time on earth, especially now when the hunting season was through and no more threatened its existence until next year. The winter was coming.
Suddenly, there was a sounds that frightened the animal. A sounds from a rifle, far away and though so close, that the animal began to run. It crossed a little glade with a couple of dozens of young plantation of oak trees that were arranged in a circle about the fertile, deep green grass in the glade. It ran along towards the forest lake, where it usually came to drink after a meal of grass and leaves. The lake was soiled with old Coke cans, candy paper and used plastic bags with leftovers in them. People often came here and made picnics along the edge of the lake. The fresh air positively affected the lungs and made one look younger. If the animal had been a human, it would for sure run away from the city noise and to the lake himself. Just to feel a couple of years younger. But it was an animal, and it appreciated if the lake was untouched by the human litters. Unfortunately, things didn’t go that way.
The animal ran by the lake. The gunshots still resounded in its ears, and it could hear running steps and low shouts move closer. A birds desperate screech and attempt to escape followed by a shot and loud round of applause. These illegal hunters were skilled, but they were either not hunting the requested prey or simply not experienced enough to keep their voices down and go for the main prize.
The animal hurried. Now it could feel the injuries in its leg from last years hunt. It escaped a couple of times, but not without ill-effects. The animal’s left leg was hit by a bullet, fired by a skilled hunter who knew what he was doing. But unfortunately, the prey moved too fast and the hunter missed. What could have been the animals death, was now only a nuisance that occasionally came back, sore and stinging, and sometimes also infected. The animal clearly felt the pain, but the shouts drove it like an invisible force.
Suddenly, the terrain changed and the animal found itself on unfamiliar area. There was forest, but not very thick, and its nostrils vibrated, affected by all the unknown smells. It slowed down and jog-trotted towards a little glade that was hardly visible among all the coniferous trees. Hopefully, the danger was over.
A couple of hundreds of meters away, the animal noticed a building. A brown house made of wood, with a thatched roof and small, delicate windows with handmade carvings. White curtains in the windows, half-withered flowers in beds underneath and one single, but cozy candle in the kitchen window. An old-fashioned and probably useless well stood few meters away from the narrow gravel path that led towards the front door. Beautifully cut bushes and trimmed trees stood about, and a gathering of 5-6 bigger oak trees hid another house, which looked as a guesthouse or sauna. Everything looked occupied, warm and cozy. The animal hesitated. It had never seen this little property before, and the sight of people and their residence surprised it. In the middle of the woods . Why? And since when?
It continued standing between the trees, close to the house, watching this little oasis until every single detail burned itself into the animal’s memory.
Suddenly, the front door opened and the animal retreated in the fear of danger. A figure with dark hair, light skin and a big, dark brown fur appeared on the stairs that lead to the house. It moved down the stairs and towards the other little house that stood sheltered by the oak trees. A young girl in fur was what the animal had laid its eyes on. It couldn’t know, if she was beautiful, it couldn’t see her features or the details on her white hands. It didn’t know if it should had run or stay and hope for mercy. But something kept it from running away. So it stayed.

The girl turned around and for a second, the blood froze in her veins. She saw the animal, the huge creature stand just few meters from her and stare with its soft, brown and big eyes. Its fur was brown and thick, and the girl noticed some clotted blood that hung in the fur on its left leg. She got frightened at first, but few seconds after the mystery of this animal made her break the silence and she looked at it curiously.
She wasn’t afraid anymore, now she was only curious and full of courage. She could hear voices far away and wondered, if it was the animal’s indefatigable pursuers that had driven it all the way here, to her untouched paradise.
She took a step towards. The animal didn’t move, only watched her and glanced piercingly her eyes with its wild beasts eyes. She took one more step and stood without moving for a moment, in the same position.
The animal noticed the voiced far away, but kept standing on the same spot, though uneasy. She moved closer with tiny steps and suddenly, she stood right next to it, so she could freely pat it on the back if that was what she wanted. At that moment, she was sure it wouldn’t run or trample her down.
She had won its confidence.
She smiled.

The animal got anxious. It could hear the voices coming closer and closer, and the sound of a rifle that was fired in the sinister morning light.
It contemplated the girls fur that was very close to it and looked very much alike its own, both in color and material. But not a thought came to its mind. It had let the greatest danger, a human being, move so near it for the first time, and it was happily surprised by not being shot on, for the first time. The big relief must have taken its vigilance from it, because the animal heard the sound of running feet in the last moment.
Then it began to run, in the direction of the little house and beyond the glade. It turned to look back only once, before it disappeared in the forests darkness and moist.

The only thing it saw was a little animal. The animal laid on the ground with the soft, brown fur about it and floating in a big, dark red puddle that colored the autumn-ground black. Pebbles on the path absorbed the liquid and left the hunter’s victim emptied and even paler than it was while being alive. The glad shouts and eager steps of the hunter’s died down. The young lads gathered around the prey and threw negligently their rifles aside, while they bowed to examine the promising prey. None of them touched it, maybe in fear of disease.
The animal managed to escape what could have been its death, in time. It looked for safety in the woods, while the sight of hunters and the victim on the ground had burned into its memory.
Another succeeded hunt, would a man had said.



By IM.