Reduce, Reuse and Recycle

I feel bad for you guys because you can probably tell that I am stalling.  I just have a lot on my plate right now with two exams tomorrow and I have been working quite a lot. So, this is sort of an old piece that I wrote a while back, but I would love feedback! I do realize that it is kind of creepy, and yes, I promise I'm a normal person and not some psychotic maniac. 

That being said, here's the story:

Two children, a boy and girl, were walking down a long, abandoned road in the middle of the winter season. Covered in layers of coats, sweatshirts, gloves, hats and scarves, they slightly waddled their way home. A forest slept to their left with only the sounds of leaves and branches rustling in the wind coming from the dark abyss. To their right a small pond slept, frozen over and motionless.

The two children walked in silence for a long time, until the girl looked over at the boy. She noticed he was glancing into the forest, and his face was etched with worry.

"What's wrong?" she asked, but her voice was carried away with the wind. She moved her arm, slightly bumping his, to gain his attention. "What's wrong?" she repeated, louder this time.

"I-, I-, I thought I saw something," he said, taking another quick glance into the forest. The girl rolled her eyes and let out a slight laugh.

"Stop chasing shad-" she started, but she was stopped when she heard breaking branches coming from the forest.

The children both stopped, turning to face the forest. "What, what was that?" the girl asked. The boy let out a scared cry and ran around to the other side of the girl, using her as a shield from the forest. The girl noticed something moving toward her and closed her eyes and threw up her hands to protect herself as it bounded from the woods in her direction.

After a few seconds, she heard the boy utter a soft “Wow.” She slowly opened her eyes and lowered her hands. Standing before them was a beautiful buck. His golden fur was shining with a blinding brightness against the dreary white and gray of the snow. His antlers sprouted from his head and extended in a wild pattern around his head. His eyes were locked on the children, watching them in silence.

“Don’t move,” the girl whispered softly to the boy still behind her. The buck’s head quickly turned towards the girl and their eyes met. Neither moved for what seemed like hours to the girl. Finally, the buck turned his head and attention to crossing the road.

He leapt into the middle of the road, just as an old red truck came flying down the lane. There was the sound of tires sliding through the snow, and the boy and girl stood motionless on the side of the road. The buck turned his head toward the truck, and watched it, much like he had watched the girl only moments earlier. The truck continued to slide in the buck’s directions and, in the split second before he was hit, the girl could see the muscles in his legs relax.

It seemed like the moment lasted forever, but in a second it was over. The truck ended up crashed into the shallow pond, the buck’s body ended up laying twenty feet off the shore, its body half in the water, its head and front legs lying on top of the ice. His eyes glanced into the distance, not moving, as blood slowly spread on the ice around his head. The driver of the truck jumped out; he was only a young boy, not older than twenty.

He walked around his truck, looking at the damage of the engine and front bumper. He ran his hands through his hair as he shouted curses and profanities.

“Let’s get out of here,” the boy whispered as he tugged on the girls arm, but the girl just stood there on the side of the road, her eyes never leaving the silent head of the buck.


K.G. Sunshine