It was late winter and the snow flurried outside my den. The cool air surrounded me in my den for the first time. I couldn't open my eyes or hear a thing, but I was given sweet milk from my mother in trade. Of course, I paid more that just my sight and hearing, it was work to get and claim a spot to drink. My brother Oden would always push me around and claim my spot. He would take everything! None of my siblings or me could get any! My mother didn't care. She was too depressed to care about anything. She said it was about Father. I had never seen him, but he sounded important to mother.
As she sobbed about him Oden decided to attack me for more food, as he thought I would give some sweet milok also, as he had drank all of Mother's. As he attacked me and tried to get milk, my mother just watched. She got up and decided to find food for herself to she could give milk to Oden. As I now had little hope to push me forward and try to survive the attack. The only insperation I could find was not having to go through the pain of being ripped apart anymore. As the weight crushed me and the teeth coming in through his gums pierced my skin, I opened my small mouth and bit down on him. He is a bigger baby more than a tough wolf, as he just rolled off and whimpered in the corner, and as he did so I was also crippled in the other corner. I wouldn't be able to wander for few days, and those would be a terrible few days.
As the days past, I healed, but verything was still the same. Mother was sobbing, Oden pushed us around, and we grew weaker every hour.
Nature is Bitter, but Also Sweet
At around 2 weeks of the same days, something different happened. The darkness of everyday life, brightened up! It was brown and yellow and gray and green instead of the black.
The first thing I saw was my mother. She was lying down in the red, orange yellow and brown leaves she had put down for our arrival. Her eyes sparkled with tears in her eyes and her fur seemed wet from the crying. "What is wrong, Mother?" I asked her, confusion in my eyes.
She lifted her head and was about to bark back a response, but she got all the way up and just walked out of the den. Curiosity and confusion urged me to follow, and foolishly I listened and walked behind her.
The wind nearly blew me away as I was swept off my feet and thrown into the pure white snow. I was buried quickly as the snow piled on top of me, and I started getting less and less air.
"Help!" I cried out, but there was no answer. I tried and tried again to rise to my feet, but I couldn't A gust came and blew me over the snow, turning me from a brown-grey, to almost a pure white. As I was swept across the snow-covered ground I was stopped by two skinny legs. I could feel my heart jump out of my chest as the new colors turned back to the darkness of black.
As the colors returned, so did my body heat. I was in a small hole, barely big enough for me to fit in. The colors were all the same as my den, but not a wolf pup in sight. There were small orange and white pups, just larger than my head. I nudged one, and it let out a small whimper. It was a very squeaky and fragile voice that would not dare be silenced by anything in it's right mind.
"I see you have found my cubs." came a gently, loving voice. I turned my head to see that it was a large one of the cubs, but much more fluffy. I tucked my short tail in between my legs and folded my ears back to show her I meant no harm. "It is okay, I will not eat you. I am Marlie. I cannot hear or understand you, but I will care for you until you reach adulthood."
I unfolded my ears and untucked my tail and took a better look at her. She was just over half a foot taller than me and twice as wide being how skinny I was. Her fur was a bright orange color, having white on her tail tip and face. Her paws were a black long with her nose and eyes. Her eyes, of they sparkled like a star and were as black as a midnight sky.
My stomach growled, as usual and it wasn't much of a surprise for me, but to Marlie it must've been a terrible thing. She ran over to me and threw up a bit of food. "What is this?" I asked her, but she didn't respond. I cocked my head to her to show her my confusion, but she just smiled and waited patiently. I sniffed at it, not knowing what I was to do with it. It was yellow and lumpy like leaves and mud, but it smelled much more edible. I licked a taste of it, slowly getting faster, and before I knew it, It was gone. I looked to Marlie and smiled, and she smiled back. "If you can eat that, you are ready to eat meat chunks." she told me, happy that she didn't have to give me milk. She walked out of the den, but this time I didn't follow. Next time nature might not be as balanced with the bitter and sweet, but might be a whole lot crueler.
Leaving the Fox Den
As the days went by, the hole just got smaller and smaller until I just couldn't fit. Marlie tried and tried to expand it, but the cubs were too much of a handful. I couldn't stay any longer, but I couldn't break the news to Marlie.
I crawled out of the hole and stretched my grey back and legs. I sit down in the dust and think of a solution to this problem. I couldn't expand the hole by myself or my muscles would ache from day to night. I couldn't move into another hole, or it might be Oden all over again. As my thoughts carried me away, they were stopped by a small, squeaky voice that I would never forget.
"Watcha doing?" the voiced asked me. "Marie!" I responded to her joyfully. That is, until I remembered what exactly I was doing. "I really don't want to talk about what I am doing." I told her, but that wasn't satisfying to her. "What? What are you doing?" she asked me again. "I said, I don't want to talk about it." I said, getting irritated. Still unsatisfied, she tried again to get it out of me. "I don't want to talk about it! I have to go now." I said, now very annoyed. As I trotted off toward the stream, I now was urging to get away from there more than ever. It was the cubs pushing me out most of all. They too were growing, making it even harder to live there.
I was nearly an adult, as I was a threat to rabbits and geckos, even foxes.
I was ready to leave anyway, as I saw another familiar face wandering about. "Fallenleaf?" I called out to the wolf. He turned his head at the sound of his name, then fixed his gaze on me. "Is that you? Is that you, Marian?" Fallenleaf called to me. "Yes, it is me! How is the family?" I asked him. He paused at that, and looked at his paws, then up to the sky, then back to his paws. "They are dead." He finally told me. I wasn't surprised, but I still acted as if I were shocked. "How?" and as I asked it, I instantly thought of Oden. He was the bully of the family and I could imagine him killing us. "It was a group of rattle snakes. They killed Mother, Oden, Orangeleaf, Vee, and Xao. I was the only survivor. It happened just yesterday. Heck, I thought you were dead too!" I wasn't saddened by this, and by studying Fallenleaf's expressions, neither was he. "I see." I said simply. "I must go." I said and trotted away, almost wanting to leap and bound at the news. I never liked my family, as I was always picked on the most by everyone. I trotted towards the cliffs across the river to see if I could pick off a meal.
Always Be Prepared
As I left Fallingleaf I could hear him call to me to tell me something. I simply brushed him off and continued on my way to find a meal. As my nose was filled with a wonderful smell that pulled me toward a carcase. It was from a condor, and it was a large carcase compared to the chunks of meat I would always eat. The days of starvation would never come again if I kept eating like this.
As I ate the delightful food, a large pack of wolves came over to me. As they saw no pack around me they forced me to join Blackberry's pack. As much as I resisted, they would attack me and beat me until I agreed to join.
As I was about to dig into my carcase, they started moving away. I had no choice but to follow them away from my food. I barely got a taste of it too.
As days passed, we hardly ever stopped moving. If I tried to rest, I would be attacked, so I learned my lessons quickly. Though one lesson I never learned: Why you never challenge a pack leader. I was foolish enough to challenge Blackberry. He put up a very good fight that lasted for a while, but finally I had pinned him down. He was stunned at the fact he was beaten by a skinny pup like me. When he knew what he was doing again, he was furious. He ordered a pack attack on me, and immediatly all the wolves in the pack came after me. I wasn't prepared for this. I began running for my life as the pack closed in on me. "No!" I howled as one leaped on my back. The rest followed him, ripping me apart. As I felt no more pain, I looked around. The wolves were still killing a wolf, but it wasn't me. Was it? I took a better look. It was me! I was pure white now. My paws, face, tail, everything but my brown eyes, which stayed their original color. I looked up. There seemed to be a wolf staring at me, a sparkle in his eyes. "My daughter." he said, and as he said it, I immediatly knew he was Father. "Father! Father!" I howled to him, and flew as fast as I could to him. "My daughter, Marian. How I missed you. I had seen all of my other pups, but you, I have never seen you, my beautiful pup!" he told me. I felt warm inside as he said that. "I missed you too Father." I told him, almost burying myself in his fur. He was so comforting and calm. His eyes brown eyes looked just like mine, sparkling like a star. "Come, let me show you around." he said, and walked off as I followed closely. This all made up for my terrible life. Seeing my father.
The End
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This is the story I wrote! I did it as fast as possible! I wouldn't be able to get on tomorrow, so I thought I'd just finish it today! I spent around 3 hours straight on it. xD Man, my fingers hurt! I hope you enjoy!
