Chapter Three: The Disappearance of a Friend

The grass on the forest floor was still damp with yesterday’s rain, families of worms had climbed out of the soil and wiggled on the grass soaking up as much as possible. Rudy was stirred in his bed, restless thoughts invading his dreams. His eyes woke slowly; the grogginess sat on his shoulders like bird on a wire, he couldn’t sake it. Climbing out the hole in his room he sat perched on the branch enjoying the scent that lingered in the air. His eyes surveyed the trees down to their trunks, a beautiful shade of green covered them on the north side. The worms by now had made their way back into the earth, the birds came out and flew off to find some that were still wiggling about, their luck was minimal. It was early morning and the sun wasn’t full up, the forest was a shade of beautiful blue that coated everything, this made Rudy feel a little better about being woken up too early. His ears twitched in sync with his whiskers, he was picking up sounds and senses around him. He blinked to remove the sleep out of his eyes; seeing things properly this early was almost impossible for him; his paw came up and scratched his eye.

He inhaled a big breath; he began to wake up finally. Still two hours from being fully bright out, the sun was taking it’s sweet time waking up. He noticed that a small mosquito had landed on his leg. His hand reached down and grabbed it before it bit into him, his hand tightened around it until it’s breathing stopped; he let it fall to the floor below. He raised his paw up to a stray dew drop sitting peacefully on a leaf above his head, he grabbed it without breaking it and popped it in his hands. Mosquito’s were filthy bugs who landed on too many creatures, Rudy had hated them, their bites hurt too much he thought to himself. Mrs. Hedgemen had awaken in her room next to Mr.Hedgemen, her small body hopped out of the bed and skittered about throughout the house finally noticing Rudy on the branch outside the window.

‘Rudy!’ she squeaked with surprise that made him almost loose his footing ‘What on earth are you doing out there?’ He turned to see the frightened face of this mother staring at him.

‘I’m ok mom, I just couldn’t sleep’ he replied honestly and made his way back into the tree. She had hugged him when his feet had touched the floor, hands locking behind his back. She squeezed him, she was strong for an older squirrel; she loved her son. 

‘Why are you awake?’ he asked her as he hugged back. She let go.

‘Same reason I suppose’ she felt weird being awake. He closed his eyes and was suddenly tired again, his mother walked towards the hole and peered outside, the sun wasn’t coming up. It was almost as if it was being held in place with a giant unbreakable chain, forever an mid-twilight. Rudy made his way back to his room and hopped into his bed; his eyes quickly shut in the blue of the room. He was asleep before he knew it. 

****

While Rudy was still asleep something had happened in the forest that made an outcry,  somebody was taken from their homes. Rudy tossed in bed, and shifted his position and fell back asleep. The forest was searching high and low for the missing person but there was no luck, Mr. Hedgemen had entered Rudy’s room and shook him awake. Completely surprised Rudy almost fell out of bed; a task seemingly difficult with his father holding him at the shoulders. His eyes were covered over with a sleep-like film, he tried to concentrate to figure out what was happening, his fathers figure came into view above him.

‘Rudy, get up d****t’ his fathers voice boomed. His eyes blinked with aggression, his image became un-blurred. Why did you wake me? He asked in his head, his father couldn’t hear him that way.

‘Why did you wake me?’ muttered Rudy, scrambling to his feet one hand on the bed helping himself up. He sat on the edge of the bed, he was still ruthlessly tired. Rubbing his eyes, he looked up at his father.

‘Emica is missing’ he said to him. The words hit Rudy like a door closing on his finger, they rang through his ear’s like annoying church bells. Standing up he looked his dad in the eyes ‘What happened?’