Moon and Storm - Part Two

There is a strange boy in the forest, and a deer who's decided Moon is just the person the boy needs.

Monday morning came far too soon, and for once, the deer was not waiting outside for her. Not that she expected it. The deer had gotten her attention, and had shown her what she was needed for. There was no reason to keep coming back, and she probably wanted to stay close to her boy anyway.

 

Stone and Echo seemed disappointed by its sudden disappearance from their lives, but Star remained pensive and quiet, watching her sister as she moved through the kitchen and got them all breakfast. “She told you something,” Star said when the boys were focused on greedily devouring their pancakes. “And you heard her.”

 

“Maybe I did,” Moon replied. “Eat.”

 

Moon’s mind wandered all throughout the school day, and she found it hard to focus on her work. When lunch period rolled around, she packed up all of her belongings and sneaked a sandwich into the computer lab with her. Between stolen bites, she looked up the news story her mother told her about the day before, hoping to find a picture of the boy who had disappeared into the woods, but there was no face to attach to the stories and all she got was a name: Cory Larson, 15, from Beaverton. He ran away from home one night after a disagreement with his father and was last seen disappearing into the forest. All local attempts to find him had turned up nothing. A related story spoke of a neighbor who was in stable condition after being attacked by a vicious fox during one of the attempted rescue missions.

 

“Cory probably got eaten by the wild animals. I mean, look what they did to my leg.”

 

Angrily, Moon shut down the computer.

 

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered to it, though she wasn’t at all sure that the boy she met in the forest was Cory. He seemed about the right age - only a year younger than her - but there was no proof one way or another. The boy in the forest didn’t seem like a kid who’d run away only a month ago after a disagreement. There was something else there, something the deer wanted her to uncover, and she was determined to do just that.

 

She was not paying attention as she left the library, the bell that would toll the end of lunch still a good ten minutes away, and so she was not expecting it when someone brushed forcefully past her. The hard knock against her shoulder sent her tumbling into the lockers to her side and a group of snickering voices surrounded her.

 

“Oops,” one of the girls said. “Sorry, didn’t see you there Moony.”

 

Moon glared. For years, the girls had been making her school life a walking nightmare, and she was already in a foul enough mood from the articles she’d just read. “You did it on purpose.”

 

The girl gave an exaggerated intake of breath and placed her hand to her chest. “On purpose! Such accusations!”

 

Another girl laughed. “C’mon Moony, it’s all in good fun. Play along.”

 

Moon righted herself and tried to walk away from them, but they quickly followed, surrounding her again. The first girl wrapped an arm around Moon’s shoulders. “So what were you doing in the library, Moony? Studying?”

 

Moon didn’t grace her with an answer, but this didn’t deter the girl at all.

“I wouldn’t bother if I were you. You know what moons do, don’t you? They orbit bigger and

better planets, that’s all, and they reflect the light from the sun. That’s all you are. Just a dense little rock, orbiting more important people, reflecting everyone else’s brightness but without any of your own. I don’t even know why you bother coming here everyday--”

 

Before she could finish her sentence, Moon did something she had never done before. She hauled back and punched the girl straight in the nose. The girl went over backwards, hands flying to her face, but Moon could see the blood and it made her sick. Before anyone could realize what had happened, Moon made a run for it. She pushed past the other girls, heading for the double doors at the end of the hallway, her breath catching and her heart pounding close to her ears. A teacher’s voice called out through the din, shouting her name in a very stern tone, but she ignored it and kept running.

 

Out the door, down the steps, and across the field. There, on the other side of the chain link fence, was the deer. She stood alert, waiting for Moon, her eyes darting over Moon’s shoulder at the teacher that was tearing after her, but Moon climbed the fence and hopped over to the other side and kept running, following the deer as she leapt across the highway and off in the direction of the forest.

 

They kept running until Moon was sure that nobody was following, and then she slowed her pace, her breath heavy from the exertion. She collapsed to her knees as a sharp wind blew, and a shiver went through her body. This was unlike the last two times she’d come into this forest, where curiosity had led her and it felt like a safe place. Now, she truly felt as though she was trespassing on another’s territory, led forth by nothing but fear, and she wondered briefly if she would become the next news story.

 

The soft crunch of leaves nearby drew her attention and she jerked her head up, looking at the intruder. Ten feet away, the boy paused mid-step, eyes a little wide at having been caught. Beside him stood the deer, and Moon brought herself to her feet and raised her chin defiantly, waiting for him to yell her away.

 

But he didn’t.

 

“Are you running from something?” he asked, and after a hesitation she nodded.

 

“I got into a fight at school. I’m probably going to get suspended.”

 

He frowned, looking at the ground for a moment before meeting her eyes again. “Was it worth it?”

 

“Yes.” The word came before her thoughts did, and she realized she didn’t at all feel guilty for hitting the other girl. In fact, she felt better than she’d felt in a long time, freer. There would be consequences later, but she’d deal with that then. For now…

 

“You aren’t chasing me away,” Moon pointed out, curiously.

 

The boy seemed to roll this over in his mind for a moment, before smiling a mischievous smile. “You’re not an invader this time,” he said. “Fox wouldn’t have brought you here if she didn’t have good reason. If she trusts you, I guess I can. Come on.” He held his hand out for her, a sign of truce between them, and Moon stepped forward and slipped her hand into his.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“Home,” he said.

 

The boy led her through the forest, winding his way through the trees and telling her how to watch her feet for the more deceptive parts of their path. “You can lose your footing in a gopher hole or a fox hole easily here, or trip over a root. You have to be careful. Once you know what to look for, it becomes easier.”

 

Moon raised an eyebrow. “How long did it take you to figure it out?”

 

“Oh, I always knew what to look for. I’m king here. The forest doesn’t dare try to trip me.”

 

Finally, the surroundings began to look a little more familiar, and Moon’s nerves eased. The boy was leading her to the clearing, she could see that now, and she followed him with trust.

 

The boy took her to his rock covering. Up close, she could see that it was probably man-made, hand-crafted no doubt by the boy himself, but there was room enough for both of them and Moon pulled out her sandwich to finish. Instantly, the boy became alert, staring at the food with slightly widened eyes.

 

“Is…it alright?” she asked, holding her sandwich up.

 

The boy nodded. “Of course. It’s…it just smells very good.”

 

Without hesitation, Moon broke the sandwich in half and handed the uneaten half over to him, and he devoured it in a bare minute.

 

“Do…you have food out here?”

 

The boy shrugged. “The forest shows me where all the best berries are, but that’s about it. There’s water in the streams and fruit that lines the banks. Nothing like this.”

 

“How long have you been out here…?”

 

Again, the boy shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t keep track of the time. There’s just the forest and Fox out here, nobody to keep time for.”

 

“But, where did you come from?”

 

He looked at her with a strange confusion in his eyes. “Come from? I didn’t come from anywhere. I’m the king of the forest. I rose fully formed from the streams themselves when the forest decided it needed me. No doubt I’ll disappear back into them when it decides it’s through with me.” He motioned to the deer, who had lain in a patch of grass beneath a beam of midafternoon sun, her eyes gazing at the line of trees around the basin as if keeping watch. “Fox knows more than I do, but she doesn’t tell me much.”

 

Moon leaned back against the shelter and ate the last of her sandwich, then folded her hands in her lap. For a long while, the two of them sat there in silence, watching the deer watch the forest. It was an easy silence, and Moon found herself more at peace with this strange boy than she was in the comfort of her own bed. From time to time, the boy would call to the deer, making a kissing sound with his lips and holding his hand out, but she would merely look over and blink, and return to watching the trees.

 

“How long will you stay?” the boy asked, finally. “I could prepare a bed for you. I know the best leaves.”

 

The offer was tempting, and Moon almost said yes, but she thought of her mother and her siblings, and the articles she’d read at the library, and shook her head. “I have to get home to my family. They’ll miss me.”

 

“But won’t you be in trouble? For fighting, I mean?”

 

Moon nodded solemnly, a pit forming in her stomach. “Likely. But I made a choice. I have to face the consequences.”

 

The boy eyed the ground beneath his feet unhappily for a long moment. “Will I see you again…? Will you come back?”

 

Moon smiled, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’ll come back tomorrow, if I can get away. And if I can’t, then I’ll try the next day, and the next day, and the next day. I won’t ever stop trying.”

 

The boy looked relieved, and he stood and wiped his hands on his pants before reaching down to help Moon to her feet. “I’ll take you home, then,” he said, and he clasped her hand and led her through the woods back to edge of the forest.

 

~*~

 

Moon’s mother was very cross, that evening. Moon stood in the kitchen, her head hung and her hands behind her back, as her mother paced across the linoleum and lectured her on everything from fighting in class, to running away, to returning again to that forest.

 

“Do you understand the danger, Moony?” she said, and Moon winced at the horrible nickname she’d tried for so long to shake. Her mother missed it, however, and kept going. “You could be dead! You have no idea what kind of wild animals there are in that forest! What if you stepped in a fox hole and broke your ankle, but we couldn’t find you?”

 

I would not. The King of the Forest was there to see I’d be safe. But these are not words she dared speak out loud, and her mother continued some more.

 

“You’ve been suspended. You’re lucky you weren’t expelled! That girl and her family could have pressed charges!”

 

“She was pushing me around, Mama! She shoved me and said awful things!”

 

“Then you must be the bigger person!”

 

Moon shook her head, stepping away. “You don’t care! You never take my side in these things! I don’t feel sorry for it, not for any of it! I’d do it all over again - and I will! If she ever touches me again I’ll do a lot worse!”

 

Before her mother could protest, she turned and ran up to her room, ignoring the shocked looks on her brothers’ faces as she passed them in the hallway and her sister’s prying eyes as the girl peeked out of her own bedroom. Moon slammed her door shut, collapsing on the bed. She was angry, her body shaking, and she knew the tears were not far away.

 

After a few minutes, there was a soft knock.

 

“Leave me alone!” Moon called, pushing herself up and grabbing a pillow to clutch tightly in her lap. The door opened a moment later, and her mother looked inside, her face covered in remorse.

 

“Moon, can I come in?”

 

“Not if you’re going to repeat everything you already said.” She glared hard, but her mother’s face softened and she stepped inside of the room, closing the door gently behind her.

 

“No, I won’t.” She sighed softly, and came to sit beside Moon on the bed. “I just want you know that I’m worried about you. I know it’s difficult on you - caring for your siblings as much as you do, and it’s hard to make friends and feel like you can fit in. You have your father’s spirit - you long to be out there, exploring the world. There’s a touch of the wild in you. I just want to help you achieve all of your dreams. Fighting, running away from school, wandering off into the forest, they scare me.”

 

Moon sighed, her anger dissipating. She nodded. “I know, Mama…I promise I’ll be safe.”

 

“That’s not what I want to hear, Moon. Promise you won’t do those things again.”

 

Moon’s shoulders slumped, but she nodded again, and her mother looked relieved. “Good girl.” She leaned in to kiss Moon’s forehead. “You can’t go back to school this week, but I got all your schoolwork collected for you. After the kids get off to school in the morning, the day is yours, just get your work done before Monday.”

 

“Yes, Mama.”

 

“I love you, Moon. You’re a good kid.”

 

But Moon was already planning her next trip into the forest, and as soon as her mother was gone she reached for her schoolwork so there wouldn’t be anything to interfere with her trip the next morning.

 

~*~

 

Moon was excited as she helped her brothers and her sister prepare for school the next day. While Stone and Echo were decidedly grumpy that their newfound deer friend no longer waited for them in their backyard, Moon found herself brimming with strange morning energy. Once the kids were out of the house, she would be free for hours to explore the forest with her new friend. She poured the cereal and even gave Stone the extra big glass of orange juice, like he liked, just to keep everyone happy, and in no time at all she had all three of them on the bus and was running inside to get dressed for the day.

 

A hearty rain had come the night before and covered the grass in a blanket of water droplets, so she put on her rain boots and packed a double lunch, before running off to the woods. The boy and the deer were standing at the forest’s edge, waiting for her, and the boy grinned widely when she came up to them.

 

“I was worried you wouldn’t come!” he exclaimed, looking her over. “You were alright? You weren’t in much trouble?”

 

Moon smirked. “I’m in a lot of trouble, but my mother’s at work and the kids are at school, so there’s nobody to stop me right now. What are we going to do today?”

 

He grabbed her hand and took off, careful not to drag her along too hard. “I have something to show you!”

 

Fox leapt through the trees and the two of them followed in her tracks, laughing as they hopped over logs in a perfect mimicry of her long strides, and it wasn’t long before Moon could hear the trickle of water up ahead. With her stomach aflutter, she let the boy bring her straight to the water’s edge, where he urged her to kneel down and stay quiet. The stream stretched about two feet wide, and Moon’s jeans soaked up the water as the boy looked in both directions for what he was hoping to find. Fox, for her part, simply dipped her neck low to lap up the cool, clear waters.

 

“There,” the boy said, pointing at something in the distance. Moon looked past him, narrowing her eyes, and caught sight of something dark green jump from the muddy embankment to a pile of slick rocks in the center of the stream.

 

“It’s a frog!” she cried, stifling her voice but not her excitement.

 

“There’s a whole family of them! Look!”

 

Moon started to notice more frogs hopping about, and she took the boy’s arm in both of her hands and held on as they watched the family of frogs play in the rushing water.

 

~*~

 

As they sat back in the boy’s alcove for lunch, Moon decided to ask a few questions that had been burning on her mind. She watched him devour his sandwich for a moment first, but when he looked up at her, something on her face must have given her away. He swallowed hard.

 

“You have things to say.”

 

Moon nodded. “Just a few questions.”

 

“I can answer a few questions, I suppose.”

 

Moon smiled and reached for a soda she’d grabbed before heading out the door. When she’d washed the last of the food from her mouth and offered the drink to him, she settled in to talk. “I was wondering if you had a name,” she said. “I can’t just call you ‘King’. I mean, I suppose I could, but isn’t there something else I could call you?”

 

The boy smiled a little in relief that this is all she wanted to know, and looked off to where Fox had once more settled herself in a sunbeam at the edge of the clearing. “My name is Storm,” he replied. “I came into the forest during a storm, and I know I will leave during one, too. Until then, I am the storm.”

 

“And the king?” she asked.

 

“Well, yeah. That too.” He blushed a little, and ducked his head into his sandwich again.

 

“What can you tell me about Fox?” Moon asked next. “It’s a strange name for a deer, isn’t it?”

 

But the boy just laughed softly and swallowed down his food. “Not so strange. She used to be a fox, long ago, when I first met her. It was in a different life, long before this one. But, there was a hunter - a horrible man. He killed her, and she had to come back as a deer. It’s alright, though, because even though deer are easier to hunt, I’m here to keep her safe. She’s protected as long as I’m king in this forest.”

 

Moon looked from the boy to the deer, thinking deeply. “What do you remember about that previous life…?” she asked. She almost didn’t expect an answer, and she almost didn’t receive one. She didn’t press the boy, didn’t push about her question, and finally he sighed heavily and put the food down.

 

“I don’t remember much,” he admitted. “I remember it was a very bad place.”

 

“Where you were…?”

 

He nodded. “I think I was held captive by the hunter, and I think she saved me. There was darkness, and cold…and pain. Fox rescued me, and lost her life because of it. When she came back in this life, I came with her. I have to protect her for protecting me before.”

 

“Is that why you didn’t want me coming into the forest?” Moon twisted to face the boy, and he looked up to meet her eyes.

 

“Humans are dangerous. I have to protect the forest.”

 

“You look like a human.”

 

“I had to take this form,” the boy said, urging Moon to understand. “Your kind only fears itself, and I needed something that could frighten other humans away. There aren’t many of you who dare to come into the forest, but I can’t let anyone hurt Fox. Not again.”

 

Moon nodded. “I get it,” she said, and the boy sighed in relief. Moon had one more question, however. “Do you know of every human that comes into the forest…?”

 

“Yes,” the boy said firmly. “If Fox doesn’t tell me, then the trees themselves do. They’re very talkative, if you know how to listen.”

 

“Was there…” she paused for a moment, and took a deep breath. “Was there a boy who came into the woods, maybe a month ago? He would have looked about our age, and he would have been followed by a lot of other people who were searching for him.”

 

The boy’s face paled a little. “A…boy?”

 

“His name was Cory Larson. He was fifteen. He went missing from a town over there.” She pointed in the direction opposite from her house, to where Beaverton sat on the other side of the forest.

 

“Was he a friend of yours?” Storm asked, cautiously.

 

Moon shook her head, her shoulders slumping a little. “No. I never met him. He’s…I suppose you could say he’s a warning. My mother told me about him getting lost in the forest in hopes of scaring me away. I was just wondering if you’d heard anything about it. Or if you know something.”

 

The boy met Moon’s eyes once more, and there was a depth of sadness there that made Moon’s heart twist. “Cory Larson is dead,” he said. “He died when he came here. It was too dark, he couldn’t see where he was going. Fox found him, but…by the time I got there, it was too late. He was already dead.”

 

Moon’s breath caught in her throat. “What did you do with the body…?”

 

“We gave it back to the earth. The forest took what belonged to it, as it always does. And we all belong to it, in the end.”

 

With these sobering words, Storm pushed himself to his feet and moved to the center of the clearing. “It will rain soon. I’ll help you get home. I don’t want you to get into more trouble.”

 

~*~

 

That night, throughout dinner, Moon thought hard about everything she’d learned. The forest seemed almost magical in some way, and though Storm’s stories seemed too fantastical to believe, she found herself unwilling to think of him as a liar. She wished she could speak to Fox the way he always seemed to. She felt that if anyone could clear up the truth for her, it would be the deer.

 

Moon often watched a movie with her mother on Tuesdays after the kids had gone to bed, but as she settled herself on the couch with a bowl of popcorn, she found herself unable to let go of her concerned thoughts. Her mother scrolled through the offerings, but the wiser woman, who usually asked Moon all sorts of questions about her day, seemed to notice Moon’s thoughts at work. She kept quiet, eyeing Moon out of the corner of her eye from time to time, a gentle smirk on her face as she waited for her daughter to find the words to speak.

 

“Mama?” Moon asked, finally. “What do you know about Cory Larson’s disappearance?”

 

Her mother absently cocked her head to the side as she continued to read the titles of the available movies on the screen. “Who?”

 

“Cory Larson. The boy who disappeared from Beaverton, who got lost in the forest.”

 

Moon’s mother looked back at her with some confusion, and then shrugged. “Not much. I just know he went into the woods late at night and was never found. I think his father’s a police officer. There were search parties, but I don’t think they’ve found him yet. Why do you ask?”

 

“I guess there’s no reason…” Moon let herself trail off, but her mother put down the remote and twisted to face her daughter.

 

“Moon, I’m going to ask you again, did you see something in the forest? The Larson boy, maybe?”

 

Moon shook her head quickly. “No, Mama, nothing like that. It’s just…”

 

Her mother smiled. “It’s just your empathy working on overdrive, isn’t it? I told you the story and now you’re worried about this boy you’ve never met.”

 

Moon nodded. “Yes. He must be frightened out there. I just wish I could help him in some way.”

 

Moon’s mother leaned in to kiss her daughter’s forehead. “I wouldn’t put too much worry into it. The universe always has a plan for these sorts of things. If he can be found, he will be. Hopefully, sooner rather than later.”

 

Moon smiled faintly, and let her mother finish picking out their movie, but the talk did little to help calm her mind. That night, she dreamed of a horrible storm, a sensation of drowning, and a deep fear that cut through her very core. She woke drenched in sweat, unable to return to sleep, and listened in growing panic as the thunder crashed around her house and the lightning lit up the sky overhead. The boy’s words echoed through her head as she lay there, I came into the forest during a storm, and I will leave during one, too…, and she couldn’t help but wonder if he would still be there the next morning.

 

She prayed to the gods of the forest that he would.

 

~*~

 

But of course, the next morning Moon found both Fox and Storm well and happy in the basin in the forest, and both looked up expectantly as she approached.

 

“You made it again!” the boy called. “I don’t know why I keep worrying you won’t come. You’re always here.”

 

Moon laughed. “Well, I won’t always be here. When I go back to school on Monday, I won’t be able to come visit as often. But maybe you’ll be able to visit me some.”

 

The boy thought about this for a moment. “Maybe…it would be interesting to visit you, but I don’t think I can leave the forest. Can the forest’s king and protector ever really leave it? I think not.”

 

While this saddened Moon some, it didn’t surprise her. “We’ll figure something out,” she promised him. “But for now, we’ve got three whole days. What shall we do today?”

 

The boy’s smile spread across his whole face, and his eyes lit up. “I have just the thing to show you! Come on, it’s a bit of a hike, but you’ll love it even more than you loved the frogs! It’s this way!”

 

~*~

 

And so it went, for the rest of the week. Moon and Storm spent every morning together, from the moment the kids were off on the school bus to just before Moon’s mother was set to return. They explored the forest with the abandon of children, and found new areas that even the king of the forest himself hadn’t known were there. Whenever they felt they were getting lost, Fox was always there to lead them back to a more familiar space, and when Friday afternoon came and it was time to go home Moon found herself in deep sorrow, knowing that her mother would be home all weekend, and there would be no chance for her to sneak off to the forest without getting caught.

 

“But I don’t see why you can’t come,” Storm pressed. “You don’t have school, and you’re not in trouble anymore.”

 

“I’m not allowed to go into the forest,” Moon tried to explain. “It’s dangerous here.”

 

But Storm scoffed. “Not hardly. The forest protects its creatures, even your kind, and besides, I’m here to protect you. Nobody would dare cross the king of the forest! And there’s Fox. You’re perfectly safe.”

 

“I know that,” Moon said. “But my mother doesn’t. And besides, the forest doesn’t protect everyone. What about Cory Larson?”

 

It was the first time she’d brought him up since Tuesday morning, and the boy stiffened slightly and looked away, his face unhappy. “Who?”

 

“The boy who got lost in the forest, the one who died. Or, you said he died, anyway.”

 

“You can’t hold the forest responsible for that. It didn’t do anything wrong.”

 

Moon rolled her eyes. “He died because he got lost in a dangerous place he didn’t know. Maybe if he had you and Fox for guides he wouldn’t have, but my mother’s at least right about this much. If you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going, the forest isn’t a safe place.”

 

But the boy threw his hands up to his ears to block out her words. “That’s not how he died! None of that is right! You don’t know what you’re talking about!”

 

It was the most agitated she’d seen him since the very first day, and she took a step back in shock. Fox stepped up between them and rested her head against his, and Storm buried his hands in her fur, clinging tightly. After a long moment, he finally took a few deep breaths and let himself calm down.

 

“You didn’t know Cory Larson, and you don’t know this forest, so I wouldn’t expect you to understand, but he didn’t get lost and the forest didn’t kill him. The forest tried to protect him. But the forest is just trees and dirt, a stream, and some animals. It can’t stand up to a force as powerful as mankind. That’s why I was called into existence. The hunter killed Cory. He killed Fox before she took this form. I’m here to make sure he never gets into the forest to kill another innocent creature again. The forest isn’t dangerous; your people are.”

 

Moon sucked in her breath, reeling. “The hunter killed him?”

 

“He was face down in the water. The hunter pushed him down until he drowned, and left him there for dead. I didn’t get there in time, Moon…I could have saved him, but I didn’t get there in time…”

 

The boy took a seat on the ground, folding his legs beneath him, and he looked so small and desolate for a moment that Moon found herself kneeling beside him and wrapping him gently in her arms. He held tight to her the way he always held tight to Fox, and let her rock him for a moment.

 

“I tried to get there in time,” he said, his voice trailing off. “I tried to save him.”

 

“I believe you,” Moon replied. She kissed his forehead the way her mother always kissed hers, and he seemed confused for a moment, as though he didn’t understand it at all.

 

“That’s what humans do when we want to show someone we love them, and that we’re there for them if they need it.”

 

“Like a mark of protection?” he asked, and Moon nodded. He looked at her for a moment, and then pushed himself to his knees and leaned over to kiss her forehead in return. “Now we both have it.” He helped her to her feet and took her hand firmly in his. “I’ll take you home now, so you won’t get in trouble again. I hope you can make it out tomorrow, but if not…I suppose I understand.”

 

With that, Moon knew she would do everything in her power to meet up with the boy again tomorrow, even if it just got her further into trouble. She would try to avoid getting caught, but if she did, the consequences were worth it. Storm needed her as much as he needed Fox, and she wasn’t going to let him down.