Nothing grows overnight, that much is most certainty true for most things in this world.
Plants, depending on what they are and their living conditions, may take from a few weeks to a full year to bear anything resembling a fruit, and in the same way, some people’s relationships bloom fast, while other’s take their time.
Noah was a point of interest for her pretty much as soon as he came to know him. When she asked around, everyone said he was a lonely kid that was always surrounded by magpies, chasing away crows from the school grounds, talking to himself, superb at chemistry and physics, but incredibly messy when it came down to work on anything.
She approached him, and it hit her pretty early on that, when it came to relationships, he was slow.
It took him several days to relax around her, and to let her know more about Apollo, and magpies in general; he seemed as reliable about them as she was about the fungi and herbs around the forest, knowledgable and trustworthy when it came to this point of interest.
Noah was slow when it came to rely on other people, but she was glad she was being given the chance to know someone so interesting, even if it was at a slow pace.
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The creature chased and turned in every corner they did, following right behind them even when they took different paths, as if it could catch them at any time but chose not to, deciding to enjoy the chase instead.
The shape of the creature was near impossible, like it could reshape itself around the hallways, crooks and ends of the library without missing a beat. Noah and Ivy tried their best to hide, but it always found them.
Noah ran and ducked every time he needed, wondering how to defeat the creature, getting more and more tired by the second, more in need of a break the creature was unwilling to give.
Ivy was more agile, looking like she was a natural dodger in every chance the creature had to attack. Her mind was less on how to defeat the creature and more so how to stop it from moving any further; she knew with Noah she could come up with a plan, but for that they had to stop running around like headless chickens.
She met her opening: A bookshelf she had almost knocked over earlier that week, she knew its legs were weak and could give in with a swift, well aimed hit. As soon as she reached it she pushed, dropping it in top of her chaser.
She jumped on top of the shelf, trying to add her weight to the book’s, hoping it would immobilize the creature.
Now trapped, the creature looked like it was made of dark noodles, almost like eels, trying to escape from its confines as its tentacles wiggled. Noah looked over in short-lived relief as the creature moved in vain.
Until the wood creaked beneath Ivy and the shelf split in half, pages and books flying through the air as she landed as swiftly as she could, closer to her ally.
They would need a lot more than an old bookshelf if they wanted anything close to a victory.
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“Did you really have to come all the way?” The shorter boy asked the taller once they were out of sight, talking to each other in the backyard.
“Do you not want to see me?” the taller asked with a laugh at the end.
“No! It’s just…” the shorter said, with a pause, looking to the side for a moment before facing the taller man, “You’re studying really hard at the city, I don’t want to bother you”
“It’s not a bother if it’s my little brother” said the taller, “besides, when was the last time you had any guests to a birthday party?” the shorter one looked down and the taller quickly added, “It's rhetorical”
“I know” the younger sighed, “you’re right, it's just, I hope you do well on your tests once you’re back”
“Sure I will” the older reassured.
The creature watching them through the bushes moved slightly after taking a deeper breath, and the rustling of the leaves caught the attention of both people. The shorter one sighed, while the taller one kept himself on edge, “Did you hear that?” he asked. The shorter replied under his breath something along the lines “must be hiding in the bush”.
“Don’t let them distract you” the shorter said, “let’s go back inside”
“Them?” The taller asked as he followed the shorter inside.
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There was no shame in what happened to him, yet it still felt shameful to have to tell the story over and over again.
He was prideful, he was aware of it, and probably the people around him could tell as much; he specially prided himself on his knowledge and rationality, his ability to see facts and use them to his favour.
So, it was one thing for him to feel his own consciousness slipping as he was allured into the woods by forces he couldn’t comprehend, and it was another to have to talk about it, when such an experience was not something he could put into words.
He was even ashamed to write it down, he soon noticed; it was a little too much, his cheeks would burn, and he would feel like hiding in a hole whenever he thought of it.
He had never passed out before, why then, of all times?
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First, it was the sky, its ancient, twinkling relics suspended in the void, at unfathomable distances, with unmeasurable energy in a space so cold and vast the human mind could barely process. He turned to their stillness, their allure and magic, following their constellations, learning about them.
All of those burning suns and distant planes had been there before he was born, and would still be there much after he died, yet he had the chance to revel in them like they were more than just acquaintances, even if the celestial bodies above never acknowledged him in any way. They had been with him for as long as he could remember, and since the first time he saw and understood what they were, he felt this connection that sometimes he felt so close to a friendship.
Then, came the radio and it’s frequencies. At first, he used the radio in the company of his father, who got it as a gift from his father when he was younger; but there they met another father with a child, and both of them became friends of sorts.
In the end he inherited the radio, and kept contact with the other child, who would also look at the sky, looking for unknown objects, admiring the vast immenseness of the universe. This other child, he felt like they didn’t feel the same burning passion he had for the night sky, but they enjoyed using the radio as much as he did, if not more.
Then, came his faithful companion. One day after school, after learning about magpies in a biology class, he fed them some proper seeds and fruit, not the usual bread he would throw at them every now and then.
He kept feeding them, day after day, during recess and before going on his way home, always having some tasty treats for the group. After a while, one of them started to follow him around more than the rest, he started to identify his singing voice, his size, even his mannerisms, and soon in the same way, the little bird learnt his face, his schedule and even his name.
Because he followed him home and entered his room for the first time on a night with a full moon, he named him Apollo, like the mission that planned to conquer that celestial body, and thus, another friendship was born. Despite now knowing each other for so long, he always felt like Apollo was an old friend, and despite not speaking the same language, he felt like they communicated in a way that went beyond the spoken words.
He was a shy kid, that grew into a lonely teen. Yet, he always felt a little less lonely when he surrounded himself with his old friends.
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They stood frozen for a moment before the corpse in front of them.
Experience had taught them usually these creatures would fade into ash or crawl back into the dark once defeated, that they would get eaten by something bigger or run away, but this one… This one didn’t.
At first, they were unsure if the battle was truly over, grasping their weapons of choice tight, but after moments that slowly turned into minutes, it became obvious the body wouldn’t move or disappear.
They stared at the lifeless, gruesome corpse in front of them, its awful stillness almost threatening, as its life faded, but not its imponent presence. They admired, as its long legs and claws stood motionless, perfectly frozen in time, growing colder by the second.
With a little of reluctance, they changed the weapons they were yielding for shovels, and in an act that came almost from instinct, they started to prepare the ground that would become the creature’s last resting place.
Maybe it's a human thing, to prepare burials. It never once crossed their minds to let the body out to rot, and they certainly didn’t discuss the arrangements before looking for shovels; maybe from the outside this could also be seen as a strange, alien ritual to other creatures, the preparation of a tomb.
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It was easy to remember the best times in the year to spot certain planets or constellations, he could remember from the top of his head when he could witness the Perseids every year, but his birthday? If it wasn’t because of his family, he would barely remember.
This year, though, it was really hard for him to realize what was going on, because not only was his family fantastic at hiding, they actually conspired with his friends to give him a surprise party. He hadn’t had one since he was, what, five?
When he arrived home, accompanied by his friends, he was met by his whole family, including his brother. The entrance hall was decorated, and his mom had prepared his favourite cake, next to some vegan treats for Ivy.
It was awkward to be the birthday boy, he stared awkwardly as everyone sang to him and showered him with gifts and words of affection. Surely, being the first birthday he got to spend with friends, he would remember it, and treasure it for a long time.
He would have treasured it a little more, had he known it was the last birthday he would celebrate like that.
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If you asked him, there’s nothing like the hunt, and if he had the vocabulary to express it properly, he’s say he loves it and prefers it to the dead beetles Noah hands him.
Noah had been surprised the first time he brought back a dead bird. Yes, magpies are natural scavengers, but they are also fearless hunters; like many other birds, they hunt smaller animals, like mice and tiny birds that are unfortunate enough to perish on their claws.
His human has told him several times not to bring game to the house, not to hunt recklessly, and to just enjoy fruits and insects. It’s not that Noah doesn’t understand his nature, or that he tries to deny it, he thinks the boy might be too embarrassed to admit it, but maybe he just finds the carnage disgusting.
So, when Noah is at school, he hunts. He dares go close to that cursed forest that scares so many animals off, in case he may found something small enough to kill, but big enough to be satisfying.
He loves being the bigger animal, loves how hunting has honed a sort of instinct, a knowing, he would say. It’s mid-morning when he finds his prey, there’s a certain satisfaction as his claws sink into the other’s flesh, knowing they have truly no escape, knowing they are successful.
Of course, as one hunts, one may also learn what it is to be prey. That small animal might have been on a gathering of his own, on his own little hunt, but his instincts were not enhanced enough, they were not enough.
Apollo looks at his prize, a small mouse slowly growing colder as life escapes from their body and blood flows from their veins. He feels a sound behind him, and all alarms go off, he loves the hunt, but hates those godforsaken woods, where you’re never the biggest predator, where there’s always something ready to hunt you down.
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