Author's Note:
Thanks to everybody who has read my first story on here :) Here's my second one. I hope you'll enjoy the read. Chapter 1 comes tomorrow, this is just a little preview ;)
Shorty's Dark Past
Prologue:
It was night on planet earth. All dinosaurs were sound asleep. Although Littlefoot, Ali and Shorty lived at totally different places, they were having the same sleepstory. They writhed in sleep, moaned and mewled, eventually waking up, screaming in horror...
Chapter 1:
Shorty awoke. The previous day, he had been found by a grown-up, protecting some hatchlings who were younger than him being pretty young himself and wandering through the barren landscape in desperate search of his mother and food. The grown-up was a Longneck like him and the hatchlings - handsome and strong but not very talkative. As Shorty had found the grown-up, respectively having been found by the grown-up, the little Longneck at first had thought that the one staring at him might want to harm him so he had positioned himself in front of his followers in a protective manner. The big Longneck had observed the young ones from all sides and continued his slow trot without paying them any further attention. Shorty had noticed how depressed the Longneck looked. Since the hatchings and he were all alone and exposed to the Sharpteeth, the little one had decided to follow the grown-up dinosaur who had noticed them but kept his mouth shut. So the little ones had followed him all day until the Bright Circle had left the sky, disappearing behind the horizon.
Shorty looked around but he couldn't spot the grown-up anywhere. Some hatchlings were weeping so Shorty comforted them; at least he tried.
Then, surprisingly, the grown-up dinosaur appeared from behind a rock face and approached, walking briskly.
"Follow me, younglings. I found a watering hole some distance away," he told them.
The hatchlings cancelled crying and darted towards the tall Longneck as fast as their legs would carry them.
He turned tail and wandered towards the supposed watering hole.
Shorty remained skeptical because he didn't trust the discreet and mysterious Longneck yet. His father had always told him not to trust anybody, neither friend nor foe. Tears filled the young one's eyes. He still couldn't believe that, what his father had done, had really happened and frankly neither wanted to talk nor to think about that. He steadied himself and followed the others.
After some walking, they could spot a small lake in the distance.
"I've been in this area before as a youngling," the grown-up narrated. "Back then, everything was green and whereever you were looking you could see trees and bushes. But as you can see, the land has been changing. Nowadays, everything has died so food and water are rare. Anyhow, let's go to that watering hole to satisfy our thirst. If we're lucky, we might even find some food. We'll see..."
The little ones ran off, playing tag, whereas Shorty and the grown-up followed them in a trot - each of them being busied with their own thoughts.
The watering hole was further away than they had assumed and the Great Circle burned down on the sourced up dinosaurs.
Eventually, the hatchlings were tired so that the grown-up carried them.
Shorty went on valiantly even though his feet were aching and the heat was unbearable. His father had always told him never to give up and to keep the aim in sight. The lessons of his father were the only things Shorty had liked his father for. He probably wouldn't have survived thus far otherwise.
After a while, the grown-up asked Shorty if he would like to be carried as well.
"Thanks for the offer but I'm capable of walking on my own!" Shorty answered in a chilly tone that he actually didn't intended to use.
"It's no problem on my end, really. I'm alright, but you look pretty exhausted. I just wanna help you," the tall Longneck explained.
"My father has told me not to trust strangers," Shorty replied, emphasising 'father' in disgust.
"Well, of course your father is right there. My parents used to tell me that on every occasion too."
After a short moment of silence, he continued.
"You don't seem to like your father, do you? Where are your parents uhm... what's your name by the way?"
"The name's Shorty. Yours?"
"I go by Bron. You can trust me. Y'know... I have a son, that is if he's still alive..."
"Hmmm, how 'bout this? You tell me your story and then I gonna tell mine, agreed?"
"Agreed! Shall I start?"
"Yep, go ahead!"
"Alright! So y'know, I used to live in a land that was similar to this one in the past with my family. There was a sufficient amount of food and we were relatively save from Sharpteeth. I'm skilled in fighting, just to let you know, so you don't need to be afraid as long as you stay close to me." Bron smiled at Shorty.
Shorty seemed to trust him the more he was telling him.
"Cool! If you don't mind carrying me, I'd like to now."
Bron had to laugh, seeing Shorty's sudden change in mind. Lowering his head, Shorty climbed up, taking a seat.
"Continue please, Bron."
"Well, we were happy there but then the land began to change. Everything dried up and turned into barren land. My mate told me that she expected offspring and that she didn't want raising the kids in such an unfriendly and dangerous area. So I wandered off to find a better place where we could live with many other Longnecks in harmony. Following the Bright Circle's highest position on the sky, I eventually discovered such a place after a long journey. I immediately returned to my family to lead them. My only son, as I was told later, had already hatched for a while at this time. He should be about your age by the way. So I returned to the nest. The only thing I was still able to find was a monstrous crack in the landscape - just where the nest had been. I was shattered. My family wasn't there anymore. I hoped they had left prior to the earthshake having caused the crack but up to this day I don't know if anybody has survived. Some time ago, I finally met somebody who was aware of my mate's fate. She had battled the biggest, meanest Sharptooth ever heard of and seen. My son had been chased by him when my mate chimed in and defended him by all means. She fought well but finally she got ripped out a part of her back and neck and died later."
"I'm sorry, Bron. What happened to your son?"
"If only I knew... During the fight, a huge earthshake struck the region and created that crack I spoke about earlier. I don't know where the fight had taken place since my family had left the nest due to lack of food, apparently. Anyhow, I'm in search for my son since an eternity but I found literally nothing! I'm about to loose my faith. My only hope is that my mate's parents might have found the little one, raising him, whereever they may be."
"I sincerely hope they did," Shorty said. "I'd love to have playmates of my age. The hatchlings don't count."
"I believe you, Shorty," Bron responded in thoughts. "Now tell me your story."
"Okay. I wasn't as happy as you with your family: A mother I never got to know and a father beating the guts outta me and my four siblings."
"Your father thwacked you?!"
"Yeah! When we haven't behaved well or when he simply was in a mood, we received beating - mostly for no reason. Thus, my mother had left for being brutal and mean and always thinking about him only - prior to us even hatching. She couldn't take the eggs with her after all. My father's actual problem was that he was addicted to a certain kind of leaf. Whenever he hadn't had any, he was extremely aggressive and usually in a bad mood. The land got drier and drier. When my father couldn't find any leaves anymore, he announced we'd move. We wandered through mainly dry wasteland for weeks. He didn't find his leaves so we received beating every day. Most of the time, we were terribly thirsty and starving. At last, we found small oasis - hardly bigger than the one in front of us - where we found enough food and water. My father combed through the whole area, seeking for his leaves. We were forced to support him despite not wanting to. Day after day! Luckily, we didn't find any. My father accused us of not looking properly, shouting at us for ages. I became furious because he always thought about himself, and never about us. I told him that. I was bludgeoned worse than ever before; the jerk stopped long after everything blackened out. As I woke up in the next morning, I had a nasty headache and my leg was sorely damaged. My body was covered in all sorts of injuries, in fact. My siblings told me what he did and I told them that I'd leave, run off. I asked them to come along but they didn't want to so I ran off all alone, having eaten and drunk as much as I could."
"That's hard to swallow..." Bron stated huskily. "Did you recover from all those injuries?"
"The headache and the smaller ones were gone soon but my leg had hurt for quite some time. I was straying for such a long time that I have forgotten how much time has passed since I ran off."
"You were lucky, Shorty!" Bron said. "You could've died of thirst or starvation very easily or one of those Sharpteeth could've eaten you."
"Yeah! You're right, Bron. I gonna get some rest until we're there."
"Alright, Shorty!"
Not soon after, they arrived at the watering hole that luckily offered some edible food.
Shorty stayed with Bron. They wandered to the land that Bron had chosen for his family originally and stayed. Nothing had changed there, many Longnecks were living in a paradise.
Bron soon became the leader of a steadily growing herd. The hatchlings were adopted by other families - but not Shorty. Since he wasn't adopted, Bron took care of him.
