Author's Note: This chapter is basically for some of the people who haven't read this book recently, and its just kind of a review. If you already know the book really well then you can just skip this chapter completely. And I am warning you one last time: this story is NOT for kids. So if you're a stupid little kid reading this just cuz it says not for kids, I hope I scar you for life. Anyway, I'm not usually like this… I just am trying to steer their little minds away from 'naughty' things. Hope you enjoy!
The Night Before the Sunrise
Chapter 1
Three years. It had been three years since the plane crash that tore my life apart. I was 16 now and hadn't seen another human being for three years. The thoughts scared me. I couldn't help but wonder how this could be affecting me. I had seen shows and books about kids who were abandoned or neglected and they ended up pretty crazy. One girl was so neglected that she turned to dogs for love and affection and acted like a dog more than human. Eventually after she was found some scientist brought her back to a humane status but she still stayed in a mental home… I briefly wondered if I was sort of like that. I thought of some animals as my 'friends' but not that literally. I shook away my thoughts; there were chores that needed to be done.
I scrounged around my campsite to find enough wood to keep the fire going. It was still cold out but the winter chill was starting to die down. I could feel spring coming, just like I had felt winter coming the first time I had to go through it. That was a very rough time. I wasn't as experienced as I was now. That encounter with the moose still had me shaken. I had only had a few incidents or near incidents since then. Once, I came home from an entire day of hunting and a bear and her cubs were eating all the fish in my fish pool. Luckily, none of them saw me and I backed out of their sight and up a tree, just to be safe. Another time I had been stupid enough to try to steal some goose eggs from a nest I found on the south side of the lake. I soon found that both the mother and father geese will protect their nest fiercely and are not afraid to bite with their toothless yet painful beaks. I chuckled slightly at the thought of a fourteen-year-old being chased relentlessly by an attack goose. Those eggs were good, though.
A snap of a nearby twig jolted me from my thoughts. I quickly grabbed the stick I was reaching for and stood up clutching it together with the rest of tonight's firewood. I scanned the area with my eyes and watched wide-eyed as a female moose revealed herself to me. The moose munched quietly on some of the shrubs that had been uncovered as the snow melted. I just sat there frozen until the moose made it's way past me and was far out of sight. I returned to the shelter soon after that and prepared for supper with two of the fish I had found on my lines. Soon after a fulfilling dinner I crawled into my sleeping bag but left the deerskin quilt off for the first night since fall. It was getting warmer.
I stared at the slowly dying fire and tried to fall asleep but couldn't. I felt that I was missing something. Something was coming. I had no idea what. Eventually the work of the day caught up to me and my tired mind forced me into sleep.