Chapter 2
Squirrel Run
"Are you guys ready up there?" Aviva called to a pair of oddly colored little creatures perched on a tree branch high above her.
Chris poked his head out and gave the thumbs-up. "Yup!"
"Alright, then. On your marks…"
Martin and Chris bent forward and positioned their back squirrel paws as if they were on invisible starting blocks.
"…get set…"
"See ya at the finish line, bro," Martin taunted, "after I win!"
Chris narrowed his eyes behind the green visor of his squirrel suit. "Huh, we'll see about that."
"GO!" Aviva shouted.
And they were off like a pair of bullets.
"Woo hooooo!" Chris hollered as they raced through the treetops at the breakneck speed. In human form, he hardly ever had a problem using trees as a means of travelling, but as a squirrel, the playing field was tipped even more in his favor.
"Hey!" Martin called as his brother passed him up. He wasn't too shabby as a squirrel himself, but it was obvious Chris had the advantage.
"Catch ya later, dude!" Chris laughed, leaping to a skinny branch almost eight feet away from the one they were currently racing down.
Not about to be left in the dust, Martin took a flying leap.
"Oh yeaaaaah!" He sailed through the air, aiming to land on the same branch…but a split second later, he realized he'd jumped too soon. His hands closed around empty space, centimeters shy of his ticket to the next tree. "OH NOOOOOO!" He flapped his arms, legs and tail as he hurtled to earth. This could be it for him! This could be the end—
"OOMP!" Just when his life was about to wrap up flashing before his eyes, he came to an abrupt, and surprisingly fluffy landing. It took him a second or two to realize that he was still alive and that whatever he'd landed in wasn't the ground. Completely baffled, he popped up.
"EEEK!" someone screamed. Before Martin could even think to move, a hand came out of nowhere and swatted at him. "What is it?! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF MY HEAD!"
Martin ducked as the hand made another swipe, but it wasn't soon enough. The hand made contact, knocking the wind right out of him and sending him flying out into the air once again. This time, there was nothing between him and the ground. He hit the forest floor with a painful thud.
xxxx
"Is it breathing?" The voice of a concerned young girl floated into Martin's clouded mind. "Should we give it CPR?"
"Are you out of your mind?" said another. "It's way too small! I think you killed it already anyway…whatever it is. It looks kinda like a squirrel."
"Yes, but squirrels don't have human faces." This third girl had a high, nasally voice laced with a noticeable lisp. "And furthermore, they're not blue."
"Well, maybe it's an alien?"
"Don't be ridiculous," lisp-girl said. "Science has yet to prove the existence of extraterrestrial life."
"Ok, then, maybe it's a were-squirrel? Y'know, like half human, half squirrel?"
"Whatever it is," said the first girl in an audible pout, "it messed up my hair."
So that's what had happened. He must've landed on this girl's head! The fog cleared out of Martin's brain enough for him to realize he was lying flat on his back on the ground. He coughed, opening his eyes. A blurry view of the faces of the three girls kneeling over him swam into view. They couldn't have been more than eleven or twelve years old.
One had bright red hair pulled into two tight braids that stuck out from the top of her head reminiscent of a pair of antennae. She wore huge, thick glasses and her face was covered in a splash of freckles. Her worried grimace revealed a set of teeth that were almost lost behind braces.
The next one had dark skin and a head full of short black hair that stood up in layer after layer of tightly wound, frizzy curls. This was definitely the girl he'd landed on.
The bright blue eyes of the third girl peered out from under a lime-green beanie with earflaps that trailed down in two long tassels. The messy ends of a chin-length blonde haircut poked out from underneath it. She nudged the frizzy-haired girl's arm.
"Look! It's awake!"
Before Martin could move, the red haired girl reached down and picked him up by the tail.
"We should take it back with us for analysis." Every word she spoke was accompanied by a shower of spit.
"Ow! Hey!" Martin said as he swung through the air. "I'm not an alien and I'm not really a squirrel either! My name's Martin and I was trying to race my brother around to the other side of the lake but I fell and now I can't find him!"
The three girls froze in total shock.
"D-d-did that little squirrel man just…talk to us?" frizzy girl asked, taking a step back and pointing.
"Yeah, I did. And sorry I messed up your hair, but it kinda saved my life—AAAGH!"
Martin yet again found himself falling as the three girls struck up a collective earsplitting shriek of fright, causing the redhead to drop him.
