Chapter 2:
I steered clear away from Tree Haven since that day. That did not mean I completely secluded myself from all social life. Dayla and I would do our usual gathering, hunting, and conversing. It was just like the old days we had, only something seemed to be missing. Dayla never really talked as much as she did before, and worst of it all, she never talked about blood and gore again. I felt sad at this, and for once I tried to lift up the spirits of our conversations.
One day Dayla did not even come out to hunt with me. She was perched inside Tree Haven, wrapped in her own wings, shivering. I nudged her to get her to wake up and to remind her of what she had forgotten, but she did not unfurl herself to even look at me.
"I'm sick." She said. "I'm eating special herbal leaves. I need sleep." Her voice just droned and sounded monotone. I never felt this disappointed before. What was I to do now? I did not feel like being alone at this time, but I was forced to. I never liked it when that would happen. I then went to hunt outside by myself, feeling hot in disappointment. I flew deep into the forest, clear away from the other bats. I knew they did not care much about me, so I had nothing to worry about. It was then that I discovered a cavern. It was very spacey, but not too big as well. It was a perfect place for a bat to rest when he wanted to find shelter. I stayed in this cave for a while, meditating on some things. I did not know what I was really doing. I was hungry, and I was supposed to be hunting, but instead I was perched in this cave as if I was kicked out of the colony again. I tried to think of some solutions to the strange occurrence in Tree Haven. How in the world could the elders forget that they themselves banished me? It made absolutely no sense. Was I dreaming? I pinched myself and even took a few blows to the face, but I did not wake up. It was then that I realized it was not a dream. I should have felt relieved, but my confusion got to the best of me, and I now I felt dreadful. I wished I were not so pensive all the time. What exactly was I to complain about? I decided to make frequent visits to this cavern so I may become familiar with the surroundings. This cave would be my new home. I had to stay away from Tree Haven as much as I could. At the same time, however, I had to make contact with Dayla. My real objective now was to mate with her. Forget about everybody else – I wanted to have my own family. I wanted happiness once more. Meditating on these things, I slowly drifted to sleep.
Night came once again and I woke up with drooping eyes. Somehow I felt I had slept a long time, yet I still felt like I have not closed my eyes for years. I grumbled angrily to myself as I lit from my lonely cave and flew into the night sky. I flew until a sea of leaves appeared before my eyes as a panorama. I looked a bit to the right and saw something that coldly grasped the pits of my heart. A trail of thin smoke emanated from the dense treetops before my very eyes. I knew what this smoke came from – it came from fire. Where there was fire, there were most likely humans. I have always been fascinated about humans ever since I heard about them in my younger days. I attempted to sneak into a human camp on my own, but apparently somebody had caught me before I could get a full glimpse of those brilliant, mountainous figures. This was a perfect opportunity to get a look at the creatures I yearned to inspect for months. I felt my heart beat anxiously as I soared down into the treetops, flaring my wings and making a graceful curve upwards inches above the ground. I came upon their camp and hid behind a tree nearby. I slowly strafed to its side, my back against its bark. My breaths were ragged and I tried to quiet down my breathing as I made my way to the corner. Before I looked over the tree's corner, I turned my head and shot echo beams all across the depths of the forest, making sure there was not anybody stalking me. The coast was clear, and my heart started to beat faster. A dumb smile lit across my face as I sheepishly peeked at the camp, and there they were – humans surrounding a single, very large flame. One of their "tents" was put up near the fire. I was so amazed at the towering figures before me. I had never seen anything so spectacular in my life. My eyes trailed around the humans for minutes without ceasing, and then I saw it – a box next to one of the humans. I wondered what was inside; therefore I flared my wings and flew up to a branch just above my head. I perched and inspected the contents of this box with my echolocation. Stacked in the box were strange cylindrical objects wrapped in what looked like "paper." I knew what this strange material was since I was a newborn. On each head of the objects was a tough string with a metallic shine to them. What could the humans possibly use such useless items for? It was then that two of the humans stood up and walked towards the box. I was alarmed and wanted to fly away, but my feet would not obey my intentions. I stood with my eyes transfixed on the humans' actions. The third human said something to the others and entered the tent. I wished that I could comprehend what these humans were saying. The wonder poked at my head like a needle, jabbing me without ceasing and causing me serious irritation.
The two humans spoke to each other for a while until one of them picked up the box. They both started walking into the forest and my heart leapt. I immediately lifted off of my perch and flew after them. I took cover in the foliage above, making every precaution necessary for the humans not to spot me. No matter how anxious and excited I was, I could not ever forget about being fully aware. I could not lose this chance to see what these humans were up to.
I flew after the humans until they came to a stop at a large clearing in the forest. This clearing was unlike any other clearing I knew. The entire piece of land was coated in dirt in a strangely neat manner. Something inside told me that the humans had done something with this part of the forest. I started to gather wild guesses flowing across my brain as I perched on a tree which had a clear view of the entire clearing. I concentrated my eyes on the humans; one of them reached his arm inside of the box and pulled out of the strange sticks. He reached inside a slit on his torso, pulling out a stick object far smaller than the other one he held on his opposite hand. The other human then pulled out of his torso slit a small, rough sheet of paper. This paper had a weird texture to it, as if it was made of hardened dirt – no, it looked even rougher than that. The human extended his arm and the other human swept the tip of his smaller stick gently across the rough paper. My jaw dropped as the tip instantly lit on fire. I envied the amount of knowledge these creatures had. The human with the ignited stick then put the lit edge against the longer stick's metallic strand. The strand started to glow, and eventually, small sparks shot out from it, causing the human to throw down the ignited stick. I was getting too excited. What was going to happen? The other human started to hastily step back, taking cover behind a tree, but peeking out from its edge. The human with the cylindrical object lifted his arm and mightily tossed the stick onto the middle of the clearing. He dashed back toward the other human and hid with him. They both watched the object intently, and I watched as well, not even feeling my own pounding heart. It was silent, and then suddenly something happened that caused my heart to skip a beat and my entire body to feel dead cold. That object had exploded in a rush of flames and incredible force. The brilliant light shone against my wide-open eyes, causing me to shut them tightly. I could feel the intense heat singeing my fur and warming my body with such quickness. It caught me completely off guard, and I never felt so afraid in my whole life. It was so spectacular that I already knew that it was going to be scarred onto my mind for the rest of my days, but not even saying that would do any justice. It surpassed that – this explosion meant more to me than my own life, and even Dayla. This was something that had its own place in my heart.
I rushed back to the human camp, beating my wings hard. I could feel the stinging pain of the burn marks across my face and shoulders, but I did not care for those. I had to observe more – I had to indulge myself in the customs of these wondrous creatures. I returned to the camp with a wonderful surprise. The human who was left behind was making more of these cylindrical objects just outside the tent. There was a box set beside him with several of the objects. I perched on a branch, wondering how he could have made that many in such a short time. In front of the human were different materials set on a cloth. There was a bowl of strange black dirt and another bowl of dense earth – a kind of dirt that I was not very familiar with; there was also some more of the paper that covered the cylindrical objects, and there were "skeletons" of the objects as well. These "skeletons" had the same exact shape of the actual item, but the top of it had a cut hole and the material they were made out of seemed thicker than paper, but still thin. The human took one of these "skeletons" and took a handful of the earth, pouring it into the hole on the top. He then took some of the black dirt and put it in as well. The human seemed so careful about what he was doing, and there was not one second I became bored. This process seemed so simple and I started to think that maybe even I could make one of those objects. They were so simple, yet so dangerous. After the human had inserted the dirt inside of the mouth of the "skeleton", he took a large strip of paper and wrapped it around the dynamite with extensive care. He then reached in a slit on his torso and pulled out a strange strip of transparent paper that he inserted on the top of the wrapped "skeleton", holding the paper in place. He once again reached in his torso slit and pulled out one of the metallic strings and poked it gently into the wrapped mouth of the "skeleton." He pushed it in deeper until it went halfway through. The human then set his newly crafted cylindrical object inside the box beside him.
It was then after seeing this process that something had happened to me. Something had been growing inside, and it was finally let loose. It took over my mind, and my eyes flared in determination and longing. I lit from my perch and landed on the soft grass just beside the human. Nothing scared me anymore – my mind was only set on my objective: I would make myself one of these objects. I became ultimately addicted to these dangerous items, and nothing would stop me from trying to achieve my current goal. The human stretched his arms over his head and then stood up, walking into the tent once again. This opportunity opened to me so suddenly, yet I was not one to complain aloud. Without hesitating, I slipped onto the cloth that held these materials. My eyes sparkled and my jaw hung open. My stupid grin hung on my face obliviously as I treaded speedily across this cloth. I felt like I had seen something precious, like a shiny rock, but this was more beautiful than any one of those shiny rocks. I had to make excessive trips to get each ingredient to my cavern home. I took one of the "skeletons" and one of the sheets of paper. This part was easy, and I knew getting the rest would not be so. The metallic string was tucked safely into the human's torso slit, and the earth and black dirt did not need any explanation. I needed my own little bowl to carry the dirt. I suddenly grew aware of my tiredness. This whole experience was too much for one little bat, and I needed some rest, but I was too excited. I was perched in my cavern, my wide eyes fixed on the two materials on the ground. I was like that for the rest of the night – my mind became my entertainment. Time passed like a moth fluttering from tree to tree. I could not acquire any sleep.
