Wow, that last chapter was really short. It looked a lot longer on paper than it did on the computer. I'm afraid the chapters don't get much longer.
Oh, and it helps if you read this kind of slowly, instead of rushing through it. It makes the story a wee bit more interesting.
Hurrah! I got my first review ever! * throws confetti and twirls noisemaker * Paradox Paradox, you have just become my favorite person. I hope you like the rest.
I'm not going to do another disclaimer. Once is plenty, I think.
Again, any comments or suggestions on how to improve my writing will be greatly appreciated.
So, without further ado, the second chapter.
* * * * * * * *
My second vision was much worse. There were nearly nine months between my brother's death and this second waking dream. I had had many other visions by this time, but they were small, and did not tell of death, so I did not count them.
At times, my apparitions even came in handy. I could warn my parents if they were about to step into a hole, for example, or if a tree branch was about to fall. Once, I even managed to get them outside just before our den collapsed from a heavy rainfall.
Around myself, however, was a curious blank spot. I had no warning when I tripped over a loose rock and tumbled into a ravine, breaking my leg in the process. Or when a tree branch collapsed beneath me, giving me a deep cut along one cheek, which eventually faded into a thin white scar.
My parents marveled that I could be so incredibly clumsy, when I had such quick eyes and ears. I had learned to disguise my visions, you see. My mother and father would not believe me if I told them I had seen the misfortune in a dream, no matter how accurately I predicted it.
Perhaps they did not believe because they did not want to accept the fact that they could have stopped Hobi from going on his fateful hunt, if only they had listened to me.
Whatever the reason, I continued to disguise my visions in more everyday garb: I had seen the hole when I'd passed this way before; I'd heard the crack of the branch just before it broke. But I knew of no way to disguise that second vision of death.
~ "We should stay inside the den today," I told my parents one bright and sunny morning.
"Nonsense, Sanji," they said. "It's a beautiful day. Perfect for hunting. If you ate too much last night and made yourself ill, well, you should have known better."
But I did not feel ill at all, only frightened. "There are humans about," I told them, trying to get them to reconsider.
They looked at me curiously. "Now how do you know that?"
"I can smell them," I said desperately, knowing that they would not believe that I had seen both of them in a dream, yesterday afternoon, lying dead at the feet of two human men with guns on their shoulders.
My parents lifted their noses to the breeze, but of course they could smell nothing. My father shook his head at me in exasperation, and he and my mother began to head out.
"Please," I begged, darting around to stand before them. "I don't want you to end up like Hobi."
"Now that's enough," my mother snapped, then seemed to relent. "You stay here, baby, if you don't feel well." She nuzzled my cheek tenderly.
"We'll be back in a few hours," my father assured me.
I shook my head, tears stating in my eyes as they pushed past me. They would not be back, I knew, but I was afraid to go with them. I had not seen myself in that vision, but that meant nothing. I had never seen my own future, only the misfortunes of others.
I hastily shook the moisture from my eyes, frowning. I did not want to go with them, but I could follow them; see if there was something I could do to avert the terrible future I had seen.
I trailed them for over two hours, at a little distance. I don't think they knew I was there, but I can never be sure.
All at once, I heard the click of two guns being cocked. The dream flashed through my mind once more.
"Mama! Daddy!" I screamed, reverting to the child names I had not used for months.
They turned their heads toward me, but it was too late. I shrieked as two explosions tore through the air. My mother and father were flung sideways from the force of the bullets, both of them dead before they even hit the ground.
I huddled in the bushes, shuddering and weeping quietly, as the hunters examined their kill, commenting on the price the pelts would bring. ~
I waited there until the hunters had gathered up my parents' bodies and left, then I ran. It didn't much matter where to. I just ran, trying to shake the visions, both real and foreshadowing, from my head.
It had indeed been a day perfect for hunting, as my parents had said.