A good few years pass. I am a teenager, now. Amy, being a few years younger than me, usually plays with her own friends. Even after all that time, I am still close to Shale, Raven, and Splash. They are the best friends I could ever ask for.
Right now, I am racing them to the river. I look behind me to see how far away they are. I neglect to watch where I'm going. I bump into someone and fall flat on my butt. I get up and look in front of me to see a girl weasel on the ground. She appears to be my age. I bend down to help her up. "'m sorry. Are ya alright?" I ask.
She takes my offered paw. "I'm fine, thank you. You didn't hurt me," she replies, waving her paw as if to dismiss my guilt.
I am about to speak, when I find that I can't. I am stunned into silence by the she-weasel's beauty. She has light brown fur. Her underbelly is of a light crème color. I can also see some light brown spots on her underbelly. She has gorgeous green eyes. The color of green that appears as if I'm looking at gemstones. As I look, I swear I can hear angels singing. An aura of golden light surrounds her, illuminating her breathtaking beauty. In other words…I'm completely and utterly speechless.
Finally, I manage to speak. "My…my name's Buck. It's short fer Buckminster. Wot's yer name?" I ask, nervously.
"My name's Taisley. My friends sometimes call me Tais. It's nice to meet you, Buck," Taisley smiles at me. Even her smile speaks volumes to her beauty.
"Can…can I call ya Tais?" I ask, fidgeting nervously with my paws.
"Sure you can, Buck. That is, if we're friends," Taisley replies.
"Yep!" I nod my head, smiling.
Just then, Shale, Raven, and Splash come up behind me. "So…who is the pretty lady?" Shale asks.
I blush at his comment. "Um…This is Taisley. She's, uh…, my new friend," I answer.
"Friend? Are you sure you don't mean girlfriend?" Shale asks with a smirk on his face. He winks and elbows me pointedly.
I blush harder. "Um…I…well…uh…" I stutter.
Taisley laughs softly at my face. "Well… I know we just met, but I wouldn't mind being your girlfriend," Taisley smiles.
My eyes widen. "Ya…really want ta?" I ask.
Taisley nods her head. "Yes, Buck. I want to. Um… I know that it's supposed to be the male that asks the female out, but a friend of mine is having a party tonight. Do you want to come?" She asks.
"I'll be there!" I reply.
"Cool! Meet me by the river at sundown. We can walk together to my friend's place," Taisley says.
"Sounds good! See ya then!" I call, as I've already started home to tell my parents. I have completely forgotten about my friends who, at this very moment, are just watching me go.
When I reach home, however, I hear my parents talking. They mention something about a secret and telling me soon. I wonder what that's about. What secret could my parents possibly have kept from me? I'm usually good at finding out what secrets are without having to wait too long…
I decide to ignore it. "Mom! Dad! Guess wot? I just met a girl an' we're goin' ta a party that 'er friend is holdin'. That is, if it's 'kay wi' ya," I look into their eyes.
"You can go, Buck, but there's something that we have to tell you, first," father starts.
"You know we love you, right Buck?" Mom asks.
"Yeah… Where are ya goin' wi' this?" I ask, confused.
"We have something to tell you. It's the secret of your birth…" Father trails off.
"Wot do ya mean, secret of my birth?" I ask, now completely confused.
"The story starts with us. Your mother here was told that she could never have kits. We were brokenhearted by that truth, but we decided to move on anyway. We were walking by the forest when we heard a baby crying. We didn't know what to make of it. We ran in the direction. That's where we found an infant, left alone in a snowdrift. That little baby was you," father explains.
"Wait… ya…found me? But that…'t can't…" I gasp.
"We adopted you, Buck. Your birth parents left a note by you with your name and age on it," mother explains.
"Why didn't ya tell me?" I ask. I can feel anger rising within me. I have my paws clenched into fists. I blink my eyes, trying to keep myself from crying at this heart wrenching news. I don't know what to make of the truth. I don't think I can deal with this. I just can't.
"We wanted to wait until you were old enough," father answers.
"It wasn't until after we found you that we found out that the healer was wrong. That's when Amy was born. We really do love you, Buck," mom tries.
"Well, I don't love ya! Ya lied ta me! I…I hate ya!" I yell. I turn and run off with tears in my eyes, ignoring my foster parents' pleas.
I run through the snow, trying to get away from the truth. The ones that I thought were my parents for so long are nothing but imposters. I can't believe that they would lie to me and betray me like this. I can't handle the torrent of feelings swirling around within my head.
I think of all of my past, beginning with my adoptive parents. I remember their so-called love towards me and Amy. After this, though, I no longer believe in love. Would someone that loves me lie to me like this or betray me? I don't understand how hard it could be to just tell the truth instead of keeping up these lies. How hard is it to just not cause your loved ones' pain? I don't understand this one bit. After what I have to deal with now, I doubt I'll ever understand.
I put both of my paws to my head in an attempt to stop my thoughts from ravaging it. I can feel the tears burning in the corners of my eyes. I clench my eyes shut tightly, trying to hold back my tears. I bite my lip to try to hold back. However, it doesn't work. The tears begin to flow freely down my cheeks. I begin sobbing, both of my paws placed over my eyes. I whimper, my shoulders shaking with my sobs. I begin coughing, choking on my sobs. I'm breathing heavily. After a good few minutes of crying, my sobs die down. I'm still whimpering, though. I just feel so hurt and broken. After awhile, I stop whimpering. I wipe my eyes free of the tears.
I notice that I now have a headache. My head is pounding and making me nauseous. My stomach is twisting into knots. Before I can stop myself, I lean forward and begin to retch. I cough on the vomit that's rising from my throat. I heave and retch as I continue to vomit. When, finally, I stop vomiting, I use the snow to clean my face. I wipe a paw across my forehead, feeling the sweat that has begun to gather on it.
It isn't until after my stomach settles that I finally realize just how cold I'm getting. I can hardly stop shivering. I cough, this time from impending sickness. If I don't find some shelter soon, I'll freeze. I get up and start heading north. Hopefully, there will be some form of shelter to escape this chilly weather.
As I walk, I start to think some more about what has happened. I think about how the ones that I thought were my family betrayed me. Amy is the only one who is innocent in my eyes. She had no idea. I also think about Taisley. I think about how I'm being forced to stand her up. I'll miss her, but I just can't stick around after what happened. No matter how much I like her. I just have to keep moving. There's no other choice.
I limp through the deep snow, shivering violently from the cold. Snowflakes are falling on me, covering me with white. I sneeze a bit, looking around. I can see nothing except for the dense foggy white that comes with snowstorms. I still feel sick, more from the cold than the fear or anxiety that I have been dealing with. My stomach is cramping up. I really don't want to throw up again. I hate throwing up. From the way my stomach is feeling, though, I don't think I'll have much of a choice. My stomach lurches. I put my right paw over my mouth in a futile attempt to resist the urge to vomit. I know that it's useless, though. In the end, I hunch over and allow my stomach to release its contents onto the snow. I cough on the vomit that's rising in my throat.
When I finally finish vomiting, I raise my arm and wipe the vomit from my face. I clean my arm off with the non-contaminated snow. I look around in a daze, still exhausted from vomiting my guts out. I can't allow myself to fall asleep here, though, or I'd surely get hypothermia or something of that sort. I stumble to my paws, still shivering. I head off in some random direction, hoping to find some fairly decent shelter. I need to get someplace warm for the night.