Something Out There

In the distance I see the blue face of the rippling water. I can hear the joyless laughter of the Loons as they prepare to migrate to their secret North. Unlike them, I have no place to go, no wings to take me to other worlds. It is they, however, who have taught me that the secret of all hearts is to be a part of things. I know this to be the purest truth, for I and my kind are not and can never be.

No one must see me, for I frighten those that do. I find peace wading through the blue waters of The Great Creator, where there are no screams of fear and revulsion at the sight of me. Once, drawn by a natural curiosity, I wandered too close to a lighted window. A woman inside saw me and fainted dead away. I cry for those who deem me ugly and my tears could fill the night that will soon swallow my voice.

I watch the sun descend behind the purple clouds and realize that this is the first sunset I have ever seen from outside the forest. It is the hunters and their shiny guns who have driven me away from my home. I have seen the hatred and cruelty in their eyes through the long and tangled shadows of the night. It is because of their carelessness with fire that I can no longer find the leaves and bark and berries and fruit that have sustained I and my young for as long as I can remember. I must venture into these valleys to find nourishment for my family, despite the danger.