The Withering Rose by Shawn Troutman (free books to read TXT) 📕

Just as they had done before, Cole and Patch dashed in opposite directions. Cole veered himself around the fox's den while Patch scampered away from the brush. The fox burst from the bush charging at Cole. The black squirrel ran with all of his strength. The fox was gaining on him. Why was she so close? Then Cole realized that the fox had caught on. She didn't hesitate to decide which squirrel to chase as she had done before. She simply charged straight for him. The fox attacked the squirrel that stood out most on the white canvas, the squirrel with the black fur.

"Cole, run for the trees!" Russ shouted. Cole ignored him.

The black squirrel pushed himself forward. He was determined to grab the flower. He looked ahead to his destination. It was too far away. The fox was much too close. There was no way he could make it. Cole knew he was going to die.

"Keep running Cole!" Russ screamed as he leapt from the tree. He broke through thin branches, floated down with the snowflakes, and sucked in the cold winter air.

Russ landed on the fox's face, clawing at her eyes. She yelped with surprise, and from the annoying sting of his nails. The fox slung her head back and forth. Russ was thrown off of the beast and into the snow. He crashed against the frozen ground. The impacted jolted through his body. Russ rubbed his head and opened his eyes in time to see the fox charging for him. He couldn't move. Russ watched Cole reach the flower. The sight filled him with pride. It helped him to ignore the pain of the fox's jaws clamping down on his body as she dragged him into her den.

“Russ!” Cole screamed. He watched the fox pull his best friend into the brush. With tears streaming down his face, Cole grabbed the thorny stem of the flower. He held his breath as he squeezed down on the thorns. Blood spilled from his hands staining the snow. The squirrel cried out in both physical and emotional pain. He pulled the stem out from the bush, gasping. His palms were pierced, both of them stained with blood. He crawled up the nearest tree to find Patch.

"Where's Russ," Patch asked fearfully. “He was up in the trees. Where did he go?” Patch grabbed Cole’s shoulders, shaking him. “Where is Russ, Cole?”

“He jumped out,” Cole wept. “He saved me.”

“You- No, you didn't need saving. He warned you to go to the trees. You were supposed to run!” Patch waited for Cole to defend himself. Cole only left his head hanging. Patch spotted the bloody rose Cole held in his hand and remembered why Cole had come to the clearing. He embraced his friend and held him close. Cole broke down, sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder.

***

Cole left Patch behind when they arrived at The Pine. As promised, he gave the entire acorn to his friend. The black squirrel climbed the highest branches of The Pine. He was determined to get answers, and there was a snow owl that had much to answer for. He had reached Sharik’s perch, his lips bled from carrying the thorny flower in his mouth. He crawled across her small branch, his blood leaving a trail behind him.

"Blessings through the offerings-," the owl sang as Cole reached her branch.

"-of turmoil and suffering," Cole snarled. "And my friend has suffered all, that my sister may live. Tell me, oh wise Sharik, why did you let the fox kill him? Why, when you could easily have stopped her?"

"He offered his life, that the fox could live." The owl twisted her head around, her body unmoved. She looked at him with her fierce yellow eyes and recited her mantra. "Blessings through the offerings of turmoil and suffering."

"Russ did not offer himself as some kind of sacrifice to bless a fox!" Cole shot back. "He gave his life so that I could get this flower. Now tell me how this will save my sister.”

"You are misguided Child of the Pines," the owl replied.

Cole's stomach tightened. He thought of Russ being dragged into the fox's den. Imagined his friend being ripped apart. "My friend gave his life for this!" Cole screamed. "He's dead now because of your advice. This is your fault!” Cole waited for a response.

“Do you even care?"

More silence.

"Look at you. You could easily swoop down and gather food for us, but you simply sit above and watch us die. Why do they revere you when there is a starving family of gray squirrels that you could be helping? Russ was one of your believers and you could have saved him."

The owl of purest white stared at the squirrel of obsidian black. She blinked her eyes and twisted her head to face forward. Cole was left staring at the owl’s back.

"Of course you didn't." Cole began to weep. "You didn't, because you're pathetic." The squirrel dropped the rose that he had once held so tightly. The flower drifted among the falling flurries along with his hope. It landed gracefully in the snow next to The Pine far, far below, far away from Cole. 

Cole climbed his way back down The Pine, eager to get away from the horrible bird's perch. He thought about what Sharik had said as he descended the pine tree. He repeated her words angrily. "Blessings through suffering." He thought about Emma, home alone, and sick. She needed food. Now he had no way to get it.

Russ had to suffer so the fox could live, Cole thought. He repeated it over and over in his head. Russ had to suffer. If that was the way the Owl had let the world be, then he would embrace it. Her world, her rules. Others would suffer so that Emma would live. 

***

It was nightfall before Cole had made it back to his hollow. Emma was resting in her makeshift nest, still awake.

"I haven't seen you all day Cole. Where have you been?” Emma asked, coughing. "I've been waiting for you."

"I was getting you a gift." Cole held an acorn out to her. At nightfall, it had been simple for Cole to steal the food from Patch's hollow without being seen. He was hard to see in the darkness of night. His black fur had made him easy to spot in the snow but difficult in the shadows. He had crept into the entrance of his friend's home while they all slept in their pile. The lid to the food box was left open. Cole had simply walked inside and stole what food the starving squirrels had left.

"Just half of one this time. All for you.” Cole handed his sister the remains of the stolen food.

"Thank you Cole," Emma took the acorn with shaky hands. "But, I would have much rather just spent time with you. Our time is short," she said as she bit into her meal.

"Don't say things like that," Cole told her. "You're going to make it through this."

"Cole."

"Yes Emma?"

"Where are Russ and Patch?"

"I- Emma..." Cole lay next to Emma's nest. He sighed deeply. The squirrel closed his eyes exhausted from his long, painful day. Cole did not want Emma to see the tears swelling in his eyes. He found it difficult to watch her eat the food he had stolen from his friend's starving family.

"Goodnight, Cole," Emma said as she curled her worn body in her bed of dead fur.

"Goodnight, Emma."

"Love you."

***

“Cole! Cole, wake up.” Patch pounded on the entryway to Cole’s hollow. “Cole come on, I need your help.”

Sunshine beamed through the entry onto Cole's eyelids. He forced one of his eyes open to find Patch barging into his home. The obsidian black squirrel struggled to keep himself awake, still exhausted from the previous day.

Patch grabbed Cole. “Wake up. They stole it!” He began to shake the black squirrel furiously. “They stole my family’s food!”

Cole pushed at Patch, trying to stop the shaking. Patch was stronger, and his grip was hard to break. “Patch stop,” Cole forced out. “Stop shaking me.”

Patch let go and took a step back. Panic dominated his face. “We need to go to the clearing. Someone stole my family’s food. I- I have to get more."

Guilt gripped Cole’s throat like a vise. It squeezed hard, not letting the lies spill from his mouth. Reality made his stomach clench together, his blood tingled in his veins. Patch’s family was going to starve to death because of him. Without Russ they would not be able to gather food from the clearing. The food he had stolen was their last.

“Just come up with a plan that the two of us can do,” Patch said. “You’re smart, you can do this.”

Cole stared directly into his friend’s eyes. He could feel himself falling into the abyss of misery he created. He desperately tried to formulate a plan, but always came to the same conclusion. The fox would catch on, and one of them would die. His best friend had already given his life for this. Now Patch’s family was going to die, and it was his fault. There were too many lives weighing down on him.

He gave up.

“I can’t,” Cole whispered. “We won’t make it.”

“You aren’t even trying!” Patch pleaded. “Blessings through the offerings of turmoil and suffering. Remember? And what about Emma? She needs food too.”

Cole turned to his sister who was still sleeping beside him. She had a pleasant look on her face. He smiled. She hadn’t stirred once through all the shouting.

"Emma," Cole said.

She did not wake.

"Emma?" Cole shook his sister. She did not stir. "Emma!" He began to shake her more furiously. "Emma wake up!" he yelled. "Emma!" Cole grabbed her head and shook it back and forth, tears streaming down his cheeks. "This isn't happening to you. This isn't happening!" Cole fell beside her lifeless form. “Emma...” he choked, between sobs. “Emma…”

***

It had been hours since Cole realized his sister passed away. It was the most time he had spent with her since she became ill. The short time she had left, he had spent trying to gather food. She had withered away alone in the hollow. Her only desire was to end her time with the warmth of her brother.

Patch sat in a corner of the hollow, his head bowed. He had listened to Cole cry for hours and said nothing. The gray squirrel was having trouble finding a way to comfort his friend. He felt partially responsible; making Cole split the food they had found before. Then he showed up to demand Cole help him find food while his sister lay dead in a nest before them.

Cole carried his sister outside the hollow. Patch did not follow. He stayed in the corner and kept his head bowed. The two friends did not speak to one another as Cole left the home.

The black squirrel carried his sister out of The Pine and down to the snow -overed ground below. A single withered rose lay in the pure white winter snow. Cole dug a hole in the powder and laid his sister's body within. He placed the rose on top of her burial place and sat down beside her. Cole stayed until he could see the sun no more and the sky had become as black as his fur.

The owl of pure white swooped down to a branch above the squirrel of obsidian black. She looked down upon the squirrel and said, 

"A rose lingers in the darkened wood

Bloody brambles protect if they could

Succumb to solstice the petals wither

Ending in solar warmth's deliver

Salvation."

The squirrel looked up, humbled, and replied, "I understand," as he finally learned to cherish his time with his sister.


Copyright © November 29th, 2009 Shawn Troutman