The Death Bridge

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"Aaah!" Raven jolted awake with a scream.

She suddenly felt nothing beneath her and then she hit the ground. "Argh!" she grunted as she made contact with the ground. Panting she sat upright, trying to make sense of what just happened. The world around her was dark. Realising she just fell down from her safe spot in the tree, she jumped up, ready for action. But the forest around her was quiet and calm in the moonlight. Stunned she looked around.

"What the heck?" she whispered as she plopped down on the ground, trying to get her thoughts together. "I can't believe I fell asleep. I was in danger, and I fell asleep?!

The memory of her nightmare came back to her. She hadn't had this nightmare in years. Why now? She sometimes had nightmares, most of them were about the people she tried to warn and who ignored her. Sometimes it was about her parents.

But this nightmare…"Why? Why now?" she thought in confusion.

Slowly she got up and looked around. She saw the bag lying on the ground not far from her and went to pick it up. She pushed her whirlwind thoughts aside and focused on her surroundings as she started to walk back to her tree in the Outer Ring. Stopping occasionally to listen and smell for danger, she slowly made her way back to the Outer Ring. When she reached the tree, she dropped the bag and sat down with her back against the trunk. She allowed her emotions and thoughts to come back, trying to sort them.

She looked to the east where she saw a faint light. "Dawn…how did I sleep that long? I wasn't even physically tired! I…could the golden mist have something to do with that? Is it draining my energy? Is that why I had that nightmare?" The questions swirled around unanswered in her mind.

She couldn't make sense of it all. She remembered that her parents always said she was special. She always thought they said that because she was their only child and they loved her very much. Thinking about it now made her wonder if they said that just because they loved her or if there was another reason?

The sun rose in the east. The sky was an array of colours. The blue sky became rose-pink and slowly it turned into a beautiful golden colour. The sun slowly revealed itself from its recess, spreading its warmth everywhere. Slowly the dark and grim looking forest turned into a beautiful sight of gold and green. The forest came to life. The light breeze danced between the trees, beckoning their leaves to join the dance. The birds announced the new day with joy, their troubles of yesterday long forgotten. Animals running around, playing with each other and looking for food. Cicada's singing in the distance as if there were not a care in the world.

Raven felt the sun's warmth on her face. It brought her some comfort. It always has. She sat there, listening to the sounds of the forest as she fiddled with a twig in her hands. She gave up trying to understand everything that had happened to her. She just couldn't fathom it. So she decided to make peace with that fact and sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head against the tree. Suddenly, a shadow fell across her face and she slowly opened her eyes. She saw the young orphaned doe standing before her. Raven reached out to the doe and it came closer, pressing her soft nose against Raven's hand.

"Hey girl, missed me?" Raven softly asked the doe.

Raven found the little fawn one day as she was washing her clothes in the stream. It was watching her intently. When she started to go back to her tree, the fawn followed her. She looked around for its mother, but couldn't find her. So she decided to let the fawn follow her. When the fawn stayed with her for three days she knew that its mother must've died. If not, she would've come looking for it. So she brought the orphaned fawn up and they became friends.

They were inseparable.

Everywhere Raven went, the fawn followed. But the fawn never followed her into the Inner Ring. She understood this as no creature ever lived in the Inner Ring. That was just another one of the Shadow Forest's obscurities. At first, she didn't want to give the fawn a name, but the little devil was stubborn and never responded to her calls and instead just looked at her innocently and then ignored her. So Raven decided to name the fawn Mili. The little fawn grew as the seasons passed and were now a beautiful young doe.

Raven looked at Mili and she felt grateful for finding such a friend. She threw her arms around Mili's neck and hugged her tight. After spending a long time in Raven's embrace, Mili grew tired of standing still and started to nibble on Raven's hair.

"Ouch! Mili!" Raven cried when Mili pulled her hair. As soon as Raven's grip around her neck loosened, the young doe quickly scampered away. "Oh, I'll get you Mili!" Raven yelled playfully at the doe and jumped up, chasing the doe into the forest.

They chased each other and Raven even managed to tackle Mili a few times and they'd go tumbling to the ground. And so it went on and on until midday when Raven could no longer catch the peppy and slippery doe.

Excepting defeat, Raven sat down with her back against a tree, panting and with sweat forming small drops on her forehead. She looked at Mili with a small smile. She loved the young doe very much.

"Ok Mili, you win today…but only today!" she said to Mili with a roguish smile.

The young doe looked at her with its big eyes. Then giving a snort, she gaits away. Raven guessed where the doe was going and decided to follow her lead. When they arrived at the stream, Mili went straight to the water and started drinking. Raven knelt beside Mili and washed her hands in the cool water while scanning the area with her eyes, searching for signs of danger. Then she cupped her hands and drank some of the water. She always found it fascinating how sweet the water in the Shadow Forest was. It also stayed at the same temperature. Whether it was winter, summer, spring or autumn, the water would stay the same. Then she looked at Mili who was still sipping the cool water. She stood back up and sat down by a large rock feeling the fatigue burning behind her eyes. Her eyelids grew heavy.

And then she fell asleep…