...He was already out later than he promised, so he slowly put his knife away, still gazing toward the sparkling moonlit river. The tiny red fox soon disappeared from veiw, so Metunius turned and started toward home. The path through the woods was short, but full of twists and turns that could be dangerously confusing to anyone who wasn't familiar with them. But Metunius had taken this path countless times before, so that danger was all but forgotten to him. He wandered on past the giant oaks and creeping vines, all the while staring up toward the stars, trying to find this constellation, or that shining planet. It wasn't long until he was in front of his own house.
He opened the door as quietly as he could, so as not to wake up Grandpa. As he peeked inside, he breathed a sigh of relief. No candles lit meant no one was awake. He set his backpack down on the floor and pushed the door until he heard it click shut. Suddenly, a spark of fire ignited near the kitchen.
"Sit down, Metunius." Grandpa said while stoking his pipe. "Let's have a chat, shall we?"
I knew it was too good to be true, he thought, as he took the chair across from grandpa.
"I know I was out late, Grandpa, I'm sorry. But one of Mrs. Flatbottom's goats got loose, and I had to spend all this time try-" Grandpa held up his hand, and exhaled a great white billow of smoke. "I know full well what you were doing tonight, lad. It wasn't so long ago that I was your age, you know." Metunius supressed a chuckle and waited for Grandpa to continue. "You're young, and looking to explore. I know this village doesn't hold much interest for you. You want something bigger. Something more exciting. But you must understand that the Village Elders don't make rules just for the fun of it. And the rules must be obeyed. You cannot go into those woods after dark, no matter how safe you think it is." Grandpa inhaled deeply from his pipe, and set it down onto the table. "You'll have double chores all next week for breaking the rules, lad. Don't look at me so pitifully, you'd have it much worse if someone had caught you out there. Now go to bed. Tomorrow you've promised to help me build that fence out back." Metunius knew better than to argue, and sulked up the stairs and into his room.
Lying in bed, close to sleep, Metunius began to dream about the tiny red fox he'd seen twice now. So odd that he'd never seen anything larger than a raven living in that forest, until that fox. He wondered if the fox had a family somewhere far past his clearing, somewhere deeper into the forest where he'd never been...
"We need your help, Metunius!"
Metunius shot out of bed, staring at the window where he could have sworn he just heard someone say his name. He creeped over to the window, and saw nothing. He looked all around, perhaps someone had called his name then run away. But he didn't see a thing. Thinking about footprints, he looked down, and saw a tiny red fox with bright yellow eyes gleaming up toward him. "Please," said the fox, "Come with me. You're the only one who can help." Metunius stared, disbelieving. He tried to grasp the situation in his head. Alright, he thought, the fox can talk. And wants me to follow him. But I'm already in trouble, what if Grandpa comes to check on me, and I'm not here? Would he turn me into the Elders?
"Please!" pleaded the fox, "There's not much time before the sun rises!" His head was reeling, it was almost too much to process. He stared down at the fox, wondering what to do...
Option 1) Stay home, and tell the fox to come back another time. If it needs his help that bad, he'll come back for sure!
Option 2) Follow the fox. It's not every day a fox asks for your help, you know.
Knives wrote: I swear Johnny, we could stalk each other without even trying.
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