Oh Deer

• Jasmine Ear, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2014

My long ears prickle and I look up to stare hard at the shrubs. For many moments I stand there with my muscles tensed, my eyes darting about in suspicion. I can hear the twittering of birds and the bubbling of the nearby river but not that unusual sound. After a while, I start to dismiss what I had heard as a figment of my paranoid imagination. I am on edge because I had wandered off from my herd in search of fresh grass.

Crunch! Before the sound of the crushed leaves ceases, I am already running away. I had known it was impudent to stray from the group and as recompense for my arrogance to prove I was able to find better grass than the rest, the strange two legged creatures that have been recently hunting in my forest are now after me. My white tail stands up in fear as I swiftly dodge around the towering trees. The ominous laughter from the foreign creatures is followed by a click from the queer stick that they carry. Just as their weapon roars, I jump. I catapult up and over a fallen tree trunk and its rotting body bursts from the force of the projectile that comes from the stick. The second my hooves touch the ground I am off again.

‘Oh this deer is going to taste so good’ comes from one of the two legs and judging from the sound of it, they are not far behind. Panic permeates my thoughts and adrenaline courses through my body, giving me a wonderful burst of speed. I send rocks flying as my hooves splash across the shallow river. Once I am back in the forest, I begin to weave an intricate route through it. My brown fur helps me blend in seamlessly with my surroundings.

Before long, I pick out the disgruntled howl from the aliens as they fire desperate shots in hopes of hitting me. I have finally shaken them off. However, I am still cautious and wait until the birds return and their singing can be heard again. When this happens, I quickly trot back to my herd who, despite giving me heavy looks of disapproval, hastily crowd around to make sure I am not injured. When they are finally satisfied that I am safe and return to munching on the grass, I hurriedly move towards the two lumps on the ground that have yet to greet me. I give them a soft nudge with my nose to wake them up and lick the heads of my two fawns. I breathe out an overdue sigh of relief when I see that they are safe and collapse onto the ground and let the feeling of exhaustion wash over me.

In my moment of fear, I realised that what I want most was not to find the best patch of grass or even to escape the aliens but being together with my herd where I am most safe.