Edge Of The Forest

• Zoe Spreckley, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2017

I laid in my bed, straining to hear the voices.
“We can’t keep her anymore,” they said.
“But we must! What are we going to do with her if we don’t?”
“I don’t know! Put her up for adoption? We’ll speak about this later though. We’re going to wake her.”
The voices ended and footsteps replaced them. Footsteps that grew louder by the second. My door creaked open, casting a faint yellow glow around my room. In the doorway, my parent stood. I closed my eyes, hoping that they believed I was peacefully sleeping. They did, and soon they went away, closing the door quietly behind them.

A bird chirped. Not a pleasant chirp, a terrified chirp. It seemed like it was in pain. Instinctively, I bolted upright from my faded tarp. My body strained from the restless night I had before, but I ignored it in vain. The bird chirped again, but this time louder. It must be from the trap I set a few days beforehand. Leaving my tarp and the few supplies I had behind, I ran towards it. When I got to the part of woods it was at, I could see it properly. As soon as I saw its grey body, I knew it was a wood pigeon. They’re common in these parts of Guildford. As it drew its last breath, I took it out from the contraption. Finally, I sighed. I was hoping it would be a bit bigger, seeing as I was quite hungry. Probably a stupid growth spurt. I guess it was food nonetheless.

Seeing as they can go off quite quickly, I rushed back to my little set up. Thankfully, the fire was still running from last night. Barely, but still alight. I added a few more logs and sticks to it from the pile I had been gathering. Hoping the fire would ignite even more, I turned my back to it and checked the wood pigeon again. I plucked its feathers, preparing it to be cooked. It took about half an hour for it to be prepared, but it was worth it. The pigeon that I caught turned out to be quite plump, so it would make an excellent meal for my day. Soon my stomach began to rumble quite ferociously, so I placed the wood pigeon carefully on to the fire.

It was nearly noon when I began to eat my mere amount of food. Because I didn’t have a plate, I used a bunch of Elm leaves instead. Although I knew I would get sunburnt, I laid against the Elm tree that I took the leaves from to eat my lunch. As I closed my eyes, I could hear the stream trickling beside me and distant noises of birds. I sighed. Only being sixteen and taking care of yourself can be tiring. Laying down brought a wave of sleepiness over me, so I closed my eyes and gave in to the tiredness.