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“The moon is so bright tonight…” His words shatter the silence between us as his turquoise-emerald eyes gaze up through the glass dome ceiling and toward the night’s sky. His short, sandy colored fur is illuminated by the night sky, revealing tiny shimmers of light off of his form fitted, dark blue leotard. His hooves reach up to push aside his bangs, gently brushing up against his well cared for antlers in the process. The deer looks back at me with a smile and soft hazel eyes. “How long are you going to stay off the ice?” My friend casually skates up to me, arms behind his back until he’s right by the barrier I’m leaning over.
“Well I wouldn’t want to ruin your practice.” I smile half heartedly as I look around the dim skating rink. “The big day is tomorrow morning. Last thing you need is another body getting in your way.” My midnight black fur quickly stands on end as his hooves push my paws up and intertwine with his hooves.
“Hey, you dumb bunny.” He coos playfully as he somehow pulls me forward until we’re nearly nose to nose. “This isn’t practice. This is me seeing my best friend and the reason I’m even in this competition once more before I head to the city.” His eyes bore into my own dull brown eyes, quickly leading me to look away. “I bought a gift for you, by the way.” He lets go of me as he drifts away effortlessly. “But you’ll have to skate with me one more time before I give it to you.” I look back at him just in time to catch a playful wink.
“Isn’t that a little backwards?”
“This whole scenario is backwards! When we first met, you were the one coaxing me onto the ice!” He emphasizes the “me” with a twirl. “So are you coming or not? We don’t have all night!”
He has a point. With a sigh, I lean off the border and head toward the bench where I rested my stuff. Hidden under the jacket I had taken off earlier was a yellow rose that I had brought with me from my father’s flower shop. I doubt he’d miss just one flower. With my skates firmly strapped on, I make my way back onto the ice, arms behind my back as I hide my own gift.
“Alright, Lea… I’m on the ice. Happy?”
“Overjoyed!” He seems to grin from ear to ear as he starts to skate around me. “And I see you got me your own gift too!” He snatches up the rose from behind my back, giving it a curious look. “A flower?”
I nod, my fluffy small tail wagging eagerly as I respond. “A yellow rose! It’s meant to symbolize friendship and joy! It can also mean remembrance. I’ll never forget you, even if you become big and famous.”
Lea scoffs as he twirls the rose right under his nose. “You say that as if I’m going to die.” My tail stops cold as my gaze drifts away. He picks up on this quickly with another retort. “Hey, even though I’m going to the city, we’ll still see each other! I’ll call everyday! Maybe even buy you a bus ticket out there and we can hit the town. I hear there’s all kinds of cool sights to see! Karaoke, arcades-”
“Dangerous gangs…” Silence falls over us and I can’t contain the sigh as I begin to skate along the edge of the ice. I quickly pick up speed, letting the wind whip up my shoulder length ears. I lean against the outer edge of my blade before jumping into the air, wrapping my limbs tight and spinning before landing effortlessly. I repeat the process again and again, trying my best to shake the thoughts that had been crawling through the depths of my soul once more.
It isn’t long before I can hear the familiar sound of metal against ice nearly halfway across the rink. It would seem even Lexi has taken up practicing again. His toe loops and axles are perfect as he launches into each one with a euphoric smile. After another triple loop, I realize that he’s actually mimicking me, copying every jump I make and nailing them perfectly. Was this what he wanted?
Noticing that I’m watching, he smiles at me before launching into the air, graceful dancing through the air as he hits not two or three but four rotations and lands rather shakily onto the ice. I have no time to be impressed as he barrels into me, knocking the both of us to the floor since he had lost his balance.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry!” Lea quickly jumps off of me, careful not to cut me with his skates. “There’s no way that’s going into my routine, but I felt like I could do it! Well, with you on the ice with me, I felt like I could.” He brushes his bangs away again as he sheepishly looks away. “You give me the confidence I need to skate, Alex.” I’m dumbstruck. Hundreds of questions swim through my head, but I can’t seem to pick just one to ask, but I don’t really get the time to either. He somehow snaps his hooves as he recalls something. “Oh right! Your gift!” He hops to his feet and glides over to where he hid his stuff, revealing a large purple scarf.
I find my way back to my feet and skate over to him, tilting my head in confusion as I reach the barrier. “Why a scarf?”
“Well, you’re always complaining about how cold you feel around this time of year with how frail you are! So, I got you this to keep the heat in!” Without warning, he wraps the fabric over my neck and flings it over my shoulders. He gently pulls my long ears from under the scarf as he remarks, “Y’know, I always wondered why your ears are always down. I thought you were just a lop eared bunny, but your dad’s ears are up pretty often…”
“Oh…” Because I’m… “I guess I’m just tired. Aha…” I laugh dryly as I grip my ears. “Hey, you’ve got an early rise tomorrow right? We should go.” He seems to want to say something else, but keeps his mouth shut as I get off the ice. We remove our skates in silence and gather our things to head home for the night. As we open the door to the night air, I’m quickly grateful for the new scarf gifted to me. Tonight wasn’t nearly as cold as I was expecting it to be. Still...
“I can never get over crossing this place.” Lea yanks me from my mind before I can delve too deep into my thoughts. He looks toward a makeshift path through the woods. “So many people go through there… and never come back.” He nervously reaches up and twiddles with one of his bangs. “I wish people didn’t feel the need to go there…”
“I suppose they think that there’s just no other option.” A sharp pain rings through my chest, but I manage to ignore it once again. I just look ahead and keep shuffling forward. “Perhaps it’s better to end it all than to keep suffering through his life.”
“But there’s so much to live for!”
“Maybe for everyone else.”
Not much else was said for the rest of the walk. I brought Lea back to his home and wished him a good night before turning back to head toward my own home. The walk easily led me past the forest trail again, just like every other night. However, I couldn’t bring myself to just walk past this time. My steps stopped dead in their tracks as I looked up toward the path. There’s something there. I can’t see it, but I can feel it. Something I can’t describe but it beckons me. Calling me deeper inside… Without a second thought, I decided to take a small detour.
Dead leaves crunch beneath my feet as I duck under branches and hop over nigh invisible vines. Thankfully, the feline vision I had inherited from my mom helped to see, but it was still rather challenging to find my way through the uphill climb with such little light.
Eventually, I find my way out of the small woods and find myself at a cliff side clearing. Plenty of flowers littered the clearing and to my surprise quite a few were actually in bloom at this time of year. I gaze up at the massive tree that rests near the edge of the cliff, its massive lush green leaves standing out amongst the brightly colored flowers below. I shift through the flowers, careful not to step on any as I make my way toward the cliff's edge. The sound of crashing waves can be heard clearly as I look down at the jagged rocks that laid below.
“I guess this is where…” I can’t bring myself to finish the thought as I gaze up to the massive full moon. I bet the moon is nice. I hear a hare lives up there. Do you think he’s lonely up there? Maybe he’d let me join him. Why can’t you invite me to your home on the moon? I shake my head and laugh. “What am I thinking? I must be sleepy.” I peek down at a small flower that waves in the wind. Its black petals seem to shine in the moonlight and its bright yellow center almost stares at me.
“You’re quite different from all your friends back there, huh? You must be pretty lonely… It’s okay. I get that way too.” I take a seat next to the flower, my legs dangling over the edge as I stare off into the horizon. “Do you ever get tired of being lonely? I do. Maybe this isn’t fair, but he’ll get over it, right? People like him have new friends to make. A future career to pursue. But people like us…” I pick the flower and smile at it as I hold it in front of the moon. “We don’t.”
In the end, I’m like a black petal in the wind...