The Silent Forest

None of the characters are meant to represent any person living or dead. None of the places are meant to represent anyone or any place in existence or not. All of this work contained herein is my own brainchild, and of my own creativity. Please do not copy to another website without my authorization. Copywritten: 2001 by John Francis

Geez... what a bunch of horse sh*t. The whole story is symbolic, everything in the story is symbolic. I wrote this for my Freshman year short story. It had to be argumentative, have a theme, and literary devices. Tell ya one thing it is argumentative, especially to people like Bush, jr.

There was no sound throughout the sleeping forest, except for the occasional birdcall. It was simply a picturesque night. Green foliage sparkled in the iridescent moonlight as the moon rose high in the sky and the stars appeared in the dark night. The lake was sparkling and black as the night around it, not a ripple was made. A sharp crack resounded throughout the forest and a sudden flash of light engulfed the tranquility of the night habitat. The trees and plants shook to the very center of their stems, in turn shaking the inhabitants to their very soul. In one of these tall trees a red-squirrel named Jessie lay sleeping with her young children. At the sudden clamor she was shaken awake and lay staring out into the once dark forest. ‘What is that light?’ she wondered as she stared into the bright light that was illuminating the forest. Her children began to shake and cry in terror bringing Jessie back into the reality of her nest. Quickly she huddled with her children trying desperately to calm them, but it was hard for such a task to be completed when she was also as scared and confused as they were.

Sam lay sleeping in his otter den with his wife Alexia, his three little cubs, and his mother-in-law, when the tree hit the ground. The ground shook wildly shaking awake Sam and his family. Soon the den was filled with the smell of terror and the sounds of whimpering from the cubs and Alexia. Looking around quietly, Sam noticed the roof of his den shaking. “Alexia! Get out of here now!” he whispered into her ear not wanting to frighten his cubs.

Silently Alexia did as she was told hurrying out the three cubs. Sam turned back to look at Alexia’s mother; she wasn’t breathing. Another rumble was issued from the den and Sam leapt out of the den into the confused night. The entrance to the otter den collapsed minutes later. However, the otter family did not notice as the night was now as bright as day. Sam walked over to where Alexia lay crying. Saying nothing he patted her head with his paw, stroking her brown dry fur. Alexia responded by lying against him. “Mother?” she questioned quietly.

“Dead,” Sam answered.

The sun slowly rose up over the horizon spreading bright colors over the once peaceful forest. Jessie lay red-eyed and stiff in her nest with her babies huddled around her red-furred body. Her husband hadn’t returned in the night. From up in the tree Jessie listened to the distant buzzing of something she was unaware of. A strange feeling hung on the morning, a feeling of death and fear. Jessie’s instincts told her to run, but if she were to run she would have to leave all her children behind. In truth she knew naught what to do. All she knew was that she was hungry and her children would be hungry when they wake. Slipping quietly from beneath the sleeping bodies she bounded down the tree with the skill and ease of any squirrel.

The light from the growing sun shone down into the sleeping eyes of Sam. He lay on the bank of the lake with Alexia sleeping next to him. Blinking away the sleep from his eyes he looked around at the new day. Stroking Alexia’s silky brown fur woke her. She looked up into the brown eyes of her loving husband. He stared straight back into the twin pools of green. They got up quickly remembering the events of the night before. Alexia hurried over to where her three otter cubs lying sleeping and Sam headed toward the collapsed den. Observing the blocked off den Sam thought. ‘There’s no reason to rebuild it. It would be far better to build a new one somewhere else, where it is safer.’

Turning around he glanced at his wife and cubs. She sat crying next to them, patting them comfortingly. Sam’s mind wandered again and thought, ‘She was always good with them, I was never that good of a father.’ Sam began to hurriedly blink away his tears, but new ones replaced the tears of shame as soon as he blinked the old ones away. Rushing over he hugged his family, happy that they had survived the night. “What will we do now?” one of their cubs asked.

“Now? Now we will go find a new place to live,” Sam replied as happily as he could. “Well? What are you waiting for?”

‘Something was different,’ Jessie noticed, ‘something oppressive.’ She shivered as though she felt a storm on the way. Quickly she began running doggedly through the woods looking for a place to get food. “Why hadn’t I thought to place some in the nest!” she scolded herself.

Without realizing it, Jessie began searching further towards the large buzzing sound. She did not notice it till it was nearly blasting in her pointy ears. Looking about she saw nothing, that was when she heard the noise she had heard last night. The tree in front of her gave a lurch and a groan and to her disbelief fell over. Standing stock-still she saw a large metal machine like nothing she had ever seen before. She didn’t know whether or not she should run, climb a tree, or investigate. Stalking silently up she sniffed the air around the machine; the air was adulterated with the scent of chemicals. Jessie let out a squeak as her paw came in contact with a spiky nut. Picking it she looked at it making sure it was good to feed to her children. When she was satisfied she stuffed the nut into her cheeks and began to quickly forage around the felled tree for more nuts forgetting the treefaller. Then she bounced off in the direction of her trees.

Sam sniffed the air, ‘a storm is coming,’ he thought as he took a break from digging. “Storms on the way,” he called to Alexia.

The three young cubs chimed in, “Oh goody.”

Alexia smiled at them and nodded to her husband, “What should we do with them?”

“You can take them into woods it should be safer than out here in the open lake bank,” Sam answered and went back to digging the new den.

Alexia took the otter cubs and led them into the dense undergrowth of the forest.

By the time the sun had begun to sink from the sky Jessie was back in her nest with her children. They were still sleeping. Jessie took the nuts she had gathered and packed them in to the side of the nest until later. Her children’s warm bodies soon nursed her off to sleep. Only a few feet away were another one of the treefallers.

Alexia’s journey into the woods had become more of a jolly midday stroll. Her otter cubs were playfully jumping about finding their new surroundings greatly fun. A low rumbling emerges from farther on in the forest. The three otter cubs snapped to attention at the noise and ran in the direction of the sound. Alexia called after them to stop and bounded after them.

Jessie awoke to the same rumbling in the forest and a shaking in her tree, yet she felt no wind. Then she heard the loud crack again and she realized that another one of the treefallers was at work again. Staring wide eyed around her she searched desperately for the machine; she saw nothing. Then the tree began to swing wildly. Jessie felt the branches whipping against her face. The wild shaking awoke Jessie’s children and they began crying. She covered them with her body as the tree gave one final lurch and fell to the ground.

Alexia stared in horror at the falling tree, grabbing her cubs quickly she held them tightly to her. A loud terrified scream issued throughout the woods as the tree hit the ground. As the tree hit the ground a small red object shot out from the tree. Hurrying over, Alexia saw the crumpled form of a female red squirrel, the squirrel was breathing. Looking around Alexia saw the nest along with the four baby squirrels. Tears formed in the eyes of the mother otter at the sight of the four lifeless bodies and mother lying only a few feet away. Alexia took the red squirrel and went back to the bank of the lake with her cubs.

There were no sounds throughout the silent forest, except the occasional crack and buzz of a machine. Sam and Alexia have long since left with their otter cubs, leaving behind a mother and Jessie dead. Jessie had sickened with grief after receiving the grim news of her children… and her husband… and had soon died. The forest is now empty of life, except for that of humans. This once grand forest is now quiet, free from all noises except that of the wind, whistling across the fallow wood where death reigns over life.

FINISHED Did you like it???? Don't send me bills for those dozens of tissue boxes you went through reading this.