"He doesn't move at all..." Moy suddenly began whispering, her eyes darting left and right as though being overheard was dangerous.
"You mean him, huh?" Sylvester said, leaning back from the wooden game board and crossing his arms, "Yeah. He smells really wrong, like a funeral that never stops, and on top of that... Ash."
I listened as the other children chipped in with their thoughts, my ears twitching with excitement.
"You can't even go near anywhere he's at. The smell will kill you!" Another said.
We were sitting on a large platform up in the trees. Talking about the two newcomers have made us completely forgot about the congkak board and the riverstones we were so busy capturing just a moment ago.
"He lives just below your hut, right, Natalie?" Moy asked, her wide amber eyes held mine, "Did the smell reach you?"
My nose wrinkled, memories of the strong burnt, ashen stench coming back. "Yeah... I had to bury my face in my pillow just to sleep. But it was only a few nights, after that, he'd gone to sit on that boulder."
Moy glanced around again, her ears pricking, looking for eavesdroppers. Specifically, one eavesdropper. When she saw the coast was clear, she leaned forward, shielding her lips with her hand.
"And the man with him," Moy whispered, her voice dropping even lower now, "he's scary. All sharp eyes and no tail. He doesn't have ears, but he can hear you no matter where you hide!"
Another kid said, "And he has a sword, he might kill you if you get close."
Another fidgeting girl leaned forward, "Do you remember the night they appeared? That... Howling?"
A shiver went down our spines. The smooth grey pebble slipped from my hand and hit the wooden floor with a clack. For a moment, only the rolling of the pebble could be heard.
Everyone remembered that night, when a loud howling tore through the quiet. I was dreaming of chasing butterflies and suddenly there's this noise like a dying wolf or something and I began to panic. Luckily, Mommy woke me up and said it's coming from outside.
Daddy went out with the the Elder and other daddies to see what's going on. And when he came back, he became quiet, like he'd seen a ghost. Next morning, Mommy told me the Elder and Juno let them stay in the small, empty hut at the base of our tree. Mommy smelled... Sad, yet glad. I don't know why.
It reminded me of the smell in our hut two years ago. When my brother Nathan got sick. He went to sleep... And never woke up. Mommy said Nathan had returned to the forest. And after that... Mommy didn't cook for a long time. Daddy was sad, sitting in the porch all day staring at nothing. And I cried, and cried, and cried, hoping one day my brother would come back and play with me.
Sylvester scoffed, "Well, I don't like em, they stink, they don't have tails and ears," then twisted his lips in annoyance, "but my dad let's them stay. Since they don't bother us, let's just leave them alone."
With that, our future elder out a stop to our conspiratorial discussion. Well, not that we're planning anything. But now, I am even more curious about the boy, sitting on the rock all day, not moving, rain or not, and smelling bad.
Something stirred inside me, something... Strong. Daddy's and Mommy's face... Their smell after coming back, sad but glad... The same smell that hung in our hut two years ago when my brother Nathan...
I have to go and see this boy.
The sunlight began to slant from the gaps in the canopy. It'll be evening soon. We went back to our huts, the congkak board forgotten on the flat, pebbles lay scattered. Sylvester and Moy hopped from the ledge and latched onto the vines, swinging across the distance to their home. The others climbed down the big trunks and leapt, landing before starting into a game of race.
I stood facing the direction of the clearing, where the boy on the boulder was supposed to be. My heart is pounding. Will that man kill me if I get close? I shook my head. The Elder let's them stay. And I've seen them from my hut before. They smelled... Sad. They're not bad.
I hopped from the ledge and slid down the twisting, mossy bough, the wind rumbling against my ears.
A curve ahead coming in fast. A scary one. Many of us get flung off and crash into the undergrowth below.
My senses were burning from my desire to see the boy. I ducked, shifted a little to the side and moved my tail for balance.
Swoosh.
And I'm past.
The twisting bough continued on, curving here and there, but I didn't need to go the whole way. Almost there, I see the hanging vine that I need to catch.
A powerful push from my clawed feet launched me onto the vine. My clawed fingers latched onto its thick body and I curved through the air.
I jumped from across two more vines. The sunlight got brighter and the trees became further apart. I'm near the clearing. I slid down the vine and landed quietly at the edge of the plains, just behind the treeline.
The air here is drier, smells more like grass than wood and moss. It's hotter here too, but the wind is still cool. Birds are singing overhead, and the buzzing of insects had faded away. I could see the blue sky here, and the white puffy clouds.
I turned my gaze straight, into the clearing.
There was the boulder. A big, grey rock covered with green moss that is flat on top. Some ferns are growing beside it, and a few mushrooms under it's shades.
And there he is.
The boy.
Slumping on the rock, his face covered by his messy fur.
He had no ears... Wait, he has. It's just round and furless, and it's on the side of the head, not like mine. No tail too. His clothes are strange, blue and long, covering his whole body. They look... Dirty... Brown, but it's not dirt.
The air smelled of metal, sharp. Then came the horrifying stench, like what you smell after a big forest fire, when there are animals that couldn't escape in time. It's so thick it is like a wall I cannot see in the air.
I looked around.
Nothing.
The man wasn't here.
But, I smell him.
Again I looked.
And there he is, perched on a tree covered by leaves, across the clearing from the boy. He's far enough. If he tries to hurt me, I should be able to run in time.
My feet padded slowly through the jungle floor, carefully not stepping on fallen twigs. I kept my eyes on the man.
He doesn't move.
The smell got stronger, thicker.
The man still didn't move.
The boy too.
Uwah!
The smell hit me like a punch when I got really close. My whole body jerked, ears flattening. I grit my teeth.
Strange. I should run. But... No. Something tells me I need to see him. Why did Mommy and Daddy became strange after that night?
I stood in front of him.
I wonder if he even knows I'm here.
"Hello?" I said, trying to sound cheerful despite the shouting inside me.
Silence... Only the distant chirping of birds answered me.
I bent down to look at his face.
And...
!!!
Everything fell away. The rock was gone. The trees behind him gone.
Only the boy stayed.
The pounding in my ears became very loud.
I stared.
Nathan?
No... He can't be! He has no ears! No tail! It couldn't be him!
Daddy and Mommy buried him!
But he has Nathan's eyes. His nose. His face!
My chest felt like it was about to explode. My breath escaped me in gasps. And hands were shaking.
I stood there for I don't know how long.
"Always stay by someone's side whenever they're sad," Mommy's voice spoke in my head.
Slowly, the trees came back. Then the boulder. The sound of the birds and insects. The cool breeze brushed my ears.
My chest didn't feel so tight now. But the pain stayed.
I looked at him. Really looked.
And he's sad. Really sad.
I blinked away the blur in my eyes. Something warm went down my face.
Then, I climbed onto the rock and sat beside him.
Silence.
I don't know if he even knows I'm here.
The smell coming from him lightened. I turned to him, but he kept his eyes on the ground. The man in the trees didn't move either.
We sat together like that for a very long time. Our only company was the singing of birds and the occasional buzz of a grasshopper passing by. And the heavy gaze of the man in the trees, which slowly lightened as the sun went down.
I couldn't sit still long. One moment I was on his right, then I moved to sit against the rock by his legs, then I shifted to his left, then I sprawled over the rock behind him, my tail sometimes brushing his arms.
Moy wasn't bluffing. He doesn't move at all.
We stayed like that until the skies turned orange and purple.
"Natalie~! Time to come home!" Mommy's voice rang like a bell through the treeline, soothing. I felt a strange weight lift from chest.
"Okay, Mom!" I called back.
As I headed home, I took one last look at the boy who looked like Nathan.
The forest is really strange. But one thing is sure now.
I'm coming back.