Tim was a simple man. At 31, he lived a simple life in a simple little house on a simple plot of land. Sure, he could live in a mansion and drive sports cars and do the sex; but none of those things interested him nearly as much as simply observing the world around him. His true passion was watching the world around him. Witnessing life unfold before him. Good or bad, he loved every second of it.
It was a cool autumn morning. The leaves had long fallen, but the snow had yet to follow. A large grouping of dark storm clouds had been forming in the distant sky, made only visible by their darker color against the cloud covered sky. Tim looked up from his fresh steaming cup of coffee, watching as the storm clouds quickly approached.
“Better make sure I’ve got enough wood for the upcoming flurry…”
He mumbled to himself before taking a long, satisfying sip from his mug.
A sudden clattering of wood sounds from his back yard, causing Tim to nearly spill his bean juice. He sighs and turns back into his home, closing and locking the door behind him before walking toward the back door leading into his back yard. He fills his mug with more coffee from the pot and gazes out the kitchen window at his simple little back yard. Wood cut, garden gathered, trees trimmed- His nearly endless chore list finally finished two days before the first snow storm of the season.
The only thing he had left, was the shed. A small dilapidated wooden shed rests in the far corner of Tim’s yard. A simple shed that had once been used to store food, now reduced to a simple storage shed for random things Tim no longer needs. Tim needed to replace the old squeaky door, board up the old broken window, and now replace a few broken planks it seems.
“Well…”
Tim says to himself with an exhausted sigh, sipping his coffee one more time before sliding on a worn pair of leather work gloves
“Better get to it.”
A small grey tuff of fluff huffs and puffs as it waddles its haggard body across a dead grey field. The short days were becoming colder and colder, making growing crops impossible as the yearly snow flurries quickly approached. What was left of any plant life was either withered and brown, or picked clean by passing scavengers looking for any source of food before the incoming storm.
The creature stops in front of a rotting corn stalk. Long since picked clean of its treasured crop, it’s once mighty stalk simply sits limp in the cold hard soil. A soft rumble emits from the creatures stomach. While yes, it had been quite some time since it had last eaten, it’s tummy was not empty.
A small cry of relief escapes from it’s dry cracked lips as it summons the remainder of its energy to devour the limp rotting husk. Many short cold days and many even colder scary nights had passed since it had any kind of filling meal, making this rotting husk of a stock feel like a feast fit for royalty.
It takes a bite, scrunching it’s nose at the sour dry taste now splintering the inside of it’s mouth. It didn’t taste good, but it was something. It continues forcing down bite after bite, ignoring the tiny splinters filling its tongue, gums, and throat until nothing remained except for an indent in the soil where it’s rotting corn stock once sat.
It’s tiny red eyes suddenly focus on a small puddle of dirty water now pooling in the indent left by it’s meal. Without a second thought, it throws it’s body toward the muddy puddle. It greedily laps up what little water it can, licking up plenty of mud and rocks in the process. It spits out the debris, quietly crying in pain as the dirty water stings the fresh splinters in it’s mouth and throat.
Before it can continue crying, it’s attention is cast to something more… pleasing. A warm. bitter smell that felt almost sweet as it reached the back of her nose. Suddenly a simple banging noise rings out, startling the creature out of it’s smell trance and bringing it’s attention to a small wooden shed across the field. A small plank had fallen loose near the bottom, snapping off and falling to the soft ground below.
A sudden surge of energy fills the creatures tiny fluffy body, stirring it up and toward the pleasant smell and the small wooden shed. It’s as if, suddenly, nothing else mattered except getting to that shed. A safe place away from the stinging cold wind and scary monsters lurking in the darkness of night. A safe place to-
tip…tap…tip…tap-BONK
Distracted by it’s determination to reach the shed, the creature steps onto the first fallen wooden board before running head-first into the remaining wooden boards making the base of the shed. The sudden force of the headbutt, while very soft, was just enough to knock another board lose just above where the first that had fallen once sat. The falling board jerks loose, falling down on top of it’s brother board. The force of the board falling sends the creature standing on the opposite site flying into a small hole in the wall of the shed.
“EEEH-” THUMP
A pained screech, suddenly cut short before it can grow any louder than the tweet of a bird, fills the air around the creature within the sheds aging walls as it’s tiny body lands on the floor within. The sound quickly dies before it can echo to the outside, filling the shed with a soft freezing silence once again. The fluffy creature tries to orient itself, standing up to get a look-
The creature quickly collapses again, a silent scream failing to escape it’s dry cracked lips pain rings like a church bell through it’s body from it’s back leg. It had landed in a strange way, causing a fracture in it’s already fragile leg bone leading to it’s hoof.
“C-c-cowd…”
The only word it can force out before succumbing to the pain as the world around it grows silent and fades to black…
Drip…Drip…
It’s eyes flutter open
Drip…Drip…
It slowly turns its head toward the source of the noise.
Drip…Drip…
“W-w-wa…wa…”
It wimpers as it watches water from the leaky ceiling above dripping into a cracked bowl below just a few feet away from where it now lay. Summoning what little energy it could, the tiny creature uses it’s two sissy little marshmallow like hooves to drag itself over to the cracked bowl. Every inch was more agonizing than the last. Every movement radiated more white hot pain from it’s injured leg, filling it’s entire tiny body.
With one last push from it’s good back leg, the tiny creature throws itself at the edge of the cracked bowl, lapping up every last drop of water that had accumulated from the leak. It wasn’t a lot, but it was more than enough to sate it’s thirst and alleviate the pain it caused. It’s mouth had now began slightly swelling from the splinters of it’s last meal, making even the simple act of drinking an excruciating ordeal.
When it was finished drinking, the creature turned and sat itself on it’s side, avoiding any contact with it’s bum leg. Before it could even comprehend what was happening, a sudden new pain unlike before shot through it’s tiny body from the base if it’s dirty matted tail. A sudden surge of painful pressure began building in it’s lower body, moving lower and lower toward it’s shit and dirt caked backside.
“B-b-bigg… P-p-poo…”
Overwhelmed by the pain that had now flooded it’s entire body, the creature passes out without another sound.
Once again, the walls of the simple little shed grew silent. Silent, cold, and still.
