It's way too long for the form, but I wanted to put it out for everyone to read anyway.))The night was perfect, so late that dawn threatened, yet the sky was dark and starless with heavy clouds. A dim mist rose from the streets, still hot from the day’s passing of cars, and a cold rain fell steadily, drawing a hiss from the sewer vents. Its relentless downpour scattered the light from the streetlamps, and dimmed their edges, deepening the shadows with a feeling of oppression and closeness. It was just such glorious weather that proved to chase humans back into the safety of their concrete homes, leaving the streets relatively empty. Though the noise of traffic was an ever-present background to his existence, Brooklyn welcomed the muted streets and ventured out from the shaded alley that had offered him refuge from the day.
Hooves clicking softly on the cement of the sidewalk, Brooklyn paused to drink from the water that collected at the side of the road. The metallic, mineral scent that greeted his nose was a pleasant change from the normal oil slick that would rise from the asphalt when it rained, and he drank heartily before moving on. It was early spring, and cold rains had only recently melted away the black snow that seasonally lined the streets, rinsing the black grime down to the river. Maybe it has finally rained enough to rinse the stench of this place clean… If that is even possible. He thought as he finished crossing the road and slipped back into the narrow gap between buildings on the other side.
Sent scampering back into the sewers by his approach, rats abandoned the garbage cans that lined the walls in a sort of mass-exodus, and Brooklyn investigated their feeding grounds. The little buggards were surprisingly good at finding food in the rubbish that humans left behind, and he trusted their guidance. After a few moments search, he finally nosed open a can that reveald a nice meal of soggy pizza husks and a few potato chips. After having eaten his fill, he turned about and kicked over the remaining cans to scatter the garbage so that his gracious benefactors might have an easier time upon their return. Really though, making a mess of what the humans had so deliberately tried to make orderly gave him some small amount of satisfaction. The unnaturally straight line of the buildings, the hard reflective surfaces of their vehicles, even their little gardens, planted in squares and circles, all of it started to grate on his nerves after awhile. A little chaos would do them some good. Pity they don’t see it that way. He thought with a snort and reared up on to his hind legs, and stomped one of the cans flat with a satisfying clank before moving on.
Normally, Brooklyn would have simply found a safe place to lie down and rest. Moving about was dangerous, and having found sustenance there was little else in the city worth wandering about for. However, tonight was different. A few days ago he had scented something sweet on the air, an earthy, inviting smell wafting through the exhaust fumes. It brings back memories of seasons past, and though his mind has blurred many of his days together, filled with the muddled thoughts of an aimless and empty life, this one stands out. Every year in the spring, the bedraggled little cherry trees that the humans had cultivated to line the river channel brought forth a heartening show of blossoms. As pruned and viciously shaped as they were, they still somehow had it in them to welcome the returning sun. Seeing those trees was one of the few pleasant sights to meet his weary red eyes, and thus worth any risk to see.
Mind set, he traveled down the sidewalk with a light quick step, the cantor of his hoof-beats echoing away from him in all directions. It is inevitable the he would encounter humans at some point on his journey, but the people who happened to be out in this dreary weather were far too preoccupied with whatever business had brought them out, than to bother with harassing the damp whelkon. Crisscrossing the winding streets and alleys, the din of moving vehicles grows closer, signaling that his journey is near its end. He came to a halt and waited at the intersection of a busy street, watching as the cars streamed past with their blinding lights. There might have been a time when the roar of their engines would have spooked him, but that time has long since past. Ambivalent, he simply stood with his back to the rain, waiting for the signal change so he could quickly make his way across.
The flow of traffic eventually ebbs, and within moments the light had changed, and Brooklyn seizes the opportunity. With three bounding leaps he crossed the gap, and jumped the small hedge-line dividing the park from the sidewalk. Landing with a splash in the soggy grass on the other side, he pauses just long enough to shake some of the rain from his fur. Immediately the unassuming smell of mud surrounded him, and he picked his way across the little clearing to the river’s edge where the trees await him. The first time he had come across the park, he thought the green grass a miracle, a bounty of fresh food. He has since learned the lesson well that anything growing in the city is not to be eaten. Saturated with pesticides and sprayed with poisons to keep out the native plants, it was as sour and sickening as trying to eat a worn out tire. Thus he passed by without temptation, and reached the trees. Their tiny pink blossoms have just barely begun to open, and he tilts his head back to gently nuzzle into their sweet softness.
”H-Hello? Is there someone there?”
The soft voice lifting up from the riverside startled Brooklyn, and he leap back, catching his antlers in the branches above and sending a shower of blossoms swirling down to the ground around him. Did.. Did I really just hear that? It had been so long since he had heard the sound of another whelkon’s voice that he had almost forgotten what it sounded like. Eventually though, his curiosity overcame his trepidation, and he looked over the edge of the embankment. There, standing flat-footed in the mud is a little whelkan, her fur as black as the mucky water swirling past her legs. ”What on earth are you doing down there?” He said, in a wavering voice, scratchy from disuse.
”Oh thank goodness, can you help me out of here? There was a flood and it washed me all the way down here…” She paused for a moment, hanging her head wearily. ”And now I’m stuck…”
Brooklyn looks at her quizzically, finding her lack of knowledge difficult to understand. ”Of course you are. There’s no way you’ll ever be able to climb those cement walls. You’ll have to go over to the spillway and climb out there.” The whelkan just stares up at him with wide, scared eyes, not understanding what he was trying to tell her. With a sigh he backs up away from the edge and calls back to her. ”Come on, this way. I’ll show you.”
”But… But… That’s the way I came! There’s nothing there!” She called out, sounding desperate, but he could hear the splashing of her hooves as she followed him upstream. Knowing that she is at least smart enough to take good advice when she hears it, he didn’t bother to answer and just walked on to the other end of the park. The humans have built up a little dam to hold back part of the water into a pond, and with the recent rains it has swollen to the point where it tumbles down the stairs in a sift swath of white water.
Standing at the top, he looked down on her once again. ”See? Much easier. Just climb up the stairs.” He said, feeling a bit smug as though talking to a child. Yet it seemed as though something else was wrong, as she lookd even more terrified than before. ”Come on then, what’s wrong? I know the water is moving kind of fast, but you’re already soaked. It won’t hurt you to get a little more wet.”
The welkan shook her head violently, as though he had suggested she grow wings and fly out of the culvert. ”No, it’s not that… There’s a human up there! Can’t you smell him?”
Brooklyn lookd at her incredulously and shook his head. She has got to be kidding… This whole dammed place reeks of humans, and she is worried about one of them? Give me a break… Truth be told, he had become so accustomed to their scent that he hadn’t even noticed there might be one nearby. With a sigh, he followd his nose a bit further down the runoff until he picked up the sour stench of alcohol. There on the cement wall separating park from river, a tattered, tired old man sits with a bottle in his hand, looking sightlessly out over the water below. ”What, him?” He calls back, and received nothing more than the sound of her nervous prancing in reply. ”Oh, come on, really? He’s so out of it he doesn’t even know we’re here.” As if to offer proof, he walks up to him and snuffles at the drunk’s ear, who did nothing more than reach up and swat at him limp-wristed as though he were a fly. ”See? Now climb out of there, because I’m sure as heck not coming down to pull you out.”
It was then the welkan’s turn to look on in disbelief, but his little charade was apparently enough to convince her and she quickly made her way up the stairs, nearly tripping over her own feet in her hurry to be out of there. She leapt out onto the grass and immediately ran behind Brooklyn, putting him between her and the human. Eyes wide with a sort of morbid curiosity, she stares at the homeless man as he sipped at his dink, the fur on her chest gently brushing his flank. ”Uh… Come on, this way.” Brooklyn says after a moment, feeling awkward and uncomfortable from her closeness. He turned, and led her back to his trees, where he pushed beneath the riverside shrubs and settled down on the ground amongst the scattered blossoms.
Shivering from the cold and soaked to the bone, she tried ineffectually to shake herself dry. ”T-Thank you… Umm… My name is Karona, by the way.” She said haltingly as a chill griped her thin frame. She then looked at him expectantly for a long moment, but when it became clear that this welkon had no idea what she is waiting for, she asked: ”And uh, you are?”
Brooklyn blinks in confusion for a moment before answering slowly. ”My name… My name is Brooklyn…” He replied. It had been so long since he had used it, he had almost forgotten that he had a name.
Karona seemed to smile at him, and take their simple exchange of names as some sort of invitation, as she immediately settled down on the ground next to him. Surprised, he flinched back from her touch as she snuggled into his warmth, her chilled body still shaking against his. ”Brooklyn… What a strange name… Anyway, thank you again. For saving me…” She said softly, her words starting to trail off. The weariness in her voice growing heavier, and she eventually rests her head on the ground next to him.
Unsure of what to do, Brooklyn just lookd at her. How… How could this have happened? Out of nowhere his solitude had been shattered, and it had shaken him to the core. To have accepted him so easily, without question or fear, and to take comfort simply from his presence, it maked him wonder just what it is that his life had been missing. Poor thing is completely soaked, even her undercoat is drenched… I can’t just leave her like this… What do I do now? Hesitantly, he dipped his muzzle to her and began to lick the water from her coat. Karona’s soft fur tasted strange to him, beneath the muck from the canal it fresh and clean, free from the oil and smog that clung to his own pelt. With a heavy sigh, he can feel the tension leave her and she relaxes. Closes her eyes, sleep quickly overtakes her, leaving Brooklyn to wrap his fluffy tail around her to keep her warm, and watch over her while she sleept.
Soon the dawn came, lighting the thinning clouds with a golden hue and chasing off the rain, leaving in its place a gentle breeze that holds just a hint of warmth. The change in weather brought out the humans as well, and the ever-present din of traffic increased. Soon the park is filled with the voices of children, and squeaking thud of jogger’s shoes. The sound must penetrate Krona’s dreams, as she awoke with a start. Eyes wide, her ears swivel, trying to pick up each and every sound; every voice and every distant car horn. An impossible task, as Brooklyn knows well, but before he could say anything, a voice much closer than the others bubbled through the thin screen of leaves. The hedge parted, and a small figure pushed her way in. Beside him, Karona stiffens and he speaks to her before she could bolt. ”Be still… It’s only a child.” The last thing I need is for her to run out into the street.
The girl looked at the two whelkon in wonder, then slowly crept towards them with her tiny hand outstretched. Taking a quick look at Karona to ensure she was steady, Brooklyn reached out and gently touched the girl’s fingers with his nose. The child’s face lit up, and he knew that as long as she lived, she would never forget their encounter.
”Cindy? Cindy, where are you? Come out of there this instant before you get dirty!”
At the sound of her mother’s voice, the little girl turned to look, then backed away from them. ”Thank you…” She whispered, then disappeared back out into the park.
Looking back to Karona, Brooklyn finds her staring slack-jawed at the spot where the child left, and he shakes his head and gets to his feet. ”Come on, its time to go.” He urged, watching to see if his words would ever reach her. When she finally came back to her senses, he leadd them down along the debris of the riverfront back up to the spillway. There they crossed the river, and disappeared down into the underbrush on the other side. Brooklyn pushed through the still dripping brambles, and they emerged onto a cement bike path that ran as far as they eye could see in either direction along the river. ”This path should take you far enough upriver that you can find your way back home…” He said, and is surprised by the bitterness of his own voice. Ashamed, he closes his crimson eyes and backs away from her. ”Unless you wanted to stay or something…” He whispered, head drooping as he already knew the answer.
Karona looked back at him, seeing the pain he was in cut her to the core and she went to him. She put her nose under his chin, and raised his head then waited for him to open his eyes before answering him. ”Brooklyn… Why don’t you come with me? Get away from here… Come back to where you belong.”
Brooklyn lifted his eyes up to the sky. Rising above the trees, the skyscrapers of his city reached towards the clouds as they broke, to reveal a dirty blue sky. His heart yearned to follow, to see the place she calls home. To know what the word quiet truly means, to hear the birds and the wind not mixed with voices. Oh so many things just not to be alone any more. But then he remembered the child and the look on her face as she reached out to them. His presence there had changed her life, reminded just one human that there is a world beyond the one they build. ”I… I can’t, Karona. This is where I am supposed to be. They need me.”
Though she could never truly understand, Karona accepted him for what he is, as her nature was to be compassionate. Though her soul called out to him she could never force him to change. ”I won’t forget you… Or this place.” She said softly, burying her face in his neck one last time before turning away. Just before she was to loose sight of him around the bend, she turned back to look at him, her brown eyes still pleading with him one last time before she lept away.
That memory of her, Karona standing so strong and proud with the morning’s light playing off her black fur, so dark against the drifting blossoms, openness and sympathy plain on her face. That was the one he chose to take with him, a small amount of the world beyond his concrete maze to hold onto in his heart.
