i'm not coming home

He couldn't stay here anymore. The pack was gone, his parents were gone. There was nothing left for him here to even call home. He stood facing the world on the other side of the wall, just inside it's protective reach. The winter was cold, but he would have to press on. There wasn't anything left for him here, no reason for him to stay. He would find a new place for himself, a new home where he would make a new life. Whether his siblings wanted to come or not was up to them, but they wouldn't change his mind. He was leaving, and he was leaving now.

Night had fallen some time ago and the moon hung heavier in the sky than it had before, something that seemed strange but not alarmingly so. It was his first winter after all, so maybe that's what the moon did. Maybe the strange blue glow the moon seemed to have was normal too. That all seemed explainable, like something he just hadn't experienced yet. But what he didn't expect to see, and couldn't really understand with his young mind, was the strange blue glow that seemed to be coming from the trees some ways from the opening in the wall. That was different, and somewhat ominous. Maybe he should wait until the morning to leave, but he really didn't want to be stopped. Leaving at night was easy, secretive even. But the longer he stood, facing the strange blue glow across the field before him, the less inclined he was to investigate... alone anyway.