tear me down

The only assumption the boy could make was that the grass around their home was dying. It had gone from green to brown and crackled underfoot, but in contrast, the green mounds of the moor had exploded in all different shades of purple. The wind was growing colder, and some mornings when Arne tried to sneak out of the den before his mother kicked him out, there was a thin coating of crunching white stuff was on the ground (a quick lick had told him it seemed to be just like water). The air felt sharper in his nose and even his fur (and his siblings) seemed to be growing in thicker than it had been even a few weeks ago. Where he could see trees, their leaves were turning brown and falling on the ground... well, most of them, some were staying green, and the prospect of that alone made his small head spin. The boy had so many questions about the way that things were changing, but he didn’t think he could really ask anyone about it without seeming like a dumb little kid. So today, he was going to try and get to the bottom of it! Or at least he was going to try and keep an eye on how things were changing.

He started at the den, moving to the closest stream his brows drew together in worry. It seemed smaller than he remembered it, and he didn’t think the shrinking size had anything to do with him getting bigger. Stepping over the narrow stream he moved to one of the few trees that dotted the plain. It’s branches were mostly bare now, the orange and yellow leaves (that he could distinctly remember being green just a few short weeks ago) were all over the ground at it’s base, but within sight was a verdant green pine. Maybe it was the needle like leaves that kept it growing? Or was it something else entirely? Arne’s head was starting to ache. He wasn’t used to taking things so seriously, and this was really something that needed a grown ups guidance.

He noticed a squirrel dart across the ground in front of him and up into the tree. Usually the movement alone would have been enough to distract the boy, but even the tree rodents were acting strange. Instead of eating the nut it had picked up, it seemed to be trying to store it, but what for? It wasn’t like the critter didn’t look like it could do with a bit more meat on its bones. The boy braced his feet against the tree and craned his neck up the trunk as though he could stretch far enough to see what was going on, but all that came to him was the scent of nuts and the fading trail of a squirrel well out of reach. He could have growled in frustration. It felt like the whole world was preparing for... something, and he had no idea what it was, or if he should also be taking steps to do the same.

A cold gust encouraged him back to the ground, shoulders hunching up closer to his ears. If things kept going like this, well, he wasn’t sure he’d want to get out of the den at all. At least there was some protection from the wind in there, but he also didn’t really want to make his mum upset. Maybe he could find another den for day times, one big enough for his sister and brother to fit in too? Not that the kids really stuck together, but if it was going to be cold, maybe they’d want to share body heat?

The young Jarvela didn’t really want to venture back towards the moor until the sun was higher in the sky, but even that had been changing. The daylight hours seemed to slip away a lot faster than they had, and even at it’s peak, the sun didn’t seem strong enough to melt away the mist that seemed to cling to the ground there. The ground was decidedly icy underfoot too, where the ground grew boggy. If he had to make an observation, it seemed to him that the purple flowers were about the only things happy about the change in the weather. No, he wouldn’t wander that far today, but he would keep an eye on how things changed when his adventures next took him that way.

It was all so much for a young wolf to take in, but everything pointed to only one conclusion. The world was dying, and he could only assume it would try to take them down with it. Maybe he should take a hint from the squirrel and start trying to store up some food? He wasn’t quite big enough to take down a deer yet, but maybe he could find something smaller, something he could offer his mother on the worst days.
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