Collapsing Beliefs

Chakik stayed buried in the ground of the rock squirrel’s storage room for what seemed like an eternity. A few squirrels would come each day and force his mouth open to retrieve some of the morsels of food jammed into his magical cheeks. Surely his family must think him dead and gone now, he had no real idea of how long he had been buried here. In the beginning he had tried to keep track by counting each time a squirrel would appear to retrieve food, but eventually he had lost count.

His only constant companion was the solitary firefly glowing in the doorway that would on occasion fly down and land on him. At first it seemed fearful and would quickly fly back up to the door frame. As time passed it began to stay on him longer, walking on his head and ears, its light touch tickling him. Chakik didn’t mind though, he had begun to think of the little lightning bug as a friend. His only friend left.

Time passed.

Squirrels came and went.

The lightning bug began to spend more of it’s time perched on Chakik than in the doorway. This was the only comfort he had. He had begun to talk to the firefly and regarded it warmly. “What is it like to fly, my friend? Maybe when the Black Dragon asked me what I wanted I should have wished for that.” Chakik thought constantly about his fateful decision that day, and how things had turned out. “I just wanted to be more helpful. To be more than I was,” he sadly thought out loud to the bug, “I shouldn’t have asked for anything. Even the few acorns I did help gather was at least something… now I’m nothing. Just a storage container for someone else’s things.” A wave of sadness washed over him with these thoughts and he began to cry again. The little lightning bug flitted around his head blinking rapidly, disturbed by his tears. “I’m sorry my friend”, Chakik said, “I don’t want to disturb you. It’s just…”, he sobbed, “I don’t see anyway out from here.”

Chakik wept in the dark.

Time passed.

Squirrels came and went.

The gruesome leader finally reappeared into the storage room, flanked by a number of his guards. “We have need of you elsewhere.” the mottled squirrel leader said. “Dig him up.” Chakik froze not sure if this was a good thing or if an even worse fate was waiting for him. Several of the larger squirrels advanced on him and began to dig him out, their claws carelessly scratching him as they did. As the dirt around him began to loosen Chakik took his first deep breath in forever. It felt so good! More dirt was removed and he was able to flex his arms and legs a bit. His muscles hurt but the feeling of movement again was indescribable. The squirrels gripped him by his arms and tore him free from the ground, roughly depositing him at the feet of the leader squirrel. “Good.” it hissed down at him. Chakik lay on the ground breathing deeply and wiggling his toes, right now he didn’t care what this horrid squirrel had planned for him he was just thankful to be out of the hole he had dug.

The leader stood over him glaring down with his dark eyes, saying nothing. Then his eyes quickly darted upward! Chakik had heard it too, a scraping, scratching sound coming from above them. The leader glanced at his soldiers and they moved around him to investigate the strange noise.

The ceiling came crashing down on the far part of the room, sunlight streaming in through it, glittering in the dust and disrupting everything! A black paw tipped with nearly translucent claws reached through the hole, grasping at the air and quickly destroying more of the ceiling. The rock squirrels ran in all directions, scrambling for the door or looking for places to hide.

The dark paw continued to reach down until an entire furry arm was inside the storage room.

The mottled squirrel leader became enraged, his focus swiftly shifting from Chakik, to this new intruding appendage, and he charged upward. Amidst the chaos, Chakik saw his opportunity. Regardless of what was breaking into the rock squirrel’s den, it was only one animal, much easier to evade than the evil that was being orchestrated here. He bounded behind the enraged leader, not noticing the lightning bug had grasped hold of his tail as he lept past.

Chakik scrambled through the dust and falling dirt into the bright sunlight, his atrophied limbs screaming in protest. He had thought he was much further underground and reeled at the intensity of the sun. A horrible screeching noise and movement immediately drew his attention. A sleek black cat had it’s paws wrapped around the mottled squirrel, and it was not playing. The cat was not huge, but large enough that the mottled squirrel was at it’s mercy. The cat bit down quickly onto the mottled squirrel’s neck and then picked it up and shook it violently. Chakik, even though afraid for his own life, had to look away as the squirrel was destroyed in the cat’s powerful grip.

He looked back quickly, poised ready to run to the nearest tree, which he had not yet found, and knowing that cats can climb almost as quickly as squirrels. These thoughts of escape shot through Chakik’s brain as he watched the black cat drop the unmoving body of the enemy leader. The sun gleamed from the cat’s fur, causing it at times to look blue or purple and briefly even orange, shining like a star. Chakik shook his head at this, attributing it to his eyes adjusting to natural light again, and assumed a very flat and humble position before the cat. He lay down slowly, and put his tail as flat against the ground as he possibly could. He looked the cat in the eyes, it was roughly twice his size. His brain was racing, this cat had dug into the rock squirrels den, it was smart. Chakik kept eye contact as he made himself as small as possible. The fact that the cat had not yet attacked him, as it had the rock squirrel leader, was of little comfort. Slowly the cat stalked toward him.