The end was coming. The old doe knew this. She finally came to realize with a sickening fear that her child would never really ‘grow up’. No matter how old he was, his mind would be the same. Sure she knew this deep down, but she had continued to latch onto the idea that someone would always be there for her child. Of course that was merely wishful thinking. She was now accepting fate. She knew now that when she died, her fawn would die alongside her.

She had to teach him. She didn’t care if it was fruitless. She didn’t care if he would not understand. She had to at least try and teach him the ways of the forest.

The lessons didn’t last long. The fawn would only scamper along on unsteady legs and gaze at his mother with adoring eyes, eyes that showed no sense of comprehension.

The old doe, after many days and hours of lessons, finally lost hope. Her joints were hurting more than what they already did, and her breathing more labored. “It’s almost here…” she would constantly, almost obsessively think. As all living things do, she concentrated only on the pain, and the sweet embrace of death that laid itself before her.

One morning, the fawn awoke and looked at his mother’s face. Her eyes were open and glazed over, and the fawn thought this quite peculiar, but paid no considerable mind to it. Perhaps it was too early for them to wake. Slowly, he lowered his head down and nestled it against the stiffening body of his mother, oblivious of the likely fate that awaited him.

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Yeah, a day after. Updates for have always been pretty irregular. So don't expect a timetable. I just write when it comes.