The Fawn

"...can't you...
...hear us?"
"No...I don't. I don't! Leave me alone!"
The fever breaks then, for a moment. I see watery shapes swimming before my eyes that clear, becoming the forest. The forest? Was I here before?
I couldn't tell you.
"Your flowers are wilted...You should take better care of yourself..."
I see the little wilted purple flowers at my feet when I look down. Little dead things. I shiver and look away, shaking the rest from my antlers.
"Shut up. This is your fault."
I realize that I am standing in a patch of purple flowers, with little blue butterflies flitting around. One lands on my nose and I smile weakly, gathering up a few of the flowers for my own antlers.
The world starts swaying and I sit down, hard. My eyes close and I feel shaky again. Is the fever coming back?
I fight it off and stand again, listening. I want to know if there is somebody here, somebody that I remember. If I remember. I want to test myself.
Then I recognize her. I struggle towards her and she finds me as well. For a moment, I can't place why I know her.
Then I remember her. Tally, I've missed you so much...
You're so tiny now! That was really surprising. I know you'll still protect me though.
It was good to sit by you and feel so safe. I wish I could have held you up longer when you sat on my back, but I'm afraid I'm still too weak for that.
I suppose you still wonder why I'm afraid of fawns. I think I told you before, but there is more to it than that now. I wish I didn't have to see them...
At least those does with you were nice, and that one that came up later. For awhile, I was happy.
They wouldn't let it stay that way...
Their voices crept into my mind, one light gold, the other dark, dark red. I could nearly see the ribbons of their voices leading back to those statues.
They spoke as one.
"You can hear us...little child...
Take the second chance that we gave you...are giving you again..."
"Let me out of here! Your greed is keeping me here, not your kindness!"
They laughed. I felt the tickle of the ribbons of voice wind around my neck, whispering in my ears.
"Ungrateful little Fawn...
We only want to save you..."
I charged the statues and the voices were gone, the ribbons suddenly invisible. I could hear the whispering of the trees again, the beating of my own heart. Tally was there.
"Don't you hear them?"
No, no she wouldn't. They only wanted me, wanted something from me. I fled from them, only to find myself staring into the skulled face of some deer whose named I could not see.
"What do you want from me?"
She stared, saying nothing.
Then she was gone.
"They all want something from me...Tally, they want something from me..." I couldn't see her anymore. Not really. It was as if she was gone, even though I could see the forest around me. I could feel her beside me.
Then I couldn't. Then I could only see the tunnel of darkness coming back. Within it, the red and gold ribbons were reaching for me, winding around me. They were calling me back to something that I didn't want to remember, something I didn't want to see again.
There was a burst of light, and then the forest was gone.
Was it ever there in the first place...?

[I should have more time to play her once summer gets here.]