"Skokey...Skokey, wake up..."

Skokey weakly opened his eyes. It was almost blinding, what he saw. He let his eyes adjust to the bright light.

"Skokey... My poor boy..."

A sillhouetted figure of a stag stood before him. His appearance was glorified with a bright yellow light. Skokey could barely make out the ghostly object hanging above the figure's head.

"Why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I..I don't know... What else am I supposed to do?" He asked, still bewildered by the darkened figure.

"You're in so much pain..."

"You have no idea..." Skokey squinted, trying to seek out any detail of the figure. He completely opened his eyes, tears starting to spill over, "...It's you..."

"Skokey, you shouldn't do it. There's no reason for you to."

"How should you know? How can I keep going at this point? What could there possibly be for me?"

"Remember what I taught you. That's all you have to do."

The light started to fade away, the figure of the late stag diminishing as well. Skokey got up, pleading for the light to come back. But soon, it was night again, and Skokey realized he had just opened his eyes.

"It was a dream..." He got up. There was a full moon out, everything was glistening silver. The stars shone brightly, twinkling like diamonds. A breeze flew overhead, blowing some leaves off trees as the rest clattered together. Skokey started to sob, laying himself down again. A small pool of tears formed below his face; it too had a silvery glow to it. "...Dad..."

***

Skokey awoke again. His face was still wet. He looked about himself. Everything was the same.

He took a few nibbles at the grass next to him. He had given the grass more than a few days to grow this time. He had gone without eating for nearly a week now. He couldn't quite get over what he did to Raku. He felt terrible for telling her to forget about him, but he didn't know what else to do. He didn't want help. He didn't want anyone to care about him.

All through the day he thought about that dream. Why would he dream about that now? It was a little late. And what was he supposed to remember? He never remembered his father telling him about this. Not ever. The image of what his father looked like haunted him. It was eerie, yet peaceful. He thought he heard some sort of song singing faintly. It might have been his imagination though.

Skokey, for the first time in months, decided to take a walk. He walked over to the Graveyard, taking several stops along the way. His strength had diminished a great amount, and walking was a little hard for him. He stopped by where his father was buried, and stood there for a long time.

"Why did you visit me, Dad? Why would you do that to me?" He almost expected an answer. He waited a few more minutes, "What was I supposed to remember?" He was silently crying again; seeing his father's grave after all this time was hard.

Some other deer happened to come by. Neither of them knew Skokey. But one of them was a fawn, who came up to him timidly.

"Hey, why are you crying?"

Skokey looked at the little fawn, "This is my father's grave... I miss him."

The fawn looked at the grave, then at Skokey. "What happened to him?"

He sighed, "It's hard to explain."

By then, the deer watching over the fawn came over to them. "Come on, we need to go home." She looked up at Skokey, "Pardon us."

Skokey nodded at her, and they both left. Mother and son? No, brother and sister. It made Skokey a little relieved that he didn't have to deal with his sister quite yet.

After his visit to the Graveyard, he went close to the Pond. He didn't go there directly, but he just wanted to see how many deer there were today. There were quite a few, most of them playing around or talking to each other. There was one deer he knew there, and it was Fenqua. She stood not to far away from him. Skokey looked over her; she had grown to about the same size he did. But unlike him, she was healthy. Her pelt was natural, her antlers small. Her sparkling blue eyes had grown even sweeter than before.

Skokey took a step back, into the shade. He didn't want her to see him. It was too late, she already caught glimpse of the familiar object shining above his head.

Her face grew ecstatic, "Skokey!!" She ran after him, but he started to run away.

Skokey ran as fast as he could, but he got tired fast. He was so weak, she could easily catch him. But he drove himself farther, trying to stay away from the young doe.

She ran after him, "Skokey wait!"

Surprisingly, Skokey ran faster than her. She soon lost sight of him, and slowly came to a stop. "Skokey?" She looked around and listened carefully, swiveling her ears in all directions. "Why did he run away?"

Skokey ran all the way back to his previous spot in the Birch Forest, and collapsed. In a fury of panting and wheezing, he managed to bring his heart rate down a little. Every one of his legs cramped up from the sudden stop. He waved his ears back and forth to see if she managed to follow him. She was far away, he presumed. He was scared. Of all the deer he knew, she was the last one he wanted to see. Not in the shape he was in.

He remembered how similar they used to be. He and Fenqua were both playful, care-free, and happy. Now, those emotions only belong to her. And his were replaced with fear, anger, and sorrow. The young doe had become even more beautiful, and she was as healthy as any other. Skokey looked like an old stag, with his gaunt structure and being so easily fatigued. Skokey was a mess. He was no comparison to her.

His heart was torn apart, seeing her. Where did everything go? If things had gone right for him, that meeting would have been of joy and laughter. Instead of embracing her, he fled for his life. He knew they would meet again soon. And maybe the circumstances would be different.

(i was seriously almost crying when i wrote the first part. i found an absolutely perfect song to go with that scene.)