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A heavy rain falls today. You stay home for the day, listening to the sound of thunder that shakes your home. You sit in your chair, holding onto the plush deer. Vito lays on you, his little plastic eyes seeming to look up to your lovingly.

The rain lures you to sleep, relaxing in the chair and resting as you hear it hit your windows. You awake to find yourself someplace you have never been before - an isolated desert landscape surrounds you. You look around to see small hills, desert shrubs, and small cacti. Above you see birds of prey that circle around, and a slight breeze brushes past. You are surprised at how warm the place is.

"Mommy, you're awake!", you hear Vito say to you. You notice he is standing there with you - he has grown significantly since you remember. He is no longer a child but a young buck.

"Hello Vito...", you say, and then looking around, you ask, "Have you seen my friend, the other deer, who always is with us?" The little one shakes his head. It's just you two this time.

"I woke up here and found just you. I kept calling to you but you didn't hear me.", he said.

You look around, "We need to figure out where to go. It's going to get hotter out here soon.", you say. Instinctively, you notice a lone rock nearby, and see your deer's pictogram has been etched into it. "This way!", you say, and you start to walk in the direction that the pictogram seems to point to. Vito follows closely, his eyes wide open.

The two of you walk for a while. The landscape seems to be the same for miles, and the sun continues to bear down on you with heat and light. As you are walking, you see Vito collapse next to you. You turn and look to him suddenly, "Vito?", you ask.

He isn't speaking. You reach down and pick him up, holding him on your shoulders like you have before. He is still breathing, but you can tell he is exhausted.

The birch forest was quiet and calm...all of the trees were reaching up to the sky, each one was hoping to touch Jupiter where it hung bright as a star. The sun had just begun to rise and stretched with rose-orange fingers across the sky. The sky itself was cloudless, the stars were still visible all around with the white-faced moon watching the world beneath her. She sent a cool breeze through the forest and it cooled the glistening sweat from the coat of a young stag that'd been hiding for the night.

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