Avery Story

     Avery's heart jumped out of his chest and he leaped several feet back. 

"Oh no, did it hear me?!"

It was as if everything happened in slow motion. The child calmly lifted its arm to the top of its head and pulled back the hood. Its body language immediately let Avery know; it didn't know he was there. He let out a hushed sigh of relief. 

Underneath that hood revealed a small head covered in short brown hair. Now that it had its ears uncovered, it was sure to hear Avery from behind if he moved.

Avery froze again as it began to turn its head to the right. Now he desperately wanted to hide back in the bushes. But his body couldn't move. In this moment, Avery was realizing the seriousness of this situation. If this child spotted him, there was no telling what would happen to him. 

After it turned, it sat there for not even a second, then suddenly made eye contact with Avery through its peripherals. 

"Crap!" The two jumped at the sight of each other. The child shouted and started off running to the left of Avery, dropping the metal stick in its hand. It screamed loudly and waved its hands in the air.

"Gosh, this was a terrible idea!" Avery thought.

Avery dived into the bushes like he was never there and watched as the child tripped and fell over its own feet, falling face-first into the grass with a grunt. He expected it to stumble back up and keep running, but it just laid there. The only thing Avery could hear in that moment of silence was the loud pounding of his own heart.

Soon after, the child got up onto its knees and looked around. There were scratch marks and bandages on its face. 

"W-Who's there?!" The defenseless child yelled, struggling to come to a stand. "Show yourself!" 

Despite the intense fear he was feeling, Avery noticed the bravery of this child. It had seemingly dropped the only weapon it had and was now shouting at its perpetrator. This was the first time he'd ever seen a human face so close up. And the child had so much expression- its eyes were like his own. Something about it told him that this human had been alone just like him, fending for itself. 

"It's apparent; there's no one out here to look after this child!"

He watched through the bushes as the child looked about in every other direction. 

"Come out! I'm not scared of you!" Its voice was nearly drowned out by the splashing of the stream behind it.

"Not scared of me, huh?" 

He observed the child for a bit longer and came to his decision.

"I have to do something."

Sweating profusely, he timidly crawled out of the bush he hid in, revealing himself in front of the child.

"AAH!" The small human jumped onto its back and scrambled on the grass.

"I-Its okay, I'm not going to harm you!" He folded his ears back and tried to appear least menacing as possible, despite his terribly intimidating stature.

The child looked into his eyes, backing away on its elbows. "Wh-Who are you?"  

Not expecting to hear a question from the human, Avery was stumped for a moment. Then he answered back, "I... I'm Avery." 

The child seemed to calm down a little, but was still on guard. "W-What do you want from me?" 

Avery wasn't sure how to answer that question. He didn't want anything from the child, he wanted to know why it was out here all alone, and maybe find out more about it. 

"I-I don't want anything from you, I just-"

"Woah... what are you?" 

Avery looked up in surprise. He noticed the child observing his body up and down. He shifted around nervously as if an answer would come out of the ground.

"Uh! What am I? I don't know!" He stuttered in thought. 

"What am I supposed to tell it?"

Before he could answer back, the kid reached out to touch him. Its hand made contact with the tip of his ear as he froze on the spot, oblivious to what was happening and why.

"I-I-IT'S T-TOUCHING ME!"