"To George, another friend I have."
-M.N
Dawn
Part One
Chapter 1: Dawn
I'm Dawn's dad, and we had Dawn for two years now and she's growing up, playing with her friends, living life to the fullest as a fox.She was named Dawn from her great-great grandmother, Dawn and it's means "first light" and that's what Dawn's like: a ball of energy that our family first sees. Our first light.
Chapter 2: Noise
Suddenly, I heard a loud "Thomp" and I told Dawn to come back to the hole, which is our home.
Dawn came back quickly and we hid in the hole, all of us as still as boards and when we thought it was safe, we got out of the hole and we saw that many animals were out of their homes to see if it was safe and I saw that some of the animals were trying to see what made the noise.
I saw the fox minister of the forest talking to some of the other animal ministers about the what they think might be the noise.
"Hi" I said.
"Hello, Foxglove" replied the fox minister.
"Hello" said the squirrel minister.
"Do you know what might have made the boom?" asked the fox minister.
"No, but my family will let you know if hear anything about it or even find what made that sound" I replied back to the fox minister.
"Thank you for the help, Foxglove. You're most kind."
"Same to you too, sir" I answered back.
"Bye" said the fox minister.
"Bye" I replied.
Dawn came back quickly and we hid in the hole, all of us as still as boards and when we thought it was safe, we got out of the hole and we saw that many animals were out of their homes to see if it was safe and I saw that some of the animals were trying to see what made the noise.
I saw the fox minister of the forest talking to some of the other animal ministers about the what they think might be the noise.
"Hi" I said.
"Hello, Foxglove" replied the fox minister.
"Hello" said the squirrel minister.
"Do you know what might have made the boom?" asked the fox minister.
"No, but my family will let you know if hear anything about it or even find what made that sound" I replied back to the fox minister.
"Thank you for the help, Foxglove. You're most kind."
"Same to you too, sir" I answered back.
"Bye" said the fox minister.
"Bye" I replied.
Chapter 3: Humans
The next morning
The fox minister and other animal ministers found out what made the noise thanks to a family of chipmunks who told the ministers that the tree they were living in fell down.
"What might of made the tree fall down?" asked the fox minister.
"I don't know" replied the mother chipmunk. "It happened so fast, I didn't see and the rest of my family didn't see either."
"Why didn't your family come right away to me or any of the other animal ministers?" the fox minister.
"Some of my family was hurt and it took a long time to get to the animal ministers or you" answered the mother chipmunk.
"I see" answered the fox minister. "Thank you for helping us."
"Most welcome" replied the mother chipmunk.
"We still don't know who made the tree fall over" said the fox minister.
"Yes" answered the squirrel minister. "
Suddenly the chipmunk minister raced to the chipmunk family and then the mother chipmunk saw the fox minister.
"Yes?" asked the mother chipmunk.
"I wanted to ask you where the tree fell over" asked the fox minister.
"Follow me" replied the mother chipmunk.
They followed the chipmunk family to where the tree fell and made the noise.
"Thank you again" thanked the fox minister to the mother chipmunk.
"Welcome"
The fox minister turned to the other ministers and asked what might have made the tree fall down.
"Maybe a bear because they eat roots and tree have roots" predicted the squirrel minister.
"A beaver because they use their teeth to go though bark" guessed the chipmunk minister.
"Good, good" commented the fox minister.
"Humans with chainsaws said the mother chipmunk. I remember now. Humans with chainsaws ripping the bark and then the "thomp" sound."
"Thank you once again, mother chipmunk" thanked the fox minister.
"Hello, Foxglove" replied the fox minister.
"I see that you and the animal ministers of the forest are going to the city to talk to the humans about the tree" I stated.
"Yes" answered the fox minister. " I just thought of something. Would you like to come with us and even talk to the humans? No one's ever talked to a human before."
"How long will the trip be?" I asked.
"Three, four weeks" said the fox minister.
"OK, I agree to go to the trip to talk to the humans" I agreed. "When do we go?"
"In three days" replied the fox minister.
"All right" I replied. "I'll see you in three days."
"See you, too" answered the fox minister.
"Bye"
"Bye"
Then I raced across the forest and went in the hole to tell Rachel, my wife, alone.
Chapter 4: Going to the Humans
"Hello, fox minister" I greeted the minister."Hello, Foxglove" replied the fox minister.
"I see that you and the animal ministers of the forest are going to the city to talk to the humans about the tree" I stated.
"Yes" answered the fox minister. " I just thought of something. Would you like to come with us and even talk to the humans? No one's ever talked to a human before."
"How long will the trip be?" I asked.
"Three, four weeks" said the fox minister.
"OK, I agree to go to the trip to talk to the humans" I agreed. "When do we go?"
"In three days" replied the fox minister.
"All right" I replied. "I'll see you in three days."
"See you, too" answered the fox minister.
"Bye"
"Bye"
Then I raced across the forest and went in the hole to tell Rachel, my wife, alone.
Chapter 5: Surprised
As I told Rachel about the trip to talk to the humans about the tree problem, she had a look of surprise on her face and I wondered why Rachel was surprise, but then the answer sparked inside my head: Dawn.
When Dawn was little, if I would go out of the house without her and she was alone with Rachel, like when I went hunting, she would cry.
But Dawn's not a little fox any more, she's knows better than not to sweat over little things, but I wouldn't be surprised to see her a little bit disappointed, because it's a month, but not begging at my feet not to go talk to the humans.
"I know, Rachel. Bye" I said.
I sat at the dinner table (which is just two stump tops and some pieces of woods so we don't have to bend our heads so much) and ate our dinner.
I noticed that Dawn wasn't talking like as usual and after dinner, I asked her what was the problem.
Dawn said that she was disappointed that I was going away from the forest to talk to the humans and Dawn said that Rachel had told her the whole story.
Then she cried softly on my shoulder and I gently patted her and Dawn took a few deep breaths and then she stopped crying and went away.
I stormed to Rachel.
"Why did you tell Dawn that I'm going away? I demanded. She just cried on my shoulder."
"Dawn needs to know. It's a big thing" answered Rachel.
"But why did she cry?" I asked.
"Because you've never been out of the forest before and it's a long time to be away" Rachel replied.
"I guess so, but Dawn's a big girl now and-" I said but got cut off by Rachel.
"I know, but it's the first time Dawn's got this kind of thing" said Rachel.
"But Dawn's got three more days with me" I answered.
"Good thing about that" Rachel replied.
"Yes" I said.
"Bye" I spoke again.
"Bye" replied Rachel.
We said our goodbyes and then I left with the animal ministers like I said before.
I left because I hate being and living in one place for ever and I wanted to see the world, look at places I dreamed of and maybe even find a home that my family can live in.
It's gets boring when you stay in one place for a long time and that's why I want to go with the animal ministers.
Right now, it's 4:00 PM, and we've stopped for a break and I'm hunting and I just got some caterpillars and then I caught some more prey and that's when stopped hunting and waited for the fox minister to soon stop the break and travel some more and that's what he did.
Then at 5:00 PM, it was the last stop of the day and that's when all of us are going to sleep because tomorrow, we're going to travel early in the morning.
I wonder how Dawn and Rachel are doing right now because tomorrow morning, I'm not going to see my first light and my wife.
Chapter 6: Leaving the Forest and Family Today
Three days later
I left the forest today with the animal ministers and the fox minister.
We said our goodbyes and then I left with the animal ministers like I said before.
I left because I hate being and living in one place for ever and I wanted to see the world, look at places I dreamed of and maybe even find a home that my family can live in.
It's gets boring when you stay in one place for a long time and that's why I want to go with the animal ministers.
Right now, it's 4:00 PM, and we've stopped for a break and I'm hunting and I just got some caterpillars and then I caught some more prey and that's when stopped hunting and waited for the fox minister to soon stop the break and travel some more and that's what he did.
Then at 5:00 PM, it was the last stop of the day and that's when all of us are going to sleep because tomorrow, we're going to travel early in the morning.
I wonder how Dawn and Rachel are doing right now because tomorrow morning, I'm not going to see my first light and my wife.
Part Two
Chapter 7: Going For Dad
One week later
It's been one week since Dad has left for his trip to talk to the humans with the animal ministers and Dad hasn't returned yet, and I don't know when Dad's going to return and I'm worried about him.
I've never experienced a week or even a day without Dad, and I'm missing him very much and Mom is too.
In the first few days when Dad was gone, I was thinking why Dad went on the trip to meet the humans.
Maybe he went because he wanted to get away from us for a little bit because he got a bit tired of us, like a one man vacation.
Or maybe he wanted to leave us for ever but I don't think so.
Maybe Dad wanted to see the world outside the forest because I heard him talking to Mom a few times about how he wanted to see the world outside the forest.
Then I finally decided what to do: I wanted to go to Dad to tell him to come back home because I was worried and I care for him: I'm going to find Dad.
Before I left, I wrote a note and left it in the living room and it said:
And then I left to find Dad.
I'm half-way out of the forest after running for three hours and I started at 4:00 PM but one hour because of dinner.
It was OK progress today but Dad's got a week head start, so it's going to be hard to catch up to him and the animal ministers.
The next morning, I woke up and started running.
When it was around lunchtime, I was almost out of the forest and since it was lunchtime, I caught some prey from the forest and I ate.
Then I left the forest and saw a forest and I saw another forest near the forest that I left and I ran it it and kept running.
Later, I caught some food from this forest and I ate.
After I ate, I ran some more and then I stopped a little bit later and I slept and dreamed for the night.
I asked the fox minister when we'll reach the humans and he said this week for sure.
The trip's been really boring because we're travel and stop, travel and stop, but it's a bit interesting because I get to see new things outside the forest I lived in my whole life.
Right now I'm finishing eating my prey, but suddenly we were starting to travel and I finished eating quickly and then I went along with the others.
Later we stopped for the last time and then I went to sleep.
I was chasing a rabbit and I knew I would catch it.
It looks like I'm hunting, but I'm not, really. I'm doing something else.
I work for a group of foxes that send Folxel (that's me) and Foxoth on assignments and they give us a home.
The rabbit I was chasing was for the group of foxes and of course, I had Foxoth chasing with me by my side.
Suddenly I skidded on the ground, making myself in front of the rabbit and with Foxoth behind me, we trapped the rabbit.
We went to the foxes base, which wasn't far from here and we showed them the rabbit.
"Very good said the leader of the group. Very good. I have a new assignment for you too."
"What's the person we're going after?" I asked.
"Dawn" answered the leader. She's going to her father for some reason and her father is with all the animal ministers of the forest."
"This is big because we can catch all of them at once but I want you two to kill Dawn because she's to her father and her father's with the animal ministers and if Dawn reaches to her father in time, not only do we lose Dawn, but we lose all the ministers because they know about us and I was hoping they'd forget about us by now because we haven't attacked or done anything to their forest for a long time. Don't worry about when you get to the ministers part. We've got that part covered.
"Go, Folxel and Foxoth."
"Where is Dawn?" I asked.
"Near you." "Go north and you'll find her."
Then we left the leader and ran to find Dawn.
I sometimes see paw marks when I ran and I makes me feel closer to Dad each time I see the marks.
The last time I saw paw marks was three days ago, but even without looking at the paw marks, I feel closer to him.
That feeling when you see the marks feels good, it feels warm inside you and it makes
you want to run farther and farther. I love that feeling.
When I run or if I have moments when I miss Dad, I always think of happy thoughts of me and Dad going hunting or when we played together in the summer days when the sun was setting.
I remember the first day I went hunting.
I was with Dad and I was ambushing a rabbit and suddenly I lunged, but I missed the rabbit but I didn't give up.
I chased the rabbit around the forest and I suddenly cornered it behind a tree and killed the rabbit.
I ran from where I was and showed Dad.
He smiled at me and then we went back to the hole and I showed Mom and she was happy too.
I miss these days.
I was thinking about all the good thoughts I knew about Dad but suddenly I woke up from my thoughts and ran.
Or maybe he wanted to leave us for ever but I don't think so.
Maybe Dad wanted to see the world outside the forest because I heard him talking to Mom a few times about how he wanted to see the world outside the forest.
Then I finally decided what to do: I wanted to go to Dad to tell him to come back home because I was worried and I care for him: I'm going to find Dad.
Before I left, I wrote a note and left it in the living room and it said:
I'm leaving to find Dad. Don't follow me.
-Dawn
And then I left to find Dad.
Chapter 8: The Journey to Dad
It was 8:00 PM and it was starting to get dark.I'm half-way out of the forest after running for three hours and I started at 4:00 PM but one hour because of dinner.
It was OK progress today but Dad's got a week head start, so it's going to be hard to catch up to him and the animal ministers.
The next morning, I woke up and started running.
When it was around lunchtime, I was almost out of the forest and since it was lunchtime, I caught some prey from the forest and I ate.
Then I left the forest and saw a forest and I saw another forest near the forest that I left and I ran it it and kept running.
Later, I caught some food from this forest and I ate.
After I ate, I ran some more and then I stopped a little bit later and I slept and dreamed for the night.
Chapter 9: Closer
The trip was said to be about four weeks long and we've been traveling for about one week and two days.I asked the fox minister when we'll reach the humans and he said this week for sure.
The trip's been really boring because we're travel and stop, travel and stop, but it's a bit interesting because I get to see new things outside the forest I lived in my whole life.
Right now I'm finishing eating my prey, but suddenly we were starting to travel and I finished eating quickly and then I went along with the others.
Later we stopped for the last time and then I went to sleep.
Part Three
Chapter 10: New Assignment
I was chasing a rabbit and I knew I would catch it.
It looks like I'm hunting, but I'm not, really. I'm doing something else.
I work for a group of foxes that send Folxel (that's me) and Foxoth on assignments and they give us a home.
The rabbit I was chasing was for the group of foxes and of course, I had Foxoth chasing with me by my side.
Suddenly I skidded on the ground, making myself in front of the rabbit and with Foxoth behind me, we trapped the rabbit.
We went to the foxes base, which wasn't far from here and we showed them the rabbit.
"Very good said the leader of the group. Very good. I have a new assignment for you too."
"What's the person we're going after?" I asked.
"Dawn" answered the leader. She's going to her father for some reason and her father is with all the animal ministers of the forest."
"This is big because we can catch all of them at once but I want you two to kill Dawn because she's to her father and her father's with the animal ministers and if Dawn reaches to her father in time, not only do we lose Dawn, but we lose all the ministers because they know about us and I was hoping they'd forget about us by now because we haven't attacked or done anything to their forest for a long time. Don't worry about when you get to the ministers part. We've got that part covered.
"Go, Folxel and Foxoth."
"Where is Dawn?" I asked.
"Near you." "Go north and you'll find her."
Then we left the leader and ran to find Dawn.
Chapter 11: Feeling Dad
Each day, I feel closer and closer to Dad when I travel.I sometimes see paw marks when I ran and I makes me feel closer to Dad each time I see the marks.
The last time I saw paw marks was three days ago, but even without looking at the paw marks, I feel closer to him.
That feeling when you see the marks feels good, it feels warm inside you and it makes
you want to run farther and farther. I love that feeling.
When I run or if I have moments when I miss Dad, I always think of happy thoughts of me and Dad going hunting or when we played together in the summer days when the sun was setting.
I remember the first day I went hunting.
I was with Dad and I was ambushing a rabbit and suddenly I lunged, but I missed the rabbit but I didn't give up.
I chased the rabbit around the forest and I suddenly cornered it behind a tree and killed the rabbit.
I ran from where I was and showed Dad.
He smiled at me and then we went back to the hole and I showed Mom and she was happy too.
I miss these days.
I was thinking about all the good thoughts I knew about Dad but suddenly I woke up from my thoughts and ran.
Chapter 12: A New Challenge
After a day of searching for Dawn, I was surprised that we didn't find her because she's still small and should be easy to find, but a day isn't very long.
I was still disappointed about this when we ate dinner and later when I was sleeping, I forgot all about it, but still, Dawn was going to a new challenge. I like challages.
The next morning me and Foxoth woke up and starting running and later we went hunting and ate.
Then we ran for a little while and relaxed and we went hunting ate our dinner and then we went to sleep early so we can wake up early tomorrow to find my challenge.
Sunlight is a gentle and sweet girl and is like Dawn, and that's why I named her Sunlight, because sunlight is like dawn.
Hunter is a rough boy fox, but loves to bond with me when we go hunting and is like Dawn because Dawn used to bond with me.
And Moons is gentle like Sunlight, but very shy around others and Moons eyes look like moons, very big.
He also reminds me of moonlight, too.
Our three are growing up to be big strong foxes and I've learned never to do the same thing I did when I had Dawn. Never, or same thing will happen again.
The next morning me and Foxoth woke up and starting running and later we went hunting and ate.
Then we ran for a little while and relaxed and we went hunting ate our dinner and then we went to sleep early so we can wake up early tomorrow to find my challenge.
Chapter 13: The Calling
Two days later
Suddenly I heard a voice from the trees. It sounded like "Dad, Dad!"
Everybody heard it come from the woods and I asked the fox minister if I could see where the noise was coming from in the trees and he said yes.
I ran to the woods and started looking for where in the forest the noise had came from, but it must of been deep in the trees because I searched in the not so deep part of the woods and no luck.
I told the others to come to search with me because it was in the deeper part of the woods and being in a group is good and suddenly I heard a noise like a roar and then a yelp.
We dashed to where the noise was and it was easy to find because it wasn't far from here.
Suddenly before my eyes was Dawn, full of blood gushing from her body, her eyes still blinking, so she was still alive, but barely. And beside her were two foxes, their claws full of blood.
Suddenly I heard a whole stampade of feet and when I looked up to see where the noise had came from, a saw a whole army of foxes.
Then a broad looking fox came in front of all of the foxes and spoke to all of the ministers and me.
"All of you are prisoners right now and thanks to the fox minister, we have all of the animal minsters of your forest instead of all of you individually" said the broad fox.
"Fox minister," I said weakly. "How could you?"
"I'm sorry, Foxglove."
"We're are not prisoners" I said proudly with confidence.
"Yes you all are" said the broad fox.
"We'll fight for freedom, then" I answered back.
"Done."
The foxes obviously had training because they were beating us by the minute and we never had any of that.
The battle went on and the foxes were very close to winning and I was calling out sparks of encouragement to the ministers and to myself, and they were both helping a little bit, but not much.
Suddenly I called most of the ministers to come to me and the others that I didn't call were fighting to buy us time so I could explain my plan.
I started talking about the plan and soon I was finished speaking and then we went back to fighting.
A small group of minsters went to left side of the battle and another to the right.
I was with the group on the right side and suddenly my plan was coming to life as we were fighting the foxes.
Then the left side of the foxes broke and soon the right smashed, too, and then the minsters that were the defense finished the battle off by breaking the foxes at the center of the battle.
We had the broad fox trapped and also the fox that tricked us into going to the humans, the fake fox minister because the real one was trapped somewhere in our forest and the two other foxes that killed Dawn who said that names were Folxel and Foxoth.
I saw Rachel in the forest, which was odd because I don't remember calling Rachel to come to me.
Rachel said she came because of Dawn's note and she said that Dawn said she was going to find Dad and not to follow her, but she followed Dawn and didn't reach Dawn before she died.
After we were all were ready to go back to our home back in the forest where we started, we walked and I noticed that Rachel was carrying Dawn with her mouth and I told her that Dawn would decay and flys with surround her and eat her up.
Then Rachel put Dawn down and dug a hole and put her inside the ground and then dropped the dirt in the hole to cover the hole up and then we walked together and we talked, already forgetting about Dawn as time pasted.
Everybody heard it come from the woods and I asked the fox minister if I could see where the noise was coming from in the trees and he said yes.
I ran to the woods and started looking for where in the forest the noise had came from, but it must of been deep in the trees because I searched in the not so deep part of the woods and no luck.
I told the others to come to search with me because it was in the deeper part of the woods and being in a group is good and suddenly I heard a noise like a roar and then a yelp.
We dashed to where the noise was and it was easy to find because it wasn't far from here.
Suddenly before my eyes was Dawn, full of blood gushing from her body, her eyes still blinking, so she was still alive, but barely. And beside her were two foxes, their claws full of blood.
Chapter 14: A Third Fox and A Whole Army of Foxes
"Dawn," I sobbed. "No."Suddenly I heard a whole stampade of feet and when I looked up to see where the noise had came from, a saw a whole army of foxes.
Then a broad looking fox came in front of all of the foxes and spoke to all of the ministers and me.
"All of you are prisoners right now and thanks to the fox minister, we have all of the animal minsters of your forest instead of all of you individually" said the broad fox.
"Fox minister," I said weakly. "How could you?"
"I'm sorry, Foxglove."
"We're are not prisoners" I said proudly with confidence.
"Yes you all are" said the broad fox.
"We'll fight for freedom, then" I answered back.
"Done."
Chapter 15: Heroes of the Battle
Suddenly the battle started and we fought against each other.The foxes obviously had training because they were beating us by the minute and we never had any of that.
The battle went on and the foxes were very close to winning and I was calling out sparks of encouragement to the ministers and to myself, and they were both helping a little bit, but not much.
Suddenly I called most of the ministers to come to me and the others that I didn't call were fighting to buy us time so I could explain my plan.
I started talking about the plan and soon I was finished speaking and then we went back to fighting.
A small group of minsters went to left side of the battle and another to the right.
I was with the group on the right side and suddenly my plan was coming to life as we were fighting the foxes.
Then the left side of the foxes broke and soon the right smashed, too, and then the minsters that were the defense finished the battle off by breaking the foxes at the center of the battle.
We had the broad fox trapped and also the fox that tricked us into going to the humans, the fake fox minister because the real one was trapped somewhere in our forest and the two other foxes that killed Dawn who said that names were Folxel and Foxoth.
I saw Rachel in the forest, which was odd because I don't remember calling Rachel to come to me.
Rachel said she came because of Dawn's note and she said that Dawn said she was going to find Dad and not to follow her, but she followed Dawn and didn't reach Dawn before she died.
After we were all were ready to go back to our home back in the forest where we started, we walked and I noticed that Rachel was carrying Dawn with her mouth and I told her that Dawn would decay and flys with surround her and eat her up.
Then Rachel put Dawn down and dug a hole and put her inside the ground and then dropped the dirt in the hole to cover the hole up and then we walked together and we talked, already forgetting about Dawn as time pasted.
Epliogue
Two months after the journey, Rachel had a litter of three and we named them Sunlight, Hunter, and Moons.
Hunter is a rough boy fox, but loves to bond with me when we go hunting and is like Dawn because Dawn used to bond with me.
And Moons is gentle like Sunlight, but very shy around others and Moons eyes look like moons, very big.
He also reminds me of moonlight, too.
Our three are growing up to be big strong foxes and I've learned never to do the same thing I did when I had Dawn. Never, or same thing will happen again.
