Ei awoke lying in lush grass with small flowers speckled about. He heard the chirping of birds and smelled the freshness of nature. He nearly fell asleep again before he heard the sound of something dragging and Alis struggling. Then he saw a log heading straight for him, and he screamed out, but the top of the log hit the tree behind him and was stuck diagonally. Alis appeared from behind the log and said, “Oh, you’re awake.”

“Alis… If that was your attempt at killing me, even an ant could do a better job than you.”

Alis panicked. “What?! No. I wasn’t trying to kill you. I’m making a shelter, and I had to make sure we could fit under it, so I laid you there.” Alis hit the log twice and said, “This will be our roof.”

Ei’s eyes narrowed, and he stated, “This roof is pretty small.”

“Ah, no! I’m going to get more logs. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worrying,” Ei said with a dead expression.

Ei crawled out from under the log and stood up. His sore legs ached, and so, he sat under a tree a little away from Alis. He watched Alis drag fallen logs and lean them against the large tree, and he noticed him getting slower. Then, Ei looked up at a squirrel on a branch above him. His stomach ached from hunger, but he didn’t move. He was too weak to climb a tree, throw a rock, or even help Alis with the shelter. Ei locked eyes with the squirrel and felt something within him surge out. His body went limp and his eyes shut tightly, and everything turned quiet until he found his consciousness transported into the squirrel. He stared at his body below and judged his posture before he jumped off the branch and fell to the ground rapidly. Just before he hit the ground, his consciousness came back into his body, and he opened his eyes to find the squirrel dead at his feet.

Alis finished lining up five logs on the massive tree, and he flopped to the ground in agony. His arms and legs begged him to lie down forever and become one with the soil so they wouldn’t have to ache any longer. Then, a whisper sounded in his ear, drowning his senses, and although its song was chilling, it sounded mesmerizing. Alis nearly drifted off into a deep sleep, embraced by this haunting melody that brought him back to a time when he didn’t know pain. Before his eyelids could slip closed, he saw, as he turned his head, a transparent orb with faint grey-button eyes staring at him. Alis flinched, and the song disappeared into the wind along with the creature, leaving the forest encased in nothing but silence. Birds did not chirp, animals did not rustle in the brush, and Alis stared at the canopy of leaves above, guarding him from the sun. He felt cold. Then, suddenly, the sounds of footsteps approaching startled him from his trance, and Ei leaned down over him, carrying three dead squirrels by their tails.