"Have you even told them what you are or where you
came from?
What exactly is expected of you?
The Red Fox Ran
by December Knight
Genre
Speculative
Christian Fiction
"Have you even told them what you are or where you
came from? What exactly is expected of you?"
An endearing
tale of love, family, and companionship – Kirkus Reviews
Completely absorbing from beginning to end, this is a superb book, ideal, but not only, for a young adult audience. It is a firm five-star read. – Book Viral Reviews
The Red Fox Ran is a sublime work of fiction with strong themes, a captivating plot, and strong characters that are relatable to the point that I felt I was fighting their battles alongside them. – Reader’s Favorite
**Get it 50% off direct from the Author’s Site! **
Chapter One
“What is it like to have a friend?”
Asked the Fox.
I can see it clearly now… That day I made my first mistake. It was after we had moved away when I was just a pup. I looked through the trees and I saw a building filled with others just a bit older than me. It was enchanting how they went back and forth from this building and at some
point, when a bell rang, they all went inside and shut the rest of the world out behind them.
I asked my mother later that day about it and she said, “That is where the humans go to learn. It’s not for our kind.”
When I asked her why we couldn’t go there or be a part of it because we didn’t look all that different from others, she simply answered, “We like to be alone, we are solitary. Besides, it is not safe and not allowed. One day you will learn to understand.”
The next day, I went back to look at that building watching them laugh, talk, and argue. I decided that day I would never learn that lesson.
*****
He looked up into the mirror just above him watching the water drift down his skin, his opaque, aqua-blue eyes looking back at him from the reflective surface. There was something odd about seeing himself like this, he couldn’t quite get his mind wrapped around it. Taking a deep breath, he ran water over his hands brushing it through his rich orange hair. The white streak toward the right seemed to stand out more from what was around it, the water darkening the resonant strands.
He had planned many things for that morning, but he slept in and was almost late for class. It was impossible for him to say if he had brought everything with him that he needed. He had checked several times the night before and had thought to look through his bag in the morning, but there was so little time. What would he do anyway if something was missing? It was an absurd thought stirred by his own discomfort. He glanced at the digital wristwatch, it was a few minutes to seven. A nervous fizz ran up from his navel, it was almost time.
The warning bell rang. He looked up listening then straightened out stretching. He couldn’t help an involuntary yawn as he did so, being careful to snap his mouth closed before it was halfway open. Eyes darting around the bathroom, he squelched the fear that someone
might have seen that. It was evident that he was alone after a few seconds of panic searching. It was a minor blessing that no one seemed eager to be late that morning. An unappealing stress crawled the length of his arms, it was time to jump back into the fray, the eager side of him combatted by the anxiety.
Grabbing his backpack from the floor he left the bathroom heading for his locker. Something peculiar about this day, his first day, made everything seem so different. He could feel everyone around him. Everything. People talking, the pounding of footsteps, the humming of phones, it all seemed so loud and overbearing. There was the smell of school lunches being tucked away, perfumes, and failing deodorant that overstimulated his nose.
Trying to ignore it all, he swerved through the crowd managing not to touch anyone. There was something about the way the congealed mass of bodies was moving that gave him a strong sense of being trapped, the fingers of claustrophobia braced around his throat. He was happy when he managed to pull away finding his locker. The short rectangular gray door had the comforting sensation of home base. Pulling out a piece of note paper from his backpack and reading the combination, he turned the lock face to the right numbers with swift short movements, his hands trembling. The crowd convulsed, pushing him against the door for a short moment. Then like a released breath, he was given the room he needed to pop it open exposing the cold metal interior.
Setting his backpack on his feet he unzipped the top removing the books he needed. On impulse He stuffed the bag into the empty metal locker almost forcing it to fit, embarrassment turning his stomach.
“You’re new, aren’t you?”
He looked to his right finding a short girl standing near him. Her dark brown hair was pulled into a braided ponytail, eyes of a similar color glittering up at his aqua-blue with interest. An Unnatural tint to her pale white skin told him she was wearing makeup, though very little of it.
“Y-Yes…” He managed to close his locker the rest of the way, trying not to sound as hesitant as he felt.
“I thought so,” She started opening the locker next to his, “I mean it’s pretty obvious just by looking at you.”
“Really?”
“Yep, but no worries. Have you ever been to a big high school before?”
“No…” He thought for a moment, he had planned an answer to this sort of question, “I was homeschooled.”
“Really? Must have been nice.” She smiled, “I asked my mom once to homeschool me. She said no. Oh, I’m sorry, I am so rude. What’s your name?”
“Bay,” It was strange how bad his own name tasted as it slipped out of his mouth. Unimpressive and short, he wished he had made up something instead of using his real one. “Bay Haven,” The addition of his surname didn’t improve his own impression.
Her smile widened as she pulled out a binder covered in floral journaling stickers, “Bay? Bay haven? I like it,” She turned toward him, “My name’s Abby, I am a sophomore, and you?” She offered her hand.
Bay looked at it and then took it, noticing how his fingernails appeared so brown next to her Pinkish ones, sending another crackle of anxiety up from his gut. His concern, however, appeared unnecessary, she didn’t seem to notice, not even sparing a glance for the accosting limb.
“I am too,” He shook his head a little, catching himself, “A sophomore, I am a sophomore also.”
She let go of his hand, “Well, look at that, what a coincidence. What’s your class schedule like?”
“I don’t know, I really haven’t looked at it yet.”
“So, do you at least know where your classes are?”
By the way she asked he felt sort of stupid, “No, I don’t.”
“If you have a copy of it, I can take a look and help you find your way around. It can get kind of confusing and the bell’s about to ring, so…”
Bay pulled a sheet of paper out of a pant pocket handing it to her without a second thought. The idea of having someone who wanted to help him was a welcome surprise. She looked it over, her thin eyebrows raising with the corner of her mouth as she read down the list.
“You’re in luck.”
“What do you mean?” Bay looked at the typeface trying to figure out what she had seen.
“We share almost all the same classes,” She handed him back the list, “So you can just follow me around today if you want?”
“I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
She shook her head giving him a cynical look, “Oh yeah, you following me where I am already going is really putting me out. Come on, Bay, you can’t inconvenience me if we’re going in the same direction. Besides, it’s not every day a girl gets a chance to make friends with a confused-looking redhead with a white streak in his hair, unreal blue eyes, and who is only just above her own height.”
“That’s an odd way of putting it.” He smiled, mindful enough to keep his lips together.
“Well, it just so happens I am an odd sort of person, how about you? I can’t help you out if you’re not odd also. I mean that would be against my personal code.”
His eyes thinned into a sort of smile that he wouldn’t dare do with his mouth, “I am probably the oddest person you’ll ever meet.”
“Good, I was hoping you’d say that. Honestly, I would have been disappointed if you had said anything else.”
The bell rang for the second time. The dinging reverberating from the walls catching between them, matching with its harsh tones the more pleasant cords of their instant connection. People began to file in around them pressing their stagnant bodies closer. Somehow the earlier discomfort of being pushed around had evaporated, he couldn’t help but wonder if it was due to her company.
“Well, follow me if you don’t want to be late, or if you want to be less late. That was the last bell, so it’s kind of scramble time.”
Bay walked after her not quite fully understanding her yet, not at all deterred by his own subtle pleasant confusion, “Why are you doing this, by the way?”
Abby shrugged, “I don’t know, because I can. Maybe because I want to. I like you and I am running out of annoyance points on my current friends, so you are actually doing me a favor.”
“I’m your friend?” Bay watched for her next reaction,
“But we hardly know each other.”
“Well, I think I am going to like you. I have a hunch about it, and my hunch is very rarely wrong. Besides, we have the whole day to work things out and there is always tomorrow if we don’t, and from there another tomorrow. Before you know it, we will have become friends, and that
will have happened on a yesterday not too far from now when we weren’t even aware of it.”
Bay’s smile flexed, “I don’t understand you.”
“And now I am certain we are going to be best friends.”
“And now I understand you even less.”
Her laugh was so contagious he couldn’t help joining her. She caught it, that thing he couldn’t hide, the notes of what he sounded like when he was genuinely happy. It was a victory for her, one that leached itself into her own. They turned into a class taking desks next to each other, calming down just enough not to get scolded.
“Oh,” She leaned toward him, “Felix and Sasha are going to love you too.”
“Who are Felix and Sasha?”
“Two of the greatest people in the world,” She sat straight pretending attentiveness as the teacher tapped his papers on his desk, a signal for all of them to quiet down, “Leave it to me, you’ll love them, and as I said they’ll love you too.”
“Really?”
Abby’s million-dollar smile seeped down to a gentle roar, “Really.”
“Okay kids, settle down,” The teacher interjected quieting everyone, “Settle down, it’s time to focus. I believe you are all capable of sitting quietly for thirty minutes, now prove me right.”
Bay took another look at her now that she was distracted. He didn’t know what it was about this strange girl who had snuck up on him. It could have been the way she had spoken to him, maybe it was her demeanor. He wasn’t quite sure. But, somehow, he felt he could trust
her… that he could believe her.
She glanced at him and smiled again. It was his turn to return the favor before concentrating on what the teacher was saying at the front of the class. A friend? What an extraordinary thought.
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