Slowly Killing Us

One day a snake found his way out of his hole he decided to look around. Slithering along the forest floor, hiding behind the ferns, scared of what he may find he heard a sad howl in the distance. Now the snake never heard such a sound as the one that was closing in on him at that moment. The snake, usually frightened of anything new, felt the urge to slink away quietly before whoever belonged to that howl found him, but as he turned to go he heard that howl weaken and found himself wanting to know more. That not so brave snake, went back toward that howling sound to see what he would find. Upon approaching he found a lone wolf sitting in a patch of moonlight surrounded by trees, looking into the sky like he was waiting for something. The snake, wanting a closer view, chose the nearest tree and started to make his way up until he was above the wolf, and close enough to the moon light he was bound to be seen.
The snake spoke in slurs toward the wolf trying to gain his attention. “Excuse me, but are you alright?” Once the wolf saw him, the wolf was scared and slowly started backing away with his ears pointing toward the ground. “But wait the snake said, you shouldn’t be scared of me, I am so small.” This made the wolf slow, staying on his guard the wolf answered back “I am nothing but a lonely wolf, with your size you could attack me without my knowing and paralyze me slowly.” “As you,” the snake said to the wolf “could kill me in one bit.” So, they sat staring at each other, in the forest covered in moonlight for a long time, never speaking, never taking their eyes off each other, just waiting for the other to make their move. As the moon was replaced by the sun, the snake and the wold heard another rustling in the distance. With that sound the wolf perked up his ears to listen, as the snake moved further up the tree to get a better look at the sound that was approaching. “Tissss a human.” said the snake to the wolf, the wolf smelled the air, “not just one human.” The wolf dropped the the ground and started toward the closest hiding spot “Hide.” said the wolf, “I shhhall watch them from here, hide yourself well.”
Together the snake and the wolf made sure to work together to keep themselves safe from the humans heading toward them, with an unknown trouble.
The snake and the wolf held their breath as the first human stepped into the clearing. Unable to hold in his fear the wolf let out a whimper, that second of fear gave away the wolf’s hiding stop, as the human turned carefully to find where the whimper came from. The snake, scared for the wolf, started back down the tree slithering toward the human, which each step the human became closer to finding the wolf, and the snake came closer to the human, the human stopped to look for the rattling that was behind him, and as the human laid eyes upon the snake fear consumed her as she held her breath and slowly backed away with her hands up. The snake, unsure why she was so scared, stood his ground and continued to rattle until the human was far enough away from where the wolf was hidden. The snake felt proud that he was brave enough to rescue the wolf from danger. The wolf still on guard whispered to the snake to hide, from where he was still hidden, but by the time the snake understood a bigger human stepped into the clearing, this one armed with a weapon, the snake froze there was no way he could scare that human. He was closing in on the snake weapon raised, the wolf seeing the snake wasn’t moving away from the human and the human wasn’t stopping, he jumped out from his hiding spot and started to growl as he closed in on the snake, never taking his eyes off the human, as he blocked the snake from danger. This shocking scene made the human stop short, mouth agape just watching the wolf guard the snake. The little girl who was hiding behind her father, changed a peak around his leg toward the wolf, as his eyes widened and she smiled. “Look papa a puppy!” The wolf tilted his head in curiosity, wondering how the dangerous human was now smiling at the wolf and the snake she was once so scared of. The little girl stepped around her papa and knelt onto the forest floor with her hands on her lap looking at the wolf lovingly. “He is wild and dangerous daughter.” “No papa, he is scared and alone.” The snake moved around the wolf to see what was happening, as the wolf loosened his stands a little. “Why is that human on the ground, wolf?” The wolf filled with uncertainty didn’t answer the snake he just watched as the little girl scooted closer making some kind of sound with her mouth, while whispering “Come here, I won’t hurt you…” The bigger human stepped forward as the wolf felt the urge to listen to the little girl. As the big human stepped the wolf backed away, almost stepping on the snake in the process, the snake felt the urge to strike the human as he started rattling his tail again. “Papa you are frightening them!” “You are getting too close, daughter .” She looked at her papa and then at the scared animals and shook her head, “no papa, we are all scaring each other.” The daughter was starting to become sad as she realized the situation they were all in was brought upon them by fear of the unknown and was only growing worse, with each attempt to lessen the fear. “Please papa. Can you please just trust that I know what I am doing?” Her papa heard the sadness and pleading in his young daughter’s voice, read it upon her face and took a step back as he lowered his weapon. The snake stopped rattling and the wolf stopped cowering as the little girl tried once again to ease the fear between them all. “I know you are scared” she whispered toward the snake and the wolf “but I will not hurt you.” The wolf looked toward the bigger human and the daughter understood “We will not hurt you.” looking into the wolf’s eye as she emphasized the We. “My papa is just worried about me, as you are worried for each other.” The little girl pointed to the snake then to the wolf. As the wolf looked confused toward the girl “Your friend the snake is rattling to protect you and you wolf are standing guard in front of the snake to protect him.” The realization came to her papa as he listened to his daughter speak to the odd pair. He too, took to his knee in an attempt to lessen the fear he was causing to the wolf and snake. Allowing his daughter to lessen the fear with kindness.