The Human of Wildemere

Selina had never seen another person. Besides her mother and younger brother, her first twenty summers had been spent knowing only the tiny critters that lived with them in the valley where they lived. Tree squirrels leaped from tree-to-tree during the day while furry hares groomed themselves under the setting sun. There were singing birds, ground rodents and lazy lizards too. Her family sheltered under the lip of a protruding rock face and fished and trapped and gathered for their food. It was a simple life.

Only when a particularly heavy storm rolled in during her seventeenth spring did things change. Her mother and brother had gone to check the traps while Selina stayed behind to prepare tree squirrels for their dinner. The smell of rain permeated the air and angry black clouds enveloped the sky above. Thunder rumbled and what started as a gentle shower grew to a powerful squall.

Selina couldn’t see three feet past the opening to their cave. When she reached out a hand, the rain stung her skin like needles. Mother had always warned her to be home before a storm swept in. One could become lost or have a fall. Worse, they could be caught up in a flood.

Deciding against braving the rainstorm, she stayed inside where it was dry to wait for them. By morning, they still hadn’t returned.

Selina began her search as soon as she awoke, taking every path her feet had made over the years. She passed by the remains of traps, some with the bodies of drowned animals in their clutches, but there was no evidence of her family. Rain had washed away their footsteps and there was no scraps of clothing to point her in the right direction.

Finally, she arrived at the mouth of a shallow river where they gathered their drinking water. On the rocky shore, she spotted the washed up body of a young boy. Her brother. He was soaked from head-to-toe, caught up in yesterday’s storm. He must of fallen in the water and without the ability to swim, he sank under.

She walked the length of the river to find her mother, but she was nowhere to be found.

All at once, her family was gone and Selina found herself all alone. She buried her brother the same day and spent the next week mourning. Her mother used to sing her songs when she was scared or when her and her brother got hurt, so she hummed and cried and wished so hard that she was having a nightmare. But every morning she woke up to an empty cave.

The next three years were hard, but she survived. Then, one day, while she was picking fallen nuts from under a nearby tree, she came upon a symbol painted on the face of a rock wall. An oval with three lines across it and a pair of dots to the left, all in black, appeared beside a crack big enough to fit a person through. But where did it lead? What did this symbol mean?

Memories flashed through her mind’s eye. All the pain of losing her family came rushing back and the monotony she has lived for the past three years twisted her heart. She was ready for a change and to leave her past behind. There had to be something better for her through this crack and if not, at least she tried.

Making up her mind, she squeezed her body through.