Let’s have a little sneak peek from Ihaan’s (pronounced “Ian”) perspective!
***
I never knew meeting a girl would mean so much to me. We never fell in love or anything; we just became good friends. A girl and a boy like me. What are the odds of that? We stayed friends until the truth was revealed.
I never knew my place in the world. I thought I didn't have a family. Actually, it was more, I didn't remember I had a family. All I remember is darkness. That's it. It was dark, and something just didn't feel right. Who am I? I asked myself, Am I more than just a boy who lives in the depths of the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park? Am I more than just a boy who knows how to survive in the wilderness? I asked myself this the day I woke up from a massive cloud of darkness. The darkness was so great – it was a miracle I wasn't dead – or at least, it was a miracle I didn't die. I should have, but I didn't. Was there a reason behind this? There had to be. I had no clue what this reason was, though, until the day I met the girl. Way before I met her, I just dealt with the great cloud of darkness that hovered over me like a bunch of ghosts waiting to haunt me.
When it finally left, the first face I saw was Dempsey's. I felt weak. I couldn't breathe. Great pain overtook my whole body. I had somehow been born into the world seriously injured.
I tried to move, but the pain was too severe. To me, the blue skies and treetops were nothing but green, brown, and blue blurs. However, the face hovering over me... I knew it belonged to someone kind. Dempsey.
He gently pushed me, but even the gentlest push hurt me, and I cried out in pain. I don't believe I was very alert. This was so strange. Was every birth this painful? I didn't see Dempsey for long, because I closed my eyes and slipped into a near death unconsciousness. I waited to die – if I died, I would no longer suffer from the pain, but the spirits didn't let me. They forced me awake, and when I awoke, I felt a bit better than I had the first time I did.
The branches of trees danced above me, and the spirits told me to approach the water. Therefore, I did. Only by crawling, because it pained me to walk. Leaves escaped the treetops and swirled around me while I crawled. My mouth was dry. I needed water. All I remember seeing is the lake. A clear lake vastly unknown. It was only one of the lakes in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.
The spirits took me to a small beach, and my eyes rested on the clear water slapping against the sand. The smell of nature and the water's magic taste invaded my nose. I still felt great pain, but the spirits helped me overcome it. They dragged me into the water, and I buried my face in it.
Once I quenched my thirst, I returned to the land and dragged myself back onto the beach. I wanted to stand, but I couldn't. The pain was too great. My bare back hit a log, and I could feel another wave of unconsciousness creeping up on me. It suddenly became hard to breathe again. Slowly, I peered down to my feet. My right foot was the one that was causing the intense pain. Next to it, I noticed that the sand was strangely stained red. Everything became a blur again. I breathed heavily. "Please, spirits." I begged, "Just let me die."
They didn't. Suddenly, I heard something clomping in my direction, and through the swirling leaves, I saw the blurry form of Dempsey. His antlers stood proud, and he hurried towards me.
The last thing I heard become falling unconscious again was something from the sky. It was the sound of some kind of rotor. Before I could see it, Dempsey threw something on top of me, and everything went black again.
While slipping into sleep, I heard the sound of a crying woman. This was all in my head.
"Ihaan!" she screamed, and following that was the sound of a crashing wave and wood being broken into two pieces.
This was the day that I accepted I was a part of the wilderness. This was the day, until I met the girl, I only did what the spirits told me to. This was the day that the story of Ihaan truly began.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
