Boom. Thump. Swish.

Those were the sounds we heard getting closer to our home in the forest every day.

It was the noise of those tall, hairless (except for on what seemed to be their heads) animals with the furry clothes to keep them warm as they hunted down more and more of us animals that lived in the forest. They had big shiny long sticks that shot painful hot things out of the end and typically killed any who had been hit by one. I am just one of many of us in the forest. I am Molo the squirrel.

Squirrels were never very respected among the animals where we lived and were always told to just stay out of everything. But I didn't do that. Instead, I went straight toward the horrifying sounds of the animal killers, which was very dangerous. There I was on a low branch, hiding in the leaves as I listened for a safe time to go on to the next tree. I was also searching for acorns, as there was a shortage of food in our section of the forest. This forced me to go out and look for those delicious nuts, into the danger zone where many of the hunters had wounded many of our population.

But sometimes, I went even further; all the way to where the hunters lived. That was what I was doing as I was sent out to look for acorns that late summer day. I had not seen a single acorn the whole time I had been out, and I had reached the land of the odd structures which were called houses, as were our homes where we lived, but they were much different from our houses, high in the trees. I decided to return back to my tree. I could already hear the noises of the hunters leaving the forest for the day, which meant it would soon be sundown. I leaped across the wide gaps between the closest trees to the hunter houses, then only scurried across the close branches of the thick forest roof.

By now, I could see the sun dipping behind the branches, and I could also see the large main tree at the center of our clearing. Many of the larger animals lived in the clearing on beds of moss, while most squirrels and chipmunks lived in the holes in the big tree. I lived in one of the lower holes, but there was a close staircase-like set of branches at the opening of our hole, which led directly to where I got onto the tree.

I practically flew down the branches and into my pile of pine needles where I slept every night. I went to bed hungry like I had the day before, and the one before that. In fact, I barely ever ate more than what I needed to survive, and because of this, I was quite skinny.

Maybe it was something to do with those hunters. I wondered as I lay quietly there in my bed, what if those hunter's species weren't all bad. I knew for a fact that not all of a bad species were bad. For example, my friend, Hoyl, was a wolf. Normally, wolves are not allowed into our clearing. But Hoyl was always allowed. He only wanted to help us.

I could feel myself starting to drift off into sleep. My small bed of pine needles seemed so warm and soft, although the needles are always very prickly whenever used somewhere else. As I slept, I dreamt about those hunters. They had taken my family away, and I was the only one there to see them for the last time. That was back when the hunters barely came to our forest, and when they did, they only took plants and seeds. When I returned back to the clearing, none of the other animals believed that they had taken them away. They all blamed me. I had this dream many times, and every time I saw my parents get taken. Every time, I heard them squeal as they were pulled away from me. I always took the same route through the forest, and I was always very shaky the whole time. Not a single one of the others believed me. All I could hear was them telling me I was bad, asking me what I did to them.

And every time, just as I woke up, I wished my parents were still there. But they never were. In the morning, I was still very tired, but I got up. After doing a few laps around the small space inside the tree, I felt much better. I leaped out of the dark hole and into the bright sunshine. I had woken up a bit late, so the sun was already high in the sky, but it was not yet mid-day.

At mid-day, I would again be sent out to forage for food. I soon found Hoyl over by the edge of the clearing. He ran over to me playfully, jumped over me, and finally stopped right over my back. He did this every time we saw each other, and I always did close to the same thing in return. I ran under him and hopped onto his back. By now, I needed to start getting ready to go out foraging. I looked up, and the sun was almost straight up. I motioned to him, and he nodded in return. He dropped his head sadly as I ran off. I turned around, squeaked a goodbye, and hurried up the big tree.

I thought about where to go. There was a bit of the forest that was said to be unexplored. This was because many said there was something wrong with it. Everything was just wrong. But I had been near this place before. It always seemed to have many acorns ready to be eaten. Besides, the forest needed food. I didn't need to tell anyone. I didn't understand what was wrong with the place. So that would be where I was going. As I left, I realized that if I went in that direction, the others would know immediately where I was going. What should I do? If they see me they will know I am going there!

I thought to myself about what to do. I decided to go in the opposite direction and turn back once I was far enough that they wouldn't see me. I climbed onto the branch that went South. As I leaped across the branches I could feel the wind ruffling my fur. When the clearing was out of sight I went to the left a bit and turned North. Now the wind was blowing my fur in the other direction. This felt much better. I scurried through the trees, and leaves were everywhere. They were being blown towards me as if they were trying to block my vision, not wanting me to go on, so I closed my eyes and kept going. I knew the main branches of the forest by heart, but it was not easy with the leaves and my eyes shut.

Suddenly, after stepping off one of the trees, the wind stopped. I opened my eyes. There were acorns everywhere! I took as many as I could. Even still, there were so many. I took the same path back to the big tree. I ran over to Hoyle. "Where did you find so many acorns? Did you go to... the place?' gasped Hoyle. "No, no, no, no, no, NO! What will we do?"

"Chill out. I just went exploring over to the South. I don't know where exactly I went, but there were acorns. The place is to the North, right? We're fine," I lied.

"Phew," sighed the wolf. "Well, let's get your acorns to the tree! The others will be so glad. And do try to remember where you went. We need the acorns." I nodded. I snagged some of the acorns and ran over to the big tree. I got asked the same questions:

"Oh my gosh, did you go there? You know we can't go there!"

'What did you do? Oh no.."

"Why did you go there? You shouldn't have."

Every time, my answer was the same thing I told Hoyl. If they didn't believe me, I reminded them that they had seen me leave for the South, and it would be stupid to turn back. Everyone believed me now. I felt kind of bad for lying to them, but it was for us all. Now it was almost sunset, so I returned to my little hole in the tree. As I passed, everyone thanked me for finding some food for them.

Every day, I went back to the North part of the forest, and I always took the same path. Once, I found so many that I took multiple trips to a tree near the clearing and asked for other squirrels to help me carry them all back. They all said they were the best acorns they had ever had, which was weird because everyone else said that any acorn from the place I was really going would taste like mud. Maybe there was nothing wrong with the spot where I went.

I almost forgot about the hunters. In fact, I did, until one foggy morning when I took my usual path and saw one staring at me. I ran away as fast as I could. I needed to get my acorns and return back to warn the other animals. I had made it to the place I had gone many days before.

I took my usual load, and then I saw it. A large acorn, twice the size of a normal one, just a tree away. I could still hear the horrid noise of the hunters. They seemed to be following me through the forest. I leaped across the gap between the trees and snatched the acorn. I could not go back to the clearing with them following me or they would kill all the animals there. I had to make it back, though. I took a wild route all around the forest. They were very good at following me.

I could hear one click something into the long killer stick. There were little rock-like hot things now whizzing past me. These were what had killed my family. I would not let them do it to me too. I was starting to get tired. I knew that eating would give me a bit of energy, so I ran up higher into the trees.

I had just enough time to eat an acorn before they found me ,and I had to run again. I decided to run near the clearing to throw the acorns in. I saw Hoyl at the edge in his normal spot. I threw all of the acorns to him except for one: the big acorn. The hunters did not see the clearing, so I kept running. If I disappeared then they would start looking for me, and they might find the clearing. I went all the way to the place where they lived, and they finally went inside. I hurried back to the big tree.

I was tired from the chase, so I gladly flew into my bed of pine needles. I still had my humongous acorn, which I had set on a ledge in the hole. As I settled into sleep, I remembered my encounter with the hunters. It was still light outside, so I hopped out of bed and found Hoyl in his usual spot. "What was that about? Why did you throw acorns at me?"

I took the same path as always. I was almost considered the hero of the forest, because it would have been hard to survive even a month with the amount of acorns we had been getting before, because all of us needed the acorns. As I went, I wondered about the big acorn. Why was it so big? What would happen if I ate it? These were the thoughts that filled my head almost every day. I decided that I would try it soon. But I had to supply acorns for the rest of the animals. That day I decided to bring multiple loads of acorns back. I went many times back and forth, and finally got the whole group of animals to grab some from the pile that I had made near the clearing. I tripled the size of the acorn pile that day. We had so many that they could last us for many winters. I was having a good day. I feasted upon acorns and then settled into my bed. I fell asleep quickly on a full belly. I had been so used to barely getting any food at the beginning of the season, and now I was eating like a king. Every time I went out after that, I doubled or tripled the size of the pile. Everything seemed so perfect, but I had not forgotten what all the others had said about the place to the North. I still felt bad for lying to them, but it seemed fine. It was a white lie. Right? I thought so. If I were to tell them, would they act like it was the end of the world like they had when I first came back with a whole bunch of nuts? Or would they realize that the North had nothing wrong? Or was there something wrong? No. Everything is fine. I hove supplied more than enough food for us. There is no reason anything would be wrong.

I woke up the next morning from dreams of telling the others and their different reactions. Some of them had been just as they were when I first came. Others wondered why anyone thought there was something wrong with the place because they had always been told it was bad but without a reason. That day I was to go to get acorns early in the morning, so I hurried to grab something to eat and then left the clearing. I only then noticed that there were always acorns on the same branches, which were right at the edge of the marked out spot where we couldn't go. This meant that they had been regrowing in the time it took me to get there and back, even on the days when I took multiple trips, at the same branches. I had never ventured further than a few trees in, other than the time when I saw the big acorn and was chased by hunters. I also thought about how the hunters didn't enter the bit of the forest, but rather waited on the edge of the place to chase me again. So the hunters seemed to know something about what was going on. They didn't go in. Maybe they thought that squirrels were just able to go in, and going in would hurt them if they entered. Maybe that was why they seemed to now hunt squirrels specifically, to make it so that they could enter too, or so it seemed. I had noticed much more squirrel disappearances than other animals, which was weird because many of the larger animals that stayed on the ground were easier to catch and had more meat or skin, assuming that was what they wanted them for, while squirrels were harder to see and chase. Most of their dogs didn't know how to hunt or catch us as they did deer. There was no reason that I could think of for chasing squirrels specifically other than getting into the place. I assumed that they would get hurt or something if they attempted to go in. If they were, that could be why all of the other animals were afraid to go in, it could have been that only squirrels could go in, which they didn't realize, too afraid to try it and hurt someone if it didn't work. If it wasn't that, I had no idea.

I stopped thinking about all of these weird things for a moment, long enough to decide that these ideas were crazy, and I needed to get my nuts and go. I grabbed many. Returning home was not easy, because it was harder to see with so many acorns. The acorns also made it harder to run and turn. I knew that if hunters saw me, I was dead. But there were no hunters. Everything was eerie and quiet. Almost too quiet. But I shrugged it away and returned home. My big acorn was still there where I had left it. It even smelled good. I was so overwhelmed with the smell that I started towards it. Crack. Chomp .. Chomp. It was gone in two bites. I felt.. Different. I looked down. I was blue! As I started to look up, I hit my head on the ceiling of my room. Why has everything shrunk? Or maybe it is me that has gotten big. This was correct. I had doubled or even tripled in size. I squeezed out of my hole to be delighted by the fact that nobody was there. I felt something on my back. And there they were: Wings. Big, beautiful wings like a dragonfly's, sparkly and blue. They matched well with the new color of my fur. I decided to try them out, so I flicked them back and forth until I was rising up in the air. It was slow, but it was happening. I was flying! I started to go faster, and faster. Soon I could see the whole forest! I thought about everything that had just happened. Now I could fly to get the acorns! But.. this acorn was from the "place." I guess there was something weird going on there. Showing anyone would be proof that I had broken the rules and lied about where I was going, neither of which was allowed. If they saw me, they could banish me from the forest and force me to live in the place where the hunters always got their stuff to come and... kill us. I couldn't let them see me, the hunters or the other animals. That meant I would be completely alone. As I thought about this, my wings started to slow down, eventually to a stop. I was falling quickly. As I hit the ground, Hoyl came out from where he was near the edge.

"Molo."

"Hoyl."

"What are you doing? Why .. What..?" Hoyl was shocked. I, his best friend, had turned blue, grown wings, and betrayed the forest. "How could you? I thought..?' He stared at me. "Even antennas? Who even are you anymore?"

"I .. well.. Uh-"

'Whatever. I'm going. I don't know who you are, but you are not the friend you used to be. You lied to me. You lied to all of us. We were your friends, Molo. I will tell the others. You will regret lying to us." He turned away and started trotting towards the larger part of the clearing where the larger animals lay. He turned back and looked at me viciously. "Yes, you'll regret it, I'll make sure of that." I had been so sure he was my friend, but clearly he wasn't going to stay with me against the whole forest. He would be breaking rules as well as me. I understood, but I would have always stayed with him no matter what. I ran. Then I started to fly. But I needed to know what was going on. I flew back over to where Hoyl was speaking to them. "He has been lying to us. Surely that means some kind of punishment?"

"He .. Well .. I don't know. He has broken rules, but at his age, we all did too."

"I agree."

"Well, he is a threat to our safety! What will the hunters think? They will go after him, and go after us, too!" Hoyl clearly wanted to have something done to me.

"Like you can talk. Wolves have always been a threat to this forest. You used to be like the other wolves too," a moose, named Daryl, shot back.

'Well. I didn't go into the bad part of the forest, have us all eat those acorns, or eat a giant one and become the biggest threat to this forest we have ever had. Sure, I used to be one of those bad wolves. And sure, they used to be the biggest threat. But what about him? He .. he has magic of some sort! He might not know about it, but every animal who has gone there has gotten some sort of change in their appearance and what they can do! Remember the daisy? Even the ants that lived there! The water! It lures us in, and turns us into a threat! If we warned him and he didn't listen, it's not our fault! I say we have him speak about why he still belongs in the forest. He should tell us how he is not a threat to us. But I also think we should twist it a bit and-" I didn't stay to hear the rest. It hurt me so much to listen to who was my best friend speak about why I didn't belong in the forest. I couldn't hear the rest of what Hoyl had said, but I heard everyone agree with him because they were yelling. I had powers. I also had antennae, which I had not noticed before. I knew they saw me. They started throwing rocks at me to get me out of the sky. I turned my back for just a second. One of the rocks hit me, and I was falling through the sky. They had injured my wing, and if they hadn't I would have flown straight back up. They had me. "Oh, you're in for it now, bud." I had no idea what to do. I had grown to twice the normal size of a squirrel, yet to them I was still tiny. They dragged me along and up the big tree. Even the larger animals could get up. Typically, it was a good thing that they could come up the tree. It was why it was so nice having the place for meetings or gatherings. But I was not happy as I normally was when I climbed up the tree. This is it. It's my lost time on this tree, and my lost time in this forest. I was dragged to the other side of the large, flat top of the tree. They tied me down with vines so that I couldn't fly ·away as I had tried to before. I couldn't leave. This was my home, yet there I was, tied up in front of the whole forest, even the wolves, which was weird as they were banished from the clearing, but they were there too. Many of them began yelling at me the moment I was tied down. Others sat in silence and looked at me as if I was a disappointment. These were those who had been closer to me. It felt worse to have them look at me that way than to have all of the others screaming at me.

"SILENCE!" Daryl shouted. They all quieted immediately. 'We are here today to discus the fate of this squirrel. He has broken many of our rules that we have created only to ensure safety upon this whole forest. He has gone to the place-" All of the others gasped- "and lied to us about where he has been going. The majority of the acorns in that pile are from there. We have eaten acorns from those horrible magic trees, and I can only imagine that others, as well as I, wish that the animal spirits who look over the forest will forgive us and that nothing will happen to us. He, however .. Has already been cursed. We shall banish him from this forest unless he can prove that he deserves otherwise. Now, Molo, defend yourself if you have a defense, or if we have misunderstood." Daryl had finished his speech. There was barely anything I could say in response to that. "SPEAK!" he shouted. I guess I hadn't said anything quick enough.

"I-I..I..Well.. I did it for everyone. We were all starving. There were no acorns anywhere else, so I needed to keep us all alive. What else was I supposed to do? It was this or we all died .. And how could I live knowing it was possible to keep you all alive? We were desperate. Everyone was at the brim of death. We couldn't even keep everyone alive. And there were hunters. We couldn't run from them without food. We were not even able to collect acorns. Anyone was lucky to find a single one. We will not survive the winter without those that are from the place. And sure, maybe I have changed in appearance, but I am still me. The wings will only make collecting acorns easier. And being bigger means I can carry more. If anyone is scared of me, you remember I was one of you. And I still am. My goals are the same. So why banish me with all these things that will help more than hurt?" What I said changed many of their minds. Even some of the ones Hoyl talked with were nodding. Hoyl sat in the back, and he looked very worried. He had tried to convince them that I was bad, but it didn't work. But Daryl had the same look as Hoyl. They nodded at each other.

"But don't you remember the horrible things that happened when someone else went there? The fire breath. The claws. Everything," screeched Hoyl, "went wrong! We take the biggest risk by keeping him. He may have something we don't know about! He may have something that he is hiding! He is probably only waiting to bring the downfall of this forest." The animals were torn. Did they want to believe Hoyl or me? Some of them wanted me to stay.

"What would make him want to hurt this forest? We have known him longer than Hoyl. He is a squirrel. Hoyl is a wolf. Surely this means that we should trust Molo more."

"No, we can't take that risk." Daryl waited, then continued.

"Molo is only a risk to us all. Molo, you are officially banishe­-

"WHAT? Lilypad? No... "

"C'mon, you. You're Molo, right?" Lilypad was speaking to me. She was a frog, but she was holding a daisy. "I don't have all day. Let's go!" She grabbed my arm and pulled away the vine wrapping me tightly around my waist. She led me along the branches towards the North.

'Where are we going?'

"To your new home. They were going to banish you. And besides, you'll like the new place more." We were nearing the "place." "Why are we going here?" I asked.