The Fall

By Horatio Husky

Commissioned by Diamond

A gift for Spades

The distant clink of a metallic bat striking a baseball after baseball could be heard in the distance, as it practically echoed through the open air of the stadium. The afternoon was practically idyllic, as with only a few wispy slivers of cloud silently gliding high above the ground the sun shone in full, summertime brilliance. 

Furs of all shapes and sizes stood around the outside of the entrance of a large stadium, eagerly chowing down on buckets of popcorn or hungrily eyeing oversized hotdogs generously adorned with the telltale red and yellow squiggles of mustard and ketchup. Ears stuck out of baseball caps, toothy grins babbled beneath dark sunglasses, and a sea of moving green and white jerseys made their way lazily past the ticket booth at the front of the stadium entrance. 

Against the din of jubilant furs, the occasional swallow swung down through air and chittered an equally cheerful cry as if joining in the chorus of animated voices from the baseball fans below. Occasionally, a soft breeze allowed the trees to chime in as well with their creamy rustling and flash of light green underbellies, reveling in the sunshine as much as the other creatures were as they statically basked in the rays showering them from above. 

Amongst the participants of the amicable crowd a small group of kidfurs all dressed in identical green and white baseball jerseys giggled as one of them cracked a joke. At roughly the center of the group, a red fox stood grinning from ear to ear as he eagerly recounted his expectations of the winning team to the rest of the group. 

A badger cub, a rather stout poodle pup, and a lynx kitten listened attentively to the fox's prediction. The pup followed every word, wide eyes and a look of awe on his muzzle at the generosity with which the fox predicted the outcome of the game. The other two, however, glanced skeptically at one another before the lynx opened her mouth to speak. 

“Oh come on Spades, four home runs in one game? That's not very likely, is it?"

Spades merely beamed, raising his paw authoritatively up to his nose and knowingly tapping the side of his muzzle several times. 

“I can feel it! It's going to be a heck of a game today!"

“Speaking of which, look, it's our turn!"

The badger pointed at the line in front of them, which had stepped forward since they had become engrossed in their conversation. With the sound of paw pads and claws against concrete pavement, the little group advanced to pay for their tickets. 

Having handed out their pre-counted money, each giving a polite, “Thank you!" to the kindly looking basset hound behind the plexi-glass, the four immediately headed towards the smells of hotdogs and hamburgers wafting from a mobile grill set up in a corner of the stands. 

A few minutes later, the four felt their mouths begin to salivate as they toted large sodas and hotdogs almost as long as their forearms up the stands. 

“Come on! The best seats are always at the top, we'll be able to see our houses from there!"

Spades shouted, looking back to see that the badger and poodle pup were just barely managing to keep up. 

“Slow down Spades! The game isn't even going to start for another ten minutes…"

The badger puffed out, being rather stocky in disposition and unused to the athlete demands of the spritely fox taking the stairs two at a time above him. 

Spades hesitated only long enough for them to get within a few steps of lynx and him before continuing up on his wave, his eyes set on a row of four seats perfectly centered in the middle of the top row.

“Look! Nobody's even up here yet, it'll be just us!"

He remarked excitedly, making it up to the last step. As he reached the very top of the bleachers, he looked down to see the ground far below him. A sense of vertigo soon convinced him to take a step back, turning around and he shouted down at the slowly approaching remainder of the party of four. 

“Be careful! It's a long way down…"

“It was your idea to be here to begin with!"

Retorted the poodle pup, who was particularly afraid of heights and had to be convinced at the bottom of the bleachers to ascend them at all, let alone all the way up. 

Spades rolled his eyes, knowing that within a few minutes the trek up the stairs would be soon forgotten with the excitement of the oncoming baseball game. 

And Spades was right, after the four had comfortably settled themselves down and gotten a start on their hotdogs and sodas the song, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame" began to play over the speakers accompanied by the rising cheer of the crowd. 

“You're spilling popcorn all over me!"

The lynx complained, as the badger stood up eagerly in order to join the wave that a few people in the crowd had started. 

Spades laughed, despite the fact that the lynx now had several popcorn kernels stuck in her hair. 

“Come on, if you stand up with us you won't get any more popcorn on you!"

The lynx sighed, knowing full well when to go with the flow she stood up as well when another round of the wave passed through their part of the stands. 

Spades watched, enthralled by the power and continuity of the wave as the baseball players began to disperse themselves on the field. The excitement of the crowd was tangible, a perfect summer day in the middle of June and everything seemed to be picture perfect. 

The red fox felt the crowd's excitement in his chest, it was exhilarating. Knowing that this third round of the wave would probably be the last, as the players appeared eager to start, he resolved himself to leap up as high as he could to demonstrate just how charged he was to watch the dust fly. 

A few seconds later, the wave made its way over to their parts of the bleachers. Setting down his hotdog on the seat behind him, Spades leaped skywards thrusting his paws into the air and letting out a series of excited yips while his friends cheered alongside him. 

The feeling of weightlessness was amazing, he felt free as a bird as a summer breeze made its way through the baseball field as if wanting to join in on the excitement. In fact, Spades marveled at just how long he managed to stay up in the air for. He was beginning to wonder why it was taking so long for him to land back on his feet.

As if in slow motion, he glanced down expecting to see the popcorn covered, slightly sticky metal of the bleachers below him. But the bleacher wasn't beneath him anymore, just the slightly brown grass of the field beneath the bleacher. He looked up a few degrees, and noted his hot dog waiting patiently on his seat in front of him.

That's weird… Didn't I leave my hotdog in front of me?

And then he felt his stomach rise up to his throat. Spades was falling and falling faster and faster. He looked up to see his friends turn around to look at him, eyes widening in horror as their mouths fell open in cries of panic. 

“Spades!"

The lynx cried out first, grabbing the back of her seat popcorn flying as she extended a paw out to try and snag the fox by the wrist. 

She almost did, but Spades was a few inches too far away for her to be able to grab him. While previously everything appeared to be moving slowly things shifted now into rapid acceleration. Adrenaline pumped through his veins, his limbs flailing as he hurtled down the fifty feet or so towards the ground beneath him. 

Nothing was there to break his fall except the ground. The air rushed past him and before he could even cry out for help he felt the grass beneath him impact him like a truck striking an unsuspecting pedestrian. 

The air was pushed out of his lungs like an elephant stepping on an accordion, he gasped and tried to breath but found that the shock of pain bursting through his chest, left arm, and right leg was too much for him to overcome. 

A massive throb of pain registered through his nervous system, and had he had any air in his lungs to scream with he would have no doubt filled the air with the unearthly din of excruciating agony that his body was now telling him he was experiencing. 

The experience only lasted a couple of seconds, but they were enough to serve as an utterly unforgettable experience. At last, he was able to convince his chest to heave in a stuttering breath. A sharp pain, aggressive and unrelenting sparked up through his chest once more and at last the shock became too much. 

The last sensation the fox was able to register was the warm sunshine on his face gently kissing his closed eyelids as at last the pain faded away along with his consciousness to a bleak, welcoming darkness. 

~    ~    ~

    The first thing that Spades noticed was the sensation of cool, moist air condensing on his brow into small droplets of water. He shifted, his nose registering a damp, piney smell which served to heighten his lucidity to the point of wakefulness. 

    Spades opened his eyes. He gasped, shooting the bolt upright and looking around in a panic. He was alone, surrounded by pale, white tree trunks that appeared to shoot up into the sky and disappear into the white formless mist that surrounded him. 

    The foliage beneath him was slightly damp, cold soon began to seep into his fur and chill him to the bone as the moisture evaporated off of his body. Spades shivered, rubbing his paws against his forearms in an attempt to warm himself; he tried to stand up but found that his footing was awkward. 

    Stumbling forward, he managed to catch himself on the trunk of a tree before being able to stand fully upright. He shook his head, deciding that for the moment the best thing he could do was to breathe and try and calm himself down. 

    Where am I?

    The question repeated itself over and over inside of his head, causing him no small amount of consternation as he looked around the bleak, seemingly endless expanse of misty forest that yielded no answers. He wondered if he had been left here, or if he had gone here under his own steam. Spades could not remember. 

    Frowning, he took a deep breath and decided that he should probably try exhausting what few options he was able to understand that he had in such a situation. The first being to check whether he was truly alone. 

    “Hello? Is anybody there? Hello!"

    He shouted, his voice cracking halfway through his second question much to his exasperation. He was having a hard time keeping calm, but what else could be expected. The kit was only a kid, after all, and kids are not expected to remain calm when finding themselves alone in eerie, foggy forests. 

    Spades was distinctly aware of his heart beating in his chest, each second that passed by made it seem as if it was pumping faster and faster. Unable to stand the silence, he was just about to cry out again or worse, begin to sob and wail into the blanketed air in desperation, when he heard a voice behind him speak. 

    “I am here."

    Spades whirled around, unsure of what he would see and now almost fearing that he should have remained silent. 

    But what he saw in front of him did not appear to be threatening, but instead just as frightened as he. He gaped, jaw open in surprise as a young arctic fox that appeared to be around his age stepped forward into a small clearing outlined by the trees. 

    She was beautiful. Almond shaped eyes holding a set of iridescent, icey blue eyes stared at him with such piercing ferocity Spades felt as if they passed through him altogether. 

    It took a moment for Spades to gather the courage to speak, and when he did find his voice he found it difficult to orate past the lump that had now formed in his throat. 

    “Who… Who are… Where are we?"

    The pressing matter of their location, he found, was more important than understanding who this fox was. Presumably, they were stuck in this predicament together, and the sooner they found their way out the better. 

    He had expected the fox to reply with a similar sense of confusion as he hoped at least to hear confirmation that they were indeed lost. He did not, however, expect to receive the answer he did when the marble fox spoke up once again. 

    “Limbo."

    She stated plainly, tilting her head to the side slightly and giving him a small smile, her lips turning upwards as if amused by his question. 

    Spades did not understand what she meant, but something told him that it was not an answer he should be happy hearing. He shook his head, looking around him once more and gazing upwards to see whether he would be able to see what part of the shapeless sky above him held the sun. 

    But the light that descended through the thick, heavy air appeared to be sourceless and uniform. It took a moment for him to realize that there appeared to be no shadows whatsoever around him, giving the environment a strangely flat appearance. 

    His concern had not abated. But before he was able to ask another question, the fox had turned around and began to retreat into the misty wood from which she had emerged. 

    Panicked, he stumbled in his haste to run after her not wanting to be left alone again.

    “Wait! Who are you? Hold up, how are you going so fast?"

    He shook his head, pushing past a series of trees before yet another clearing revealed itself to him from the mist. 

    “Please, sit down Spades."

    Yet again, he was aghast. In front of him a picnic table with two benches on either side sat as if it were a natural part of the forest around him. The stark contrast of the red and white checkered tablecloth stood out in the gray forest. A large jug of yellow liquid, presumably lemonade, sat atop the table accompanied by a plate stacked with several layers of sandwiches. 

    Despite the disparity of the situation, Spades' stomach rumbled at the sight of the food. Hesitantly, he stepped forward and settled down on the bench across from the arctic fox, wrapping his tail politely around his left thigh and resting it in his lap more for the purpose of comforting himself than the appearance of civility.

“Eat. There is something I would like to discuss with you."

“Who are you?"

“I am Death."

Spades was halfway to reaching over the table to pick up a sandwich, but froze at 

the mention of the fox's name. He looked up, making eye contact and glancing from icey blue eye to icey blue eye to see whether or not the fox appeared to be joking. 

She did not. 

“You're… Am… Am I dead?"

He asked with trepidation in his voice, his appetite suddenly disappearing at the 

prospect of realizing that he might not be eating to fuel his living body anymore. To his immense relief but slight confusion, he watched as the fox gently shook her head. 

“No, you are not. Well, not yet anyway. You still have a fair amount of time to live before you leave with me. For now, we sup."

Breaking eye contact, she reached forward to pick up the jug and pour out a glass of lemonade. She handed it to him, which he accepted graciously and took a hesitant sip. 

It was delicious, just the round amount of sweet and tangy to leave a refreshing aftertaste in his mouth. Had the bleak, clammy forest not surrounded them he would have marveled at how perfect of a summer drink he had just been able to experience. 

But alas, the comforting warmth of sunshine felt far away inside the misty wood. Deciding that he had better humor his host at least, he reached forward to select a PB&J sandwich from the menagerie and took a few bites. Thankfully, this too tasted particularly appetizing and he found that he was able to relax a little in the familiar movements of mastication. 

For a while, he ate silently. Managing to scarf down another sandwich before he found that he was beginning to feel full and satisfied. 

“Better?"

Death asked, smiling once again as she watched Spades reach for a napkin and politely wipe his mouth of excess jelly that had not quite made it inside of his muzzle. The fox nodded, noting that he did in fact feel significantly better now that he had something solid to focus on inside of his belly.

Still, his sense of unease had not abated. He was madly curious, still utterly bewildered at how he had gotten to this 'limbo' and not fully understanding what it was. He was about to open his mouth to inquire further, but Death continued to speak before he had the opportunity to interject. 

“I am sure you are wondering why you are here. I have the answers to the questions I see bubbling inside you, I ask only that you listen and not interrupt because our time is limited, do you understand?"

Spades nodded, a feeling of excitement now replacing his apprehensive state of mind at the prospect of hearing something concrete. 

Death nodded, appearing pleased with his cooperation as she continued to speak.

“The memory may still elude you, as it was accompanied by a great shock, but you have reached the end of your thread. Normally, the end of the line would be the end of the line and you would be accompanied through the wood and into a new world. However, these woods are shrouded in a misdirecting mist, therefore I know I am not to guide you through them."

She looked down, as if thinking of what to say next. As Spades nodded to indicate that he understood, she continued while continuing to gaze down at the table.

“At first, I had thought that this was a test for me to push through as a result of some fault I may have committed. But I now understand that is not true."

She took a deep breath, appearing as if she were trying to calm herself from intrusive thoughts. She looked up, continuing with a reaffirmed purpose. 

“But this is not about me, nor is it necessary about you, it's about a thread that must connect to yours before yours comes to an end. Which is why you will be leaving this wood without me, back to the world of the living."

The prophetic weight of the words that came out of the fox's mouth did not go unregistered by the red fox. He found that he was hardly able to breathe, as if not wanting to disturb the air in front of him. The tension was palpable, he was surprised at how readily he was able to understand the relatively cryptic speech of the being in front of him. 

He should have been dead, but he had been spared. Spared because he had a destiny to fulfill for someone else. An objective that came with the boon of life and the burden of duty. 

He should have felt relieved, happy even, to know that he was not actually dead. He did feel comforted at some level, but the answer that the fox in front of him had given only gave rise to further questions. 

Spades narrowed his eyes, nodding to indicate that he understood what the fox in front of him told him. Still, he could not help but wonder with an almost maddening intensity what was so important that he was being spared a premature death just to be a part of somebody else's life. 

Death, as if reading his mind, continued. 

“I cannot tell you the nature of your destiny, for you would spend the rest of your days seeking it in a manner that would consume your life. You must live your life the way you wish to live it, free from the duty you have been given so that when the day comes to fulfill it it is done reflexively, naturally, without deliberate intention."

She paused for a moment, before stating plainly.

“You must continue to be yourself."

A sense of frustration bubbled up inside of Spades, catching him off guard. He shook his head and looked down at the table, curiosity now turning into dissatisfaction at the ambiguousness of the situation before him. Just as childish mind had come to the conclusion that he was going to give Death a piece of his mind, he looked up to see that she had vanished.

The picnic table had vanished too, leaving behind only the benches standing parallel to one another. 

Spades stared at the empty bench in front of him, the sudden shift in his perception of reality giving him pause to contemplate further what Death had told him. His gaze trailing down the front of the bench, his eyebrows raised up in surprise as he saw that a hole as dark as night had appeared in front of him. 

It stood out in the pale, blue grass. Appearing so pitch black that it almost looked as if somebody had drawn it out with charcoal using the very earth as canvas. 

Spades stood up, the tips of his footpaws hanging just over the edge of the hole as he looked down into it. 

He looked up, twisting around to look through the forest once more perhaps to see whether Death was peering at him from behind one of the trees. 

But he was alone again, surrounded by a muffled silence and left only with an obvious option. 

He jumped. 

~    ~    ~

    Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep… Beep…

    The sound of a heart monitor was the first sensation that Spades was able to register in his mind. The next was the faint smell of disinfectant that pervaded the still air. The following was a near blinding light shining down on his closed eyelids, causing him to scrunch up his eyes and groan out a complaint in response to the luminous intensity.

    “Turn it off… It's shining right into my face…"

    He grumbled, turning his head from side to side as he shifted uncomfortably against the mattress he was laying in.

    “Ow!"

    He cried out, opening his eyes at last. 

    Four sets of eyes gaped at him, mouths open as if in comical unison as Spades looked from face to face, seeing that his three friends and particularly startled looking nurse were all now staring at him in utter bewilderment. 

    Spades looked down at himself, and let out a small gasp that turned into a wheeze of pain as he felt his rib announce its complaint at the rapid intake of breath. 

    His arm and leg were in a cast, the throb of his blood pumping through the vasculature in each limb telling him that they were indeed very broken. He looked down to see that his torso appeared to be bandaged as well, and judging from the sensation of cloth on his forehead that his head too had been properly wrapped. 

    The nurse was the first to shake herself out of her state of surprise, the antelope picked up the clipboard that was hanging off of the foot of Spades' bed and promptly strode out of the room. 

    The poodle was the first to crack a smile, jumping up and down at the side of the bed and turning to give the badger a tight hug.

    “Oof!"

    The badger complained, but returned the hug with a shaky smile as the lynx wrapped her arms around them too as well, grinning from pointy ear to pointy ear.

    “Spades! You're okay! The nurse said that you were probably not going to wake up!"

    “You're going to be okay Spades! You survived!"

    The red fox smiled back at them reflexively, the happy expression spreading like a viral contagion as the three began to babble excitedly about what had happened. 

    Spades did not remember everything that happened, but from the eager and haphazardly explained statements from the three kidfurs who constantly interrupted each other he was able to understand that he had suffered a great fall and had to be rushed into the hospital.

    And, most dauntingly of all, that he had been declared brain dead at one point during his examination in the emergency room.

    As the weight of all that had happened was fully registering in the young fox's mind, a particularly rotund panda bear lumbered into the room wearing a white coat and a stethoscope around his neck. 

    The antelope followed right behind him, and gave the doctor a meaningful glance as he looked back at her with the same expression of astonishment she had given Spades when he first woke up. 

    Adjusting the rounded glasses on his face, he stepped forward at the foot of Spades' bed and introduced himself in a jovial, friendly tone.

    “Hi there Spades! I am Dr. Bernard, your resident physician. I don't know how else to say this, but you are one lucky little man."

    He continued, briefly glancing down at shaking his head once as if he himself still barely believed what he was saying.

    “You came in here with several broken bones and severe head trauma. Trauma so severe that we believed that you might never wake up, or if you did that you would not be the same person you were before."

    He smiled, the expression reaching his eyes as he gave off an impression of unwavering warmth. 

    “But, because you are listening to me speak and appear to be fully aware of your surroundings it's looking like you might have escaped that fate altogether. We'll have to run some tests of course, just to be sure. But I suspect that you're on your way to make a full recovery."

    Spades' three friends grinned at one another, excited at the fact that their friend would be alright filling their little faces up with joy. The doctor continued. 

    “For now, I suggest you take it easy. Nurse Ori will take good care of you and make sure you're comfortable, rest up now. And as for your three."

    The panda turned, now addressing the three kidfurs who appeared to be practically jumping up and down in place upon hearing such good news. 

    “I know that this is all very, very good news. It's nothing short of a miracle, in fact. However, I need you to keep things calm and gentle for your friend here. He's very fragile at the moment, I trust that you'll keep him company without any trouble, understand?"

    The three understood, and calming down for the moment were able to give the doctor polite affirmation.

    “Yes, sir!"

    “Okay, sir!"

    “Yes, doctor!"

    The panda nodded, appearing satisfied. 

    “Good, Nurse Ori will be back shortly with some pain medication for Spades, goodbye for now. 

    With that, the two medical professionals departed leaving the four to their own devices while Nurse Ori set off to the hospital pharmacy. 

    The three kidfurs turned to grin happily at Spades, a gesture which he sleepily reciprocated. 

    Despite the feelings of elation at having been told that everything would be alright, Spades was beginning to feel the toll of his injuries as an overwhelming wave of exhaustion washed over him. 

    The three kidfurs quieted down, gently stroking his fur on his uninjured arm and leg as they watched his eyelids flutter half-closed.

    “I… think I'm… going to take a little…"

    Spades was out before he was able to finish his sentence, leaving the three kidfurs to whisper excited amongst themselves. The tragedy of losing their friend now a ghost of the past as they gently tiptoed out of the fox's hospital room, leaving him to a well deserved rest.