🍂Auburn's Fall🍂

🍂1~Autumn Leaves🍂

Auburn leaves fell lightly from the tall oaks, reminding me of my name.

"Auburnfall..." the wind seemed to whisper it to my ear as I stepped slowly along the path.

The leaves lay scattered on the forest floor. You could smell the woods as they prepared to go dormant for the winter. It was a beautiful thing really.

But I wasn't focused on the leaves, I was focused on the sunset. Sunsets In Autumn were my favorite. The beautiful oranges and pinks. This moment my life seemed together but it was far from it.

"Auburnfall..." A crisp breeze sent a shiver through my feathers, shattering the fragile peace that the swirling colored sky - God's painting - had brought upon me for that precious moment. "You need a place to shelter..."

I shook the thought away and pulled my attention stubbornly back to the warmth of the sky- I wasn't ready to handle another worry... I wasn't ready to face the cold looming questions that fell like leaves in front of my face.

But alas, as I looked up towards the painting I saw that it was fading, slowly washed over with dark gray clouds coming in from the North... the kind of clouds that brought on snow.

The realization sunk in that this was no longer a painting of Autumn but one of Winter.

I was forced to lower my gaze to stare forlornly at the distant silhouette. The black outline of the tiny cabin perched on the slope was sharp and clear, its pointed roof highlighted with the last pink rays of the setting sun, which seemed to beckon for me to follow as it dipped beneath the horizon, letting cold shadows stretch out from the tree trunks.

Perhaps it was the only way... there was no denying the cold wind threatening to cover my feathers in frost. No fighting the fact that shelter was crucial.

No. Heart thumping, I took a pace back, memories making my hackles bristle as they flooded back to me like a blizzard. I can't go into the coop. I just can't!

As threatening as the cold was, I feared going inside there no less. Sure it was warm, but being trapped in a small room full of chickens for the whole winter... I would have no escape from the pecks and scratches. I shuddered. It just wasn't an option. By the time the snow melted every feather would be plucked from my body.

And I just couldn't handle going through that again.

My thoughts whirled, as did the brewing gusts of wind all around.

Sending a cluster of leaves flying, I let my body flop down with a crunch into the russet pile; then, burying my face, prayed desperately for shelter as the surrounding air grew colder and colder, a single snowflake fluttering down to land on my comb.