The Mystery of Whitey

The Mystery of Whitey

     Brannin, fifteen, had a red face from anger as he paced in front of a small Contact Monitor, hovering at eye level before him without any help, while talking to his friend Kloam – who’s sixteen. “What do you mean you can go with me tonight?” Brannin asked.

     “I can’t go,” replied Kloam. “My mother found out what we were really going to do.”

     “That makes four so far who can’t do it,” said Brannin. “I guess I am going to have to do this on my own?”

     “I’m going too,” said Helanna – eleven. Her voice made Brannin stop his pacing.

     “No, you’re not. You are one of the reasons why I am going.”

     “That’s why I want to go,” said Helanna. It’s why I have to do it.”

     Brannin returned his attention to Kloam. “Why didn’t you tell your mother you were going to spend the night at my house or someone else’s house? That’s what I told my mother.”

     “I did, but she overheard me talking about it. She confronted me about it,” said Kloam.

     “You could have lied to her,” said Brannin. “The same thing happened to me. My mother found out, but I lied to her. I told her she misunderstood me.”

     “Now you have to take me with you.” Helanna had a big smile on her face. “If you don’t I’m going to tell mother what you are really going to do tonight.”

     “That isn’t much of a threat,” said Brannin. “I don’t care if you come or not, but I’m not going to be responsible for you. You also have to come up with a reason why you are leaving the house too.”

     Helanna thought about that. “That’s not a problem. I will tell her it isn’t fair you get to spend the night at a friend, and I can’t. So I contacted a friend and am going to her house.”

     “See my Bratty sister came up with an excuse,” said Brannin. “Why didn’t you?”

     “Sorry, but I’m not a good liar like you and your sister are. When my mother confronted me I had to tell her the truth,” said Kloam.

     “Thanks to you my mother probably already knows it too,” said Brannin. “She probably contacted her as soon as you told her.”

     “I didn’t think of that,” said Helanna. “Thanks a lot Kloam.”

     “No she hasn’t,” said Kloam. “We only have one Contact Monitor, the other two are down at the moment, and I’m using it.”

     “It doesn’t really matter,” said Brannin. “I’m going – even if I have to do it without my mother knowing about it."

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     A few minutes later Brannin and Helanna came down from upstairs. “I’m headed over to my friend’s house,” said Brannin as he started for the front door.

     “Drop Helanna off on your way there,” said the voice of his mother, Porrie, coming from the family room. “It’s starting to get dark out there, and I don’t want her out there on her own. I don’t even like you being out there.”

     Brannin stomped into the family room. Helanna entered a few steps behind him. “Do I have to do it?”

     “You do if you want to go over to your friend’s house overnight,” answered Porrie. Porrie sat in an overstuffed chair watching a Media Monitor. “There’s been another sighting of that female deer¹ that has been coming into the neighborhood.”

     That why I am going into the wooded area behind our backyards. I am going to find out why it suddenly showed up a few months ago. Why it’s been seen in several backyards, on the road a few times, only to disappear before anyone else could see it except the one who saw it then. Most of all I want to know why it’s white. I was one of the first ones to see it, and it scared Helanna when it suddenly appeared behind her one day.

     Porrie continued unaware of what her son thought. “So far no one has gotten hurt by that animal, but I don’t want you to take any chances.”

     “I don’t want to do it for Bratty, but I will.” Brannin grabbed Helanna on his way out of the living room.

     “What did I tell you about calling your sister Bratty?” Porrie asked.

     “Not to call her that.” Brannin could barely be heard by Porrie.

     Porrie did hear the front door slam shut. “What did I tell you about that too?”

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     It only took a few minutes to get to the wooded area behind them, but it took another hour to get to his final destination: a small clearing about a mile from their house. “It has to be around here somewhere, and I’m going to find it. If I do, I will be the most famous kid on Thalon.”

     “Don’t forget me,” said Helanna. “I’m here too.”

     “I haven’t forgotten,” said Brannin. “Sure wish I could though.”

     “What makes you think it’s around here?” Helanna asked.

     Before Brannin could answer Helanna he bumped into two other kids there: thirteen, Lurri, and eighteen, Weatic. Everyone introduced themselves to each other.

     Both males said the same thing, but in different ways. “Who are you?”

     They also said almost the same thing when they answered those questions. “We are here looking for something.”

     “What are you looking for?” Lurri asked.

     “Whitey,” replied Helanna. “That’s what everyone is calling it in our village.”

     Lurri looked at Weatic – and smiled. Then said to Brannin and Helanna. “That’s what we are looking for too. We coated her in white for an upcoming show, but she got away from us, and we have been looking for her ever since then.”


¹Just because I am using the word ‘deer’ in this story doesn’t mean that’s what it is. It looks a lot like one, but that isn’t what it’s called on Thalon. The only reason why I am using it is because of the Prompt for today.