Chapter 4 - Nocturne

Harry was dreaming.

He saw himself as a child, precocious and clever, playing in the woods behind his house. The others were inside, getting ready to leave for his sister's first communion. His older sisters had already gone through this ritual, and Harry was bored, so he had secretly gone outside knowing full well that his mother would scold him for endangering his clean, crisp clothes.

It was a cool morning and the trees dripped heavily with dew. He came upon a small trap that he had made the day before, just to see if he could, and was surprised to see a small bird caught inside it.

The thrill of actually catching something wild went almost as quickly as it came, and he was overwhelmed with concern for the fragile little creature. His sisters thought he was cruel because he was so sarcastic to them, but he was, in fact, a very softhearted boy...empathetic and perceptive.

He carefully opened the trap and sat back, watching to see if the bird would hop out. Quietly, patiently waiting, he studied its eyes and movements. The poor thing was too tired and frightened to move.

He called to the bird, hoping to coax it out. When that didn't work, he dug up a worm with his hands and place it in front of the trap's opening. But the bird just cowered in to corner, panting with its beak open.

Guilt swept over him.

He had done this. He had trapped and terrified this little beauty just for fun, and now he was desperate to free it and free himself.

Harry walked carefully to the back of the trap and lay down on the soggy leaves with his face nearly touching the bird. He knew it would mean the end of spotlessness for his clothes, but he had to make sure it went free before his family called him away.

And so face to face with the thing he had trapped, he began to scream, hoping to scare the bird into moving. It flinched, and Harry began pounding the ground with his fists while he continued to scream. He wanted it to hate him and fly away in fear.

The bird flopped and scrambled its way to the door, and Harry stopped for a moment. He wondered if its wings had been injured, and he bit his lip. Then, just as his mother arrived to investigate the horrid sounds coming form the woods, the bird flew up to a high branch and watched as Harry surrendered to the spanking he knew that he deserved.