Coward

Sal's POV

"There you are!" Rosa exclaimed.

-I've never seen her so…-

With a large leap, Rosa free fell into the air, into…

-Seen her so happy.-

Rosa plunged into his fur, sinking into him. Her limbs extended and stretched out flat, splatting onto him.

"I could not find you!" Rosa said, her voice muffled by Sal's shaggy fur.

"Rosa-hic." With a hoarse voice, Sal hiccuped, his eyes red and snot dripping down.

"You!" With her cheeks inflating into balloons from anger, she froze, and deflated her cheeks. With a little huff, she jumped off of Sal, trying to straighten herself out, her cheeks somehow seem tinted.

"Ahem, I simply want to know what happened. You disappeared."

As if she didn't plaster herself on Sal like a wet leaf, Rosa glanced away, returning to her usual calm appearance.

Still, there was still unresolved frustration written across her face.

Wiping all the salty tears and snot from his face, Sal whispered, "I'm really sorry. I- I thought there was a harpy eagle flying above us."

"I hid to hic-, avoid hic-, getting hunted by it."

"I should've told you, but I was scared of alerting the eagle. Hic-"

The anger dissolved from Rosa's face.

"A harpy eagle?"

"Yeah, harpy eagle," Sal replied, his hiccups alleviating a lot, his words no longer slurred, "They're a sloth's biggest predator. They swoop down and-"

Shaking his head, Sal swallowed down the rest of his words.

"I see, that is why you disappeared so suddenly," Rosa nodded understandingly.

Sal lowered his head. A burning red sensation spread across his face like a poisonous ray of sun, burning him so ferociously that his fur might start smoking.

It was the sensation of shame, sizzling his face and branding his heart.

"I went up to go and see what had startled you. I saw nothing, so that means there was no harpy eagle. You are safe."

Noticing Sal lowering his head, Rosa comforted, "It makes sense. That is what an animal must do in order to survive."

"It is our instincts."

"Though I must say," Rosa added, "You are quite adept at hiding. Even though I may be nocturnal, you blended right in. I got fooled."

"Your fur has some green tinge to it, like algae or moss growing on you, camouflaging you."

"A great mechanism for survival."

"..."

No response from Sal.

"..."

"...It is getting late, is it not?" Rosa kindly remarked, trying to ease up the mood.

"A lot of events happened today. I think we are all a bit tired."

"Well Sal, I will see you next time."

"I hope by then you will be more open to talk."

Pausing for a moment, Rosa quietly looked at Sal.

No response, just huddled up, head down, quiet.

With a complicated gaze, Rosa took a deep breath, and jumped.

She paused again, turned to see him.

To see Sal not even with his usual smile and enthusiastic goodbye's, Rosa uncomfortably looked away.

Taking another deep breath, she jumped again, and made her way in the forest.

One jump after another, Rosa made her way home, disappearing once again.

And Sal was left alone, once again.

---------------

Sal stayed in the same place.

He hadn't moved an inch.

How could he? After all-

-I'm a coward.-

This realization hurts.

Like his heart got stomped on, or a knife stabbed squarely in the middle, twisting the blade left and right, up and down, or his heart wringed out like a wet cloth.

Painful and swollen, aching and sore.

-I'm a coward through and through.-

Sal gnashed his teeth, his hand clenched the tree trunk so hard his claws screeched on the bark.

-While I was here hiding away like a coward, Rosa was out there trying to find me!-

-If there really was a harpy eagle, wouldn't I just be abandoning Rosa? Aren't I trying to get her killed?-

-When we met the Army Ants, Rosa stood tall. She defended me!-

-She was willing to fight in order to protect.-

-And here I am, hiding without a squeak, so I could survive.-

-But, I did that so I could survive. I'm not as agile as Rosa!-

-But…she's so small, while I'm so big. I have an upperhand on size.-

-Yet I hide behind her like a baby.-

-So selfishly, so timidly…-

-I'm just…I'M JUST A COWARD!-

-Because…-

"I'm just, so useless."

With a whisper, the previous light of excitement and eagerness in Sal's eyes dimmed and flickered.

"I'm so slow, so scared. Even if a harpy eagle was here, how could I protect her?"

Sal's eyes flickered, and the light trembled, and extinguished under Sal's anguish.