“Thank you so much again for my camera, Ry. I love it so much!” I crooned as I snapped another picture of him. We were hanging out under the Weeping Willow after I was done with school, as usual.
“Will you please stop taking pictures of me?! I’m going to take it back and throw it in the pond if you don’t.” Rydan put his hand over the camera while rolling his eyes, but a smile played at the edge of his lips.
I stuck my tongue out at him and then smirked as I said, “Fine,” in a defeated but still happy tone.
As I started to take another picture of the swans sitting in the water, I was all of a sudden pulled to my feet.
“What are you doing?!” I asked, completely surprised.
“Come with me,” Rydan said with excitement thick in his voice, causing me to look up at him. He still grasped my arm as he dragged me toward the woods. He was much taller than me, but it was still easy to see that his silver eyes looked wild.
He took me into the trees. I immediately began taking pictures of all the beautiful birches—their white bark peeled off, exposing the black underneath.
“Great idea, Rydan! Why didn’t I think of this? It’s breathtaking in here.”
“Shhh,” he whispered.
Oookay. I gave him a puzzled look, but he wasn’t looking at me. I continued taking pictures of the trees. The leaves were a beautiful golden orange and yellow, but there were still some green ones mixed in. So gorgeous!
“Nari, look,” Rydan breathed. He sounded like he had been holding his breath that entire time, just then letting it out.
“Ohh myy word. Ryyyy!” There in front of us was a stunning white fox with amazing baby blue eyes.
“I...I can’t believe this. How…?” I whispered.
“I have no idea. It’s so weird. He shouldn’t be here.” I could tell Rydan was just as confused as I was.
“He is just absolutely….spectacular. So incredibly gorgeous! I have never in all my life seen an animal as beautiful as this before,” I said in shock.
I looked at Rydan. Why did he look pained?
“Hey, you okay?”
“I’m fine. Take a picture.” He quickly glanced at me out of the corner of his eye then back to the fox in front of us.
“Oh yeah!!” I slowly took a dozen pictures of this amazing creature. And he let me. He just stayed there. “Rydan, how is this possible? He’s just letting me take pictures of him. He doesn’t seem scared or anything! He’s just standing there looking around like he doesn’t even care we’re here. I wish he’d look at me so I can get a picture of his eyes.
“Oh my god! Yes!” The fox looked at me just after I said that. I took several more pictures just before he darted off. “Wow, that was so amazing. I’m so glad you thought to come in here.”
Rydan stared down at the ground smiling. It almost appeared like he was remembering something—he looked so serene. He glanced up then, looking after where the fox had gone. Then he seemed sad, like he missed something. I couldn’t help but watch him as he went through all these different emotions. It was like the fox was important to him.
“Hey...you okay? What’s wrong?” I finally asked. Curiosity always got the best of me.
“What? Oh. Yeah. That was just really cool,” he answered a little weakly. He started walking back to the Willow tree, but the wheels had already started turning in my head so I hardly noticed him leaving.
That whole experience gave me an idea—a super great idea—I finally knew what I would paint for Rydan’s gift!
Chapter Thirteen