Disclaimer: This is an original piece of fiction, and belongs entirely to Quickflicker. It may not be reproduced or posted or shared without express written permission.
Author’s Notes: This story takes place in an alternate universe of my own creation, where animals exist in the place of humanity. Humans never existed, and all great inventions and discoveries of history have been done by animals instead. These are completely feral animals, not anthropomorphic. Imagine if you will that their use of cars, door knobs and the like are due to these things being created in such a way that they are usable without opposable thumbs, etc. Suspend belief a little bit and enjoy!
Mystery Among the Stars
It was raining, the day they buried Akash.
It appeared that the whole village had turned out to see the old dog off into the afterlife, but it was of little comfort to his only son.
Still young, Bhang watched friends and strangers alike as they milled about his home, speaking among each other in subdued voices. On the large dining table sat gifts of fruit, as is customary at this ceremony to free his father’s soul so it may ascend to Heaven.
Bhang wasn’t sure he believed there was any Heaven for his father’s soul to go to, and he knew his father had felt the same way. They had often sat together late at night, watching the stars through Akash’s large telescope and discussing the universe, afterlife, and the place that two dogs in India had in the vast unknown.
Now, there were all these animals in his home, talking like they’d known Akash, like they would miss him, and Bhang was angry. What did they truly know of his father? They had talked about him like he was crazy, they didn’t understand his work. Children thought he was a vampire and told each other scary stories about the old dog that lived in the tower on the hill outside the village, sleeping all day and staying up all night. But Bhang knew his father was just working, studying the night skies, trying to discover new life, new worlds, a new adventure.
And now he was gone, and everyone who ridiculed him was here, trying to comfort Bhang and his mother, talking about Akash like they had been friends, like they weren’t just going to go home and forget all about the astronomer on the hill.
Disgusted, Bhang retreated to his bedroom in the attic, knowing his mother would scold him later and not caring at all. He just needed to be alone.
Bhang closed the door behind him, and walked across his small room with the slanted walls, ducking under the stars that hung from the ceiling and coming to a stop at his window. Already set up was his father’s telescope, a bit too big for the space, but he didn’t mind.
Since the cremation ten days earlier, he had been spending every night looking at the sky alone, already taking up his father’s mantle, continuing his work. During the day, he poured over his father’s notes and submissions to various scientific and astrological journals and publications, learning all he could about Akash’s work, determined to finish what his father had started.
Bhang sat at his desk, clicking the lamp on and picking up the worn notebook that held his father’s latest notes – he’d been trying to make sense of the things he’d been reporting, but it was all very hard to follow. Toward the end of his illness, it had seemed like Akash’s mind was going just a bit, and now Bhang was struggling to understand what the disjointed notes and comments meant.
Staring at the pages, he almost seemed to look through them, and into his memories, and he found himself once again reliving his last moments with his father, as he had so many times over the past week and a half, his brain working out the puzzle while his heart wept for the loss.
~ ~ ~
Akash lay, so still, on the bed. He had refused to end his life anywhere but at home, and now, so close to the finish, he’d asked his wife to leave him and his son to talk “man to man”.
Bhang watched his father’s chest slowly rise and fall, heard the struggle for each bit of air, and felt both panic and dread mixing into a ball of hot lead in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He looked silently into his father’s eyes, once so green and bright; full of humor and kindness, and now so dull and tired.
Akash licked his lips, muzzle twisting in a grimace of pain, and cleared his throat before speaking, voice hoarse and weak.
“Bhang…” he murmured, and the younger dog padded cautiously closer, ears back and tail between his legs, “my son… the torch passes now to you…”
“Father…” Bhang choked out, eyes welling with tears, “Father, I’m not ready… there’s so much you haven’t taught me yet, so much I don’t know!”
Akash chuckled weakly. “That’s the secret, my boy. You will never know enough. You will never be ‘ready’. No one ever is.” he fell silent for a few moments then, gathering both strength and his thoughts, before continuing.
“The true measure of a dog – what sets him apart from a pup – is what he does when he does not know what to do. I believe in you, my son. I know that you can find what I could not.”
“Find what, father?” Bhang cried, “I don’t even know what you’ve been looking for all these years!”
Akash smiled, “you will know. Look at my research, and look to the stars. They will show you the way.”
About to protest, Bhang was interrupted by his father weakly raising a trembling paw to touch his son’s face, stroking his dark fur.
“So much of me is inside you, but your eyes, and your heart… that is all your mother. I know you can do this, Bhang. I know you can finish what I started. I love you, my son.”
A sob escaped before Bhang could hold it back, “I love you too, father, I love you too, please…”
“Send your mother in, son. And go to your room. It is time, and this isn’t something for you to see.”
Sobbing, Bhang licked his father’s muzzle, breathing in his scent one last time – the scent of cool night air, of sandalwood and mystery. He left the room, tail still tucked between his legs, and found his mother waiting outside the door.
He didn’t need to speak, he just looked into her yellow eyes, filled with anguish, and she knew.
Going to her son, she nuzzled his face lovingly, then went into the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind.
And Bhang never saw his father alive again.
~ ~ ~
Shaking himself from his memories, Bhang looked down at the pages of his father’s notes again, surprised to see they were now a bit damp, and he blinked away the last remaining tears and wiped the back of his paw across his eyes, a little ashamed of crying even though no one was there to see it. He just didn’t understand – what was he meant to find, what mystery of the cosmos had his father left in his son’s paws?
A scratch on his bedroom door startled him from his thoughts, and he rubbed furiously at his eyes as he turned from his desk.
“Bhang, may I come in?”
It was his mother, Chandra, and Bhang stood up and made his way to the door, unlocking it and letting her in.
Chandra entered, meeting her son’s eyes, and she sighed softly.
“You are certainly your father’s son,” she murmured, looking past him to the desk piled high with her late husband’s work, his telescope standing beside it, “everyone was wondering where you had gone. Your friends are here, they’re worried about you.” She said softly, laying her head on his sturdy neck. Already he was nearly as tall as his father had been.
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Bhang said simply, “I don’t have anything to say. I just want to be alone to think.”
“You mean be alone to let your father’s work consume you. He never found them, try as he might. Why must you throw your life away on the same fruitless quest?”
Bhang froze, pulling away from his mother’s embrace.
“Them? Who? Who was father looking for?” He demanded, heart racing.
Chandra frowned, and for a moment it looked like she would refuse to answer, but then:
“Aliens, Bhang. Your father was trying to find and contact aliens. The ones who gave us you.”
Author’s Notes: This story takes place in an alternate universe of my own creation, where animals exist in the place of humanity. Humans never existed, and all great inventions and discoveries of history have been done by animals instead. These are completely feral animals, not anthropomorphic. Imagine if you will that their use of cars, door knobs and the like are due to these things being created in such a way that they are usable without opposable thumbs, etc. Suspend belief a little bit and enjoy!
Mystery Among the Stars
It was raining, the day they buried Akash.
It appeared that the whole village had turned out to see the old dog off into the afterlife, but it was of little comfort to his only son.
Still young, Bhang watched friends and strangers alike as they milled about his home, speaking among each other in subdued voices. On the large dining table sat gifts of fruit, as is customary at this ceremony to free his father’s soul so it may ascend to Heaven.
Bhang wasn’t sure he believed there was any Heaven for his father’s soul to go to, and he knew his father had felt the same way. They had often sat together late at night, watching the stars through Akash’s large telescope and discussing the universe, afterlife, and the place that two dogs in India had in the vast unknown.
Now, there were all these animals in his home, talking like they’d known Akash, like they would miss him, and Bhang was angry. What did they truly know of his father? They had talked about him like he was crazy, they didn’t understand his work. Children thought he was a vampire and told each other scary stories about the old dog that lived in the tower on the hill outside the village, sleeping all day and staying up all night. But Bhang knew his father was just working, studying the night skies, trying to discover new life, new worlds, a new adventure.
And now he was gone, and everyone who ridiculed him was here, trying to comfort Bhang and his mother, talking about Akash like they had been friends, like they weren’t just going to go home and forget all about the astronomer on the hill.
Disgusted, Bhang retreated to his bedroom in the attic, knowing his mother would scold him later and not caring at all. He just needed to be alone.
Bhang closed the door behind him, and walked across his small room with the slanted walls, ducking under the stars that hung from the ceiling and coming to a stop at his window. Already set up was his father’s telescope, a bit too big for the space, but he didn’t mind.
Since the cremation ten days earlier, he had been spending every night looking at the sky alone, already taking up his father’s mantle, continuing his work. During the day, he poured over his father’s notes and submissions to various scientific and astrological journals and publications, learning all he could about Akash’s work, determined to finish what his father had started.
Bhang sat at his desk, clicking the lamp on and picking up the worn notebook that held his father’s latest notes – he’d been trying to make sense of the things he’d been reporting, but it was all very hard to follow. Toward the end of his illness, it had seemed like Akash’s mind was going just a bit, and now Bhang was struggling to understand what the disjointed notes and comments meant.
Staring at the pages, he almost seemed to look through them, and into his memories, and he found himself once again reliving his last moments with his father, as he had so many times over the past week and a half, his brain working out the puzzle while his heart wept for the loss.
~ ~ ~
Akash lay, so still, on the bed. He had refused to end his life anywhere but at home, and now, so close to the finish, he’d asked his wife to leave him and his son to talk “man to man”.
Bhang watched his father’s chest slowly rise and fall, heard the struggle for each bit of air, and felt both panic and dread mixing into a ball of hot lead in the pit of his stomach. He didn’t know what to do, what to say. He looked silently into his father’s eyes, once so green and bright; full of humor and kindness, and now so dull and tired.
Akash licked his lips, muzzle twisting in a grimace of pain, and cleared his throat before speaking, voice hoarse and weak.
“Bhang…” he murmured, and the younger dog padded cautiously closer, ears back and tail between his legs, “my son… the torch passes now to you…”
“Father…” Bhang choked out, eyes welling with tears, “Father, I’m not ready… there’s so much you haven’t taught me yet, so much I don’t know!”
Akash chuckled weakly. “That’s the secret, my boy. You will never know enough. You will never be ‘ready’. No one ever is.” he fell silent for a few moments then, gathering both strength and his thoughts, before continuing.
“The true measure of a dog – what sets him apart from a pup – is what he does when he does not know what to do. I believe in you, my son. I know that you can find what I could not.”
“Find what, father?” Bhang cried, “I don’t even know what you’ve been looking for all these years!”
Akash smiled, “you will know. Look at my research, and look to the stars. They will show you the way.”
About to protest, Bhang was interrupted by his father weakly raising a trembling paw to touch his son’s face, stroking his dark fur.
“So much of me is inside you, but your eyes, and your heart… that is all your mother. I know you can do this, Bhang. I know you can finish what I started. I love you, my son.”
A sob escaped before Bhang could hold it back, “I love you too, father, I love you too, please…”
“Send your mother in, son. And go to your room. It is time, and this isn’t something for you to see.”
Sobbing, Bhang licked his father’s muzzle, breathing in his scent one last time – the scent of cool night air, of sandalwood and mystery. He left the room, tail still tucked between his legs, and found his mother waiting outside the door.
He didn’t need to speak, he just looked into her yellow eyes, filled with anguish, and she knew.
Going to her son, she nuzzled his face lovingly, then went into the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind.
And Bhang never saw his father alive again.
~ ~ ~
Shaking himself from his memories, Bhang looked down at the pages of his father’s notes again, surprised to see they were now a bit damp, and he blinked away the last remaining tears and wiped the back of his paw across his eyes, a little ashamed of crying even though no one was there to see it. He just didn’t understand – what was he meant to find, what mystery of the cosmos had his father left in his son’s paws?
A scratch on his bedroom door startled him from his thoughts, and he rubbed furiously at his eyes as he turned from his desk.
“Bhang, may I come in?”
It was his mother, Chandra, and Bhang stood up and made his way to the door, unlocking it and letting her in.
Chandra entered, meeting her son’s eyes, and she sighed softly.
“You are certainly your father’s son,” she murmured, looking past him to the desk piled high with her late husband’s work, his telescope standing beside it, “everyone was wondering where you had gone. Your friends are here, they’re worried about you.” She said softly, laying her head on his sturdy neck. Already he was nearly as tall as his father had been.
“I don’t want to see anyone,” Bhang said simply, “I don’t have anything to say. I just want to be alone to think.”
“You mean be alone to let your father’s work consume you. He never found them, try as he might. Why must you throw your life away on the same fruitless quest?”
Bhang froze, pulling away from his mother’s embrace.
“Them? Who? Who was father looking for?” He demanded, heart racing.
Chandra frowned, and for a moment it looked like she would refuse to answer, but then:
“Aliens, Bhang. Your father was trying to find and contact aliens. The ones who gave us you.”