Time for something different: A draft

Once upon a time...

In a forest...

A big forest... 

I mean... a REALLY big forest...

where there were lots of animals... 

and trees that grew so tall they cast shadows as far as the eye could see. 

It was in this forest, amongst all the other animals, there lived a duck named Bella and her companion, Sparks the rat. Bella was a curious duck, for as long as anyone could remember she had always been asking questions about everything and working out why things happened the way they did. 

One day, while all the animals were sitting around the gathering rock in the middle of the forest, eating mushrooms and sharing stories, Bella got to thinking about all the places she had been in the forest and how she had never seen past the edge of it all.

Bella looked at Sparks, who was reluctantly chewing on a mushroom while listening to the fox talk about how playful her litter of pups were. "Sparks?" she said, laying down on the grass beside them "what do you know about the edge of the forest?"

Sparks raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at her, "The edge of the forest?" said Sparks, "only that it's a long way off, and that we don't really need to go any further than it". 

"Have you ever wondered though? what it looks like? what's on the other side of it?" Bella was half daydreaming as she talked about it, almost losing herself in what she imagined it to be like. "We should go!" she said to Sparks as she pounced on them, knocking the mushroom from their hand.

"Alright, let's go!" Sparks said, grabbing some extra mushrooms for them to eat on their way to the edge of the forest. "What do you think we will see when we get there?" they asked

Bella grabbed Sparks’ hand as they walked, "I have no idea..." said Bella excitedly, "maybe it's a place where a giant dragon lives!". Sparks giggled along with her.

The pair had been walking for half a day before they could see the last line of trees in the distance that signalled the edge of the forest. Hunny and Bella looked at each other and grinned. They were so excited!

"Are you ready?" Bella asked Sparks... but as she finished her question a raven squawked nearby. They both turned to see the raven sitting on a branch in a tree near the edge preening itself.

"Must go alone Bella..." the raven squawked... "Must go alone..." and it flew down and perched itself on the ground beside Sparks. "Don't worry bout Sparks... we will talk, they and I, while you look over the edge"

Bella looked at the raven and then to Sparks, a bit scared of going out there alone. On all her big adventures Bella had always had Sparks by her side. How odd it was to have to do something and not have them with her.

"Okay..." Bella said, not being able to resist what was waiting beyond the trees. "I will tell you all about it when I come back!" Sparks walked over to Bella and hugged her tightly, and then she was off, walking the last few steps to see what was over the edge of the forest.

As Bella passed the last tree she took a deep breath. She had never seen anything like it. At the edge of a forest was a great lake of crystal clear water. "Wow!" she said as she looked out over it, her eyes catching sight of fish leaping out from the rippling lake.

But as she got used to what she saw, she caught sight of something in the distance. On the other side of the great lake was a forest, much like the one she had just come out from... and at the edge of the forest looking out across the great lake at her... was a duck... that looked identical to Bella

Bella stood there and thought for a few moments about what she was seeing. "How completely strange!" she said to herself, and all of a sudden it made perfect sense. She laughed to herself, then waved to the duck on the other side of the great lake, and as it waved back at her she turned and walked back to Sparks and the raven.

When she got back to the patch of grass where she had left the raven and Sparks, she saw the most curious thing. They were both rolling around on the floor, laughing so hard they couldn't stand up.

"What's so funny, you pair?" she asked, walking over and grabbing one of the mushrooms Sparks squirrelled away.

"Raven here was telling stories about how all of the other animals came to the edge of the forest and refused to go any further..." Sparks chuckled and walked over to Bella, giving her a huge hug.

When they got back home to the middle of the forest, they sat around the rock listening to the others tell their stories. Sparks looked at Bella and put their arm around her, "So what did you see at the edge of the forest?"

Bella smiled and kissed Sparks on the nose as she leant her head on his shoulder, "I saw that all I will ever need, I have right here with me... I saw another duck as well, on the other side of a great lake... she looked an awful lot like me..." as she closed her eyes she smiled at Sparks... "One day, we will cross that lake, you and I"