Wills Road

This is a fictional short story about a young elephant, who goes by the name of Will. His story begins about six months after he was born on the African Savanna, in a little forest outside of Kenya where he questions his mother,...

"Mother, why is it that I must follow everyone as we go around this dry little forest when I am so thirsty from all this heat? Can't I just go and have a quick drink first?"

His mother replied and said that it is better for us to stay together when we go to drink rather than to go alone, since the world is fraught with dangers.

Later during that day, when the sun rose to its peak, little Will decided to sneak off and find some water, since he felt that he had to right to it, being as thirsty as he was.

He hadn't gone far when a well known pride of lions started to walk along the edge of the forest, known as the Silver Tail pride.

They too were in search of water, as well as something to sustain their large appetites, and a young elephant would certainly make for a tasty treat.

But the pride knew that if they were to have any chance to take down a young elephant, it would have to be alone since it could be fatal to try and attack an elephant with its herd around.

Young Will did not know the real danger he was in, as he had left the herd in search of water and didn't know the safety the herd brought him.

Upon coming out of the little forest, his path brought him directly in front of the path of the Silver Tail pride.

Both Will and the lions were so surprised to see each other that they did not know how to react at the moment.

Will soon realized his mistake and took back off into the forest, bellowing as loud as he could with his little trunk.

The lions soon regained themselves and chased after the little elephant into the forest.

Young Will ran for his life, traversing through that small and tight forest as fast as he could, with the Silver Tail pride right on his heels.

Soon, young Will was exhausted and the lions were about to pounce upon him, when the matriarch of his herd came rushing out of the trees and cut off the Silver Tails path.

A short time after, the rest of the herd came to join the matriarch and charged right at the Silver Tail pride.

The lions knew that they had no chance of winning this fight, so they decided to retreat and return to their search for water.

After all the lions had left, the rest of the herd came around Will and tried to comfort him the near death experience he had just witnessed.

His mother in particular was very worried for her son, and would not leave his side for the rest of the day.

Once it grew dark, the elephants decided that they needed a drink and moved down to the nearest watering hole.

When Will got to the water, he soon came to a realization about why he and his herd must stick together.

Pride can blind one to the dangers that come before them when they decide to do something, so in order to avoid such a mistake, the herd sticks together in order to gain experience from those around them and learn what they must do in order to survive.

Every living creature has a will that can drive it forward or backwards, but for little Will, he now knows a little more about what it means to stick together in order to survive, even if it means being thirsty for a while.