The Death Stag

Braelynn Spearin

Maribelle absolutely despised hiking. She hated the feeling of stillness that came from being surrounded by trees… they were living, breathing, and moving, but far from people-like. It unnerved her. She understood that the plants were alive, yet they didn’t have legs or toes or hands or any human limb.

She was a city girl through and through. She belonged among the feelings of living beings and the signs of civilization. She preferred having people walking, jogging, or even shoving past her. She missed the loud voices shouting, conversations buzzing, even the babies crying from strollers by the crosswalks. Those were signs of life.

Currently, she was gasping for air while her cramping muscles were trying to carry her uphill. She couldn’t even see the skyline, just a bunch of motionless trees and the boy in front of her. The young man, Jade, stopped momentarily to turn and look at her. Maribelle met his eyes, and with a sigh wondered how she hadn’t been able to foresee this outing. Jade himself looked like he belonged to the woods with his eyes that were the same verdant green as the trees themselves and his fluffy blonde hair. If he wasn’t so muscular from daily gym workouts (and probably all this hiking), she almost could’ve mistaken him for a woodland spirit.

Through huffs she said, “Can… we… please… stop… a… moment…” She didn’t want to admit that this climb was hurting her as much as it was.

Jade replied cheerily,“We’re almost to the top, Mari. You can do it!”

Maribelle grunted at his attempt at encouragement. “No. I’m stopping here. If the end is so close, you go ahead yourself.” She sat down on a lifeless grey rock before her legs could give out and looked into his eyes. A cloud must’ve blown across the sky, because the light was gone from Jade’s face, and his eyes appeared to have become two slate stones in its absence.

He nodded and turned around to finish the hike. She watched him leave, and the cloud’s shadow followed him, the green color fading from the grasses and trees.

He had just disappeared from sight when a chill slithered around her spine. She closed her eyes to ignore it, but it was followed by a loud huff of air. Something was breathing. Her heart almost stopped.

She turned her head, and her eyes met with a pair of wispy orbs. Maribelle jumped,
heart pounding in her chest, when she realized the orbs were the eyes to a body. They
floated at an uneven proportion, one was sliding down the right side of a face, while the
other was too close to the center. They were like wisps of smoke with a crescent of white
light for a pupil.

The creature had the shape of a stag, but was far from it. Its rack of antlers were of chalk white bone, and they twisted together as bones should never do above the creature’s pointed skull. Its body was the color of a fading shadow, its hooves were white, but turned to grey at its knees and belly, darkening to inky black at the crest of its shoulders and head. The stag had a faint glow, as if the world had highlighted its form with a silver sharpie.

It looked like Death had come to life. Another chill twirled itself further up her spine, until she felt like it had penetrated her mind. It filled her head with a whisper, “If all you can see is stillness and death in this forest, then that is all you shall be able to see.”

Mirabelle blinked, and the monster of death was gone. The place where it had once stood was as colorless as the creature itself. Her world had gone black and white and entirely still. Panicked, she ran after Jade. When she crested the hill, she found him standing alone, waiting for her. “Jade!” she shouted.

He turned, and when his verdant eyes met hers, the world found its color again.

Nik Vagenius

Biography: Oregon based photographer, Nik Vagenius, has been in the photography game for only a few months. Originally from Indiana, they moved to Oregon to pursue their love of Marine Biology at Oregon State University. After being gifted an old camera, they quickly fell in love with photography, inspired by the Oregonian landscapes. The lush textures and narrative settings offering a perfect backdrop for their whimsical drawings. This layering of line, landscape and story has offered Nik the opportunity to bring three of his greatest loves together to express the joy and delight offered under an Oregon sky.

Artist Statement: I followed some train tracks a few miles this summer. It led to a clearing, near a river. I watched a mother and her fawn for a while, she knew I was there the whole time. Nearby was a farm with cows and crows flying overhead. I remember sitting there thinking, even in such a secluded part of the wilderness these animals still were forced to live in anxiety because of humanity. The train must become background noise for them. People still causing them anxiety. I was no different. I took their likeness and shifted it to something completely foreign. Just like people have with their land.

Braelynn Spearin

Biography: I grew up in the Portland area, about an hour away from Corvallis. I have lived in Oregon my whole life. I have grown up with my nose in many a fantasy book, and that passion is what I am looking to make into my career as I am majoring in creative writing, and looking to be a fantasy author.

Artist Statement: This short story embodies the theme of visions because Maribelle’s thoughts at the beginning of the story seem to come to life when she sees the vision of the stag, and the darkness and death that it brings. Yet when she meets Jade’s eyes, her proper vision returns and she sees the world differently than she did before.