Echoes At Sunset

༺༒•𝔈𝔠𝔥𝔬𝔢𝔰 𝔄𝔱 𝔖𝔲𝔫𝔰𝔢𝔱•༒༻

ᴛʜɪs sᴛᴏʀʏ ɪs ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ғᴏʀ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀɢᴇs 𝟷𝟺! ᴛʜᴇ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴀɪɴs ɢᴀʏ ᴄᴏᴜᴘʟᴇs/sʜɪᴘs, ʟɢʙᴛǫ+ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀs, ᴍɪɴᴏʀ ɪɴᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴘʀɪᴀᴛᴇ ʟᴀɴɢᴜᴀɢᴇ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴠɪᴏʟᴇɴᴛ sᴄᴇɴᴇs. ɪғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ ᴜɴᴄᴏᴍғᴏʀᴛᴀʙʟᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ᴀɴʏ ᴏғ ᴛʜɪs, ɪᴛ ɪs ʀᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴇᴅ ʏᴏᴜ ᴄʟɪᴄᴋ ᴏғғ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ғᴏʀ ᴄʜᴏᴏsɪɴɢ ᴛʜɪs ʙᴏᴏᴋ.

ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ!

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊❤️🧡💛💚💙💜₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

Polar was the polar opposite of Solar- get it? It was a weird joke they were always teased about in elementary school.

Solar’s boundless optimism and energy stood in stark contrast to Polar’s chill demeanor and tendency to doze off. While Solar thrived on carefree moments, Polar found himself often worrying about their friends. As an Arctic Fox, Polar embraced the cold but shied away from the heat, whereas Solar, a Fennec Fox, basked in warmth and avoided the chill.

Polar understood Solar, and Solar understood him. So Solar understood that Polar had trouble grasping his thoughts.

Living with aphantasia, Solar couldn’t visualize images. Instead, she relied on observing what she wanted to imagine and adding mental details to make it feel real, or she would sketch her ideas. Polar was the same way, except with words.

Polar had thoughts that just came, but they never stayed long enough for him to understand the meaning of them. He could never quite grasp them. They just come and go.

“Perhaps it’s a good thing,” Star had once said. “Maybe it’s another part of you that you don’t understand. A side of you that might not sit well with you, so your brain pushes them away without you knowing. I don't know, don't listen to me.”

Right now he was having those thoughts. He woke up twenty minutes ago and laid there in bed. He calculated that in probably about seventeen minutes that ButterHoof (as she usually was the first one to wake up) would wake.

Seventeen? Why seventeen? I don’t even know what the time is. But, as quickly as the thought came, the thought left.

Another thing was that sometimes Polar did weird mental things. Like sometimes he would randomly count. He would count from one to a hundred, or he would count by two's as much as he could, or he would count by eights, or he would count by fives as high as he could then divide by ten. It was strange, but he found a sense of calm in doing so.

Or sometimes he would look at something and wonder what it would like if it was in a different color. And if it was in a different color, would other people view it differently? Would it make people act differently?

Maybe he would look at an object, spell the name out in his head, and try rearranging the letters. Or maybe he would try to create a different word for it altogether.

And it was mostly because of these things that he did in his head, that those thoughts just appear and disappear. He didn’t understand. It was his own mind, yet he couldn’t understand what it was trying to say.

Maybe it was a good thing.

Solar shook Polar aggressively. “Come ONNNNN!!! You won’t be able to get ready and eat if you wake up late, we have COLLEGE!!” Solar yelled in Polars ear practically. Polars ear twitched.

“Alright. ALRIGHT! I’m getting up,” Polar mumbled as he pushed away his twins hands. Solar nodded and ran out of the room. Polar forced himself out of the bed and threw on some clothes. He hadn’t even bothered to put on a puffy jacket or gloves due to the cold weather, since he was an Arctic Fox.

Polar walked out into the living room and found that mostly everyone was already up. ButterHoof was at the stove making mini pancakes. Solar was chatting with Iris, Luna, and Aqua at the bar. Flora and Ollie were reading on the couch together side by side. Ruth was sneaking up behind the two, before snatching up Ollie’s book. Ollie gave him an annoyed glare. The only people that weren’t in the living room yet were Mousy, and Sage.

Polar made his way over to Ruth and snatched the book out of his hands. “Ruth.”

“Polar,” Ruth addressed. Ruth was the group's troublemaker, usually always playing pranks.

“You’re a nutcrack, Ruth,” Ollie mumbled as he reached over and grabbed the book out of Polars hands. Ruth rolled his eyes and walked away. Polar made his way over to Solar and dramatically fell onto the bar.

“Why do I have to go?” Polar whined. Iris flicked at his ear while both Solar and Luna deadpanned at him. Luna pulled Iris’s hand away from Polars ear. Somewhere in the background, Ruth returned to his room.

“Because,” Solar began. “We’re all going to be successful when we grow up. And to be successful, we have to have at least a major.” Polar groaned and tilted his head slightly. He took a moment to gather his surroundings.

The room was loud, but not too loud. Mousy would have described the color as ‘a light sky blue with misty purple’. He could smell the clashed scent of moonflower and almond milk, courtesy of Luna and Iris. The curtain to the window was also open, so the room was brighter. But the sun still hadn’t taken its entire place to the sky, so the light wasn’t that bright. It actually gave the room an orange hue.

Polar tried to think that the room had a red hue instead of an orange one. It reminded Polar of the red gas that some cats released to make others fall asleep. Iris didn’t have that ability. It was usually cats that had a fur coat in the colors of blue to magenta that got that ability. It was a mutation that happened way before them, and for some reason it affected mostly the darker furred cats. Although, Polar had read online once about a light yellow Ragdoll that had gotten the ability.

Polar looked out the window where the sun came through. He noticed that trees were swaying to the aggressive winter winds. He tried to understand the tree's motivation to try and stay in place against the winds.

Winter was starting to approach, thankfully for Polar. Which meant a winter break. Polar had read that the snow would be up to four or five inches, which might mean a longer winter break.

While Polar may find it enjoyable, he thought about Star and her sisters. But, mostly Star. It would be difficult for her. It was somewhere in December when it happened. He wasn’t there when it did, Solar was, though. As was Luna. And, because of it, Planet has to ride around in a wheelchair.

“I mean, yes, you can do some things with a high school diploma. But not much,” Solar said out loud mostly to herself. Polar sat upright and stared at Solar seriously.

“And for nothing. We can barely do anything with a high school diploma! That’s like putting a child in juvie for four years for only a free coffee or something,” Polar argued. Solar was going to argue back, but saw the point in Polars argument, and stayed quiet. Polar smiled smugly when he realized he had won the argument.

“You know,” Polar began slowly. Solar turned to look at him. “I could always just skip-”

“No!” Solar shouted over him. Polar flinched and jumped back. Sage had finally emerged from her room, looked over at the two fox twins, and rolled her eyes at him.

“You have one day left before winter break, you’ll live.”

Polar banged his head against the bar and groaned out loud. “No I won’t.” Sage stared at Polar for a few moments before going into the kitchen to help ButterHoof. Polar looked up once he noticed that Sage was out of eye shot for him. “I just want to sleep,” Polar muttered.

Luna yawned and tugged at her ears. “I feel you there,” Luna added as she smoothened down some of her black wool. Then she poked at her broken horn. Luna turned to Polar. “If you do fall asleep though, I will not give you a dream. I will shake you awake.”

ButterHoof walked out of the kitchen, carrying more plates then you would think she's capable of holding. Sage walked out after her, holding a smaller amount. Carefully, the two of them placed a plate in front of every person in the room. Mousy emerged from her room and took a plate from ButterHoof.

“Mmm, I love your pancakes! They taste so good, and buttery,” Mousy said as she took a seat on the kitchen table. ButterHoof smiled at her comment.

“Thanks, we farmers just have a way with food,” ButterHoof replied before she disappeared back into the kitchen to gather her own plate and Ruth’s. Flora got up from her seat on the couch and approached Ruth’s bedroom door. She banged on it loudly, which made most of the people in the room jump up.

“RUTH! GET OUT AND EAT BEFORE WE LEAVE!” Flora shouted before taking her place back on the couch. Ruth exited his room, looking annoyed. Regardless, Ruth grabbed a plate from Sage and sat down at the kitchen table along with Mousy.

Polar sat up and began eating his own plate, wondering how everyone would have reacted if ButterHoof had just made eggs and bacon. Mm, Polar thought, bacon is good.

Solar had finished her plate at uncountable speed and opened the blinds of the window just a crack. She looked out for a moment before pulling away and turning to the group. “Apollo and the others just left the house,” Solar announced as she picked up her empty plate and went into the kitchen to place it in the sink.

This had pretty much motivated everyone else to eat faster. Everyone ate at a quicker pace before lining up in the kitchen to place their own plate into the sink. After Ollie and Ruth placed their plate into the sink, the sound of the house doorbell rang throughout the house.

Aqua quickly stuffed three water bottles into their bag and placed on a jacket. Flora zipped up her own puffy jacket, as did Solar. Ollie, Mousy, ButterHoof, and Ruth are already in theirs. Sage had predicted that it was going to be this cold a few weeks earlier and had already grown a double coat of fur. Poor Iris, since she was a small species of cat, she didn’t have a large coat of fur like Maine Coons and others. She and Luna went to retrieve their own coats from their rooms. Polar didn’t need a jacket.

Sage made her way to the front door as everyone gathered near the front of the house. Sage unlocked the front door and swung the door open. Apollo, Artemis, Bubbles, Holly, Jolly, and Remi stood.

“Star said she and her sisters already went, they’ll meet us there,” Remi informed. Everyone inside gave a nod to show that they understood.

“We’re supposed to be a friend group,” ButterHoof huffed. “We’re supposed to walk together, and wait for each other.”

“Everyone goes at different paces, B,” Sage cut ButterHoof off. ButterHoof huffed, but stayed quiet. Everyone took their turn to patiently walk outside into the cold air (Except Ruth). “Quit shoving,” Sage hissed when Mousy bumped their head against the frame of the door.

When Polar stepped out, he could see the three sisters far ahead on the sidewalk. They were practically little dots of color. You had to squint just to see them.

“I think everyone's here,” Remi cut into Polars thoughts. Polar turned around and saw everyone nodding.

“My offer still holds, I will still skip.”

“No you won’t,” Both Sage and Solar replied.

“Why did I take this course?” Polar asked Iris. Iris flicked her tail and rolled her eyes, shrugging.

“I dunno, you could’ve taken engineering, or animation, or HVAC, or welding, or music, or plumbing, or medical stuff- literally anything else. Not my fault or problem that you chose psychology,” Iris replied. “Honestly, I thought it would be different, but it’s not what I thought.”

“What did you think it would be like?”

“I didn’t think we would learn how minds work, I thought I would learn how to read minds.”

“Of course you did.”

“Okay, is everyone here?” Sage asked. Everyone nodded. They were all gathered at the front steps of the college. Finally, winter break… Polar looked around at the group.

Star and Ollie went to a different, private school, so they weren’t here. Remi was in band, Mousy was in choir, and Holly was in dance- so they weren’t here.

Polar began making sure that everyone was in fact here.

Sage, ButterHoof, Flora, Aqua, Luna, Iris, Ruth, Jolly, Artemis, Bubbles, Apollo, Planet, Comet… where's Solar?

“What’s wrong?” Bubbles asked.

“Where’s Solar?”