# Big Buck
On Tuesday, the 8th of April 2025 | 1 144 words
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Snow fell outside the cabin window, each flake a falling star against the black woods. The kettle on the stove whistled steam out of its nozzle, but the girl paid it no mind. She kept flipping pages, eyes glued to the text written upon them. Her heart was racing and her cheeks were flushed. Fabian, the male protagonist, was about to confess his love to Esmeralda, and it was going to get s p i c y.
The kettle howled now.
"Can you get that fucking thing!?" The voice bellowed.
With a yell, the girl dropped her smut and jumped to her feet. She looked around the cabin, but there was no one there. The cabin wasn't that big, a single room with a bed in one corner, table and chairs in another, and a kitchen taking up one wall opposite of the door. A wood-burning stove sat in the middle of the space, the kettle howling on top.
"W-Who said that?" The girl whimpered.
-"I did, you doofus. Now make that whistling stop!" Replied the voice.
She yelped and skittered on tippy-toes to the stove, lifting the kettle by its handle and putting it on the kitchen counter.
The girl looked around once more. Not a lot of places to hide in a cabin this small, and the voice didn't seem to be coming from outside.
"Thank you. You have no idea how sensitive my ears are."
"W-who are you? Where are you?"
"Up here."
The girl turned and looked up, and there above the door, mounted onto the wall, she saw the head of a buck. Felled by her grandfather eons ago, stuffed by Old Mister Jebadoodle in town. Old Jebadoodle loved to stuff dead things. Coyotes, bucks, his ex-wife, and even ducks and mice and other small critters.
"W-was it you, Mr. Buck?" Inquired the girl.
The buck stared forward with its eyes. Black beads, lifeless and without soul.
"Who the hell else would it be?" Said Mr. Buck. "You can call me Big Buck."
The girl stared at the head of the buck. Mr. Buck. Big Buck. The voice was clearly coming from it, but the buck did not move its mouth, nor did it move at all. It just hung there on the wall, and stared mindlessly forward at the opposite side.
"What's the matter with you girl? This is about the time you introduce yourself!"
"O-Oh, right." The girl stammered, "I'm Luciebelle, but folks just call me Lucy."
"What a stupid name. Luciebelle. Humans have such stupid names."
"W-well, that's rude. Coming from a..." She didn't have the heart to call Mister Big Buck for what it was: a dead animal. She cleared her throat.
"S-say uhh Big Buck, how come you can talk?"
There was silence now. Outside, the wind was picking up speed. The cabin's windows shook in the wind, and their steady rapping broke the silence. In her throat Luciebelle could feel the grasp of anxiety, as she looked up to the buck and waited for an answer. Though she wore a sweater, shivers ran down her arms and back, and the cabin seemed to grow darker.
"I don't rightly now," mused the buck. "That kettle of yours was hurting my ears, so I decided to speak up. Thanks for taking care of it, by the way."
Luciebelle looked back in surprise, having forgotten all about wanting to make tea.
"Say Lucy, could I ask you for another favour?"
The girl hesitated, looking back up at the buck. Why did I have to stay up late reading again, she lamented. Now I'm talking to a dead buck.
"I suppose. I mean, if it's something that I can do."
Outside the wind's lonely aria rang in the trees and the cabin's windows shook and rattled. What had been a light snowfall, was turning into a storm. Luciebelle looked at the buck in anticipation. Her stomach turned and the hairs on her neck stood up straight.
"Won't you take me down, Lucy? Now that we're friends. Take me down off this wall, so that I can get a good look at you."
Luciebelle didn't know what else to do, and so she retrieved a wooden stepladder from the kitchen cupboard, and brought it to the door. She set it down and stepped up, soon finding herself close enough to the buck's head that she could touch it.
"There you go Lucy. Don't you trip and fall now."
The girl placed her hands on either side of the buck's head, on its cheeks, she figured even on a buck they'd be called cheeks. She lifted, her arms straining against the weight of the buck's head.
"What the heck did Old Jebadoodle stuff you with? Lead and iron?"
"It's not wood wool and wire, I can tell you that much."
With gritted teeth Luciebelle lifted and lifted and lifted some more, until she felt the head come loose off the hooks holding it onto the wall. She struggled to keep her balance, stepping back down and onto the floor.
"Phew. I made it."
She stood there in silence, holding the buck's head in her hands. She could now look into its eyes, and there seemed to be something else there. A sparkle.
"Turn me around, won't you Lucy?" Said the buck.
Luciebelle did as she was told, and gasped when she turned the buck's head around, only to find a mirror on the other side. No, not a mirror, it was a window through which Luciebelle could look and see the wood-burning stove, and the kitchen beyond.
A large man stood next to the stove now. He was naked, and Luciebelle saw his muscles flex as he stretched his back and arms.
"Oh that feels good!" He said with a laugh. "Thanks a million, Lucy."
The man turned and came over to Luciebelle. She wanted to back away, and told her body to do as much, but nothing happened! The man reached down and took hold of Luciebelle on either side, his large hands lifting her up by her cheeks.
"No! Put me down! Let me go!" She shouted.
"But that won't do, Lucy." He said with a smile, "a beautiful specimen like you ought to be displayed."
The man carried Luciebelle by her cheeks and climbed onto the stepladder. She could only stare at his face, as he shifted her around, trying to find the hooks. He licked his lips and with a huff, lowered Luciebelle onto the hooks on the wall. Luciebelle tried to resist, tried to flail and kick and run away, but it was like her body wasn't receiving the signals.
"There we are," the man said and descended from the stepladder. "Thanks for doing this for me Lucy. It has been a long time since I could walk about."
Luciebelle could only scream.
