Hushed Willows loads;liquids;neon;heater;jaws;jungle;mains;signal;

turned out that cam had a split second to be outraged over the small thing's departure, for here came a big shadow, tumbling out of the wood without warning and coming to a halt right in front of him. cam backpedaled and tumbled over with a gasp (he'd never really managed the ear-splitting shrieks and hollers of his siblings). blinking, he opened his eyelids—they'd screwed hard shut for an instant—to stare madly at the newcomer.

yes, a shadow. like lil-ee. kind of like the shadow he'd seen the other day. where did they come from? why did they get so close?

c-cam, he stuttered, not knowing what else to say in the moment. really, his mind had been wiped blank by this surprise trauma. all he could remember was his name. he began to babble. cam cam cam c-cam cam c-cam. . . he tilted his head, his jaw agape, and managed a stupefied uh?—

because confused, interrogative sounds ran in every language, even wordless baby ones.