Fatal Attraction

He is destined never to see the winter. Every year as the earth tilts he flies from his northern home to Antarctica covering thousands of miles. It's coded in his genes that his life will be all summer.

The frosty breeze marked the advent of winter in the northern hemisphere. The Arctic terns stirred up. Time to fly!
In no time darkness will set in and the temperature will plummet down to several degrees below zero, a condition that is synonymous to death.

He gilded smoothly through the air leaving the arctic wilderness behind towards the warmth of the tropics. It was so routine. He had been doing this for the past 12 years of his existence. There had been no alteration. Two summers a year.

Arduous as it is the journey must be completed. For an arctic tern its this journey which demarcates life from death, light from darkness. Each bird knows he must not stray away from his routine path at any cost.

He was flying low. The tiny iridescent spot amidst a thick bush caught his attention. His birdlike instincts said its worth pecking. And he knew he ought to keep flying towards south. No distractions. No going astray. He circled the sky in dilemma.

At last the juices of avarice gained control. "A little swooping down will all it take"he thought."No big deal, I can catch up easily." A subtle aerodynamic change and he was headed down, his counterparts flying past at 200 miles per hour overhead.

Realization hit him a fraction of a second later into the point of no return. He saw the iridescent spot among the green leaves move but then it was too late to change his locomotive gradient towards the sky, towards life.

The snake flicked its body upwards and hit him while he was in mid-air.
He watched the sides of its head get the sinister concave look they get when the fangs are emptied. Right then he knew his mortality was under direct challenge.

As the venom coursed through his veins the warmth of life began to wane. He was retracing his flight back into the darkness of the North. The light of summer began to dim. He felt the coldness grip his heart slowly, slowly inexorably.

It was winter for the first time.