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I knew my way home.

Nudging Sitka, I made her get up and leave the car before I did the same.

Even with us not wanting to use our phones too much, I had to contact them again to let them know I was here, waiting to be picked up.

I walked over to the back of the truck to get my phone out of the duffle bag.

While I turned it back on, Jason started to unload the truck, making Sitka grab a few things that weren’t too heavy to pull or carry over to the front door and garage.

“It’s getting dark too, Vespyr. How about you stay one night and let them pick you up tomorrow morning? You can have one last good meal before having to hunt for your own food.”

I shook my head, not wanting to wait another minute to be with them, but when the screen lit up, I saw a text from Papa’s phone.

I’ll come get you tomorrow. - F

A simple text which had the power to make my heart ache. Not sure if it was a good or bad aching.

Spending one night here with Jason before finally being where I was supposed to be made me anxious, but the one letter at the end of the text excited me more than anything.

“Fennec will come get me tomorrow morning. He texted,” I explained.

“Good. It’s too late to walk through the forest now. Grab some things and help me get everything inside.”

I sighed, pushing my phone back into the duffle bag and then helping Jason with everything he took with him to survive another six months here.

“Stop frowning like that, kid. I’ll make us something nice and then you can go to sleep so tomorrow comes quick. What do you like to eat?” he asked.

“I eat everything,” I told him with a shrug.

“Didn’t expect anything less from you,” he said with a chuckle. “How about a big steak with mashed potatoes?”

“Sounds delicious,” I replied, trying to make my smile meet my eyes.

I wanted today to be over already, and I wanted the night to pass me by in the blink of an eye so I could finally run into Fennec’s arms.

3

Last night, my excitement wasn’t the reason why I couldn’t sleep.

It was the loud noises Jason made in his sleep.

He sounded like a race car mixed with a tractor, snoring as if it was the one thing he was good at.

I couldn’t close my eyes, but my tiredness took over me eventually, making me fall into a quick but deep sleep until six in the morning when Jason was up already, talking to Sitka.

He let me take the guest bedroom, which he for some reason had.

Never did he have guests over.

None that I knew of.

I pushed myself up to stretch, and once I was dressed, I left the bedroom to see Jason standing in the kitchen, cutting a chicken in half to feed to Sitka.

“Good morning,” I announced.

They both turned around, and Sitka was the first to greet me back by running toward me and jumping up with her paws on my shoulders.

I rubbed her head with both hands and pressed a kiss to it before making her get down again.

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