Page 103 of Raw

Papa was already minding his own business, but I knew he was still keeping an eye and ear on me.

Fen stuck his head out to look down at me, and as if he hadn’t noticed my angry glare, he smiled at me.

“Hey, sweet girl. Catch some big fish?” he asked, then he climbed down the ladder to stand right in front of me.

“What did you do?” I asked, my hands still propped on my hips.

“What’s wrong? Why are you so angry?” He placed a hand on the side of my neck, brushing his thumb along my skin with his head tilted to the side.

“Did something happen?”

“Don’t act so innocent,” I heard Papa grumble.

There were no words coming out of my mouth, feeling the knot in my throat tighten the longer I looked at him.

No shouting and screaming, I reminded myself, so the only other option to let my frustration out was to cry.

“What did you do to the foxes?” I asked, my voice shaky.

“What foxes? Do you mean the one I shot? I told you already, Ves. It was an accident.”

“No, not that one. The tails. There are tails hanging from the trees. Four of them,” I told him, crossing my arms over my chest now to try and calm myself down.

He eyed me carefully before shooting a glare at Papa. “You showed her?” he hissed, making my frown deepen ever more.

“No, Papa didn’t know about them either,” I said.

“He sure fucking did. I told you not to let her see them!” Fennec spat, gently pushing me aside to step closer into Papa’s direction.

What the hell is going on?

Papa set the net and rods down we used for fishing today, then he turned to face Fennec with a serious look I had never seen on him before.

He wasn’t messing around, but neither was Fennec.

“Stop lying to her. I didn’t know about those tails, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have taken her there if I knew it would upset her. Tell her why you killed those foxes and stop making me look like your accomplice. I’ve not helped you do shit ever since she came to live with us, and those tails looked like they haven’t been hanging there for more than two months.”

Papa had a point, and although I hated being lied to, I had to confess to myself that Fennec wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

He didn’t reply to Papa, and when I looked at Fennec again, he turned and walked away while pulling his knife out of his back pocket.

“Fennec!” I called out, immediately following him into the forest.

“Let him go!” I heard Papa mutter, but I didn’t listen and continued to go after Fennec.

“Fennec, stop!”

“I broke my promise,” I heard him say, which made my heart break hearing his voice filled with regret and sadness.

“Fen, please stop and let’s talk about it,” I begged, but he kept walking until we were back at the place I wished I’d never seen.

“I disappointed you. I messed up.”

“Fennec, please…” I reached for his hand and tried to pull him closer to me, but he shook my hands off and jumped up to get to the lowest branches on the first tree.

I watched him climb up, and when he could reach the first tail, he cut the rope to let it fall to the ground right in front of my feet.

“I’m not mad, Fennec. I just need you to explain to me why you did this,” I told him, hoping he’d stop acting this way.

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