Page 15 of Raw

There was a lot of meat on that one, so we’d dry the rest we wouldn’t be cooking tonight to make jerky out of it.

“Where did you put the antlers?”

“Cleaned them and put them up to dry over by the treehouse. I was thinking of making Jason take it with him the next time he goes to town to sell them and give the money to your Mama.”

“Sounds like a great idea. I need to see the treehouse,” she announced happily, giving Papa one last hug before taking off toward the big trees Papa had put to good use when we were little.

I watched her reach the trunk where wooden planks had been nailed into it to make it easier for us to climb.

The treehouse was big enough for Vespyr and me, even now that we were grown.

When I looked back at Papa, his stare was lingering on me as if I had done something wrong.

But those looks weren’t rare in the past weeks.

He shot me one whenever he felt like it was needed, even without me ever saying a word to him.

I raised a brow. “What?”

Whatever was going on between Papa and me, there was no way in hell I would let Vespyr feel the same anger I was feeling toward Papa.

She deserved to be happy and live her best life here with us.

It was her choice.

*

“When will we go fish?” Vespyr asked as she sat down next to me on the tree trunk in front of the fire I started while she unpacked her clothes in the treehouse and Papa continued to cut apart the caribou.

“I was thinking of going tomorrow. I found a new spot where there are more fish than where we usually go. It’s further away.”

She smiled. “I like exploring new places. It’s like every time I come here, the forest shifts, and nothing is the same other than the path leading back to Wiseman.”

She was right about that, but the longer you lived here, the more places you found.

The forest is a dangerous place, but when you know your way around, it wasn’t too bad.

“As long as I don’t get chased by you like when we were little, I don’t think I’ll get lost.”

I chuckled, thinking back to the days we used to play tag.

Papa always had an eye on us, watching us run around the camp. But the older we got, the further away we ran.

“Getting lost was completely your fault. I told you not to run so far, but you wouldn’t listen.”

Remembering that day and how Papa and I had to go look for Vespyr deep in the forest, hoping she was okay and didn’t stumble across animals that could’ve hurt her made me feel some type of nostalgia.

As much as I loved Vespyr, I remembered having this strange and heavy feeling deep down in my chest, telling me that chasing my sister around and her getting lost was not okay, but on the other hand…I liked knowing that she was probably afraid and crying, unsure of where to go.

I chased her just so I could hold her and tell her that everything’s okay.

Show her how protective I was of her, and how bad I felt that I made her go through such a horrible experience at only eight years old.

You’re sick, a voice in my head hissed.

Those voices came and went ever since starting high school.

They were nasty.

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