Fennec muttered the last words of his sentence, making it hard for me to hear what he said.
“After your what?”
“Forget it. He’ll be back by dinner. He’ll be happy about the fish we caught,” he told me with a smile.
I studied his face for a while before nodding and smiling back at him. “He’s going to be proud of us.”
Papa was the one teaching us how to hunt and fish when we were little, but he also taught us about all the different plants and trees surrounding us.
There was still a lot for Fennec and me to learn, even if he had already spent one whole year with Papa, but in the wild, you never stopped learning.
Of course, there were a few things we couldn’t find in the wilderness, like salt and flour, but we tried to use as few of those things as possible.
We made sure everything we did was convenient for us, so meat and berries were what we ate most of the time.
Fennec placed the net with our catch onto the wooden table Papa built himself, then he grabbed one fish after the other and laid them out in a row.
“Wanna help me clean them?” he asked, pulling his knife out of his back pocket.
I nodded, but before I walked over to the table, I pointed to the treehouse.
“I brought my own knives.”
“Go get them. I’ll wait right here.”
I quickly climbed the ladder to get to my duffle bag and pull out my set of knives I’ve always been excited to take with me to Papa’s.
Some of them I made myself, others I bought from Gilbert’s store.
You could find everything hunters needed in there, but all I was ever interested in were the different kinds of knives.
“Remember what you gotta do before we can cook the fish?” Fennec asked as I got back down to him.
“Of course, I know. Who do you think cleaned the fish before Mama cooked them at home?” I asked with a smug grin.
“Right.” He chuckled, then pointed his knife at one of the fish.
We caught exactly ten, but since a few were smaller ones, we’d be cooking all of them tonight.
Papa and Fennec were good eaters, and I often only had one medium-sized fish.
That was enough for me.
“So?”
I sat down on the other side of the table and reached for one of the smaller fish.
“First, we’ll have to remove the scales,” I said.
“Do we have to do that with every fish?” he asked, his eyebrow raised in a challenging way.
“No. You can eat the scales on the smaller fish. They’re edible,” I pointed out.
He nodded, then waited for me to continue.
“Then we cut right here behind its head and slide the knife along its bones to the tail.”
I looked up at him to see if he was agreeing with what I was saying.
“So you’re going to filet the fish?” he asked.
“I guess.”
“Papa likes them whole. We’ll just take out the guts of three or four of them.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“What’s next?” he asked, smiling at me proudly.
“Uh, for this kind of fish there’s nothing left to do other than throw away everything besides the filets.”
I wasn’t unsure about it, but the way he was looking at me made me insecure about my fish cleaning skills.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked, frowning at him.
“Nope, everything you said was right. But then, as long as the fish is clean and there’s enough meat in the end, there’s not an actual right way of doing it.”
He reached for one of the bigger fish and started to remove the scales with his knife while I did everything I had said before, using my own knife skillfully.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
I looked up at him with a smile. “Nothing, why?”
“Don’t even try to hide it, Ves. I can tell there’s something you’re thinking about. Never seen a crease that deep between your brows,” he told me with a chuckle.
Up until that point, I didn’t realize something was bothering me. “I don’t know. I think I’m adjusting to being here. I’m still so excited,” I said.
“I know that, but there’s something else on your mind. It’s been there ever since we were by the river.”
I hated how well he could read me, although sometimes he was wrong.
This was one of those times.
“It’s nothing, really. I’m happy,” I assured him.
“If you say so. Just know that I don’t believe a word you’re saying right now,” he muttered.
My frown deepened, and I looked back up at him to see his obvious mood change.
“I told you I’m happy and that there’s nothing you need to worry about, Fen.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
I raised a brow at him, putting my knife down and standing up to walk around the table to sit next to him.
“Are you mad at me?” I asked, confused about this weird interaction we just had.
He didn’t reply, and I let out a heavy sigh before wrapping my arms around his waist.
“Fen, I’m sorry if I said something wrong, but I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m happy, I promise.”
It took him a moment before the tension in his body eased, and he set his knife down next to the fish before placing his arm around my shoulders.
“I really didn’t mean to make you angry. I don’t like you angry.”
“I know you don’t, sweet girl,” he mumbled, kissing the top of my head and turning toward me so I could lean against his chest.
Of course, she didn’t say something to upset me, but this is how it had always been.
I wasn’t proud of myself for getting upset over the littlest and most unnecessary things, but for some reason, I always did.
My mood changed from one second to the other without any warning, and most times, it was Vespyr who received this kind of treatment.
Even when we were in high school.
It came out of nowhere, and in the end, it was her saying sorry when I was the one who owed her an apology.
But I couldn’t help myself.
I knew if I waited long enough, and dragged it out for far too long, she’d be hugging and comforting me.
It was a strategy I used on purpose to get her closer to me, and not only when we were home alone or out here in the woods with Papa.
Vespyr didn’t have to know though, and I would continue to manipulate her into thinking she did something wrong while I benefited from it with my perverted mind.
I was sick, but I’ve known that ever since I was younger.
It’s always been clear to me that something was off in my brain, and while I manipulated the people closest to me, my mind manipulated me.
As if certain wires in my brain weren’t connected to the right spots, making me think and feel differently.
Vespyr had always been close to me.
It’s always been us, but when you reach a certain point in life, when you feel as if you know the person better than anyone else, close isn’t enough anymore.
I ran my hand over her long, thick hair, keeping my eyes on her face as she looked straight ahead into the forest.
“I’m all better now, Vespyr,” I whispered, but she didn’t let go of me.
“Your heart is beating like crazy. Are you really okay?” Her voice was filled with worry and her big eyes met mine as she turned her head to look at me.