I walked straight, which meant I couldn’t miss camp even if I wanted to.
My footsteps and breath were the only things I heard, but the silence around me was so deafening that it felt as if I was walking deeper into the forest rather than closer to camp.
I couldn’t see it, although I knew we didn’t walk too far away from it.
Suddenly, a squeal.
Loud enough to make me stop and tense, lowering my light so I couldn’t be targeted.
“Fen?” I asked, but I didn’t get a response.
My cheeks were heated but I knew I was pale as all the blood left my face.
“I need to go back to camp,” I whispered, trying to encourage myself.
I managed to take one more step, but I got pulled back by a large hand gripping my right shoulder.
Shivers ran down my spine in big waves, making my stomach twist and turn until I ducked and turned around to get some distance between the person and me, ready to shout.
“Shh!”
His hand covered my mouth, and I smelled blood on his skin as the liquid wet my own.
“I’m here, Ves. You’re okay,” Fennec whispered in a calm voice.
Tears rolled down my face as I lifted the flashlight enough to see him in the darkness, but as worried and scared as I was, there was nothing that came close to the emotions on his face.
“Why did you follow me?” he asked, his head tilted to the side.
I opened my mouth to talk, but the smell of blood on his hand made me ignore his question.
I grabbed it with my left hand, shining the light onto his. “What happened? Did you hurt yourself?”
But without awaiting his answer, I looked to his other hand to see a rabbit hanging head down while he held its back paws fisted tightly in his hand.
“What happened?”
“I went out hunting. I heard noises and thought I’d go check it out. I catch these at night most of the time,” he explained, sounding as if nothing ever happened.
“Why did you leave?” I asked, my frown deepening and my tears mixing with the hare’s blood on my cheeks and lips.
“I just told you, Vespyr. I left to go hunt.”
“No. No, you left because you were mad at me for trying to fix things between you and Papa. You shouldn’t have left!”
A heavy sigh escaped my chest as I tried to stay calm.
All this was starting to make me feel anxious.
“Hey…shh,” he comforted, brushing the back of his two fingers along my cheek. “You must’ve been sleepwalking. You’ve done this before. I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m so used to being alone, you know?”
His words hurt, and I hated the thought of him being hurt because of me.
“I’m here, Fen. It’s my fault,” I whispered, reaching for his shoulder and then moving my hand to the crook of his neck.
“I guess I’ll have to get used to you being back. It’s been too long.”
I nodded, knowing how hard it was for us to be apart while he lived out here with Papa.
How could it be that I had no idea if he was right about me sleepwalking? Of course, I remembered all the nights I woke up back home and wandered around my room while my brain was still asleep, but didn’t remember doing the same out here.
I was too scared, but then, I was good at pushing aside things I was afraid of, to then never think about them again.
“Did the hare make that noise?” I asked, wanting to be sure.
“Yes, sweet girl. Don’t worry. There’s nothing out there that can hurt you.”
I nodded and looked back at the fairly large rabbit.
“These are hard to hunt,” I pointed out, looking back up at him.
“Yeah, they are. But I’m a good hunter, Ves. You know that.”
I did know.
Still…everything that had happened tonight seemed strange and unreal.
“You’ve got blood all over your face, sweet girl. Let me clean you up.”
He lifted his hand to his mouth, cleaning his own bloody fingers with his mouth before he reached over to rub his spit all over my cheeks and lips.
I kept my eyes on him as he continued to get rid of the blood already drying on my skin, and when he pulled away his hand, I lifted my arm to rub my sleeve across my face.
“That’s better. You’re pretty again,” he said, studying me closely. “But I like you with blood all over too.”
My eyes were starting to feel heavy as his words lingered on my mind.
I was trying to figure out what he meant by that, but my brain wouldn’t put the puzzle pieces together.
“I’m tired. Can we go back to camp?” I asked instead, taking his hand and shining the light into the direction I thought the camp was.
“Yeah, we can go back. Can I get a hug first? I almost had a heart attack seeing you out here on your own. Lucky you had a light on you.”
I quickly wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pressed myself against him to show him my affection.
“I didn’t mean to scare you. I’m sorry.”
He placed his arms around me, and I could feel the rabbit hanging down his hand, its dead body pressing against my back.
“I’ll have to keep my eyes on you from now on. I’ll keep you safe, I promise, Ves.”
I knew he would.
For now, and forever.
10
The tightness around my wrist was uncomfortable, and when I moved, it tightened even more.
I frowned before opening my eyes as I finally woke up to the sound of wood being chopped.
I wasn’t asleep anymore, but as hard as I tried to move my arm, it wouldn’t.
“Fen?” I called out.
Him and Papa had to be down there, and after I finally realized what was going on, I pushed myself up with my right hand to then see my left one tied to one of the wooden planks of the treehouse.
“Fennec?” I called again, and this time, the chopping stopped. “Fennec, what is going on?”
I heard him climb the ladder and sure enough, he was right there with me with a smile on his face.
“You’re awake. Finally. Sleep well, sweet girl?” he asked, moving closer and stopping right in front of me.
“Why am I tied?” I asked, looking back at my hand and tugging on it, but only tightening the rope around my wrist more.
“Didn’t want you to sleepwalk again. I was just making sure,” he told me, then he reached over while pulling out his knife and cutting through the rope to free me.
I would’ve told him that I didn’t sleepwalk, but what happened last night was still vivid in my mind, and the more I thought about it, the less realistic it seemed to have been.
It was strange, and it made me unsure about my own consciousness.
If I did follow him while I was sleepwalking, I had to somehow get down from the treehouse.
Not sure how that’s possible, or how well of a climber I was while sleeping, but no matter if I was awake or not…last night didn’t feel real.
“My wrist hurts, and the rope cut off my blood circulation,” I pointed out.
My hand was white and tingling from the blood flowing back into my fingers, but Fennec didn’t seem to care about it.
He reached for my hand and rubbed his thumbs against my palm, kneading it. “You should stop moving too much then. I didn’t tie it tightly.”