I. Fenn
15 years prior
"Fenn, can you bring me a couple of extra logs for the fire?" Fenn's father asks. "Sure thing." Fenn walks outside to the log pile. The log pile is running low and winter seems to be approaching quickly. He grabs a couple of logs and walks inside. He places them inside the small fireplace made of stone and clay. "Father, we're running low on wood."
Fenn's father looks up "is that so? Well I guess you can come with me. Grab your boots and coat." Fenn sprints to the door with excitement. Fenn's mother calls, "James, make sure to stay safe. It gets darker this time of year." James walks to his wife "Don't worry Sarah we'll be back soon. Love you."
Fenn and his father walk outside and instantly the chill hits them. Their breath smokes and James's joints lock up slowly. They walk past the old rickety barn. "Dad, when are you going to fix the barn? It's been falling apart for a year now." His dad walks in silence for a moment. "Well son. It's getting close to winter so there is no reason at the moment to fix it."
They walk in silence, leaving muddy footprints in the quickly freezing ground. As they arrive in the forest. The trees are still; the animals are getting ready to hibernate. "Now look here son. Do you see anything wrong with this ax?" Fenn examines the ax. It is riddled with knicks. Its handle is made of oak and is quite old. "Besides the knicks, I don't see anything wrong with it, father."
"Well, son, this ax is dull." His father swings the ax at the tree, leaving a barely noticeable mark. "We have to sharpen it" Fenn's father pulls a whetstone from his pocket and teaches Fenn how to use it. "Now that it's sharpened, son, look at what it does. It's important to keep your tools in good condition to keep them from breaking. If you don't sharpen an ax, the head could break off "He approaches the same tree and swings the ax with great force. Wham! It takes a massive chunk out of the tree.
"Fenn, I forgot the basket for the wood, would you please grab it." James continues to chop the tree. Fenn walks back towards the house with glee. He enjoys spending time with his father. Fenn arrives back home and finds his brother, Zack, waiting for him. "What do you want Zack?" Fenn tries to walk past him. "Eh, not so fast Fenn. It's your turn to take care of sis." Zack moves and Cassie is slowly stumbling around. Fenn jumps with excitement. "Finally. I've been waiting for a week."
Zack leaves to go help his mother. "Come on Cassie. I got to grab the wood basket for father." Fenn grabs the fraying basket. It was made of weaved together pine that was finely cut. It was getting dark and started to snow. "Let's go Cassie, stop being so slow." Fenn bends down and picks up Cassie. The snow starts to fall heavier. The walk to the forest was about ten minutes and with Cassie tagging along it increased to fifteen.
Fenn opens the door and runs with Cassie on his shoulders and the basket dangling from his right arm. On his mothers request he brought a lamp for the journey home. Fenn, only being nine, struggled holding all of these things so he periodically had to sit down and take a rest. "Ok Cassie you're going to have to hold my hand the rest of the way.
The snow was getting thicker and faster. Cassie threw snow at Fenn. "Do you want to have a snowball fight?" Cassie nods her head. "I'm sorry, but we have to get to father." Cassie's eyes start to water. "Oh, how can I say no to that? Ok only for a little bit though. We have to get to father. You know his joints are bad." They threw snow at each other to their hearts delight. Fenn soon forgot about the time.
The snow was so thick you couldn't see three feet in front of you. Fenn and Cassie tired themselves and put their faces in the snow. They did this for a while when Fenn looked up it was dark and couldn't find Cassie. "Cassie? Cassie? Where are you?" Panic started to rise in his chest. He started to tear up. "CASSIE!" He runs around frantically looking for her, digging into the snow with his numb hands. He kicks around so much he tires himself out so that all he can muster is "cas..sie".
