𝐃𝐔𝐒𝐊 (𝐑𝐞-𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧)

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐎𝐧𝐞: 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐇𝐞? (𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐢'𝐬 𝐏𝐎𝐕)

It was sundown when my brother and I strolled into the kitchen while jumping up and down against the old dirty wooden floor boards of our home. We rushed towards our father who was cleaning up in the kitchen, scrubbing away blood and guts from the previous feast we had a few hours earlier. Deer antlers sat on the rock counters next to him, stained and a little damaged shown by the cracks forming around the edges. I knew he saw us out of his peripheral when we nosily entered the room, because he quickly turned back to his work, pretending not to hear our whines and squeals. My baby brother Kenai rushed to attack our fathers legs and latched onto them, biting and ripping at his dirty pants with his needle like fangs. Now he was forced to pay attention to our needs.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled with a horse voice, grabbing his son under the arms and picking him up. Kenai was only ten at the time, so he wasn't that heavy yet. Me on the other hand? My father never failed to let out a long groan everytime I was lifted into his arms . He always told me, "I want my pups to grow up big and strong, so at some point, I wont be able to pick you up. But that's a good thing. That just means your getting as strong as me. You might even be able to pick me up when I'm old." Even if he was trying to spread some words of encouragement, I could barely pick up a medium-sized log. And I was fourteen.

He gave Kenai a few licks on his cheek, cleaning the dirt from former activities that we both had gotten into in the village. My brother giggled as his face was tampered with, pushing our fathers tongue away in retaliation. My father set him down soon after his bath, and walked away from his chores to clean me too. I've always hated this. Even as a small, small cub. I growled at my father in a warning like manner, even if my defensive stature didn't intimidate him in the slightest. He swooped me up in his gigantic arms, raking his large tongue across my skin. I kicked and screamed for my mother who wasn't present in the room at the time, begging her to make him stop torturing me. Kenai attempted to help me get away from my fathers grasp, hopping up and grabbing the end of my pants while screaming at our dad to let me go.

Quickly after the commotion was hushed by my fathers hands wrapping around my mouth and a quick light tap to knock Kenai away, my mother rushed into the kitchen with a concerned look on her face. She shook her head at us once she saw what me and my brother were screaming about, dropping her shoulders and walking over to my father so he could release me from his monstrous grip. I watched my father whine as I was set down on the floor, and was given a little hair ruffle from my mother. Sometimes I would think my father was scared of my mother at times, he himself quickly stopping any shenanigan's when she was lurking around.

Once released, I ran to my mother and hid in-between her legs like it was my sanctuary, hiding away from my fathers grooming session. Secretly, she thought it was funny. Kenai had stopped making a fuss after my release and ran to my mother as well, embracing the woman as if he didn't see her a few hours ago. He was picked up again by our other parent, coddled and kissed like a baby. I rolled my eyes in jealousy and walked back over to my father because I was desperate for attention, climbing his big frame and sitting on his shoulders. He rapped his hands around my legs and held me tight so I wouldn't fall, looking up at me with a white fanged smile. "Yes son?" He asked politely as I toyed with his dreadlocks. I was originally was bothering him for attention, but I remembered what my brother and I initially came back inside to ask them. "We want to go out in the field. Well, not we. Kenai just really wants to see the fireflies." Even though I wasn't looking for his response, Kenai nodded eagerly and tugged on our mothers shirt in hopes she would say yes before our father could object.

I knew my father was opposed to the idea because as soon as I had asked, his eyes went straight to my mother. Would she not let us out afterall? She lifted her eyebrows back at his gaze, telling him with her facial expressions that, "This wasn't her decision to make." She does that a lot. My father sighed in defeat as he looked at my brothers puppy eyes, and then at me. I quickly caught the memo when Kenai started whining, so I did the same thing to add more quilt to my fathers shoulders other than my weight. Eventually, he waved his hand towards the back door and shook his head while giving the both of us a downward smile. We were free!