Eventide

Part 3

Evie crouched down a bit lower into the grass and underbrush of the nighttime forest, and began to crawl her way towards the food. She found herself speeding up as the smell slowly filled her nose. She almost forgot to remain cautious of the old man.

At times Evie thought about what she was doing. It really was in her nature to do risky things, but this seemed pretty perilous. The old man didn’t seem, well, normal. His gray, thin hair; his scraggly beard; his narrow, beady eyes. It all seemed a bit odd. He talked kind of weird, too. He really was a crazy old man.

The boy, Junior, also seemed different, but in a good way. Evie could sense a strong vibe from him; a good, bright, positive vibe. Maybe he wasn’t bad. Maybe he wasn’t here for the same reasons that the old man was here for. If that was so, then why was he here?

Evie found herself just a few long jumps away from the campfire. Her heartbeat quickened at the site of such a precious meal. She could see that it was fish, probably retrieved from the nearby lake. It looked so good.

It was just a short ways away. A quick run, a sharp turn, and bam! She would have the best feast of her life. Not so hard. Then why was she hesitating? The humans were in the tent, several feet away from the fire. They were nowhere near as fast as Evie, so she could escape with the food before they even realized what was going on. Not so hard.

But after just one paw forward, it all went wrong. There was a huge SNAP! sound and all of a sudden a big net trap flew into the air. Evie immediately retreated back into the darkness of the forest to observe what was going on within the safety of the shadows.

Confusion swept over her. What happened? Was she trapped? No. Then who or what was in the net?

It was a raccoon. But Evie knew this raccoon. Her light gray fur coat with a birthmark on her belly-side and her sneaky mask was easily recallable. This was one of the few raccoons that were a mother to a litter of kits. She must’ve been the sound that came from the bushes before. She probably came here in search of food for her babies.

It hurt Evie inside to watch this happen. Something inside her fired up. Anger, hatred, anguish, grief. Somehow watching the poor animal struggle in the net, hanging from a tree branch, hurt more than anything Evie had ever felt before. A fellow creature captured by the insane and treacherous tricks made my humans. How could they do things so cruel?

The net wriggled and shook as the mother raccoon panicked. Several cries of help and pain came from her and no matter how much Evie wanted to help she couldn’t think of a way how. It was too dangerous and a for-sure way to become captured herself.

At the sound of all the commotion, the old man rushed out of the tent, an excited look on his face. He gazed up at the trap in awe. However, his look of thrill quickly vanished once he realized that his “prize” was not what he had hoped.

Suddenly he broke out into a sort of rampage. A big scowl formed on his forehead, he bore his yellow, crooked teeth, and his face slowly turned a deep red. Evie could see his shoulders shake a bit, as well. He looked like a ticking time bomb waiting to go off.

Evie backed up a bit more into the brush, bracing herself for the explosion. What would happen? What was this human capable of?

The boy finally revealed his head around the tent door. His eyes widened at the sight of the old man, clearly shocked. He looked scared and hid himself behind the door of tent, taking cover. He knew what was coming, and it must’ve been pretty bad.

Even the mother raccoon was stunned and afraid of what was to come. If she could’ve run away, she would’ve been miles away in seconds, that’s for sure.