Lion [Editing]

3 Grandpa

"Get out of my sight. I never want to see you again."

"Mom, please!"

"She's right. You have degraded the dignity of this pride to that of dirt. I refuse to step up as king until you are banished."

"Jamir, no!" I was sobbing.

"Really Liam, I looked up to you. You were my best friend and my closest brother. Now I'm ashamed to even say I knew you." 

Sean turned his back on me. Then Jamir. The whole pride was a black mass, their eyes glowing with disgust, then followed suit with the rest of my family.

"Liam!" It was my father.

"Liam!!" he cried out again.

Wait. This sounds different.

I opened my eyes and drowsily reasoned the furry mass lumbering towards me was my father. He was calling out to me. Although it had stopped raining, he seemed drenched to his skin. As I got up to meet him, I saw the spot where I had rested my head was wet with tears. Ashamed, I quickly covered the spot with some of the dry sand under the overhang. I rose, and my dad picked up his speed.

"Liam! I'm glad you're okay."

Okay? I was anything BUT okay at the moment. The events that just happened were running over and over again in my mind, and I had no escape because I knew that it was no mere dream.

My dad picked up on this because he then said, "Well, as okay as you can be at the moment." and started walking towards the overhang again, leaving me to follow.

"Where were you this morning?" I asked.

"Up with the sun. Started out and made a kill of my own for breakfast, and then I started making my rounds," he said casually.

"Who told you?" I questioned, even though I thought I already knew the answer.

"Sean did first. He was out towards the mouth of the cave when I was coming and sprinted towards me. He said that your mother was really mad at you and that you ran away. He also said a strange creature had appeared for a while and that's when your mother got mad. I went to your mother and then she started screeching about how you were a traitor to the pride and whatnot. I was concerned, so I went looking for you."

"Oh," I said, surprised it was Sean who told my father first instead of my mother.

"And now we're here."

"And now we're here," I repeated. I wanted to ask him something, but I wasn't sure how he would react or what he would say. I decided to ask anyway, taking a deep breath in advance.

"Dad?"

"Yes, son?"

"Why does mom hate humans? And what happened to grandpa?"

He inhaled sharply.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five seconds passed.

I started to think I had made a terrible mistake. I knew it was a sensitive subject, and even though it wasn't my father's father, it was something that both of my parents got worked up about. I was panicking and was terrified of what would come out of his mouth.

"I'm-"

He had just let the air out.

"Listen, you aren't even supposed to know this, but seeing your situation, it'd probably be better if you knew."

Oh boy.

"It was your mother's idea to keep this to herself, only the ones who are still around from when her father was in rule and I know. Jamir doesn't even know. She didn't want you to be haunted with nightmares of humans hurting you in your sleep like she was. 

"See, this happened before I came and she was relatively young. One day, her father was patrolling the grounds and he never came back. Your mom's brother, mother, and a few others went to look for him. Your mother was left with the rest of the pride because she was very young. Actually, she was about your age. Anyway, when they found him, it wasn't very pretty. There were holes everywhere on him like a leaf a locust nymph had eaten through. The last streams of blood in his body were leaking out of the holes. Some vultures had found him before us and used him for food. Judging by how much flesh was still left, it wasn't very long ago. They went around asking the local animals if they had seen anything. Since her father was a very honorable leader, they were able to get a description of events that happened. Apparently, a human was mad because a lion was killing their sheep. They had set out to kill the lion responsible and... Ended up killing grandpa instead. Before we headed back, we sent an aardvark to dig his grave. When we got back, We told everyone the news. Your mom was more devastated than Grandma was. And that is why she came to despise humans."

"Oh," I was at a loss for words.

"I would take you to his grave but your mother would get very mad again. It's not good to have a leader with a bad temper. It might have been okay to take you before you were... Cursed."

"But Mom doesn't have to know!" I countered. I wanted to see the grave of this "honorable" lion. 

"Lionesses have a way of... Knowing things."

"Okay, fine. But Dad, how did you become king if you weren't born to this pride?"

"Well, your mother's only brother didn't want to be a part of the pride's monarchy. He was holding the position until some other lion came and "overpowered" him. That "some other lion" was me. Her brother explained how the tribe work and I, being quite curious, took the spot and he left."

"Cool," I responded

"Oh wow, it's getting dark. You should go to sleep Liam. Make sure you stay with your siblings."

"But they were in the cave too! What if they don't want to sleep with me? What if the attack me?"

"Hmm, that's a good point," he said. I seemed he pondered the situation for a bit before exclaiming "I have an idea!" and striding away.

"Wait!" I called after him.

We passed the feeding area and were nearing the cave where the commotion happened. I was starting to get nervous, but my father turned before the entrance and walked along the side of the cave. We walked for quite some time, and by the time I saw where we were going, the stars were glistening up above.

"Wow," I exclaimed, for where he brought me to was truly breathtaking. At the back side of the giant cave everyone else was in, a smaller cave was hidden away. It could probably fit two fully grown lions at the most, but the size wasn't a problem. Inside, small greens littered the floor everywhere, for there was a small watering hole in the center. I noticed some grasses had been pulled up and set in an area to sleep, as if...

"Someone has been here before, right?" I asked my father.

"A few hyena's lived here before, but as we expanded the territory, we forund them and chased them out," he explained, adding "the scum," under his breath. "I hope this will suffice."

"It certainly will," I responded, rubbing my head against his. "Thank you," I said as I entered the room.

"Good night son."

"Good night Father."