The Silent Fighter

The Country

Excitedly jumping up and down in the red truck looking out the frosty window, they're just five minutes away.

"Daddy! Daddy! Are we almost there? Are we almost to the country? I really really really hope we are because-"

"Yes Autumn we're almost there!" He tells her, irritated, but Autumn doesn't catch on.

"Yay!" Every winter Autumn and Michael camp in what they call the country, because it's basically in the middle of nowhere. As they pull in she's almost screaming, she's so excited.

"Daddy we're here! Yay!" As soon as the vehicle stops she throws herself out of the truck and collapses in the two feet of white dust making angels everywhere. Suddenly, she's shot by a white bullet.

"Daddy! Why did you do that? That wasn't good," Autumn cries out, almost in tears.

"Oh I'm sorry kiddo I didn't mean to-" as he turns around he's shot in the back with a bigger white bullet. Each of them have snow covering their backs, Michael is covered more.

"Now that one was good haha!" If there's one thing anyone should know about Autumn is she is a very sarcastic little girl.

"You little shithead I'm gonna get you!" He charges after her, sweeps her up and tosses her in the snow. Cracking up as she squirms around in the snow, her giggles suddenly turn to a faded smile.

"Daddy I'm cold, my little toes hurt."

"Well how about we go inside and get some hot cocoa?" Her faded smile doesn't last long, she grins and hops up.

"Okay! Yay! I'll beat you there!"

"Not if I get there first!" They race to the door of the log cabin, Michael let Autumn win.

"Haha! I win!" Ever since Autumn was about two years old, they've been inseparable. Going out to the country is a tradition for them. Every year they go out and there's usually at LEAST six inches of snow out there. Michael leaves his four wheeler out there covered up until they arrive, and they hop on and make donuts in the snow over and over.

Their log cabin is small, but cozy. Walking through the old, faded, white door, there are tiny beds on the right side, their camping stuff goes there. Michael makes a fire so they aren't cold at night, plus they pack tons of extra blankets and pillows. Autumn brings her huge, warm Dora blanket, and her other Scooby-Doo blanket. In the next room, there are no doors. There's a small, brown, wooden table that they sit at for breakfast. Michael makes eggs and homemade hash browns. Autumn says, "it's the best food in the whole wide world." There's also a small, white microwave, a small, white, gas stove, and a few white cabinets. To the left of the table there's a small, rusty window to look at the pond, that's where they fish, if it's warm enough. 

Going to the bathroom is a whole different thing, they have to go outside and go in the out-house. If someone doesn't like that they'd just have to go in the woods, luckily Autumn doesn't have a problem with either of them. She shot her first gun, a twenty-two caliber rifle, here when she was four years old. She and Michael went out to the country and Michael decided Autumn could practice shoot, just for fun.

"Okay, Autumn, I'm going to show you how to shoot the gun, you've got to be very careful and pay close attention got it?" Michael cautiously asked, he was serious as he stared straight into her deep sea blue eyes. You could tell when she was serious because her eyes turn into a deep sea blue, instead of her bright, ocean, blue eyes.

"I got it Daddy," she assured him.

"Alright, now this is how you hold it when you're not shooting," he motions to the gun and the way it's pointed to the ground. "You make sure the safety is on and always, no matter what, hold the barrel of the gun towards the ground," he explained the rest of the instructions to Autumn while she listened carefully. "One more thing, don't tell you're mom about this until you're about sixteen," he joked.

"Haha okay Daddy, I won't say one thing to Mommy," she giggled. Michael picked up a Mountain Dew can and set it on a stump. He first Autumn to cover her ears. Then, held up the gun, aimed at the can, took a deep breath, and pulled the trigger. It hit right in the center of the can.

"Cool!" Autumn exclaimed. "I want to try!" Michael handed the gun to her and she did everything her dad told her to do. She aimed and shot the can, and she hit a little to the right of where Michael shot. Michael stood shocked.

"Dude! That was amazing!"

"Thanks Daddy," she giggled. "It wasn't that hard." Michael was still wide-eyed and in shock.

"Are you sure you're only four years old little one?" She giggled shyly. They shot for a little longer, then they made some more donuts in the snow. They made a huge snowman, way taller than Autumn, they named her Crystal the Snowman, Frosty the Snowman's wife. They took a picture with their camera Katrina had just bought for them so they could take pictures while they were in the country. Katrina has been around since before Autumn was even thought about, she was actually friends with Amber, Autumn's mom, while Michael and Amber were still together. Oh but they were not a happy couple. They would fight all the time, most of the time Amber would call 911, Michael said that she was a psychopath. One time they got into a huge fight while they were leaving a bar. Amber got in his truck and locked all the doors and drove away. So Michael decided to walk back to THEIR apartment, key word, it was THEIRS, but she locked him out of there too. So he climbed through the window and she called the cops on him for breaking and entering, to his own apartment. Since it was his apartment too they didn't do anything about it, they just told him he should stay at a motel for the night and go back in the morning, so that's what he did. Amber has called the cops on him multiple times before, but Michael has only done it once. He had a good reason for it too. Amber was keeping Autumn from him for twenty-two days, he kept count. Finally, he got her back because she had to let him see her at some point.

 When Autumn was born Michael and Amber tried living together, but they couldn't stand to be in the same room with each other, so Michael moved out and got an apartment about fifteen minutes away. One day Michael came to pick up Autumn, but he brought Katrina, Amber was a little confused. That was when they announced they were together. Amber was just in shock, but she didn't think much of it. She just said bye to Autumn and put her in her little car seat, there wasn't another word said.