Sit, Stay, Roll Over ✓

(35.5) Hunter

🐾

"I HOPE YOU HEARD that loud and clear...my lovely sunshine," I heard someone whisper in my ear, immediately making me open my eyes in shock. But when I opened them, no one was there.

    "Mama...papa?" I unconsciously called out, but when I looked at my side, I realized that someone was lying on the edge of the bed that I was in. "Uncle?" I then say, and uncle Hael immediately lifted his head up to look at me.

     "Oh Andrew, you're awake," he tells me, reaching out to touch my hand. "How are you feeling? Are you feeling better now?"

     I took a deep breath and nodded my head, making uncle smile.

     "I wasn't able to visit you yesterday, but did you enjoy the cheesecake I gave you?" He then asks, and I nodded my head in answer for the second time.

     Uncle doesn't say anything anymore and reaches out to touch my cheek, holding onto me like I was the most fragile thing in the world. He had a sad smile, almost like he was moments away from crying but he was trying his best to not do it in front of me. As the silence in the room consumed us, uncle takes a deep breath and finally asks, "Andrew, you've been here at the hospital for a few days now, but do you remember why?"

     Why?

     Why am I here?

     Now that I think about it...

     Why am I here?

     Why don't I remember anything?

     "I'm sickly," I answered instead, making uncle sigh. "But mama and papa always made sure that I'll be alright. When are they going to visit me?" I then ask, and a tear finally streams down uncle Hael's eyes, but he immediately wiped it away.

     "Your mom and dad, they...they had to go. They couldn't visit you anymore because God needed them, so they had to go," he tells me, grabbing my hand again and squeezing it even tighter.

     "Will they be gone for a long time?" I then asked him.

     "Yes."

     "Then where am I going to go now?" I then asked, and uncle forces a smile again and asked me, "Andrew, would you like to live with me then?"

    I stared at my uncle after hearing his question, and instead of giving him an answer, I asked, "Will there be cheesecakes in your house?"

     My uncle finally gave me a genuine smile. After wiping his tears away, he immediately nodded his head and told me, "There will be cheesecakes in the house. I'll buy you anything and give you anything you want. We'll even go to different places if you want to, just tell me."

     "Different places? Mama and papa won't like that. I have to always stay at home," I then say.

     "Don't worry, your mom and dad told me that it's going to be okay. They told me you can play outside if you want to and make a lot of friends," uncle explains to me, and I smiled and immediately hugged him. "Thank you!" I tell him, and uncle happily laughs.

     When we pulled apart from the hug, he then touched my hand and tells me, "By the way, remember that puppy I mentioned last time? Well, you might not be able to see him anymore since he's going to start working now."

     I giggled at what my uncle said and told him, "Uncle Hael, dogs don't go to work."

     "Really? But that dog is special Andrew. Someone's going to train him so he'll be able to follow your uncle Hael."

     "But why? Who's even going to train him?" I then ask.

     "It's someone from this small town. He promised to help me protect you."

     "Protect me?"

     "That's right. He's going to help me protect you from now on. He lives in that town that is even far from the city," my uncle continues to explain, making me furrow my brows in confusion.

     "If it's far from the city then how do they get their food?" I ask my uncle next.

     My uncle chuckles at my growing curiosity and pats my head this time. "Well, they hunt. The people around there work as hunters so they could have food every day. Even the person who's going to train the puppy is a hunter."

     My eyes widened in fascination, but then I asked, "Then the puppy you adopted, will he be a hunter too?"

     My uncle smiles at my question and takes a deep breath before answering, "If that's what you want then the puppy is going to be a hunter too. He's going to be a really really good Hunter."

END