The Trap

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The first thing that I became aware of when I woke up the next morning was that I was unable to move my right arm.

I stared up at the ceiling of the hut, watching as the first light of dawn slowly began to creep in through the gaps as I waited for my grogginess to clear. The fire had burned low sometime during the night, leaving nothing but a weak orange glow that smoldered beneath a bed of ash in the pit. The air had grown a lot colder with it, so much so that I could feel the chill against my nose and cheeks from underneath my pelts.

I shifted, trying to move my arm again, only to be met with a small grumble. I froze before slowly turning my head and looking down beside me.

Shade was curled against my side, the careful distance he'd put between us when we'd gone to bed last night now long gone. He'd tucked himself against me, his small arms wrapping around mine while his rabbit pelt toy lay wedged somewhere between us. His face was half-buried against my shoulder, leaving little more than a mess of dark brown hair sticking out from underneath the pelts.

I let out a sigh as I let my head fall back against the bedding.

Right... I had a son now.

Well... Thorn had a son.

I still wasn't exactly sure what that made me.

Yesterday, having Shade choose to stay here in the hut with me had felt like hitting a serious milestone. He'd willingly eaten his dinner beside me, sat close enough to me that our arms touched, and then eventually had the courage to ask if he could sleep in the same bed as me. After the way he had screamed at me the other day, I'd gone to sleep feeling pretty good about how last night had ended.

Now, the kid was practically attached to my arm, and the thought occurred to me...

What exactly was I supposed to do with him?

Right now, I could let him sleep. It was what I was supposed to do after he woke up that had me stumped.

I was an eighteen-year-old boy from Alaska, now trapped in the body of a twenty-one-year-old therian from a tribe of warriors. A few days ago, the most responsibility I'd had was helping Grandma and Grandpa keep the homestead running. Now, I'd had to figure out how to contribute in some meaningful way to the life of an entire tribe, how to live the life of somebody else, repair whatever damage Thorn had done to his life and his reputation...

And now raise a child, apparently.

I glanced down at Shade again. He shifted in his sleep, his fingers curling slightly around the sleeve of my tunic before he settled.

A knot formed in my chest.

I couldn't just pretend this kid wasn't my problem. However I might have felt about Thorn, Shade wasn't responsible for the mess his father had made. He was just a little boy who had been taught to ask for permission to live in his own home. A little boy who apologized for being scared and braced himself every time he thought he had done something wrong.

And yet, for reasons I still couldn't quite wrap my head around, he'd decided he wanted to be here. With me - the man who wore the face of his father.

I exhaled slowly through my nose as I stared at the ceiling again.

Alright... How the hell was I supposed to be this kid's father?

I sat with that question for a while before the thought came to me.

Grandpa.

I frowned. Maybe I was making this more complicated than it needed to be.

While I was growing up, Grandpa had never sat me down and explained to me how to be a man. At least, not that I could remember. He'd just let me follow him around and observe him while he worked.

When I was as little as Shade, he'd let me carry things that he knew he could trust me with. He'd shown me how to feed and care for the animals, stack firewood, bait a hook, recognize tracks in the snow, and eventually handle tools without taking off a finger. If I was too young to be trusted with a certain task, he didn't just tell me no. He showed me why I couldn't do it yet.

Grandma had been more or less the same.

Between the two of them, I'd learned nearly everything I knew just by being allowed to stand nearby and ask questions.

I didn't know how to be Shade's father, but I knew how to do that. Maybe that was enough.

A quiet yawn pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked down as two hazel eyes blinked sleepily up at me from underneath the pelts.

We stared at each other. For a moment, neither of us said anything.

Then Shade seemed to realize where he was as his eyes widened and he looked down at his arms as they still clung onto mine.

He immediately let go.

"Sorry!" he said quickly.

There it was again.

I let out a sigh, "Shade..."

He looked back up at me timidly.

I rolled over to face him, "You don't have to apologize for sleeping."

Shade's brow furrowed, "I grabbed you."

"So I noticed."

"Wasn't I supposed to stay over there?"

Shade pointed to the other side of the bed.

I followed his finger. The empty space that he'd left between us when we had laid down last night couldn't have been more than two feet wide, but from the look on Shade's face, you'd think he had been caught trespassing on somebody else's property.

I blinked, "Only if you wanted to."

Shade continued to stare at me.

"You're not mad?" he finally asked.

I shook my head, "No, I'm not mad."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

Shade hesitated until, very slowly, some of the tension began leaving his shoulders. "Okay."

I smiled.

There's one problem solved. Only about a hundred more to go.

I threw off the pelt that was covering me, and immediately grimaced as the cold air surrounding us bit clean through my tunic. I quickly pulled the pelt back over myself, sucking in a breath as I shivered slightly.

Shade giggled.

I looked over at him, and he stopped instantly, covering his mouth with both of his hands.

For a second, I could only stare.

That was the first time that I had heard him laugh.

"Something funny?" I asked, smirking slightly.

Shade shook his head.

"No?" I prodded, noting the smile that I could still see hiding behind his hands.

"Uh-uh."

I chuckled before taking a deep breath and forcing myself upright. Every muscle in my back protested, my spine releasing several satisfying pops as I stretched. I guess Rain hadn't been exaggerating when he said my body still needed rest.

Shade flinched at the sound, "Does that hurt?"

"No," I sighed, looking down at him, "It actually feels good."

He looked at my back again before giving a small stretch himself.

"My back doesn't do that," he commented.

"That's good. That means your body's been resting properly."

I finally stood up, and made a beeline for the firepit. Shade crawled out from underneath the pelts, scooping up his toy before scurrying after me.

There were still enough embers buried underneath the ash that I didn't have to completely start over. With a little kindling, a few careful breaths, and a small piece of wood from the bundle Bone had brought over yesterday, I managed to coax the flame back to life.

Shade sat nearby while I worked. Not close enough to where he was in the way, but just close enough that he could watch and observe. I let him.

By the time the fire was burning properly again, the morning chill was already starting to work its way out of the hut.

I set one of the new bowls Bone had brought beside the fire and dug through what was left of the supplies. After the dinner we'd all had yesterday, there wasn't much left - a little dried meat and a few leftover roots. But it was something.

Shade settled himself beside the table as I divided everything into two bowls for us. I set one in front of him. He stared at it then looked up at me.

I stopped, "What is it?"

Shade's eyes dropped back down onto the food, "Can I eat it?"

I almost laughed. Almost...

"Shade," I started as I pulled the other bowl towards myself and sat down across from him, "If I put food in front of you, you're allowed to eat it."

He stared at his breakfast again, then looked back up at me. "Even if you haven't started yet?"

I paused. That was a new one.

I nodded, "Yes."

Shade hesitated for another second before he picked up a piece of dried meat.

I watched as he took the first bite. Apparently this was going to take some repetition. I was fine with that. Grandpa hadn't taught me everything in one morning either.

For a while, we just sat there, eating quietly. Shade finished most of his food before I was even halfway through mine. That only confirmed my earlier suspicion from yesterday. 'A little hungry' meant something very different to him than it did to me.

As soon as he was finished, Shade's attention drifted over towards the doorway. He glanced over to me, then back at the doorway again.

I raised a brow, "What is it now?"

"Nothing," he replied, shaking his head.

"Go ahead, tell me."

Shade lowered his eyes. "I was just wondering what you were gonna do today."

That was actually a good question. For once, I didn't have a dozen chores waiting for me. Rain would probably be thrilled.

Then I remembered the trap.

"I need to check something behind the hut," I said.

Shade perked up slightly. "The trap?"

I blinked, "You know about the trap?"

He nodded. "I saw it yesterday."

I tossed a glance towards the doorway. The trap wasn't anything too complicated, but it was still a trap. Spring-loaded pieces of wood and a little child's fingers weren't exactly a combination I wanted to experiment with.

My first instinct was to tell him to stay here inside of the hut while I handled it. Then I remembered Grandpa.

I looked back at Shade, "Do you want to come with me?"

He lifted his head, staring at me for a moment as though he were trying to decide if I was being serious.

"Can I?" he finally asked.

I smiled faintly, "Go put on some good furs so you won't get cold."

That was all the encouragement that Shade needed as he hurried away from the table and scrambled towards the stack of pelts I had left in one of the corners. He nearly tripped over his own feet as he moved, and I found myself instinctively reaching out before he managed to recover on his own.

A moment later, he came running back bundled in enough fur to make him look twice his normal size, his rabbit clutched firmly in his hands.

I stared at the toy.

"You're planning on bringing him along with you?"

Shade looked down at the rabbit, "Bunny might wanna see."

Bunny. So the toy had a name.

I considered it for a moment. My mind wound up pulling out the memory of a stuffed husky that I used to carry with me whenever I'd follow Grandpa around the homestead. I was probably around Shade's age at the time, too.

I shrugged, "Fair enough."

Shade smiled before he trotted up to my side.

I felt the familiar sting of cold air hitting my lungs as we stepped outside together. A sheet of powdery snow had fallen sometime during the night, and the village below us was just beginning to stir as faint trails of smoke rose from a handful of fires from between the trees.

I started making my way around the side of the hut, with Shade following so closely that I could hear every one of his footsteps landing behind me.

When we reached the treeline, I stopped, nearly causing him to run into my back.

"Alright," I said, turning to him, "First thing you need to know about traps..."

Shade's expression immediately became serious.

I pointed in the direction of a patch of brush ahead of us. "Never walk straight up to one unless you know exactly where it is."

Shade looked to where I was pointing, "Why?"

"Because if you don't know where it is, you might accidentally wind up stepping in it."

He looked down at his feet.

I almost smiled, "Come here."

Shade stepped closer.

I crouched down and motioned for him to do the same. He immediately copied me.

"Do you see anything?" I asked.

Shade squinted at the ground, "The trap?"

"Other than the trap?"

He studied the snow for several seconds before he directed one small finger towards the edge of the brush.

"Those?"

I followed his gesture to a faint set of tracks that had crossed the snow several feet away from where I had placed the trap.

My eyebrows rose as I leaned down to inspect them closer. A rabbit. One had definitely passed through here sometime during the night.

Shade looked at me as I glanced back over at him.

"Good eye," I said, shooting him a smile.

Shade went still for a brief second before the smallest smile crept across his face.

"The trap didn't catch anything this time," I stated as I straightened my posture, "But I also didn't know if there was any prey that passed regularly through here."

Shade looked from me to the tracks again, "So the rabbit got away?"

"It didn't need to get away. It never even went near the trap."

His brow furrowed.

I pointed towards the tracks, "Look where it went."

Shade crouched down again, following the little impressions through the snow. The trail came out underneath a bit of brush, crossed several feet behind the trap, then disappeared into another patch of cover farther down.

"What do you notice?" I asked him.

Shade stared, then pointed, "It went that way."

"Well, that's a start," I moved closer to him and knelt down beside the tracks, "Look at the prints. Look where it was walking."

I gestured towards the brush. The rabbit hadn't wandered around much. Its tracks passed through a narrow opening between two bushes before they continued on into the trees.

Shade stared at the path for several seconds before looking back at my trap.

"It didn't go where you put it," he said.

"No, it didn't."

"So you put the trap in the wrong place."

My brows raised as I stared at him.

Shade's shoulders stiffened as he seemed to realize how that sounded.

"I-I didn't mean-"

"No..." I cut in, lifting a hand, "You're right."

He paused.

"It was a guess," I continued, turning towards the trap again, "That's what I get for setting a trap before I knew what was moving through here."

Shade's posture slowly relaxed. "So where do we put it?"

I looked at him, "Where do you think?"

His eyes widened slightly. For a moment, he didn't answer.

I waited.

Shade scanned the area again, studying it much more seriously this time. His gaze followed the trail through the snow until he eventually pointed towards the narrow gap in the brush.

"There?"

"And why there?" I asked him.

"Because that's where the rabbit went."

I nodded, "Exactly."

A grin slowly started to creep onto his face as I stood back up.

"Alright," I said, "Stay there for a second."

Shade immediately planted himself right where he was.

I approached the trap carefully and released the tension from it before doing anything else. Once I was sure it couldn't snap shut on either of us, I pulled it loose from where I had placed it and carried it several feet towards the trail.

Shade watched my every movement.

"Are you going to put it right on the tracks?" he asked.

"Close," I replied.

"Why not on them?"

"Because I don't want to change the trail this rabbit uses more than I have to. Animals aren't stupid. If anything looks too different from how they left it, it could make them suspicious enough to go around."

Shade gave another serious nod as I turned and knelt back down near the opening between the bushes. From over my shoulder, I could hear him whispering to himself.

"Animals are not stupid. If anything looks too different, it'll make them suspicious..."

He said it like this was the most important life lesson he'd ever been given.

I did my best not to let that distract me as I carefully shifted the trap into position, disturbing as little of the surrounding snow and brush as I could.

Shade crept slightly closer.

He stopped as I glanced back at him.

"You can come closer if you want a better look," I told him, "Just don't touch anything until I tell you it's safe."

He nodded and positioned himself at my side.

I pointed to the trigger first, "This is the part you don't touch once it is set."

"Because it'll hurt."

"Mhm, badly."

Shade quickly pulled his hands against his chest as he stared at it.

"Could it break my fingers?" he asked.

I shrugged, "Probably."

Shade took a step backwards.

I stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That's why I'm showing you," I explained, reaching for some of Grandpa's words, "If you know how something works, then you'll know how to avoid getting hurt by it."

Shade nodded seriously again as I turned back to the trap and reset the mechanism.

It took some adjusting until I got everything to sit the way that I wanted it to. Once it was ready, I tested the placement with my eyes, following the rabbits trail again through the brush.

Better. Much better.

I sat back on my heels, "There."

Shade leaned around me, "Now it'll catch him?"

"It might."

His face fell slightly.

I chuckled, "Trapping isn't quite like hunting. You can do everything right, and still come back to an empty trap."

"Why?"

"Because the rabbit also gets a choice, and it can still choose to not use this trail again," I stood back up and brushed the snow off of my knees, "But now we've got a better chance than we did yesterday."

Shade looked proudly towards the trap, "We fixed it."

I paused as my heart lurched in my chest.

We.

"Yeah," I said, "We did."

For a few more moments, Shade stood there beside me, staring into the brush as though sheer determination might convince a rabbit to run into our trap at any second.

Eventually, I rested a hand lightly on his shoulder, "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Shade asked, looking up at me.

"First, we go back to the hut."

He turned his head back towards the trap, "But what if a rabbit comes?"

"Then I promise it'll still be there when we get back."

By the time we reached the hut again, the village below us had fully come to life. Smoke rose steadily from between the trees, and I could hear voices carrying up the slope as people began working on whatever they needed to for the day.

My eyes went to the table as I stepped inside. Two empty bowls sat where Shade and I had left them.

I went through what was left of the supplies Bone had brought yesterday. There wasn't much. A few more strips of dried meat remained in the rawhide pouch sitting on the table, barely enough for one person. A few decent-sized logs were left from the bundle that had been placed against the wall. Enough to last us until the middle of the afternoon. Maybe.

Waiting for one unfortunate rabbit wasn't going to fully resolve our food situation, and it most certainly wasn't going to do us much good if we didn't have any firewood to cook it with.

"We need more supplies," I muttered.

Shade looked up at me, "Did we use it all?"

"Most of it."

"Are we gonna be hungry?"

The question made me look down at him. There was something uneasy behind his eyes.

I answered before he had time to worry about it.

"No, we're not going hungry. We just need to get more."

"How?" Shade asked.

I stared through the doorway towards the village. Yesterday, Bone had given me the things he brought as payment for helping him. That seemed to be how things worked in this tribe - you contributed, and people contributed back.

Considering Rain would probably wind up hunting me down himself if I spent the day trying to rebuild the hut from the ground up, finding something useful to do around the village didn't sound like a bad idea.

"I suppose we'll see if there's anyone in need of help," I stated.

Shade blinked up at me, "We?"

I looked down at him, "Unless you've got somewhere else you need to be."

He shook his head quickly.

I smiled. Apparently, I was going to have company today. 148Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdH29iq3MfQ

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