Thoughts were running wild through my head. I was begging that the feeling in my gut was wrong. But even more than that, I was scared. As I desperately tried to calm myself, Yurkas spoke again.

"I doubt this will be an issue for long though. If my ears didn't fool me, that animal back there sounded like a canine..."

He smiled at me, but this time I couldn't force myself to smile back. A cold sensation made its way down my spine.

"I have to leave, sorry."

I didn't want Yurkas to notice how panicked I was. I was shaking slightly and barely managed to keep my voice steady. But of course, nothing ever went unnoticed when he was around.

"Are you okay? You seem pretty beaten up."

He reached out to grab my arm, but I instantly took a step back and froze up, staring holes into the ground. With a "fine then" look on his face, he resumed to his original position, but I could tell he was quietly examining me. After a while he raised his voice again, softer this time.

"Let's go home. I'll make you some tea and then we'll talk."

I wanted to run, run far away and never come back to this place, but something held me back. Like a tight leash.

"You're scaring me, Arka. Say something, please...anything."

I clenched my fists to suppress the burning hot tears building up in my eyes, but it couldn't keep my head from spinning. I had to leave. Now. I gathered all the strength I could and opened my mouth.

I just had to say "I'm fine". I could have ended it right there, I could have gone home or pretended to so I could wander into the forest with a lantern and either find him dead, severely injured or not at all. I could have found him sitting on the doorstep waiting for my return, a rabbit in his fangs. Instead, a gurgling sound exited my throat and I fell over.

I woke up in a foreign bed the next morning. The sun had just begun to rise and the shadows of the nearby houses lazily hung onto the window sill of the small square window in the room, right there at the foot of the bed. I was still tired and felt a bit sick, but I soon recognized the room as being part of Yurkas' house. Just as I realized why I had ended up here, the door opened and Yurkas peeked inside. When he saw that I was awake, he opened the door fully and greeted me with a cheery "Good morning, grumpy cat!" He sat down on the edge of the bed, right next to my torso, and with that, his happy attitude was gone.

"What happened yesterday, Arka? What were you thinking about?"

"I don't know", I lied and turned my head away from him.

"I have never seen you this scared in my life. Was it because of the wolf? Because of work?"

I groaned. "Don't be silly. I've spent my whole life here; those critters don't scare me. Work is scary. Scarily boring."

Yurkas didn't say a word and just stared at me with a part angry part frustrated and worried look on his face. I couldn't stand his eyes burning into me, but he sat on the bed in a way that I could hardly move, nevermind leave.

"I guess I didn't hit him right."

I turned towards him, surprised by his sudden words.

"Didn't hit who?"

"That wolf. I thought I got him for sure, that his injuries would either get infected, or he'd be unable to move or he'd lose a lot of blood because of the shrapnels from the shotgun. But that damn animal is gone, nowhere to be found."

He scoffed.

"What a tough bastard."

I felt a wave of relief wash over me, but I couldn't let him know, so I simply said:

"I'm sure he's taken it as a warning and won't come back anytime soon."

Yurkas gave me one last confused, angry, frustrated look before he caved in and let it go.

"You must be starving from all this stress. Come, Marie has just made breakfast."

He winked. "And your tea should be ready by now, too."

And so, I shuffled to the other side of the bed, threw my legs off the side and came to my feet with newfound energy. I let a smile slip onto my lips and only then noticed that I wasn't wearing what I had worn the night before.

"Don't worry, Marie took care of you. She said you'd surely appreciate it more if she cleaned and ironed it for you."

I simply nodded and quickly made my way to the small, but cozy living-room-kitchen. The smell of freshly baked bread and salted sunny side ups filled the rooms. Just then I realized how hungry I really was. No wonder, considering what I had been through the night before. The rest of the family greeted me with a smile, except for one person. There, curled up in a thick woolly blanket on the couch in the corner of the room, laid Erick. His face was pale and he was quivering with every breath he took. Yurkas' daughter, Erie, was the first to notice the worry in my eyes. Quietly, she stood up from her seat and took my hand.

"Brother is very sick. He needs to sleep a lot, and he doesn't want you to get sick, too."

She softly but with determination tugged at my hand and led me to my seat. I couldn't keep my eyes off Erick though. I wondered how Yurkas could bear it, seeing him in this miserable state.

Whatever could it be that made him that sick?

My thoughts kept on spinning in my head that way until Marie asked me how I had slept and if I would like some honey with my tea before drifting off to more smalltalk. Her strategy worked out. I could see it in the wrinkles on her forehead and the bags underneath her eyes how much she wanted to drag my attention away from the tragedy that had befallen this home.

At the end of the meal I thanked them all for their hospitality and, of course, the amazing food, but the one person I really wanted to talk to was Erick. They knew and simply nodded. I could see how Marie turned away and disappeared into another part of the house as I closed the distance between him and me. Seeing him up close, shaking and breathing heavily, didn't exactly make me feel better. I knelt down next to his face and, carefully to not wake him up, put a hand to his forehead. As expected, he had a high fever. He slowly opened his eyes and silently stared at me for a few seconds before visibly forcing himself to smile.

"Arka…you came to…see me…?"

His voice sounded raspy, like an old man's voice. This attitude in his voice, this warm and tired calmness with which he spoke, frightened me. My own voice became nothing more than a whisper. A part of me wanted to speak up, to treat him like always, but I was too afraid to break him apart with the mere force of my vocal cords vibrating.

"Of course I did. I wanted to see how you were holding up and hopefully healing."

"It's…hard, but I'll manage…somehow…"

Please, please do.

"I have to leave now, but I promise I'll visit you again soon."

I got back onto my feet and wanted to turn around and leave as I felt Erick's sweaty palm touch mine. He held my hand and softly pressed it, essentially as hard as he could in his current condition.

"I'll be waiting..."

He then closed his eyes and pulled his hand back under his blanket. I felt an unbearable urge to cry build up inside of me, but I knew that I couldn't give in. Not now, not in front of his family. And so, I quickly gathered my things, got dressed and left.

The fresh morning air outside helped to repress my feelings, but now a different thought was taking over my body. The boy. I started running as fast as I could, but it felt like an eternity had passed before my front porch came into vision. I stormed through the still open fence gate and fell straight into his arms. He just stood there, at the top of the stairs, only letting out a surprised grumble as I laughed like a madman. At least that's what my neighbors must have thought when they saw me standing on the steps, dried blood stuck to the stone, and a rabbit's corpse laying just beneath my feet. It was only when I let him go that I noticed a collection of small, sharply cut holes in his shirt. Right there on his shoulder, spreading out over part of his chest.