The two came up to their house, and there was no light in it; Dawn hadn't started the fire yet. "Where is mother?" Eli asked, full of concern once they were in the house. They searched and called out for her, but neither was forthcoming.
"Maybe she felt better and went for a walk," Toby said in an attempt to reassure him. That morning when they had left, Dawn had been in bad condition and couldn't do much by herself; he barely believed what he was saying himself. Eli caught up on that.
“It can be dangerous outside, more so now that it is dark. Shouldn't we go look for her? Maybe she sat down to rest and fell asleep." Eli was trying to hide his panic, but he cared for his mother deeply. Toby saw that and bent down to speak to him.
"We are going to do that soon. First, let's build a fire and make a meal, so she has something warm to eat when she gets here, okay?" Toby looked into his eyes, and this time Eli believed him and took great comfort in it.
The two banded together, working hand in hand, and made a fire as quick as possible. Each contributed a piece of wood to the fireplace, and eventually, Toby struck the match, and a flame was born. Proud of themselves, they smiled and bumped fists. Toby then found a pot and started cutting meat into it as Eli fetched water. Soon, there was a pot of meat on a great fire, and they could embark on looking for Dawn.
"It is quiet tonight; I might get a full night's sleep after we have found mother," Eli said at the door on their way out. Toby was about to nod when he listened. It was quiet, too quiet for a forest, he was worried, and Eli saw it. “Is quiet not a good thing?” he asked.
“Not always Eli, sometimes it just means that the animals that roam the night are too afraid to make a sound or they might be heard.”
“Are you saying there might be something out there more dangerous than the wolves and wild dogs?” Eli was afraid and concerned at the same time. His mother was there, and not so long ago, their herd had been ravaged by a wild dog. They had put up a more reliable fence, but if wild dogs were scared, he had a feeling it might not hold.
“I’m going to need you to stay here and make sure to lock the door after me," Toby said fiercely.
As much as Eli wanted to go with him, he also wanted him to find his mother, which could prove troublesome were he to tag along. He watched his father disappear into The Forest, machete swinging in one hand and a bow and quiver filled with arrows on his back with eyes both hopeful and fearful, then got in the house and locked the door.
Eli had been alone in the house for almost an hour. At first, he checked every slight sound he heard outside, hoping it was his parents, but the checks had grown further and further apart until he had stopped completely. Now he just sat by the fire and poked the flames to watch the sparks fly in the air forming various forms. Occasionally he would ‘check’ the readiness of the meat cooking.
Eli was sitting by the fire when he heard panting. He was about to dismiss it when his father yelled for him to open the door. Eli rushed and pulled the latch in one fast motion. Looking outside, he saw his father running towards him as if a volcano had just blown behind him. He didn’t have any weapon on him. Eli looked around but couldn't see what he was running from at first. It was after he was in the house yelling at him to lock it that he saw a pair of shining eyes approaching fast. He locked the door and walked away from it. His father was leaning on the wall heavily. Illuminated by the flames, he could see the blood in his clothes and the gashing cuts on his face. He was trying to avoid looking him in the eye, but Eli wanted to see.
“What was that? What happened to your face? Where is mother? Where…?” Toby covered Eli’s mouth with his hand and pulled him further away from the door, all the while wincing from pain all over his body. With each step he took, there was a trail of blood left behind. The door was hit with such brute force it shook the whole house; the beast was at their door. Eli’s fear multiplied but as much as he wanted to talk, all that came out of his mouth were murmurs and gasps.
"Eli, I need you to listen to me carefully," Toby whispered and waited for him to nod before he continued. “Your mother is gone. The beast that made all the other animals of The Forest cower is at our door, and it cannot hold." The door was rammed again, and by the sound of it, it was giving in. "Do you remember the path that goes to the village?" Eli nodded. "You are going to go out through that window and run until you find it, then run some more until you come up to the village; the people there will help you. If they ask you who you are, tell them you got lost in The Forest and have just found your way out, okay?” Eli nodded with tears blurring his vision. Toby could see he had a lot of questions but every minute that passed was more time for the door to fall. "I'm sorry I can't come with you, but if I do, I will be putting you at risk. This is the only way one of us gets out of here alive. I need you to never look back, okay? Go and start a life of your own. Tears were falling freely as Toby lifted him over the window. Eli held onto his father's hand for a minute before he dropped to the ground. He then turned to The Forest and started running while sobbing at the same time. As he ran, he heard the door break with a bang, followed by grunts and panting from his father and growling from the beast, and then silence. Eli felt his heart break in his chest, and more tears flowed, but he ran still.
Dawn, the following morning found a merchant, Fred, and his helper, June, riding a cart being pulled by two mules on the road bordering The Forest on their way to the market. Fred was blowing a tobacco pipe; he had gotten it from Arab traders as a gift. June was sorting some of the goods they would be trading in the back. The mules were racing down a slope when Fred yanked their reins, bringing them to an abrupt halt. June hit her head on the cart.
“Fred, this is the last time I’m warning you. If you stop that suddenly again you are going to regret it,” an annoyed June shouted.
“Sorry about that June but I think I saw a kid on the side of the road, will you go check please.”
“A kid? At this time? Are so desperate to get cheap labor that you would wish that on someone’s child?”
"Will you please go check? It will only take a minute." June stared at him coldly for a minute, then jumped off the cart. She looked around for a minute and was about to jump back in the cart when she saw something peculiar a few meters back. She walked back, and Fred was right. Right there beside the road, a boy was curled up in a ball, shaking like a twig in a storm. She tried to lift his chin, but he was cold as ice. She removed her sweater and wrapped him in it before calling Fred. "Hey kid, are you lost?" Fred asked, but the boy just shook.
“Can you at least wait until he has warmed up before you can interrogate him?” June snapped.
“Why did you call me here then?”
“To carry him to the cart, duh! He is bigger than me.”
"I liked you better when you were a small shy girl, all this growing up is not doing me any good," Fred said as he lifted Eli into the cart.