Sasquatch - Edge Of The Forest

16.

Cypress looked around at his brothers in confusion. He loved Abigail but she was gone now. He, not Rowan or Pine, but he himself was the one that found the pretty little female and despite Pine's voice warning him not to, brought her home to their cave.

He had been the last to receive her affections which meant his encounters with her had been less. Abigail tended to favor Pine and Rowan more in her last days with them anyway.

As the flying human-made beast left them in the dark woods, Cypress and a uncontrollably growling Rowan, had to drag Pine back to the cave and seal themselves.

Cypress was half expecting Pine to grab the crate of human things and toss them around in a blind fit of rage. He looked forward to the beating he knew was coming for him as soon as the rock was rolled back into perfect place, hiding them from humans' light. He was sure he deserved it and he was willing to take it without defending himself in the slightest manner. Abigail was gone and that wasn't going to change, beating or not. Like most things, Cypress was sure Pine would eventually move on from her.

The eldest of their little clan gave the crate no more than a glance. He sank to the ground like a weak, frail, old Giant with his back against the sitting log. Pine had looked over his shoulder, spotting the fur Abigail kept up there for when she grew cold. Cypress watched on, his mouth open in confusion, as Pine took it carefully. He handled the blanket as if it had been fashioned into a thin clay plate and cracks were starting to form in the middle.

Pine brought it up to his face, burying his head and breathing in deep. Then the most heartbreaking sound filled Cypress' ears and Pine howled in pain.

Unsure of what to do or how to react, Cypress left him alone. The alpha of their clan was sobbing into a fur blanket, breathing in what scent he could pick up of Abigail. He found it almost... Disgusting, pathetic, and weak. His faith in Pine started to waver as the pitiful lonely muffled howling continued. Making his way through his home, he ran his hand over the red paint Rowan had made on the stone walls, for Abigail to follow. The thick paint was raised and Abigail had been able to follow it even when she had no light. No reason to keep this now. He was sure Rowan would wash it away soon, if not by Pine's orders it be from his own. He had never liked their paths being marked to begin with. It made the walls look odd.

"Rowan?" His deep voice seemed odd as it left him. It gave him the feeling that he really shouldn't be talking but surely Rowan, who was always the more level-headed of the three, would be already moving past their loss. "Rowan?" This time he sounded a bit more confident. Where could he be?

Almost to their nest, Cypress' ear pricked at the sound of muffled grunts. He rounded the threshold to their sleeping place and looked over Rowan, who was holding fur blankets up to his mouth. Not only was he sniffling, he was growling and grunting uncontrollably. His tics had taken over and his right shoulder continued rolling. Cypress feared it was going to roll right out of the socket and that would be a pain to put back in.

Standing like a child, Cypress didn't know what to do. There was nowhere for him to go and no one to talk to. Deciding to hunt the night away, he used the back entrance to leave and prayed to the ancestors that by the time the sun came up, his brothers would be over their tantrums. "I loved her too." He whispered to no one as he sealed the back entrance. Looking up to the sky, he could hear the human-made beast roaming. It sounded as if it came from the river where the wooden crate had been left for him to find. He decided to go the opposite way, praying they'd also give up their search for more humans.

~~~~~~

"Wake up, ye're home, lass. A neit ye tae get oot o the car."

Abigail woke with a snore and looked around as if she had been slapped. A man's thick Scottish accent filled her ears again but she couldn't understand a single word he said for the daze she was in. Eyebrows together she eyed the man sitting in front of her. He wasn't the one talking. Instead, the massive man looked at her. Then slowly tilted his head to the side. "Number Two?" Her voice croaked. She watched a bit of confusion appear on his human-like face and then out of nowhere he pulled a bottle of water from the console between them.