Change in Life

Chapter 38. Bereavement

Tense.

Indeed, the aura constricting around the two distraught souls turned the atmosphere into a shattering discontent, being made all the worse as the sun began to set, bringing on the dark, and the clock ticking down to the inevitable. The air breathed with reserved angst. The warm day cooled with the absence of any lively joy, threatening to chill the fox kept warm by his rich coat, and the man with potent alcohol preventing him from feeling the tepid change. Despite there only being four spirits watching intently the slow passing of time, only one really showed signs that she was scared from the feeling transcending their plane of existence.

'Is it even possible?' Astrid asked, the quiet night swallowing all sense of normality. From the house, Doug had turned on the spotlight from his 4WD to the trees, the veranda lights to illuminate the entire yard and a sliver of the the fields, plus a large torch at the ready by his side. 'He's ready for you.'

'It won't matter,' Blake sighed, his inner struggle clear to them.

Astrid looked empathetically up at the fox preparing himself. His eyes were drooping and fur rough from his stress. 'You haven't slept. He'll be on you before you can react.'

Blake blinked some sense of collectiveness back to his demeanor and furrowed his brow. 'It doesn't matter.'

Astrid shuddered at a terrible prospect. Just what could she say to convince him of a different way? 'Losing my mate was hard, but time has made it easier for me to understand it to the point were I can find another mate with a clear conscious.'

'Don't say it, Astrid...' Blake said with his focus on the house waving slightly.

The squirrel sighed despondently. 'All I'm saying is... after seeing what she was willing to give for you during the fires, I know she would want you to be safe and... move on.'

Her proposition would have sent him into a tirade of righteous indignation and, had he have been in a comfortable place away from misgivings from loved family, would have sent her off, yet his mind was so firmly locked on the man sitting on the decking that all cognitive perception of irritation and distaste were replaced with solemn content. 'Then you would also know that I would never give her up. I have failed her once already, I'm not going to have her die confused and frightened, alone, because of what she believe I should be.'

He pick up the key at his paws, stood, subtly disturbing the ferns that warranted a squinted glare from his father, and began to walk quietly into the deeper woods. Astrid jumped on his back as he gave a wide birth to the house, away from the light, exited the security of the redwoods and into the rear, less guarded portion, of the eerily quiet structure. Astrid glance back as her own security blanket of leaves was pulled from her and she hugged the fox's neck fearfully.

He placed the key down and eyed the unsupervised rear of the house from the only safe angle. 'The night is my time, Astrid.' He sat calmly after he left the tall wooded embrace. Astrid slid off with a bit of reluctance and stood helplessly as the fox that had shown her that some things could be nice if given the chance turned to face her with an endearing smile of an unlikely friendship in a derelict world. 'Thank you so much for all you have done for both me and Jade.'

The red squirrel felt her throat clenching up. 'Now don't you dare say it.'

The peaceful home they stood behind with the wan glow of the side veranda lights barely casting their shadows to the dispersed woods and the silent murmurs from the lit windows through colorful curtains upstairs failed to take this moment from them. The flick of disappearing light from a switch from those higher rooms signaled the beginning.