Shadows Peak |✔

Chapter 4: Casey

As the sun began to set, Casey made his way home. Still disappointed at the loss of such a huge buck, he settled to be satisfied with the wild turkey he found wandering near an open field. It was on the smaller side, not enough to feed more than two or three normal sized families in their village, but it was better than rabbit, again.

In LeHorn, families usually had at least four children. There were cases where less were had, but most people liked the idea of a big family, and it was necessary for their survival. They needed all the help they could get, so most people preferred to have sons; but daughters were loved just the same.

Casey was the second oldest of his siblings. With his older brother, Jonah, already with a family of his own, and his younger sister, Hanna, soon to follow, it was just him and his youngest brother still living at home with their mother. Their father was gone, and Casey didn't like to talk much of it, but he promised to be there for his mother and take care of her.

"Oh, good. You're home," Casey's mother, Elena said, greeting her son. "It's dark out now, you must be starving."

Casey set his hunting gear down in his room and joined his mother in the kitchen, still carrying the turkey.

"It's not much, but it's more than last time. We would even have some left to give to the Mayners," Casey commented, as he reached for a fresh baked roll his mother must have made while he was out.

"You're right," Elena agreed. "But I think I'll use it all in a stew and have you take some over to them. You think they'll like that?"

"With the way you cook, I doubt you could find one person who'd complain over your cooking."

"That's my boy," she winked. "Now go freshen up. You wreak," Elena said as she started preparing the turkey.

Casey laughed, but before leaving he forced a hug on his mother, despite her attempts to avoid him until he was clean. Then he headed to the only bathroom in the house.

LeHorn, and almost all of the villages and towns in the Western Region were less advanced than those in the East. This was mostly caused by the Eastern Region controling all of the imports into the land. All the new technologies and innovations went to them first, and they controlled how they were distributed; they were not distributed to the West.

All the more modern advances like cars and planes were only afforded to the rich in the Western Region, though they were common in the East. It was one of the ways the Easterners kept them at a disadvantage. Casey believed it was to keep them from ever becoming a threat to the East.

One of the downsides to the disadvantage, however, was the inability to upgrade things. Casey still lived in the house he grew up in, despite it slowly breaking down. It was made of stone and clay, much like all the other buildings in the region. When it rained, there were leaks, but they managed. It was old, like most things in the region, but was strong, too.

After Casey turned the water on to warm up, he headed back to his room to fetch his clothes. While picking out a simple t-shirt, he heard the sound of two little feet running toward his room. A smile spread on his face as he prepared himself for the usual greeting his little brother gave him. A few seconds later and Casey's little brother, Noah, ran right into his legs, gripping them with his little arms and holding on tight. He was trying to climb Casey's legs, but he wasn't quite strong enough.

"Hey, little man!" Casey laughed, picking up his baby brother. "Did you miss me?!"

Noah just squealed while nodding his head.