The Longest Day

Chapter One

Tahni hurried into the house through the back door. She had just finished feeding the chickens that were kept in the barn behind her home and she didn’t want to waste another second of her day.

“Dad!” she called out, “Dad, can I go for a hike in the woods? I’ve finished my chores!”

A muffled groan floated through the air from the direction of her father’s bedroom.

Tahni let out a sigh and ran her fingers through the thick waves of her auburn hair. It was all too often that her father slept through the day, and she worried for him because of it.

Quickly, she made her way through the small wooden farmhouse her father had built for their family during his wife’s first pregnancy, reaching the end of the narrow hallway just as her father, Hank, emerged from his room.

“What was that, sweetheart?” he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.

With another sigh, Tahni repeated herself. “I wanted to know if I could go for a hike in the woods.”

“Uh, sure. Just don’t forget to be back by—”

“By sundown,” Tahni interrupted. “I know, dad. Can you please get some rest while I’m gone, though? You really do need to take better care of yourself.”

She watched as her father rubbed his eyes with calloused hands and attempted to neaten the wild disarray that was his thick brown hair.

It made little difference.

“You know I’ve been busy lately, Tahni. I’ve got paperwork to do.”

Hank was a rather important man in Greengrove. With a position on the village Council, he was often up to his knees in work, and juggling that with the task of raising his two children alone, occasionally he would push himself too hard.

“I know, dad. But you need to learn to put your health before your work. If you get sick, what will we do? I worry about you, that’s all. Please just promise me you’ll get the rest you need today.”

“Okay, okay. I promise,” he agreed.

“Thank you. I’ll be back before dark.”

After planting a quick kiss to Hank’s rough cheek, Tahni pulled back and pointed toward his bed without so much as another word.

The corner of her father’s mouth twitched upward as he turned and retreated to his room.

Collapsing on his sheets, he was asleep in seconds.

Tahni turned and walked back through the small house, towards her older brother’s room.

She knocked on the door and a muffled reply told her she could come in.

Her brother, Kobi, was sitting on his bed, flipping the page of one of his favourite books. His thick brown hair—much like their father’s—fell messily into his eyes. It was almost time that she cut it for him again.

“Hey, I’m going for a hike in the woods. I’ll be back before sundown. Can you make sure dad gets some rest please? He really needs it, he’s been working too hard lately,” Tahni murmured over the dull roar that was their father’s snoring from down the hall.

“Of course. I’ll cook dinner tonight and wake him when it’s done. I’ll see you later,” Kobi replied in hushed tones.

After offering a quick thanks to her older brother, Tahni left the house and ran for the tree line.

While she didn’t fit the image of conventional beauty—with her thick, loose curls, tinted a deep red flowing down past her shoulders, a small scar on her chin from a childhood accident, freckles spotting her nose and cheeks, and sharp green eyes—she was certainly still a looker.