LACRIMA

CHAPTER 2

"Hunting is kind of dreary, father let's just go home already. it's going to be freezing soon. Don't be fooled by the scorching sun now." He mumbled, picking on the grass blades.

"You have no patience do you, my son?" Asked his father, before laughing at his Dirksome son. Then he continued
"It's so sunny here and its refreshing to go through the beautiful Wild Forest. come-" he said, but suddenly he heard a noise from the bushes behind the trees a few feet away from them.

"What was that father?" he asked a bit scared.
"That, my son, is where we start our work, go and fetch me the bow there" he says, pointing at where he left the bow.
As soon as he handed him the bow, he ran over the bushes after the noise. All of a sudden, as if it knew he was coming after it, a large figure ran deep into the forest.
Lowering the bow, his father disappeared from his sight along with it. Although the solitude should scare the boy, this wasn't his first time being left behind as one prey runs off somewhere. It was a routine with his father now. They'd go hunting, they'd find prey, his father and the prey run off and half an hour or so later, he comes back bloody and rugged with their dinner.

From experience, the little boy knew his father would be long. So he started to distract himself. Looking around, luckily the forest was a beauty. A unique feeling settled around his soul as the chorus of birds echoed through the oak branches, the smell of dirt and high grass flooded his senses and he laid down on his back to sink into the bliss.
His temporarily found peace only vanished hours later, when he realized how clueless he was about which trail to take back home, this wasn't their usual hunting grounds, they had decided to take a detour to find more exotic prey this morning. The boy tried peering into the forest to look for his father but there was no sight of him at all.

"What is taking him so long? It's just a stray animal" he thought, but then again he knows nothing about hunting. For all the joy he had while chasing rabbits in their garden, or the hunting sessions he had once in a while with his father, he never learned how to catch prey.

But his father definitely does not need to know about that secret. It was always his father's assumption that he was actually teaching him.

"What is taking him so long" he asked once again looking around in every direction to find him. At this point, frustration is beginning to seep in, so he decided to walk into the forest himself.

The trees were as thick as they come. It made the boy wonder how a deer, or whatever prey his father found, could run so fast through this maze.

As he went further, the trees started getting more scattered. More moss became visible near the roots of the trees and a few feet ahead he heard the steady hum of a river.

Picking up his pace, the boy reached the river, across which, the forest continues its intricate maze.

"Father!" he cried out meekly, but no one responded. Looking around in confusion and with cold feet, he noticed how silent it suddenly became. Not one sound was audible except for the occasional splash of water hitting the pebbles in the river. Even his breath seems to die off as it left his mouth.

"FATHER?!" He called out once again ,agitated, with all his strength. The forest echoed back his voice and went back to it's eerie silence.
The boy, suddenly feeling exposed and vulnerable, immediately turned away from the river ready to sprint back on his path to where his father left him.

Running through the maze of thick trees, jumping over logs and almost falling over unseen rocks, he started to become aware of a heavy presence running at him although he couldn't tell which direction it was coming from.

Anxiety worked its way through his spine, promising to never leave. His hands started to tremble and sweat started seeping into his collar. But he's unable to tell if the sweat is from the fear or from all the running.