King Elk Forest The 'Big' man

They were fighting again.

Vaska had watched his siblings sneak out of the den; he had caught the devilish glance they’d conspired. What was stopping him from turning away and letting them get up to whatever they wanted, while he closed his eyes and tried to find some sleep?

Their departure is what swayed him, and a memory of the look he had seen their mother give when they wrestled and fought and played. It might have been love. That was the only word Vaska had for it - and he noticed, subconsciously, that he had never seen mother look on him like that.

So, he decided, he just needed to be more like them. But when he joined his siblings outside, his resolves faltered, and instead of tearing into the fray like he compelled his paws to do, he heard his voice rising up with the red faced man in a sharp and pleading, “stop!”

And he rushed towards his brother in an effort to latch onto anything he could grab and maybe hopefully pull him away.