“Did you see that?” she offered, but nobody was in the room with her. She turned her attention outside again. Another enormous shadow floats by the tree near her target.
Something told her the figure was looking back at her. It stopped, “turn off the lights” she whispered to papa.
“What are you going to do?”
She motioned for him to dim the lights and he agreed.
“I’m so scared!” mama cried.
“SHHHH!” Aspen insisted, “I’ll be back.”
“Just where do you think you’re going?” Papa protested but Aspen already made her mind up.
She made her way out of the house through the front door and snaked her way to the back. In an effort to lay low she crawled toward her bow and gently pulled it toward her careful not to make a sound.
An ear shattering roar came from the creature by the tree…. the bear, it’s here. she knew it. so much for my husbands bear patrol…
The roar was deafening. It almost sounded, otherworldly. It left her shaky as she reached a hand toward the quiver for an arrow. She repositioned her body from her back against the wall to one knee on the ground and the other up and around the side of her belly. Her thighs burned as she was still as possible. The inky figures melted together which made executing this a literal shot in the dark.
With her right hand she slides the arrow from the quiver, places it, draws it back and pauses. She’s never shot anything other than a target before, is she crazy? This doesn’t seem like a good time to test out her archery skills, although maybe it is the best time to find out if she’s any good outside of a painted circle. Other than the fact she has no other choice, she was as ready as she’d ever be.
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