Luke Doogan woke up before dawn. He looked over at his three brothers, who were all 8 years old. Charles, James, and Donald were triplets.
Even though they were triplets, they all looked different. Charles had blonde hair like Luke’s but brown eyes. James had brown hair like their father, and their mother’s green eyes. And Donald had jet black hair and their father’s bright blue eyes, which Luke inherited as well.
Luke swung his legs over the bed quietly and tiptoed to his dresser. He pulled out a white button up shirt and his father's old leather jacket. Luke put the jacket up to his nose and sniffed it for a second, reminding him slowly of his father.
Luke blinked away the tears, telling himself it had been four years. It was time to move on. Luke pulled on the shirt in silence, then the jacket. He laced up his boots and decided to leave the jacket open, the way he liked it.
Just as he was quietly leaving the room, he heard a noise.
“Luke?” One of his brothers called.
Luke turned and saw Donald sitting up in bed, rubbing his blue eyes sleepily.
“What is it, bud?”
“Are you going hunting again?” His brother asked.
”I hunt everyday, Donald.”
“I know,” Donald yawned, “but you used to go only once a week.”
Luke sighed, not wanting to explain the reasons for his increase in hunting. Things had been a bit tight lately, and since his mother didn’t work he had to hunt to sell his pickings in order to support the family.
“Well,” Luke began to lie, “You three are growing and I have to bring in more food for you strong guys.” Luke added as he ruffled Donald’s hair.
Donald giggled, then frowned as he looked up at Luke. “Will you kiss us goodnight?”
“Sure,” Luke said quietly, ignoring the fact that it actually was early morning. Luke leaned down and kissed Donald on the forehead, then turned and kissed Charles and James as well.
“Go to sleep,” Luke told Donald, who promptly lay back down in bed again and began to softly snore. Luke pulled the quilt their mother had made them over Donald, and smiled a little to himself.
Then Luke picked up his sword in its sheath and belted it around his waist, before heading out the bedroom door and into the kitchen.
Something he didn’t expect was his mother sitting at the kitchen table.
“Why are you up so early?” Luke asked her. His mother usually wasn’t up until after he was done hunting.
“I don’t know,” she answered, nervously playing with her blonde hair, “I just felt I needed to say goodbye this morning.”
“Oh,” Luke was surprised. She usually hardly said a word to Luke, always in her room or in her rocking chair staring out the window. Ever since the day they heard the news, it was like she’d gone numb.
“Well, goodbye,” he walked over to where his mother was sitting and kissed her on the forehead. Luke stiffened as she pulled him into a hug. This was not like Sarah Doogan at all. The last time she’d hugged him was…
“I love you,” she said into his hair, hugging him close. Even though it surprised him, Luke put his arms around his mother as well, longing to feel like a kid again, to be able to hug his mother without thinking she couldn’t feel anything at all.
”Love you too,” he replied, and pulled himself away from the hug.
“Be careful,” his mother urged him, her face knotted in worry as he opened the front door.
“I always am,” Luke tried to comfort her, but even so her face fell as he said it. But without another word he stepped through the front door and out of the house.
…
”Mornin’ Luke!” One of the shopkeepers in the town of Quinton, shouted to Luke. Karl was a butcher and he was just opening the shop for today.
”Good morning, Karl.” Luke nodded a hello to Karl, a small smile on his face.
“I have a feeling it’ll be a sunny day today,” Karl said as he began to rummage in his drawers.
“That’s a relief,” Luke sighed as he waved back at Karl before following the path into the woods.
“Have a good day!” Karl wished Luke and Luke returned the comment before heading into the woods.
…
The sun had just begun to rise when Luke spotted a deer. He stopped in his tracks and quietly drew his sword. If he got that deer he could feed his family for weeks. Maybe even months.
“Follow the deer,” said a voice.
Luke whirled around, looking to see if anyone was there. No one was. Even so, Luke held his sword at the ready, his heart beginning to beat faster.
Luke glanced over at the deer and saw it was down grazing and about to walk away from where it was at.
Luke saw his chance and took it. He lunged at the deer, but it ran away, so he chased after it, off the path.
He chased it for about half an hour, ignoring his legs screaming from him running nonstop, tripping over branches and stones.
All he could think about was being able to feed his family. His mother would be proud. He could see the deer a few feet away from him, and a smile spread on his face.
That was when he tripped and fell flat on his face. He’d been lucky until now. He got up, but saw the deer scampering away, until he couldn’t see it anymore.
“Dang it,” Luke muttered, lightly punching the ground with his fist. He hadn’t seen a deer in these woods in months, and now he’d lost his chance all because he was clumsy.
But then something worse happened. As Luke looked around and didn’t remember in what direction the path has been.
In his desperation he’d followed the deer away from the path blindly without making note of where the path could be.
“Oh no,” Luke said to himself as the truth sunk in. He’d lost the deer and now the path…
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