I hadn't felt this sick in a very long time.
I looked up at what used to be my old home, River beside me and Nixie in the backseat in her carrier.
The house had been given a new lick of white paint, and the flower field had been fenced across the middle to give some sort of indicator to a back yard.
Still, I was nervous.
For a place I used to live in, and one I had raised a family in not too long ago, I couldn't bring myself to leave the car and approach the front door.
Everyone was here. They were just waiting on me.
River placed a hand on mine gripping the wheel and stroked the back of it with his thumb.
"Do you want me to come with you?" he offered with a small smile.
I knew he didn't want that. He wanted to stay in the car so it wasn't such an overload for Pretzel.
He was as scared as I was. He couldn't trust anyone.
I took a deep breath to swallow it down.
I'll be fine. It'll be good. It's just the two humans and thier two kids. Pretzel would be a happy girl amongst thier family. She wouldn't want to leave.
I got out of the car, cringing that I hadn't bought anything with me as a gift.
There had to be something to soften such a shock, yet I didn't stop to find anything for her. All I had with me was the little bird necklace I rubbed in my pocket for comfort.
Maybe my presence would be enough? It would have to be.
"You've got this" River called to me from the car "I'll be right here if you need me."
I tried to smile and headed for the front door.
I wanted him to come with me, but that would be selfish. This was something I had to face by myself.
I stopped by the front door and hesitated at the new knocker there. The door itself had been painted yellow and had a plaque of flowers hanging above the knocker.
It was all so different; so new.
My arms felt heavy. I was sweaty and my throat felt like it had been stuffed with a towel.
I hadn't felt sickening dread like this since when I opened the door to see Lavender with...
No. I couldn't think about that now.
I knocked on the door and waited.
There was noise. My thumb crushed against the bird and my ears dropped down.
I looked pitiful. Pretzel would think i was shameful.
I heard shuffling inside and the scraping of chairs. I took another deep breath and looked back to River for support.
"Hello?"
I turned back around, ashamed that I wasn't ready.
This person was different too. The woman had long brown hair hanging over one shoulder. She was in the middle of plaiting it as she waited for my response.
I tried looking around her for the woman and man I knew. The two boys even. This one was really throwing me off.
"I've come to see Pretzel?"
The woman gasped and stopped playing with her hair that unwravelled all her hard work.
"The little demon girl in the backyard?" she breathed to my nod "thank God. MUM!"
The woman screamed over her shoulder and then moved when a tinier woman came bolting to the door to greet me with a polite smile, her frazzled brown hair sticking out of her ponytail at all angles.
She wasn't the one I knew either. She was far too short and wore these big, round glasses that made her look almost like an owl.
"He's here for the girl" the woman grunted to the mother.
"Oh!" the mother clasped both my hands in hers to shake them and lead me inside "we were wondering if anyone would ever show up for her. Darling little thing, really, but just... you know..."
I stopped looking around the house to scowl at her.
"No, I don't know" I bristled up.
"Wierd" the daughter finished for the flustered mother, heading for the lounge to my right where a laptop laid "she's wierd and a thief."
I didn't like these strangers talking badly about Pretzel. They weren't her family, so what were they doing here?
"What happened to the people who were living here?" I ducked around a shell chandalier as the mother led me to the door to the verandah "the ones with the two boys and the dog?"
The mother led me to the edge but looked to me in worry when I joined her side to stare out over the flower field.
"Oh, well, we bought this place seven years ago" she chuckled to break the tension "I don't know anything about who lived here before us. We were only told that there was a demon buried under the tree over there" she pointed to where Bee was "and that some worm demon thing lived nearby. It never crosses the fence, see?"
She ran her finger to the old boundary fence that had been updated with another newer one. It had points along the top that would sure deter Angler from hauling himself over them.
"Do you... know the girl?" the woman pried "we weren't told that we were expecting a girl to be here when we moved here. Her and the others have been a bit of a hassle to be honest. We had to put the fence up to keep them out. We've tried to move them and scare them off a few times, but they keep coming back."
A hassle. Is that what these humans thought she was? She wasn't just some thing that could be swatted away or startled like a wild beast.
I could feel myself slipping at the disrespect towards my daughter. I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath to steady myself.
"Where is she?"
"She hangs with the snake thing down by the water" the mother pointed ahead "but the boys down the road have seen her at the creek not far from here too" she moved her finger to her left "usually, she jumps the fence to sit by the tree. She sleeps there some nights."
They... They didn't let her sleep inside?
I needed to walk, before I said something I regretted.
I headed for the stairs to pound down them, grumbling under my breath.
"You will move her along, won't you?" the mother called down to me "it's no place out here for a girl like her."
Like her.
Cool it, Teddy. You don't want to get involved with humans again. You've already seen what they can do.
I said nothing. I just turned back around and walked to fence. I kept my fists stashed in my pockets so that my nails stabbed my palms instead of the woman boiling my blood.
I had to relax. I couldn't face Pretzel like this. This was going to be the first time seeing her and I didn't want her to get the wrong impression.
I paused.
She hadn't seen me like this, had she? 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgUSGGLFdQq
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She wouldn't know who I was.
I tried to think to when we had met and how I had been. I had turned into the Dead Bird then. Pretzel came to the woods I collapsed in when I escaped the government at my home.
She didn't know what I actually looked like without mutations. This all would be new to her. She'd be able to understand me and see me looking just like her.
Maybe I should leave this for another time? Maybe when I had mutated a little so it wasn't such a shock to her?
I turned and pulled my gaze up to the woman and her daughter watching from the verandah. River watched me from the car as well.
I couldn't just leave now. Not with these people here; not after convincing River I was ready for this after so long. I had to make sure Pretzel was OK where she was and that nothing had happened to her.
I looked to the tree Bee laid under for courage.
She wouldn't have wanted me to give up when I was so close. She'd be more dissapointed in me than I would be with myself if I got into that car and left now.
I took another deep breath and turned back towards the fence I crushed a path towards.
I followed the path through the grass I had many years ago like I was reliving a memory from yesterday.
All the smells were the same. The peeling bark on the trees, the breeze through the rustic leaves beating on the swaying branches, the distant rush of the river that Angler liked to fry his fish in.
There's was no indicator he was down there when I paused to listen. Rather than waste time at the river, I turned and headed left for the way to Angler's home.
I didn't have the sense of dread I used to when I lived here with Bee. I had nothing to protect from him; no nest to guard, no borders to keep clear.
There was no urgency. It was just peaceful and quiet.
I didn't need to hunt these woods anymore. I knew where the deer still roamed beyond the clawed trees, but didn't investigate. I had no need to.
The claws had extended almost to the fence-line like I had predicted. I saw little scratches accompany them from Worm and others that looked like they had been crossed in with a rock.
I ran my fingers over the ones before me to feel the grooves gouged in by such a blunt tool.
That had to be Pretzel. She was living with Angler and Worm.
I moved from the tree, following the gouges to where I knew the cave would be.
Why was she with him? Why wouldn't she stay with the family I had given her to? She had everything and she chose to live in filth again?
These humans didn't like her. It was clear she had resorted to her old ways to survive.
But she had it all....
I came to the clearing around the cave and saw that the blood leading into the mouth of it hadn't changed one bit. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUVyuDCZt6Q
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Little bones laid stacked around the enterance and were pressed into the dirt like decorations.
Pretzel was here.
I wasn't going to climb into the cave. I already knew Angler was protective of his territory. I had to make sure he was here the only way I knew how.
I backed up to the edge of the clearing and cupped my hands around my mouth.
"PRETZEL!" I called to the hole "HEY! IT'S ME! IT'S P..!"
The screech from Angler cut off my words and made me smile. I heard his feet thundering up from below before he shot forth and rose up, wavering another scream from his mouth before snapping his eyes onto me.
"Angler!" I grinned and spread my arms wide at the towering beast "It's me! Teddy!"
Worm squeezed around his father to come snapping at me, standing up on his back legs to try and stretch to my chest.
I chuckled at his tactics and how his little voice clicked away furiously at me in warning.
"It's me" I told Angler again "remember? We used to live next to each other? I was in the field and you were, well, here?"
It was ten years ago, Teddy. Think.
Angler still was skeptical. Each click from him sounded like a tree snapping as he lowered himself closer and within striking distance.
I could see each glinting eye perfectly. The pieces of fresh fish flesh skewered in his teeth and the strings of saliva splattered to the ground between us.
Worm snapped at me and retreated to the safety of his father's side.
"You bought me back Bee" I spoke up to him "when she was all..." I closed my eyes at the flash of her body laid at my feet "...she was missing feathers. She was soaked."
"What else was she?" a voice piped up.
I saw Pretzel standing at the enterance of the cave with a stone in her hand, held out towards me like a weapon.
Her hair was a little knotted but nothing like the mess I had seen it in before it had been tackled. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqe3GSTNHIE
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Her yellow dress was noticeably old and faded, but her skin remained clean and scrubbed beneath them, except for her slimy hands covered in chucks of fish. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2h78OysmSd
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The only dirt on her was her bare feet.
I was proud she hadn't completely devolved into her neglected, feral ways again.
Pretzel's eyes glared at me. She didn't come closer.
"She was a caring mother, Pretzel" I smiled back.
"If you really are him, what are the names of my brothers and sisters we chose?" she quizzed.
I felt my breath catch and my gut drop.
Shit. Did I remember that? After so long, I hadn't used thier names. They had fallen out of memory.
"Uh, Pancakes" I started "after the dog they had that you loved playing with" then there was Dandelion and Flower."
I was really struggling. Bee and Pretzel had named some too.
"Bobby!" I snapped my fingers as it came to me "your favourite name was Bobby. It was the name of the brother you had at your old home."
There was more. The one who used to fight with Pancakes all the time.... I think I was also missing a girl?
Ah, jeez.
"You are really bad at this" Pretzel noted "my brother was Rory. Mama's friend who saved her was Bobby. The dog's name was Butter, not Pancakes. You got them all mixed up."
But I got them. I couldn't keep the smile off my face as her eyes were searching for recognition in me.
"Why didn't you come back for me?" she whispered out now.
My heart sank at her arm that dropped down. Her lip trembled but she tried to remain strong.
"Pretzel" I soothed and stepped forward but was stopped by Angler who blocked the way. Pretzel hid behind his body and peeked out.
"I couldn't come back" I spoke to her retreating face "I needed to find my family, and the only way to do that was like this" I gestured to myself and let my arms slump down in defeat "I was put away for ten years. I only just found everyone recently. I didn't forget you, I promise."
I felt like such a failure saying it out loud. I sat down in the dirt, running a nail in it as I waited for Pretzel to face me again.
"How come you didn't stay with your family?" I asked now "if I knew you were going to leave them after I left...."
"I didn't leave them, not then" she spoke up and peered out to me "I stayed with them because you said you'd be back. When they wanted to move, I stayed so you could find me."
She threw it all away because of me? She had only been with the family for three years before deciding to rough it out in the wilderness while waiting for me to return.
My body shook from the tears blinding me. I kept my mouth shut to try and trap in the sob that wanted to escape it.
I really had let her down. She had waited for me and I had put everything else before her.
"Papa?"
I shook my head, holding it in my hands so she didn't have to see how stupid I was being. How pathetic I was to the idol that had left her wondering all those years.
"I'm s-so sorry" I choked out "y-you didn't h-ha-have to wait."
"I did, Papa" she whined out and sniffled "c-can I hug you?"
Oh my god, I wanted that.
I held out my arms blindly and was smashed into by a sobbing and shaking body squeezing desperately around my middle. Pretzel wailed into my shirt as I held her close against me to smother them. Her legs planted on either side of me so she could be buried into me.
I had got my little girl back. She was here in my arms, bawling along with her Papa.
"Don't go again" she squeezed around me through her snorting face that snuggled back into my chest to rest there.
"I won't" I promised her before even stopping to think about my deal with River.
I didn't want to let her go either. I just wanted to stay in the dirt forever with my daughter in my arms. This is how it should have been from the start.
Angler finally backed off to give us some space. He kept his eyes on me as he retreated just into the entrance of the cave so he could still keep Pretzel safe. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvdWDiluYyE
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Worm squeezed around him to slither back into the depths.
Pretzel's head turned before she rested it back on me. Her hands never left my shirt she clutched.
"He's been keeping me safe and fed while you were gone" she spoke as she smiled to Angler "he keeps the humans away and even comes to sleep with me at Mama's Tree."
Mama's Tree. That made me smile. It sounded so beautiful for a place Pretzel once refused to acknowledge.
"They want you to move on" I told her "are you staying there because of her?"
She nodded, burying her head once more.
"I don't want to leave Mama. If I leave, they'll cut down her tree."
I felt her shudder as she tried not to cry again.
"If they do cut down the tree, they won't be cutting down Mama" I spoke to Pretzel's lifting face blinking up at me "she's with the spirits. Mama doesn't belong to the tree, she belongs in your memories of her."
"But I want her back" Pretzel's lip quivered "I miss her."
"I want her back too, but we can't control these things. For all we know, Mama has fallen down again to start a new life making someone else happy. She's very good at doing that."
Pretzel smiled when I did. It faltered as she dropped her head back to my chest.
"She will be OK. She's safe where she is. They made sure no-one would reach her, not even Angler himself."
Angler huffed at the mention of his name, to make Pretzel smile again.
"I missed you" I whispered down to her.
"I missed you too, Papa" Pretzel snuggled into me "you're staying here, right? I don't know how we can fit, but you can sleep in the corner and I can sl..."
"Pretzel" I grimmaced down to her enthusiastic face "I'm not staying."
She frowned, leaning back slightly.
"So... I'm going with you?"
I shook my head and saw her brows furrow more.
"W-where am I going then?" she started to panic in my arms "am I staying here? Am I going somewhere else?"
She pulled from my arms and stood there, turning towards Angler who pulled his head up from the cave.
She ran to him and held onto him instead.
"Pretzel"
"No!" she snapped back to me "you don't get it, Papa! What am I meant to do? I can't stay here because of them!" she threw a hand in the direction of the house "I can't leave because I have nowhere to go! You don't even want me! I've got nowhere!"
She burst into tears and hid her face against Angler who kept me on my arse in the dirt with a cold glare.
"I want you to come with me, I do" I pleaded "but I can't. They're hunting demons out there; spotted ones. They'd confuse you for one of them and send you back."
"Maybe that would be better" she muttered bitterly with a side glance at me.
"It wouldn't" I moaned back "please, don't say that."
"What's stopping you then?" she finally turned from Angler to properly face me "how come you can't take me back?"
Her tears were bitter now. She was seething, just like I had when my life had first turned to shit.
There was no stopping her. She had made up her mind and whatever I said wasn't going to change a thing.
"Nixie."
"Who's that?" she turned up her lip at me "the one you were looking for to replace Mama with?"
She didn't mean it. She was angry. She needed something to lash out at.
"We found her" I replied calmly as her little hands balled up "she's my daughter. She's only a baby."
Her teeth were bared now. Her shoulders heaved and her fists shook with the anger that dripped from her eyes.
"You replaced me" she muttered under her breath "just like they did, replaced me with something cuter and less annoying."
I got to my feet now and held a hand out.
"YOU REPLACED ME!" she screamed out and picked up a stuck to throw it at me while sobbing "YOU NEVER WANTED ME!"
"Now, Pretzel" I hardened up as she paced beside Angler and growled out "that's not true. I lo.."
"Don't you dare" she jabbed a finger to me and swiped at her eyes to try and stop the tears "Mama loved me. She did, and the moment she died, you left. You never wanted me. You wanted your real family. I was just in the way. I stayed here for you and you came back just to tell me that you have something better!"
She picked up a handful of dirt to throw it in my direction. It fell to the ground in a pitiful cloud.
I remained where I was. I didn't dare move while Angler's eyes were glued to me and Pretzel was trying to find ways to hurt me.
My anger boiled at all the lies Pretzel was spouting, but I kept my mouth shut.
"Let me guess, the baby's got spots too?" Pretzel bit out coldly "figures. You'd keep it around but not me. There are people hunting spots but you'd rather throw me out to save some thing you don't even know! It's not even yours! Demons can't have children!" she snapped again and jabbed at her chest "I was yours! But you found a way to throw away your actual children and me all at the same time for some dream."
"It wasn't a dream" I choked out between my gritted teeth "I found what I was looking for and I came back for you. This was the plan me and Bee had."
"Never told me about it."
"You couldn't understand us" I hissed "there were a lot of things we discussed that you didn't know."
"Like how to leave me?"
"LIKE HOW TO SAVE YOU, PRETZEL!" I exploded, jabbing a shaking finger at the dirt "IF I WANTED TO LEAVE YOU, I WOULD HAVE LEFT YOU TO DIE ON THAT DAMN BLOCK IN THE SUN!"
Pretzel whined and stamped her foot down through her sobbing.
"YOU SHOULD HAVE!" she shrieked "AT LEAST I'D BE WITH MY REAL PAPA!"
"Don't you give me that shit" I hissed and stormed towards her.
I heard Pretzel yelp out in fear and scurry behind Angler who placed himself between us. His body snapped with the electricity coarsing through it now.
"Get out here, right now" I demanded "you can't just say all that and get away with it."
"Are you going to hit me?" she whimpered back and snorted through her tears before moving to show herself from her safety behind the electricity.
I felt something snake down my palms and opened them to see my lengthened nails stabbing into them. The blood splattered onto the leaves, smearing across my horns when I raised my hands to feel how jagged they had become.
No wonder she looked so scared of me. I had mutated because of her. I had been threatened by a little girl, my little girl, and had boxed her into a corner where she couldn't escape.
I had made her fear me.
"I just want to keep you safe, that's all" I drew in a shaking breath and forced myself to swallow the lump in my throat "if that means leaving you with him, then that's what I'll do."
Angler didn't move at my mention of him. He kept his defense up high so I could barely see Pretzel hiding behind his body.
"Look, I'm going to lose Nixie the moment they find us" I threw my hands up and kicked the dirt as I turned from Pretzel "I can't have that happen to you too. You deserve better than... me."
She did. I shouldn't have charged at her like that in my rage. She had survived with Angler so far, she could keep doing it without me.
"I..." I tried to find the words for my daughter I couldn't even look at out of shame "I didn't want to leave you. I love you and still will until I join the spirits myself. I just..." I took a breath to steady my cracking voice "... hopefully things will change and I can be your Papa again, like I used to."
I took a look up to Angler who still kept Pretzel behind him, and tried to smile.
He'd keep her safe. I knew he would. He was already a better father to her than I ever was.
"Stay away from the humans, please" I warned him "and don't let them hurt her."
I turned from them and shuffled shamefully back through the clawed trees alone. They felt more dreary now that I had the guilt of my actions running down my face and shaking my shoulders.
I shouldn't have done that. It should have been a peaceful reunion with Pretzel being happy to have seen me.
But, she had her mind made up, and I couldn't change that. She wanted answers and I gave them to her, although a little too harshly.
River was holding Nixie and standing by the fence when I crushed a new path through the flowers towards them.
The humans watched from above, more interested in whether I had deterred thier nuisance than the effect it had on me.
"Are you alright?" River's smile fell when he saw me wiping my eyes "what happened?"
He scanned the new mutations I had gained with concern. I just placed a finger down for Nixie to grab onto while trying to distract myself from the looming guilt.
This isn't the way I wanted to go. I had so much I wanted to do and say but no time.
"Let's just go" I choked out "I'll tell you in the car."
"Ill drive then" he decided and went around to strap Nixie in while I leant against the car to stare out at the empty flower field and Mama's Tree.
I really messed up, Bee. I left it too long.
Time hadn't been easy to Pretzel. I had been gone too long and that had created cracks that were far too deep to heal with one hopeful appearance.
I should have tried harder. We were going so well too...
She called me Papa again, and I made her afraid of me.
I lowered my head when tears blinded me once more.
"Hey" River's voice soothed before his hand clasped my shoulder "she'll be OK."
I sniffled and nodded as I buried my head into his shoulder to stifle my noisy tears.
"You can come back" he reassured "she'll still be here."
She would. But she wouldn't want to see me.
I shook my head and clung to River's shirt like she had with mine; like a child.
"Teddy Bear" he cooed and rested his head on mine "today's been tough, huh?"
I nodded.
Words failed me. My throat had been torn out by the grief choking me.
"I'm sorry about the way I reacted last night" he spoke softly as he stoked my ears "I threw things out of perspective by telling you things I should haven't of said. I wanted to keep all of us safe, including her. Coming here and doing this, that took some serious guts."
I just mumbled in agreement.
She was safer here with Angler. He could protect her in ways I no longer could. She was the brave one, not me.
"How about we head home and you tell me how on earth you thought of the name Pretzel for a kid" River grinned and lifted my head from him to wipe my eyes and nose with his shirt.
A small smile lifted my face.
I'd like that. To remember the happier memories with Pretzel and Bee before I ruined it all. River would get a good laugh out of some of the antics we had got up to.
River went around the car to get into the driver's seat. I opened up the passengers one and took one last look at the field.
A little face was there on the other side of the boundary fence, watching. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWoPEBw6f53
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Worm sat on the fence beside it, looking to the unmoving eyes.
"Pretzel?"
"Teddy, what's up?" River leant over.
"It's Pretzel" I smiled back to him and approached the fence to grip it.
The flower field and barrier to the backyard blocked our paths to each other. I didn't want to make the first move, just watching Pretzel trying to make her decision. The humans watched too from their pedestal above us all.
She had come for me.
I wiped my tears again at the realisation that she hadn't given up all hope on me.
River appeared beside me with Nixie in his arm. He squinted for the fence and lifted his ears when he saw Pretzel climbing over it, tearing her dress and swearing.
"She's so small" he commented "wild hair too."
Her hair was perfect in all its tangled glory. It whipped around behind her as she sprinted through the flowers with a little woven bag clutched in her hand.
I couldn't hold back any longer. 97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDlmEARt8HN
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I jumped the fence and bolted for Pretzel approaching the backyard barrier with determination in trying to climb it.
"What are you doing here?" I breathed down to her tear-stained face and snotty nose.
She held up her bag to me and wiped her face on the dress. The edge of it had all the threads exposed along the tear the point of the fence had gouged through it.
"I was really going to regret it if you didn't give me your phone number or an address or something" she breathed on the fence "and if you didn't come back, which I get, then at least i'd have something to find you with, only if you want to. I didn't want to just sit there while you left forever. I... couldn't do that again."
I fished out a touchscreen in a pink case that had a little pod of popppable beans hanging from it.
"It's the girl's old one" Pretzel shrugged "she already got a new one ages ago."
"You stole this."
"I'm borrowing it" she corrected me "she's not using it anyway."
I scowled to Pretzel as I entered in my number and address under 'Teddy Bear'.
Angler was her Papa, and had been for years before I came back.
Maybe she would read that the wrong way and think I was trying to distance myself from her more?
She looked it over with a little smile and stood there, not sure what to do.
I wanted to hug her but it was clear she didn't want to so soon after our fight. I was lucky she was even here.
"The baby is kind of cute" she commented when her head turned to River and Nixie still over the fence "I can see why it would be tempting."
"Pretzel..."
"I know, Papa" she rolled her eyes with a small smile and leant back on the fence, pulling from it "thank you."
"Wait!"
She stopped, looking back at me.
I reached into my pocket to pull out the patched bird and press my thumb into the dent I had formed with years of soothing.
She needed it more than I did. She had more worries that I wouldn't be there to help her chase away.
It felt right. The little bird would be around her neck whenever she felt alone.
It wasn't for me to keep anymore.
"Here. This is for you."
Pretzel's eyes widened and then shone when I uncurled the chain River had made and flipped it over Pretzel's head to reclasp it.
She held the bird and wiped her eyes.
"It kinda looks like Mama."
"She helped me through a lot" I smiled to her as she rubbed her finger in interest into the groove I had created "she kept me safe, and now she'll do the same for you. I've had that since I left. It's older than you."
"Older than what I look" she laughed back before throwing her arms up to hug me around the fence "thanks, Papa."
The hug was brief but caressed my aching soul. Pretzel stuffed her phone back into her little bag and sprinted back for the fence Worm remained on. She planted her hands on it and swung her body over in one fluid movement that was nothing like the clumsy clambering she had shown trying to reach me.
Pretzel paused on her way to the river, waving to me, until her head turned to smile at Angler scurrying his way into view to lead her out of sight.
I returned to River with a smile and was climbing into the passengers seat when my phone vibrated in my pocket.
River strapped Nixie in again and got behind the wheel to lean over and see the message I showed him.
It was Pretzel on her way down to the water with her arm outstretched to get the best picture. The bird necklace hovered over her chest, frozen in flight.
Worm peered up in the background amongst the grass, and only a fraction of Angler's body could be seen to her right.
She looked ecstatic. Her only message with the picture was 'Hi'.
River grinned at the shot and started the car to turn us back towards home.
I stared down at the picture before quickly saving the number and making the photo my background that lit up with her smile, making me melt inside.
I couldn't have felt more complete now that the cracks were beginning to be patched between us, and all it took was a little wooden bird and a simple photograph.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
