Spirits of O'mara

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    “Come on Rainer, we have to be home before sundown you know mom and dad said.” The half completed fort me and my little brother had started around noon has now being cast in jagged shadows made from the surrounding trees, telling me it was time to go home.

               “I know it’s what mom and dad always say, but can’t we stay out here a bit longer? I was just about to put the door on.

               “We have to go home in time for dinner, plus it’s not safe for you yet to be out after dark.” My brother had just turned nine a week ago, and even though I was nine when I started going out in the dark, it was in the early morning when the sun hadn’t come around yet, and I had the protection of my the father with me. “Put the door against the entrance and come on.”

               After seeing the clear disappointment on his face I said. “I’ll tell you what, tomorrow we’ll come before the sun rises, and I will teach you how to make it around the woods when it’s dark. Then we can finish the shelter.”

               Clearly enjoying the idea of coming back in the morning, he ran off in front of me towards home, without touching the door.

v   

               When I opened the screen door to our one-story cottage, my father was setting the table and my mother was frantically making last minute adjustments to dinner. We were a family of four living on the outskirts of O’mara (the woods we had just came from), on a hilly field which we used for gardening and livestock. Our family is completely self-sustaining, meaning we grow all our own food, collect all our own water, and have our own system for everything we need. Don’t ask me if it’s a fun life, this is the only life I have known.

               “Good you’re back, Rainer help your father with the table.” My brother gave me a look and then went to fetch the silverware. “Zant come tell me what the chicken needs.” It’s not every day we get chicken so it was important to get it right. Zantonus (Zan-tone-us) is my name but everyone calls me Zant, it makes life easier trust me.

               I decided to go to sleep right after dinner so I would be ready to fulfill my promise to my brother in the morning. The woods of O’mara were not to my knowledge hosting a plethora of dangerous creatures, but it would still be useful to have a full night’s sleep.