Page 63 of Finding His Fox

“Being in and out of the hospital like that, staying strong for you. It takes a lot of courage to face what he went through,” Rory explained.

I glanced back at the picture. At that time, I had been so consumed by the fear of losing my dad, Jim. I was constantly expecting bad news every time we visited the hospital.

I never realized the strength Jim must have had to stay strong during that period.

Memories came flooding back to me, reminding me of the time when Jim found out he had only a year left to live.

It was undeniably scary, but it was also filled with love and laughter.

I remembered Jim insisted we continue our weekly walks in the woods.

He still went fabric shopping with me for the clothes I wanted to make for Missy, my cat. We even cooked together, breakfasts and Sunday lunches.

Jim refused to let his diagnosis define him. He was determined to make the most of the time he had left.

My fear of becoming like Donnie—I didn’t want that to dictate who I was and the choices I made in life anymore.

I loved Cal. It was clear to me now that I needed to gather my courage and confront my problems head-on.

Regret flooded over me as I realized the mistake I made in distancing myself from Cal.

He deserved better than the cold shoulder I gave him. I had to apologize to Cal for pushing him away, because love was worth fighting for, even if it meant facing uncertainty and possible hurt.

* * *

I joined Rory and Josie for a quick lunch, but my mind was still preoccupied with thoughts of how I could make it up to Cal.

To clear my head, I decided to take a drive and bring Max and my camera with me. I thought that taking some pictures would help me relax.

Without even realizing it, I found myself driving into the familiar parking lot at Redtree Lake.

Should I see Cal now? Was he even at home? I squinted my eyes towards the other end of the lake where Cal’s cabin was, trying to see if he was there. He looked like he was out.

I took my camera and Max, deciding to take a walk first. I looked around me.

There weren’t many cars in the parking lot. That meant no one was at the camp today.

I made my way towards the path that led to Cal’s wilderness camp and ventured deeper into the woods.

It looked pretty safe, so I put Max down and let him walk beside me. My right shoulder began to itch.

Should’ve brought some bug spray, I thought.

The heat was also more intense than usual. However, my mind was focused on what I wanted to talk about with Cal.

Not just apologising to him, but also what we were going to do about the wendigo situation.

I wanted to tell Cal that we should take a more proactive approach, do some research about it.

Find more ways to protect ourselves against it. Even if it involved some risk.

Cal mentioned getting the silver bangle from a magic shop in town. I wasn’t aware there was one, but considering the presence of supernatural beings in Fox Haven, it made sense.

Perhaps there was something else we could find to help us with the wendigo.

I wanted to hunt the wendigo down before it hunted us. I had some tracking experience when I was young, so I was pretty confident.

Yet, there was something about the wendigo that made me cautious. Maybe it was the fact that it just couldn’t seem to die.