Fiction
Hunting Season
The weather was cold. Even with the sun, the air had a bite to it.
Which was fine with Jay. He had his Carhartt on. He could sit in the tree stand all day watching his breath waft into the air in little clouds.
And that was exactly what he planned on doing. With the camouflage he was nearly invisible in the trees, which had long since dropped their leaves. What was once a color filled wonderland three weeks ago was now a sea of gray and brown, the grass dead, and the bare trees stretching their naked branches towards the sky.
He knew he was in for a long day. His quarry wouldn’t be coming along any time soon.
Most years the tree stand was his salvation. It was his solace from the rest of the world. It was just him and the woods.
This year though, things were different.
He didn’t have the same calm clarity the forest usually gave him.
Nope.
All his thoughts were on one thing. His kid brother lying in the hospital.
His mom and dad were there right now. They weren’t too happy about him taking off hunting while Kyle sat there in the bed, all hooked up. Jay couldn’t take the beeping though. He had to get out.
