A Game of Fox & Squirrels

by Jenn Reese

Anger was not the same thing as panic. Panic was a feeling trapped inside the chest, a bird beating its wings inside its cage. Anger was when feelings made it past the bars. When they made it out.

Sam couldn’t help feeling hurt. Didn’t Cedar see how manipulative Ashander was? How the fox slid between happy and angry and tricky and sweet so fast that there was no way to keep up? How Ashander said one thing but did another? “It’s not my fault that he’s like that,” Sam said. “It’s not my fault that you have to worry so much about what he’s thinking.”

“I wish Ashander stayed charming.” Maple’s determined face grew sad. She touched Sam’s leg with her paw. “Nobody is only one thing.” “Then I wish he weren’t charming at all. If he hadn’t been so nice at the beginning, if I didn’t like him, then it wouldn’t matter so much that, that…” “That he’s hunting us,” Maple said.