.The sun rises one more. The light peeking through the trees. Phineas is at it again, chopping down trees like usual. The cold sweat turns warm as it runs down his face and upper body. Every crevice of his upper body, chest, Nelly, armpits, back, drenched in sweat. Making his shirt smell musky. He sniffs his pits for a moment. "Ugghh", Phineas moaned. "I need to wash myself." He lowers his axe and puts it back on his belt. After grabbing the logs, he ties them up and wears two loops like a backpack.
Many Hours Later
He sold the last of his Lumber for the day, and the last customer walks off carrying the last of today's product. Phineas counts the money. "10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100, 500, 600, 630", he mutters as counts each shilling. "Yup, that's all of it for today." He takes down his stand and puts it on his backpack. While walking away, a child approached him. It was a little boy. The boy wore scrappy looking pants, a sleeveless shirt, and no shoes. His hair a mess from hard labor. "Thank you, kind sir", said the little boy. "My father was able to build our new house because of you." Phineas smiled and looked down at the boy with kind eyes. "It's a pleasure to help", said Phineas. "You're welcome." As the boy ran back to his parents, Phineas noticed he was wearing what looked like a charred necklace with an inscription on it. The chain fluttered in the wind, so it was only visible for a few seconds at a time. The boy smiled and waved as he looked back at Phineas. "Such lovely parents he has", thought Phineas. "I'm a little envious." Phineas smiled and waved back at the boy, and the boy and his parents walked away. Phineas continued walking back home. The sun began to set slowly as he ventured back up the path. The animals became dead silent as it got darker. The insects, especially the crickets, got much louder as they chirp for the ladies. Sounds of distant howling echo in the distance. Phineas yawns and his eyes jump open at the sound of wolves. Instead of running away, he ran toward the sound of howling. Darting through the darkness and brush, the howling got louder. Sounds of stabbing could be heard. It sounded like the wolves were running from something. As he got closer, he realized what that sound was. Phineas ducked into bushes and peeked out. A party of five hunters can be seen hunting a few wolves. A smaller wolf is dead next to a bigger one. "Probably a mother and child", thought Phineas. "Where's the father?" The howling got louder again, and this time Phineas could see the wolf making the sound. A battered and bloody wolf approached the five hunters. It growled a low and aggressive growl. Dusting his paw against the grass, he prepared to attack. "Look what we've got here!", said one of the hunters mockingly. "Heh. Heh", chuckled another hunter with a larger build. "You're gonna die." "Don't talk to a wolf", said the first hunter annoyed. "He can't even understand ya." The five hunters circled in on the father wolf. "Looks like we've got dinner, boys", said a third hunter with a fatter build. "Don't even think about it, Shane!", yelled a fourth hunter with a more muscular build. "We're sharing. You'll just eat it all, fatass!" "Calm down, Barry", said a fifth hunter with a tall and skinny build and deep baritone voice. "Shane has been working on his eating problem, right Shanelarge?" Shane walks over to Sean (the tall one with the baritone voice). "Listen here, you little shit!" argued Shane. "I told you to stop making jokes about by weight, asshole!" Shane looked at the first and second hunters. "The name is Sean, dickreed", said Sean (the tall one). "Back me up, Aidan, Cormac", pleaded Shane. The hunters look back at where the father wolf was. "Damn it!", snapped Sean. "I told you guys to stop your incessant bickering! The last wolf got away." "We at least got two", said Barry. Sean grabbed Barry's collar. "We need all the food we can get. We've got to find Phineas." Phineas jumped in his seat. "Did you hear that?", asked Cormac. "It's probably just an animal", insisted Aidan. "It might be the wolf", said Sean. Sean moved closer to Phineas. Phineas slowly backed away. Once he made it out of the bush, he ran for it. Sean checked in the bush, but nothing was there. "It probably ran away somewhere", said Sean. "Come on, he couldn't have gotten too far in that condition." Phineas ran home as quick as he could. He didn't look back, nor did he want to. After Phineas finally made it home, he ran through the door and lied down to go to sleep. Time passed, and the sun rose one again. He opened his door and noticed a letter on his doorstep. He picked it up and saw it was from his twenty-year-old younger brother, Patrick. "That's the family crest fer sure", thought Phineas as he looked the envelope up and down.
The letter reads:
"Greetings, Phineas.
It's been a long time since we last saw each other. I've got in a bit of trouble and I need your help. We mustn't discuss it by mail. Meet me at the bar as soon as possible. We'll discuss it there."
"Oh boy", said Phineas. "What did he do this time?" Phineas walked down to town in a hurry. The animals out and about. Every second felt like am hour as he ran down the path to the town feeling the anxiety of what might happen.
Thirty Minutes Later
Phineas ran down the street and checked the closest bar's windows. "Huh, closed. That's weird", muttered Phineas. "Is this the right bar?", thought Phineas with a worried expression. He circled the building looking for a suspicious entry point, but found nothing. "Did he get caught already?", thought Phineas with increasing worry, his body shaking slightly. A feeling like a thousand tons suddenly weighed on Phineas' stomach. "Oh shit!", yelled Phineas at the highest point of stress. He turned around and ran back up the path to his cabin I'm the woods. "I've got to get back", thought Phineas. "Where is he?" His side started to ache from exhaustion as he ran rapidly up the path. He pushed through the pain with a strong will. "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shut! Shit!" exclaimed Phineas with the weight on his stomach becoming heavier by the second.
Twenty Five Minutes Later
Finally making it to his house once more, he felt as though someone was following him. Before he could go through his front door, footsteps approached from behind. It sounded like more than one pair. Phineas turned around and what he saw was the same five strangers from last night. "There ye are. We've been looking fer ya", said Sean with an intimidating baritone, rattling voice. "Heh heh heh", chuckled Sean. "We just want to talk to you, Phineas" The rest of the five gentlemen chuckled along with this tall menacing man.