Bonus Chapter 3: Gerald and Annie

Bonus Chapter 3: Gerald and Annie
Minor Trigger Warning
Gerald
“DADDDY! DADDDY! WHERE ARE YOU?” Annie screamed as she ran down the hallway, crying.
I jumped to my feet and rushed out of the room. “Annie? What’s wrong?”
She waved some papers in the air. “Gerry, look.”
She handed me the crumpled papers, and I smoothed them out so I could look at them. I relaxed when I saw the simple math problems on it. I smiled at her.
“Do you need help?”
She nodded, wiping her nose. I winked at her.
“Go get the jelly beans.”
She grinned before dashing down the stairs. I went back into my room to prepare for when she got back. I smiled at her when she ran back in, panting and holding up a bag of jelly beans.
“I got them. Osprey was trying to eat them. He-”
“ANNIE! IF YOU DON’T GIVE THOSE BACK TO ME!” he yelled as he stomped up the stairs.
She ran behind me, burying her face in my back. I tensed as I prepared for the hurricane that was our brother. He growled at me as he entered.
“Did you tell her to steal my candy!”
“No. I was going to use them to help her with her homework.”
“Homework? Let me see.”
I handed him her homework sheets, and he looked them over before he narrowed his eyes on me. He walked around me and held out his hand to her.
“Give me my jelly beans, Annie!”
She sighed and handed them to him. He dumped them out onto my table and quickly counted them before taking a third of them. He nodded his head to them.
“That’ll be enough for each of your problems and then a tip for Gerald. Make sure you share.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you.”
He popped a couple of beans into his mouth before ruffling her hair. “Love you, little bean.”
She hugged his waist. “Love you, too, Os.”
He shut the door behind him, and I pointed to one of the chairs at the table.
“Let’s do this.”
I showed her how to subtract the first problem before turning them over to her. I watched her closely as she struggled through a few problems before she started getting the hang of it. The more of the worksheet she completed, the less she had to use the beans. Pride filled me as she neared the end of the two pages. She held them out to me triumphantly when she was finished. I quickly checked them over before giving her a high five.
“Great job!”
She beamed at me. “Thank you for helping me.”
“Anytime. Now, since I helped you, do you want to help me?”
“With what?”
I put my finger up to my lips and pointed at the window. Her eyes widened, and she nodded. I went to my door and pressed my ear to it. Hearing nothing, I quickly climbed out of my window and held my arms out.
‘Come on, Annie. I’ll catch you.’
She sat on the edge of the windowsill before throwing herself down. I caught her and set her down. I ran into the woods with her giggling at my side. I stopped when she started panting to lean against a tree. She bent over with her hands on her knees.
“Where are we going?”
I smirked at her. “We are going to our secret place.”
She looked around. “Today?”
I nodded. “Bella is going to have her babies soon, and I thought we should check on her.”
“We’re gonna have baby foxes?” she squealed.
I nodded and held my hand out to her. “Come on.”
We crept through the woods quietly like we always did. We never tried to terrify the woodland creatures more than we had to. Osprey did that enough. Where we hunted strategically as a group, he went full force and head-on. I sighed, squeezing her hand.
“Quiet now, we’re almost there.”
As we neared Bella’s den, the scent of blood and death hung in the air. Annie looked up at me with fear in her eyes.
“Gerry, is that Bella?”
“I don’t know. Stay here.”
I put her next to a tree as I continued the few yards to the den, clicking my tongue so she knew it was us. When her friendly chatter didn’t come, I squatted next to the den to sniff. The area reeked with the overwhelming scent of death. I sat back on my heels, sighing. How was I going to explain to my 7 year old sister that her pet fox had probably passed away? I turned back to her when Geoffrey, my bear, made me turn back to the den. My ears twitched as the faint sounds of mewling came from the den.
“Fuck!”
I quickly began to dig the den out carefully. I stopped when I felt the still-warm body of an animal. I carefully removed it. Shit. It was Bella. I flipped her over and saw her stomach and chest moving. My gaze traveled lower and I saw the cub that was stuck half in her birth canal. I looked at Annie.
“Listen to me. I need you to very carefully dig out the babies. I’m going to try her other ones.”
She stopped next to me, wringing her hands. “Are you going to save her, too?”
“I don’t know, Annie. I’m going to try,” I told her, already knowing that Bella was going to die.
I could hear her heart and breathing slowing down. I tried to dislodge the cub as Annie carefully laid two cubs on the ground next to me. I sighed when her heart stopped and her body stilled.
“Annie, I’m sorry. I can’t save Bella, but I can try to save the other babies. I have to cut her open.”
Annie whimpered and a tear rolled down her face. “Okay.”
I let my hand shift and gently cut her stomach open. I cut into her until the last two viable fetuses were visible. I carefully removed them like my mother had shown us during our lessons. I relaxed when they started making little indistinguishable sounds. I looked at Annie, who had tears streaming down her face.
“I’m sorry, Annie.”
She sniffled, wiping her nose. “At least we saved her babies, right?”
I nodded and leaned over to hug her. “We did. Would you like to bury her?”
She nodded. I put the cubs close together before helping her widen the den hole. I carefully positioned Bella in the hole before we put soil over her. I stood up before bending down to pick the cubs. Annie tugged at my shirt.
“Gerry, can you say something?”
My heart softened at her sorrow. “You were her person, Annie. Why don’t you say something? It would mean more to her.”
She nodded and put her hand on the makeshift grave.
“I love you, Bella. You were my best friend.” She paused to sniffle. “I will never forget you.” Sniffle. “I promise to take care of your babies.” She laid down on the ground and put her cheek on the top of the grave. “I love you,” she whispered.
I stroked her hair. “She knew you loved her, Annie. She loved you, too. I will bring you back to visit her, but right now, we need to get the cubs back. They need to stay warm, and we need to figure out food.”
She sniffled but got up. She held her hands out. “Can I carry one?”
I handed one to her. She immediately lifted it to her face and pressed a kiss onto the top of its head.
“I will be your mommy, now,” she murmured, “and I already love you.”
Authors Note: First off, I would like to dedicate this chapter to my lovely cousin for her dedication to rescuing possum babies. It's not a possum, but same situation. Thank you so much for joining Tasha and her mates on their journey to find true love. I hope to see you all join Osprey and his siblings on their own individual paths to find their mates and happiness. Osprey will be next and his story will incorporate Elena's. Theirs will be followed by Gerald's and Annie's. Then will come Pricsilla's. Last but not least Toya and Hannah will find their true loves. All of this is subject to change but for right now this is the plan. If you are interested, I do have a group on WhatsApp to converse with all of you fantastic readers. If interested feel free to contact me there by looking up my author name. I wish you all a very Happy New Year and I hope that all of your dreams come true.
Forever and Always,
Your Humble Author, Astylynn