FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Leo stretched and opened his eyes. It was a strange feeling, waking up from home. Despite the countless family holidays here, it had never become familiar. He looked to the window, showing a feeble sunlight pouring through a sheet of gray clouds. Cozy day, but maybe not entirely fitting for Thanksgiving itself. He got up and made himself presentable before his own parents, then sat in the living room. There could have been some way to make himself useful, but it wasn’t his stuff to mess with. Instead, he opted to turn the TV down low and watch mindlessly.

Normally this would be a casual, relaxed trip. Now it had changed. There was a monster in his house. An excitable girl that seemed to hang on his every word. It was almost rude to just leave her there, alone, on Thanksgiving. Leo had never asked what she thought about the holiday, not directly. She just gave a vague response of not being big on the day. Between her foreign mother and layabout friends, it probably wasn’t something she had much experience with in the first place. Maybe he could make a good dinner to make up for it, mostly to satiate his guilt.

Thoughts of dinner had Leo look back to the fridge. Unfortunate that he didn’t get to pick out the turkey like Mom originally asked, but he accepted her keen eye probably picked out the best one.

The first parent strolled out of their bedroom, clad in a red robe. Leo’s father. He gave Leo a tired look and smile, then rolled his eyes and shook his head as he moved into the bathroom. A hissing shower came, then he strolled back out. His mother was next on the death march, looking a little more chipper but still tired. She gave Leo a wave and did much of the same as her husband.

After making himself presentable, Leo’s father came out to the living room. Leo stood up and pulled him into a hug.

“Happy Thanksgiving, Dad,” Leo said.

“Happy Thanksgiving,” his father replied, pulling away. “Starting to think you get up this early just to show me up.”

“I could never show up my dad.”

“Psh, well, you could make the attempt.”

“Don’t make it a challenge.”

His father chuckled and rubbed his back. “Yeah, I had better not, all things considered.”

Soon after, the mother of the household strolled in. “No one-upping on Thanksgiving.”

“What number rule is that?” Leo asked.

“278, right under ‘No guns at the table’ and above ‘Throwing bones,’ “ she said.

“That was only one year.”

“The guns, or the bones?”

“Can’t remember.” Leo chuckled.

They shared their few chuckles and commenced the day, which was a mix of movies, house work, general lounging about, and finally, cooking. Leo didn’t realize just how much he was looking forward to the dinner until he was already hard at work in the kitchen. He wasn’t allowed to do everything, of course, there still had to be some surprise for him, but what he could tend to was great. The turkey, especially, absolutely glowed in the oven, basted to perfection.

Once everything was set, the family sat around the minuscule dining table shoved off to the side of the kitchen. Mashed potatoes, corn, pumpkin pie, blueberry muffins, and the central turkey. Leo’s stomach wavered, but he remained strong, waiting for the prayer. They all bowed their heads.

“Thank God for family, friends, health, home, this country, and food,” his father said. “Amen.”

“Amen,” Leo and his mother replied.

The food was doled out quickly. Every person at the table had their turn to carve into the turkey and tear into it. Leo had to admit, on some level, he was losing sight of the thankfulness, so he tried to slow his consumption. Skipping out on lunch was a step too far, probably.

“So, what’s your biggest catch now?” his father asked.

Leo tore into a cob and wiped up his mouth. “Land or water?”

“Well, let’s say with a gun.”

“You can’t shoot fish, that’s illegal.”

“Like many things in life, it’s only illegal if you get caught.”

“Actually, I caught a pretty big grouse a few months back. Cut it open, cooked it. Absolute perfection.”

“See? The boy gets to hunt bird, why not me?”

“I’m not eating road turkey,” his mother replied. “No matter how big it is.”

“It’s just more economic to fire from the car, that’s all.” He chuckled. “Not sure I’d even want to waste the ammo on a bird, anyways. Deer is where the money goes.”

“No deer for Thanksgiving, either. I don’t even know how to cook venison. Though, I have a feeling our lion does.”

Leo shrugged. “Not like it’s far off from a cow.”

“I should add that your father would want me to skin it, too. Have a whole bloodied rack in the back for ripping the thing to bits.”

Leo looked to his dad.

“Well, you know, it’s important. Anything goes wrong in this world of ours, you’re gonna need to know that stuff.”

“If we’re going the apocalyptic route, let’s just stick to birds,” she said. “I at least know how to pluck a turkey.”

“Road turkey is back on the menu. Score.”

“Probably best to head into the woods for game,” Leo said. “Just for the extra precaution of freshness.”

“Not too sure that would make much of a difference,” his mother said. “Have you seen the neighbors on their ATVs? I bet you that they’ve puffed smoke over every inch of forest.”

“Adds a bit of redneck flavor,” Leo said.

His mother laughed and shook her head. “Don’t say that. Your dad is going to use that now.”

“I find that motorbikes add a bit of a smoky flavor compared to the sweet exhaust of an ATV,” his father said.

“Sounds like you’ve got a cookbook in the making,” Leo said.

“The publisher deals’ll be lucrative. Then we can afford to hunt real, untainted meat.” He let out a wistful sigh. “The true American dream. Just pretend I shed a tear right there.”

“I saw it in my heart of hearts, don’t worry about it.”

His mother bit into a muffin, and said, “Where’d you find that grouse? Was that just like, park game?”

“Just a place out back, is all. Really, anywhere in the woods.”

“Oh, come on, lion. You’re going to upset your dad if you withhold all the good hunting spots.”

Leo raised his brow. His father gave a weary smile, half-heartedly playing along.

“It’s not a hunting spot, just a place in the woods, Mom. Don’t worry about it. It’s not important.” He downed a few slices of turkey, hoping that would be the final nail in the conversation.

“It’s important.” She lathered buttered over the potatoes. “I like to know where you are.”

“Venessa,” his father said.

“We’ve been over this, Mom,” Leo said.

“I mean, it’s just tough not knowing how you’re doing out there. I can’t even tell the neighbors about my son because he’s out in the woods somewhere chatting it up with bears.” The conversation still wore the skin of something casual. “I feel like you’re going to wind up missing one day. What am I gonna do then?”

“I appreciate the worry, but other people know I exist. It’s fine.” Leo could see his father do something from the corner of his eye.

“Total strangers know where you are and not your parents. I’m supposed to feel better about that? But fine, have it your way. All I’m saying is that we have the right to be concerned, and your seclusion is just so weird.”

Leo didn’t have to look to know his father had just slapped his forehead.

“Let’s not touch the whole ‘weird’ thing, OK? Weird is trying to make your own son forget his childhood. Weird is trying to get professionals to essentially gaslight him into thinking none of it happened. I’m taking it on the chin, so you should respect me in turn. I set a deal forward, and you chose different. So let’s drop it.”

The whole room froze. Leo clenched his jaw as a chill fell over him. A step too far, but one that had been a long time coming, hadn’t it? A small part of him regretted it, still. His father’s expression solidified into something stern.

“You can’t swing a word around like that, Leo. Do you know how rude that is to say to your own mother? We’re your parents. We do whatever we think is right for you,” he said. “Regardless of whatever the hell you think happened, we’ve never done anything other than what we thought was right for you.” He pointed his fork at Leo.

“Doesn’t sound like there’s much of a denial in there,” Leo replied.

“There’s nothing to deny. What’s done is done.”

“So, we’re going onto ‘it happened but who cares?’ “

“What brought this up?” his mother asked.

“You brought this up. I’m trying to eat dinner and you’re dredging up an old and dead topic. Seems fair I bring back another one, too, right?”

“It was polite conversation, Leo,” his father said. “Villainizing us for that is ridiculous.”

“You’re acting like this is some trivial thing you brought up in passing, not another intentional jab with your concerned parent act. At least be honest with me if you’re going to bring this up yet again. Something I specifically said I didn’t want to talk about before.”

“Concerned parent act? You think we shouldn’t want to know where you live? Like that’s some sort of rude thing to ask,” she said. “Like we’re doing it for selfish reasons. We gave you everything growing up, and you can’t even give us that in return? Resentful, Leo. That’s very resentful.”

“If it’s that big of a deal, we don’t have to do these get togethers at all,” Leo said. The reflexive sarcasm sprung back.

“You don’t have to be a little brat over this,” his mother said.

“Brat? I’m giving you options so you’ll stop pestering me.”

“Pestering? Really? We’re pestering you now? Is everything we ever did pestering?”

“We’ve been over this. All you had to do was tell me where we used to live. Gave you the option several times before I moved out. I respected your decision to be secretive, but it seems like that’s really too much to give me the same.”

His father was about to interject, but his mother moved first.

“Because you don’t have to know that!” she said. “Do you know how hard those days were? We were trying our hardest to make sure that stuff didn’t affect you!”

“Not affect me? My memories are a mess.” Leo furrowed his brow. “The more I think about it, the more upset I get. Did I have friends there? Family? What was the house like? All I have are nightmares and empty thoughts. And you know what? I still want to go back.” Leo shook his head. “Not affect me. Right.”

“It’s not like we wanted to uproot our lives,” she said, arms crossing.

“Forget it. You’ve said all you need to,” his father said.

“I’m just so sick of being punished for making sure you had a normal life, Leo. A good one.” A touch of emotion bled into her words, despite her stoic facade.

Leo merely stared at her with an unamused look. He had heard more than enough of that. His father reached over and gave her a gentle pat on the back, easing into a rub. He shot Leo a glance.

“We’re not telling you out of spite.” She shook her head. “That place… it just wasn’t safe.”

“For a few reasons,” his father said.

This all seemed so familiar. Not in a good way.

“Is that really your story? We moved out, sure, but then the therapists, hiding documents from that time? Was that necessary? What the hell could possibly make you do all of that?”

His mother’s face dropped, gaze wandering over to the window.

“You should be happy you only have the nightmares,” she said. “What I saw there was… unexplainable. I don’t know. If you really want to know, fine.”

“I don’t think that would be wise,” his dad said.

“Demons, Leo.”

His father sighed, comforting hand departing to rub his face. Leo himself shook his head unwittingly.

“What?” Leo asked.

“Just-- Forget about it, son. The town had some issues, but--” his father started.

“No!” his mother said. “I know you think I’m crazy, but I’m not. How can you just brush this off every single time? Don’t you remember what we saw?”

“I don’t. That was nearly twenty years ago. Was that town screwy? Yes, but there weren’t any damned demons walking around. First it was one, and now there are many. Next time you bring it up, the whole town will be full of ‘em, right?”

“Hold on,” Leo said. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t.”

Leo ignored that response, staring at his mother. She sighed, a tinge of relief in it.

“It started really small. Stuff went missing, then I felt like I was being watched in the garden.”

Wait a minute.

“But then it got worse. Opened windows. Unlocked doors. Bigger things went missing. Even you, Leo, were telling me about the stuff you saw. Shadows in the windows.”

It became very obvious what this was all about. Leo might’ve chuckled if his parents didn’t seem so strained over this.

“Enough, Venessa. We were stressed. Do you even hear yourself talk? No point in bringing any of this back. All of that crap is in the past and I want it to stay there.” He looked to Leo. “We were all jumping at shadows back then.”

His mother’s expression soured. “That’s not fair and you know it. You’re the one who always paints me as the crazy one. What about you? You thought the whole town was watching us, too!”

“A town full of weirdos is sure of a hell lot more likely than you seeing little demons scampering around!”

“So you thought something was up, too, then?” Leo asked.

“Leo saw the damn things, too. He spoke to one!” she said.

“Kids make stuff up! You know who they look to when stuff is shaky? Their parents. When you start saying crap like that, of course they’re going to copy you!” his father said.

“Easy, I think we need to take a step back from this,” Leo said.

“I’m just to blame for it all, right? It’s not like I told him what I saw!” Venessa replied. “You want the easy way out. Blame it on me. Ignore everything that happened.”

“I’m not ignoring anything. I’m trying to deal with the issue at hand but you keep shifting it elsewhere,” Leo’s father said.

“Go ahead, say it. Call me crazy.”

He sighed. “You’re not crazy, you’re overworked. Were overworked. We both were.”

“Not to the point of hallucination.”

“Not hallucinations. When you’re tired, you start seeing things funny. Especially being a moth--”

“Do not blame this on maternal stress. I am more than capable of taking care of a child.”

“I’m not saying you’re not! But you don’t grow up knowing how to take care of a kid! Nobody does! Didn’t help that Leo wasn’t an easy kid. The only craziness going on was that ancient woman I told you to stay away from, but no, you just kept on pulling her over for tea or whatever while I’m out there busting my ass at town hall to figure out what’s going on with real life crimes. What was that excuse you gave me?”

Venessa sighed and rolled her head.

“C’mon, what was the excuse, I want to hear it. You’ve said it before.”

For a brief moment, Leo was transported back to being a child. Rather than a prying of details, the whole scenario degraded into an argument they would’ve had way back when. It was an odd feeling, and frankly he felt powerless to stop it for a second as that sense of youth hit him.

“She was a nice old lady…”

“There we go, that was it.”

Leo opened his mouth to interject, but was cut off again.

“So, we’ve got problems in the town, you seeing monsters, and to top it off you’re bringing in some old woman who’s into God-knows-what, telling you about all sorts of magic mumbo-jumbo and filling your head with fears.”

“What did you want me to do? Kick her out? She was old and alone, Terry. How would you feel hearing she passed after blocking her out like that?”

“If she’s scaring the living daylights out of my family, I sure wouldn’t feel too beat up over it!”

Venessa shook her head, rubbing it, giving Leo the perfect opportunity to jump in.

“Alright, Christ, slow down. This turned into an airing of the grievances when all I wanted was some clear answers,” he said. “You can afford me that, right?”

Terry pursed his lips and tapped his finger on the table. “Sure,” he eventually said. “A lot of stuff was going on. Disappearances. Strange people. Even you apparently wound up missing while I was at work.”

“While you were at work?” Venessa asked. “You act like I didn’t keep a damned good eye on him at all times.”

“This isn’t a jab against you, alright? That’s what happened. You call me in a frenzy saying he’s gone, so I have to race back home? What else do you want me to say? Going on about upright critters the whole time on top of that.”

“Alright. Fine.” Nonetheless, her face held onto shame. She likely blamed herself, too. “I saw it, though. Nothing you can say will change what I really saw.”

“Maybe that damned skeleton of a woman had some kind of demented pet, I don’t know! That’s why you don’t invite strangers into your home, they start getting real comfortable around you.”

“It’s not like you were even there to see anything, how would you even know?”

“Yeah, it’s called paying the fucking bills. I work, you keep sane at the homestead, that’s how this whole marriage thing functions.”

“Alright, let’s keep focused here!” Leo said. “You don’t need to pick at every little old wound. Settle down.”

Terry huffed while Venessa turned her head and scratched at her neck.

“You were a pretty--”

“Yes, I was a weird kid, I get that. Move on, please,” Leo said to his father.

“How can you just lump all the blame on him, Terry? That wouldn’t even explain half of what happened.”

“It means he has an active imagination, which you apparently thought was real fun.” Terry shook his head. “Look, for a while there, Leo, you were a bit off. Quiet, didn’t get along with the other kids, and you spooked real easy. Half the time it looked like you were lost in your head. Almost thought you were, y’know, special.”

Leo furrowed his brow. He almost wanted to laugh at that accusation.

“You only started thinking that after all the strangeness happened, because you still can’t accept it. I almost thought that, too, until I actually saw what was going on.”

Terry slammed his hand down on the table. “I started thinking about it after I realized I can’t trust you keeping him in the damn house with murderers on the loose!”

Venessa remained unfazed, looking to her plate.

“Almost would’ve been preferable to deal with murderers rather than actual damnations walking around. It wasn’t an animal and it certainly wasn’t a person that made those people turn up missing,” she said. “I always kept him in the house.”

“And yet, lo and behold, when I come back home, he’s got twigs and leaves and dirt on him from way out in the woods. You’d even tell me you didn’t let him out in the yard. I was the one scrubbing that off of him, not you.”

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”

“I don’t want you to tell me anything, because I know you’ll just say some damned monster whisked him away somehow, and that’ll be the end of it.”

“We’re getting off track again. Get off each other’s throats,” Leo said. Civility was far from possible at this point, but their arguing had begun to unearth some of the distant memories Leo still held. “What do shrinks have to do with some sort of developmental issue? You don’t put your child through years of therapy if you think they’re a little slow.”

“No, I didn’t put you through that because I doubted your mind. I did it because of the trauma of the time.” She frowned, brow furrowing. “And I let you get too close to that thing. You started calling it your friend. I knew it had sunk its claws into you. I wanted you to forget that.”

“You mean Missy,” Leo replied.

Venessa perked up, then shook her head. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t even remember that name.”

“It was a tough time. I don’t blame you for the overactive imagination getting the better of you, Leo,” Terry said. “The fault lies with us.”

“We should’ve noticed the… the… demonic quicker.”

“Christ. You think with the way the world is, Satan himself is going to bother digging through your damn carrots? Maybe stop by for a touch of mint to wash it down?”

“You saw those tracks.” Venessa glared at him.

“We lived next the woods for crying out loud! Animals go in and out. Put it together. Just because they looked a little off doesn’t mean we have some horrible, walking, talking, pie-eating cretin digging through our yard.”

“I remember her, too, Dad,” Leo said.

“Her. Great. The thing’s a girl now.” Terry rubbed his face. “Ooh, brother.”

“A lot’s coming back. Kinda wasted your time with those shrinks, but I appreciate the sentiment, at least.”

“Then you know why we left, and you know it wasn’t natural.” She pursed her lips from that frown, trying desperately to pull it into a smile. “I’ve just been praying this whole time it didn’t do something terrible to you. I don’t know what I’d do if it did.”

Leo raised a placating hand. “Relax, I don’t remember everything. That monster wishes she was capable of terrible things, but she really isn’t. She was just a scrappy animal.”

“Really? You’re going to bring the whole thing back and act like it was real?” Terry said. “Maybe those shrinks just messed you up.”

“We can agree on something, then,” Leo replied.

“That thing messed with you in ways I can’t even imagine,” Venessa said. “You have to trust me, Leo, it--”

“She. And use her name. You keep going on like this is some otherworldly force, and the more you think that, the more this whole thing’s going to have power over you. She’s just a girl.”

Venessa shook her head. “She bewitched you! Or… or… something! At some point you just weren’t the little boy I knew, and you didn’t want to play at home.”

“You mean I went outside and meant friends?” Leo tilted his head. “Sounds like fun. I wish I remembered that part.”

“That’s not what I was getting at!” Venessa replied. There was a lapse of silence, letting the fear evaporate from her expression. “Why do you even care about that now? I tried to get that one girl to meet with you and it goes up in flames.”

“Woah, hold on, you tried to hook her up with the messy haired girl from back then? I can’t even bring up anything around that time without you getting pissy at me, but here you are trying to get him together with one of the people we tried to get away from? You didn’t even tell me.”

“Why should I tell you? I knew we’d get right back into this mess we’re in right now.”

“Because he’s my son and I’d sure as hell like to know what his future wife might be before the wedding day comes.”

“Would you both quit trying to play matchmaker?” Leo said. “This is the kinda crap that pisses me off. I can’t even ask about where our damned family lived but here you are scoping out my love life. Privacy only matters when it’s the stuff you don’t want to talk about, right?”

Terry raised his hands defensively and looked to Venessa, eliciting a scoff from her.

“All I try to do is what I think is best for this family and I only ever get blamed for it!” she said.

“Am I really supposed to be happy with thinking half of my childhood was fake? You know, I’m actually glad I remember the time I had with Missy, and the other kids. At least it was something positive.”

“That’s definitely not what happened, Leo,” Venessa said. “She put something in your head. I don’t know how, but she did. That monster only caused ruin. Your father was right, I shouldn’t have brought that woman into the house, and Lord, believe me I wouldn’t have if I knew she was summoning whatever that was.”

Terry shook his head. “Swanson may have gone off on wild tangents but the only thing magical about her was the fact that she was somehow still kicking. It wasn’t a fairytale that dropped the body in the woods. Mutilated. Specifically. No damn monsters there!”

“Hold up. A what now?” Leo said.

“Terry, why in God’s name would you bring that up? You swore we’d never talk about it. You swore!”

“Yeah? You sure as hell swore you’d never bring up that damned monster ever again, but look at where we are now, talking about it like an old friend.”

Both of them deflated after that, falling into an uneasy silence. This airing of the grievances had served his parents more than him, leaving him at the extremes of awkward and irritable while they went at it. Was it always like this? No, right? Maybe back during an early childhood, it was, but he recalled them being far more sober, far more united deep into his teenage years. Certainly united against him, at the very least.

“Instead of arguing who said what or whatever ancient oath you guys took, how about you start giving answers?” Leo said.

Both parents shot Leo a glare, but he held firm.

“You had to pry, didn’t you?” Venessa said.

“Think about how ridiculous that sounds. Prying into my own childhood is a problem?”

“It is a problem! We’ve built half of our lives trying to help you forget!”

“As much as I appreciate the thought, I was a kid, I had no say in the matter. Turns out I do now.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, Leo,” she said.

“Really? As far as I can tell, neither of you two can even agree on that either! It’s a monster, it’s a hallucination, there’s some shifty people in town, an old lady is conspiring against us or maybe she’s a witch. I get it, kids can’t handle everything, but you could have at least tried to ease me into it instead of putting me through a mess of lies and therapists.” Leo smiled at the absurdity, shaking his head. “And I still remember parts of it. I still remember Missy. I still remember Ms. Swanson. So what was the whole fucking point? None! There’s no reason to keep this from me now.”

“It’s better than leaving you scarred.”

“You have no idea how I’d even turn out, so drop that. Like I said, you can’t even agree on what I needed protecting from but decided you had to pull together to put me through the most drastic of measures.”

“That’s what parents do,” Terry said. “We pull together to make sure our kids turn out OK. I was hoping you’d have realized that by now.”

“You didn’t even know what you were doing, so how could you even hope that I was going to get any better?” Leo asked.

“That’s exactly what it was, Leo! Hope. Faith,” Venessa said. “Faith that you would turn out alright. Life doesn’t always work out, but we had to try, right?”

Leo sighed, tapping on the table as he stared at Venessa. Talking to them had never been so endlessly frustrating. His tapping sped up. Whatever he’d put forward they’d just toss back in his face as some sort of parental desire to keep him happy, but it started to feel like they were protecting themselves, too, at least emotionally.

Venessa reached for the napkins, past Terry, who didn’t bother pushing them toward her. Even now their petty displays of disdain were rising to the surface. A familiar sight, but one that made Leo internally wince.

“You’re asking for things people don’t want to talk about, for good reason,” she said.

“That’s clear, but I’d like to stay on topic. Throwing out of context nonsense at me isn’t going to make me back down. We could’ve had a nice, civil chat about what happened in the past, but I suppose I’m still too weak to grapple with that stuff, huh? You’re the ones who opened the path for the topic.”

“We don’t want to talk about it!”

“Lady, I get it, but this is compromise. You want to know about me, and I want to know about my own damned childhood. It’s a two way street, back and forth.”

Terry shook his head. “That’s not even close to fair. Venessa can be overbearing, but it’s still her right as a parent to know what’s going on with you. Me? You want to be all cooped up, fine, just as long as you check in.”

“Goes right back to me being forced to just accept everything you ask for and me left wondering. Right? How come I’m the only one who gets screwed by this?”

“Because you’re not the one who almost lost a marriage over this! I was the one going through sleepless nights and long days at work hoping you’d still be home when I got there, and hoping I still had a damn home. You’re right, we couldn’t agree what was going on, and that made it all the worse. You like hiding out in the woods, right? Going through each day alone? I had to do that in the midst of my own personal hell. You should be damn well thanking us.”

Leo paused. That was serious. Thanking them was a bit much, but everything else was very much a real culmination of the entire situation.

“Two way street.” Terry shook his head and huffed.

“We can’t change the past, Leo. I’m sorry, I really am,” Venessa said. She dabbed her eyes. “So what can we do now, Leo? We don’t want to think back but you can’t keep hating us forever.” There was a waver to her voice but she held firm. “I don’t want that for us.”

Terry merely nodded.

This had gone on long enough. The boundaries had been overstepped, and even Leo was starting to feel some disappointment in himself for egging them on for the sake of his own ego.

“I don’t hate you. I don’t hate either of you.” Leo paused. “I’m sorry you had to go through any of that.”

His parents’ expressions softened.

“And I’m sorry if I came off as ungrateful. The results might not have been what you wanted, but I appreciate that you thought to try and protect me as deeply as you did. Neither are my boundaries any sort of attack on that.” He sighed. “I get that you don’t want to talk about it, but I should at least have a clue what happened in the past. And just because I want to know doesn’t mean I’m beating you down for how it turned out. I’m not a kid anymore, we can all get over this, together, right? Doesn’t have to be a lose-lose, and we definitely don’t have to be yelling at each other, especially not today.”

“Right.” His father gave an amused huff and a small smile. “Almost forgot what day it was.”

“Just… not today, alright, Leo?” his mother said, trying to straighten out her frown.

Leo nodded, smiling. “Alright, not today, I get it.”

His mother managed a smile through a strained face. “Now get back to eating before I have to heat up everything all over again, alright?”

“Could always hunt another turkey,” his father said, finally picking up his fork.

“We’ve already given thanks for this one,” Leo said. “So let’s leave the other turkeys to be thankful they’re still alive.”

“Alright, fair enough.”

The pain lingered in the air, but Leo was able to relax back into his family get together. Though that didn’t stop questions from lingering in his mind. He’d tackle them another time. For right now, he was enjoying a simple turkey with his parents, and that’s all it had to be.