Chapter 254 - A Family's Tragedy

The death of a hunter was not unheard of, in fact, such a tragedy occurred once every few years. Hunting in the deeper regions of the forest was dangerous, there were strong carnivorous animals out there, a single misstep could cost a hunter his life.

This was common knowledge, but even so, when someone they knew joined the ranks of the unfortunate deceased, everyone felt shocked.

Following their shock, came sadness.

Bear’s funeral was grand, almost every hunter and their family attended. He was Tiger’s son, and his own exploits were nearly as impressive as his father. Given a few more years, he would surely join the ranks of the greatest hunters recorded in the village’s history…but alas, Bear no longer had the opportunity to attain such heights.

Whilst hunting in a less-explored part of the forest, his group was assaulted by a pack of large wolves. He lost his life fending off the wolves, buying time for the younger hunters to escape.

Des was only able to attend the funeral for a short period of time. Bear wasn’t the only one to suffer at the hands of those wolves, the others in his group all returned with dire injuries. As such, Des had been busy these last few days, tending to the wounded, trying his best to keep everyone alive.

For the first time in weeks, it rained. It almost felt like a joke, for it to rain on the day of Bear’s funeral of all days. Some people cursed this rain for ruining a heroic man’s final send-off, but they did not know that later on, they would be begging for this rain to return.

Des did not say anything during Bear’s funeral. He listened to the hunters giving their inspiring speeches…he watched as Bear’s wife broke down in tears. He watched as Fauna struggled to maintain her composure, as did her sons…before all three were unable to endure, joining Bear’s wife in her tears of grief.

He saw Tiger’s silent, but clearly grief-stricken expression. He saw Shi looking around in confusion, not understanding why everyone looked so sad. When she looked up and asked her mother when her father was coming home, a few people were unable to hold back their tears as they looked at the young girl with sorrow in their eyes.

Des held Flora’s hand as she struggled to stay strong.

He was only able to visit for a short period of time, before he was forced to return to the hospital. After all, the living needed to be prioritised over the dead.

Bear’s death impacted many people, and it reminded the villagers that even the strong were not immune to death. However, they said that time healed all wounds, and gradually, people began to move on. As their pain faded away, they overcame their sadness and got on with their lives.

At least, most people were able to move on. Bear’s wife, Sunshine, was unable to recover from the loss of her husband. She was originally a happy, radiant woman, but after Bear’s death, it was as if her heart had died along with him.

At first, everyone was understanding of the pitiful widow. Fauna’s family took care of the young Shi to give Sunshine the time she needed to recover. Whenever Fauna’s family was busy, Shi spent time with Des and Flora, who were happy to look after the young girl.

After they finished tending to the wounded hunters in Bear’s hunting party, Des and Flora had more time to spare for Shi. Eventually, Des and Flora ended up taking care of Shi on more days than Fauna and her family…this was not part of their original plan, but nobody expected that even after three months, Sunshine would still be spending all day lying alone in bed, unable to even find the energy to get up.

Her condition was so bad that Des and another doctor even took the time to give her a thorough medical assessment. They were worried that she might actually be sick, but they found that her lack of energy was simply due to severe depression…

As the months flew by and Sunshine continued to seclude herself, refusing to move or even eat, her condition deteriorated rapidly. Everyone tried their best to help her, but she refused to accept any help…eventually, only Des, Fauna and Flora were even willing to visit the now-decrepit woman. Everyone else had long since lost their sympathy, feeling that she was a failure of a mother, to wallow in her grief for so long without even considering her own child.

Des visited Sunshine once each week. He no longer brought Shi with him to visit her mother, because Sunshine was in too poor a state right now. She refused to eat, she refused to move, her muscle mass had withered away, her body fat was critically low, her health was falling apart…

Six months after Bear’s death, Des stood silently in Sunshine’s house, staring down at her…

Corpse.

Silently, during the night, she had died. The grief she felt over her husband’s death was so great that she had actually neglected herself until she died…

Those people who spoke ill of Sunshine now found their voices caught in their throats. Even in their wildest expectations, they did not expect such a depressing ending to this family’s story.

Shi was made an orphan after her parents both died, six months apart.

As the seven year old girl watched her mother being lowered into the grave beside her father’s, she no longer looked confused like before. A vacant expression lingered on her face, as if she did not know what to feel. She had been living with Des and Flora for a few months now, and to a child as young as herself, that was a long time…to the extent that she had almost forgotten about her mother.

She never even considered the possibility that, like her father, her mother would also die.

On that day, Shi seemed to grow up. She officially moved in with Des and Flora, getting her own bedroom in their house beside the hospital.

She no longer ran around whilst giggling. She no longer jumped onto Des’s lap. She no longer worried the adults to death with her reckless behaviour…though she still had a tendency to break things. But, unlike before, whenever she broke something, she apologised for her mistake, then silently cleared it up.

Seeing this caused Des’s heart to break. He felt that for a seven year old child, she had been put through far too much. No seven year old should be so mature like this…her childhood had been torn away from her, and for that, Des felt that she was too pitiful.

Bear had died, Sunshine had died, but the living continued on, because what other choice was there? The only other choice was to withdraw from the world like Sunshine, but such a choice did not lead to a good ending.

Des made an effort to act cheerful around the house and hospital. He encouraged Shi to play, he urged her to be more childish…he did everything he could to get her to speak.

A child becoming silent was a worrying matter, but a child refusing to speak, other than apologising for their mistakes, for an entire six months, was more than worrying.

Des was not sure whether he should consider it fortunate or unfortunate when Shi’s silent, mature façade finally broke down. It was great that she was finally speaking and showing emotion once again, but the circumstances of her recovery were nothing to celebrate.

Tiger’s family stood around his bed, looking at his pale corpse. He died at home, alone, during the middle of the night. He was discovered the following morning by Fauna when she visited him, causing her quite a great deal of shock. She quickly informed the rest of the family, and everyone immediately dropped what they were doing to see the truth for themselves.

Tiger was a strong man with seemingly great health, but in the end, he was old. It was of course sad, but his death was entirely natural, it did not cause people to feel pity or regret. He had lived a good life, for the most part. Perhaps he had lived his last few months in pain due to his son’s death, but he always showed a strong face for his remaining children and grandchildren.

He found solace in the fact that even though Bear had died, his child, Shi, remained in this world. In fact, in his final moments, when he felt his heart failing and his life slipping away, Tiger almost found it funny, how Flora and Des ended up willingly adopting Bear’s child, even though they had always been so resistant towards having a child of their own.

He died with a smile on his face, though nobody would ever know the reason for this smile. Even so, it gave everyone a sense of peace to know that in his last moments, Tiger had been happy.

“Uwah…grandfather…mother…father…why does everyone keep leaving?! Why?! Why?! Uwah…” Shi cried, and cried, and cried. Des hugged her from behind, saying nothing as she let out her pain.

Nobody else cried. Even though they felt sad, they also felt relieved to see Shi finally expressing her feelings. They refused to cry in this moment, because they knew that Shi needed this.

‘Tiger…even after death, you continue to help your family…you were truly a great man…’ Des thought to himself as a soft, sad smile appeared on his face.