Eric had never been so happy to see his family in his life, even his sister Elanor. They, apparently, felt the same about him, as he was embraced and kissed so much that he thought he was going to fall apart. Eric didn’t care how they found him or how long they’d been looking; he was just overwhelmed with joy to be going home. He was especially looking forward to some of his mother’s chicken pie, hot out of the oven. By now Eric felt extremely hungry and his stomach rumbled so fiercely that he was about ready to start eating tree bark. No bark for me, he thought, I’ll get hot fresh food when I get home.
All of the fear that he had kept pent up inside of him came flowing out like the tears streaking down his soft face. “Oh mommy, daddy” he stuttered, “it was so bad. I started following this big winged thing. And then I got lost in the forest and I didn’t know where I was and it was getting dark. So I went on the river, because our house is on it, but when I got out I didn’t see it. So then the big monster came and attacked me and blew fire at me, but I hid and it went away. Then you came and I’m so glad to see you and I’ll never run away again, especially after flying scaly monsters.” With that he gave his mother a big kiss on the cheek and hugged his father and Elanor so tight that he thought his chest would cave in. He promised himself he would give Eli a hug as soon as he got him. He wouldn't even mind if his brother kept the rock.
On the long walk home, Eric thought about how much he had missed his family. Maybe they really did love him after all, even as much as Eli. Getting lost had been very scary, it had taught him how much his family meant to him. His parents had never paid so much attention to him, but Eric decided that there must be easier, safer ways of earning their attention than getting lost in a forest, especially one with a big hungry monster. With a start, Eric wondered what would happen if the monster was waiting for him when he got home. From experience, Eric knew that he could hide from the monster, but he was not so sure about the rest of his family. He could just envision Eli fainting as the monster roared and flashed its teeth.
But Eric wouldn’t allow the monster to hurt any of his family; they were too special to him. He would find a way to hide all of his family from the monster before he could gobble them up. Besides, thought Eric, I may not be as strong or scary as he is, but I am certainly smarter. As long as I am here, the monster won’t be able to attack Dale. I won’t let it. Eric hummed as he walked and watched the tall dark trees passing by on the sides of the path, not quite as scary as he remembered them.
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