The charcoaled remains of the fall harvest crunched under Ethan’s feet as he made his way towards the skeletal remains of his family’s home.  His worst fears coming into a sharp focus, the words he read in an anonymous letter were true.  He didn’t dare run, his gut knew the fate of his parents but his heart wasn’t ready to process it.  He continued to slowly walk towards the house, each crack under his shoes made his stomach churn.  His heart raced faster than it ever had as he walked up the cement steps to the empty remains of the front door, force of habit had him reach for the doorknob and he stumbled through the crumbling threshold. 

“Jesus…” Ethan muttered in a frenzied mix of disbelief, prayer, and horror.   The fire that consumed not just the barns, and fields but also his family home and left nothing but charred structural frames.   His eyes panned around the home, and he slowly walked toward the kitchen where hints of white stood out amongst the black and grey.    He reached the area that was previously the kitchen, amongst the char and ash were two skeletons, collapsed in a position that looked as if they died while sitting. 

A knot in his throat caused Ethan to choke as he fell hard to his knees.   The letter he received told him of his parents' fate, the status of the farm as he approached only confirmed it, yet the young man held tight to the smallest hope they may have survived. His fingers lightly brushed over the skull, cleaning the dust off it.  His fingers had come to slide into a hole in the back of the skull.  His stomach churned in a confusing mixture of anger in their death, and relief in knowing they didn’t suffer the pain of the fire.  He spent the rest of the afternoon, and a good portion of the evening digging his parents' graves.  Being both physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted he did what he hadn’t done in over 20 years, he slept between his parents. Ethan woke as the light of dawn started to break.  He couldn’t move for nearly an hour as he came to full consciousness, reality coming back into sharp focus.   After getting to his feet he stared down for a moment and quietly said a prayer over the two mounds of dirt.  

He made his way around the rest of the property, his anger reared its head again when he came to where the barn should have stood.  Once again he found nothing but skeletal remains amongst the charred debris.   Anger welled up inside, as the people who did this didn’t even save the animals.  However, like his parents, he noticed many of the larger animals had gunshots to their heads as well.   He walked to the back left corner of the barn and looked down at the small helpless frame of a miniature donkey.  He looked down, and remembered his best friend until Lily had come along.  He dug one last hole beside his parents and buried his friend. “I am so sorry Peanut.  Take care of mom and pops up there would ya?” 

Ethan took a long walk around the perimeter of the property, his mind swirling around what he was going to.  With his parents now gone there was nothing left for him in Seattle. As he made his way back to his car, a small noise that was barely a squeak caught his attention just inside the wooded area.  He stopped for a moment, listened closer, then turned his head when he heard some rustling of the leaves a few feet away from where he stood.  After another barely audible squeak, Ethan bent down and noticed a tiny ash-covered kitten.  He scooped up the tiny animal, and held it close to his chest.

“So we got a little survivor, you want to come home with me?  Wherever we decide to call home?”   The kitten let out a tiny mew, before letting out a yawn that seemed to double the size of the kitten's head, then falling asleep purring happily against Ethan’s chest.