Sad Father/Son lion story

 In a child's life, their first relationships are with their parents. They will always view their parents as idols, people to strive to be, almost as if they were gods. A child and a parent's bond will be one of the strongest in their lives, but at the same time it is very fragile. If a parent were to break their child's trust, it could easily ruin the kid, possibly even scarring them for life. This story will be an example of a father losing his only son's trust.
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    The young lion's name was Jericho, and the day first started when he was sleeping with his father, named Griffin, in his room after having nightmares the night before. He was visibly shaking in his sleep, whimpering loudly as his horrifying dream went on. The cub's father, not knowing how to help, woke up the little lion by gently patting his head, purring softly in an attempt to soothe Jericho.
    "Hey son, you don't have to be scared, I'm here for you," Griffin gave a little smile to the cub and started to pet the cub, hugging him tight to his slightly chubby gut "No need to have nightmares when you're dad's lookin' out for ya!"
    Although Griffin expected his son to stop crying and give his dad a hug, Jericho instead just covered his eyes with his hands, tears starting to shed down his face.
    "I-I'm sorry for being scared sir, I-I just had a really bad dream, but it felt so real... I-it was like the day mum left us, but you ate me instead, a-and you even chewed me up like a steak," Jericho frowned and looked up to the bigger lion, unable to hold eye contact for more than a second, thinking he was disappointed in the cub for being more vulnerable than he.
    "Oh, you still have nightmares of me? Well, I've changed so much then, and I know that you're still pretty sad about me eating her, I-I would only do that to protect you from another predator. I'd never eat an innocent kid like you, not again," Griffin gave the cub a gentle smile, purring much louder against Jericho.
    Jericho would enter a mood like this about every week or so. He had been raised by his mother and father until he was almost eight, involving an incident where Jericho revealed that he was part fox. The cub was forced to watch his otherwise friendly, protective father eat up the person he loved most, watching his idol tear through the mother as if she was a slab of meat, only to be eaten. Jericho had only survived the incident by his mother urging him to run, but the cub was found once more by Griffin almost 4 years later, and had been living with the predator for almost a month.
    "I-I know you have mister, I just don't know what to do... If mum was here, she'd help me, but I dunno if I should trust you or not, since you t-took mum away... Y-you seem v-very nice, a-and I bet y-you're not as mean anymore, b-but I-I... I'm just s-scared, I'm sorry mister lion, I r-really am..." Jericho's last sentence, he started feeling as if his father would be mad for not being able to trust him, and started stuttering and backing away, not knowing whether to try and run or deal with the fear and just stand there, "I-it's just that I... I-I'm just," Jericho continued trembling, eventually breaking down and lying on the ground, sobbing loudly "F-fine sir, I'm scared! Y-you terrify me, I can't help but feel scared whenever I look into your eyes, a-and I just can't get that day out of my head whenever I see you! Y-you said that you used to be nice and friendly, b-but I just can't imagine you being nice..."
    Griffin, shocked by the cub's confession, stared down to him with a frown. Griffin had never heard such things coming from his son, and felt like an awful monster from Jericho's confession, "S-son, I didn't know you still felt that way, I always thought I was helping you, but you've been with me for a month now, a-and you're my own child too... If I've been such an awful person to you that you can't help but feeling threatened around your own father, then I-I'll let you go,"
    "Wait, w-what do you mean by that, sir?" Jericho paused, rather frightened by his father's words.
    "Well, I've been wanting to help you have the childhood that I couldn't give you before, I-I wanted to make you happy, son. Since you'll be happier without me, you can return back into the forest, and I'll even close my eyes until you leave, if that makes you feel safe..."
    Jericho frowned, then looked out to the endless forest behind him. He started shuffling towards them, whimpering, "There has to be a catch to this,"
    That was the last insulting blow the father could take, and he simply fell to the ground, tears getting stuck in his usually soft mane. He then breathed in, and hugged the poor kid to him "Y-yes, the catch is just a hug... Son, I love you, and I hope you'll do well on your own, do you want me to pack your stuff before you go?"
    Jericho, being stuck in Griffin's hug, started to whimper in fear and started wriggling out of the hug, tears forming in his eyes "Y-you don't have to pack my stuff, sir, I-I'll just leave," the cub started to run, but then immediately stopped, turning back "A-actually, there's one more thing I need to do,"
    "Oh, really?" Griffin smiled and contently looked down to Jericho, eagerly hoping to hear the first "I love you" in years from the poor cub.
    "Could you turn around before I go? I-I don't wanna be found again, like last time..."