FINDING MARY

I had always believed that leaving home meant leaving your problems behind.
I was wrong.
The road stretched endlessly ahead of us, disappearing into the darkness beyond the headlights of the taxi. I sat in the back seat with my younger sister, Mary, while the sound of the engine filled the silence between us.
Mary was fourteen.
She had barely spoken since we left.
Neither had I.
There wasn’t much left to say.
We had lost our parents in a car accident only a few months earlier. After that, the house we once called home stopped feeling like home. Every room carried a memory. Every corner reminded me of the two people who would never walk through the door again.
So I made a decision.
We would leave.
We would start again somewhere far away, in a place where nobody knew our names and nobody knew what we had lost.
I didn’t know whether I was being brave or foolish.
I only knew that staying behind wasn’t an option.
Mary leaned her head against the window.
“How much longer?” she asked quietly.
I looked at the road ahead.
“Not much.”
She turned toward me.
“You said that an hour ago.”
A small smile escaped me.
“Maybe I was wrong.”
She smiled too, but it disappeared almost immediately.
Outside the window, the landscape had changed. The busy roads and buildings were gone. Trees surrounded us now, their branches stretching over the road like crooked fingers.
The driver kept both hands firmly on the steering wheel.
He hadn’t said much since we started the journey.
Then he glanced at us through the rearview mirror.
“You two have never been here before?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He nodded slowly.
“You should be careful around the lake.”
Mary lifted her head.
“The lake?”
The driver looked back at the road.
“Lake Elaris.”
I frowned.
“What about it?”
He was silent for a moment.
Then he shrugged.
“Nothing.”
That answer bothered me more than if he had warned us.
Mary leaned closer to me.
“What does he mean?”
“I don’t know.”
The driver cleared his throat.
“People around here have stories about that place.”
“What kind of stories?” Mary asked.
He gave a nervous laugh.
“The kind people tell children so they don’t wander into the forest.”
I looked out the window.
Beyond the trees, something pale appeared in the distance.
Water.
The lake.
For the first time, I saw it.
It was enormous.
The moonlight reflected across its surface, but the water was strangely still. The wind was strong enough to shake the trees around us, yet the lake barely moved.
Mist hovered above it, twisting slowly across the surface like pale fingers.
I watched it through the window.
Something about the lake made the back of my neck feel cold.
Then Mary grabbed my hand.
“Brother.”
I turned toward her.
“What?”
She pointed toward the trees.
“Look.”
I followed her finger.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then two golden eyes appeared between the trees.
I stopped breathing.
The eyes didn’t blink.
They simply watched us.
The taxi continued moving.
The creature stepped forward.
A wolf.
But I had never seen a wolf like that.
Its fur was golden.
Not brown.
Not yellow.
Golden.
Under the moonlight, its coat almost seemed to glow.
The driver saw it.
His hands tightened around the steering wheel.
“What the—”
The wolf stepped into the road.
The driver slammed on the brakes.
The taxi swerved.
Mary screamed.
And then the wolf disappeared into the darkness beside the road.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
The driver breathed heavily.
“Did you see that?”
I stared through the window.
“Yes.”
Mary was still holding my hand.
Then she whispered,
“Brother… why is that wolf following us?”
I turned.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then two golden eyes appeared between the trees again.
This time, they were much closer.
The wolf stepped out of the darkness.
Its fur was unlike anything I had ever seen—golden, almost glowing beneath the moonlight.
But something was wrong.
It looked terribly weak.
Its ribs showed beneath its fur, and one of its legs dragged behind it.
The driver stared at it.
“Ei…”
He slowly pressed his foot against the accelerator.
The wolf didn’t move.
It simply watched us.
Then it lowered its head.
And suddenly—
CRASH!
The wolf slammed into the side of the taxi.
Mary screamed.
The window shattered.
I threw my body over her as pieces of glass flew through the air.
Something sharp tore into my arm.
Then the wolf lunged through the broken window.
Its teeth caught my shoulder.
I expected unbearable pain.
Instead, I felt warmth.
Strange, almost comforting warmth.
I looked down.
Blood was running from the wound.
My blood.
A drop fell onto the wolf’s golden fur.
The moment it touched the animal, everything stopped.
The wolf froze.
Its golden eyes widened.
And then I heard a voice.
Not from the driver.
Not from Mary.
From somewhere inside my own head.
“Finally… I have found you.”
I stared at the wolf.
My heart pounded against my chest.
What …are you?…