A Wolves World

Watching From the Woods

Brett

After we reached the hospital, I suggested that I meet her here later to walk her home. Surprisingly, she agreed but I would have to be there on time otherwise she would walk without me. That wouldn’t be a problem because she wouldn’t have a run-in with the wolf if she was alone, seen as I am the wolf, but I want her to be able to trust me at least a little bit. I can tell she knows something is off, so I have to be careful with what I say. I'm going to have to ease her into the whole being a werewolf thing.

Maybe I should have asked before biting her. Then everything would have been easier, that is if she had agreed to let me bite her. But she seemed broken and she did say she wished she could be like the wolf, which meant biting her, not that she could have known that, so I'm not sure that what I did was the right thing to do.

I walk some distance from the hospital and shift to catch myself some breakfast, which is usually an unsuspecting squirrel or rabbit. I don’t really buy things from the store as I don’t have too much money and all I really need is meat and water as I live most of my day as a wolf. After enjoying some squirrels, I walked to the lake. It is pretty deep in the woods where nobody ever goes, so I get it all to myself well, and all the other animals.

Still, in my wolf form, I walk into the water as far as I can and then swim around a little to wash some dirt and possibly dry blood off of my fur. After a while, I climb out and shake off some of the water so that I can start drying off before I head back to my den. In the den, I have some blankets and pillows and then a pile of school stuff for when I start after the break. When I got to the den, I lay down on one of the blankets to finish drying.

I spent some time in my human form looking through some of the school books and things that I had picked up. I also try to figure out what to say to Erica about who and what I am and what I did to her. In no time, the day turned into night and it was time to go meet Erica to walk her home. Looking at my phone, It was 9:50 and if Erica got out at 10 there would be no way I would make it to the hospital in time in my human form, even if I did use my speed, so I shifted to my wolf and ran as fast as I could only stopping when I was far enough away where no one would see me shift but close enough to not be too late. I take a second to catch my breath and then walk the rest of the way to meet up with Erica.

Erica

It was getting late and because I told Brett earlier that I am usually done around ten o'clock, I decided to be out of the building by exactly. I stopped at the edge of the woods right where Brett left me this morning. I take a minute to look around as there were a few paths that came to the hospital but I didn’t see him at any of the entrances, so I went on without him as I had said I would. Soon after I started walking in the direction of home, I hear a noise a few feet in front of me. I worry that it might be the wolf but then a familiar scent hits me and I calm down immediately and a few seconds later, Brett appeared in front of me.

“Hey sorry I am a little late, I almost took the wrong path,” he tells me, although I am not convinced that is the truth.

“No worries I didn’t even get that far.” We walk along the path to my house and talked about random things. I try to get him to say something that will give me an indication as to what is different about him, but nothing I ask him seems to help. It actually makes things more confusing as he is vague with some of his answers.

"So where do you even live? I mean you do know where I live, so it's only fair I know where you live."

"Oh, just a few miles into the woods in that direction." He pointed to the north of us.

"I didn't know there were any houses or anything over that way."

"Yeah, well it isn't very big, it's basically just one room."

When we finally got to my house, I am about to say goodbye but Brett spoke first. The words I was about to say fell silent on my lips.

“Erica, not tomorrow, but the day after don’t go to the hospital to volunteer.”

“Why?”

“There is something that I need to tell and show you.”

“Can't you do it now?”

“It would be better to wait till then.”

“But everyone is expecting me. I can’t just not show up without a good reason .”

“Please just don’t go wait by your house that morning and I will show you everything.”

“What do you mean by everything?”

“I know that you can tell there is something off with me and I want to explain it then.” I stayed quiet. I do want to know what is weird about Brett, but then again, I really love volunteering and I can’t skip a whole day with no good excuse. “I know you love volunteering but could you at least think about it,” he asks as if hearing my thoughts.

“Fine, I will think about it, but I'm not making any promises.”

“For now, that is all I ask.” We go our separate ways and once I get inside I do my nightly routine and then go to bed. In the morning I wake up groggy and can feel the start of a headache. “Today will be a great day,” I say aloud to myself, sarcasm dripping from my words.

I get ready and head out. Surprisingly, I was not bombarded by Brett waiting for me this morning, which I somewhat wanted for some reason. I guess it is nice to have some company.

After a few minutes of walking, I heard a twig snap from behind me. Figuring it was Brett, I turned around and looked for him but I didn’t see him at all. I didn’t see anyone, for that matter, so I kept walking, thinking that it was probably just some woodland creature walking around. Though as I was walking I got the feeling that someone or something was watching me, so every once in a while I would turn around and look for any sign of someone being there, but no one ever was. When I was closer to the hospital, it is then that I finally noticed it. The wolf was standing several feet behind me and on my right side.

I froze in my tracks just like the first time I had seen the wolf, unsure if it would attack me again, but this time more than just a bite on the arm. It walked around me so it was now in front of me blocking my path to the hospital. So, like last time I decided to speak to it.

Brett

Tomorrow is the full moon and it will be Erica’s first one as a werewolf and everyone’s first shift is always the worst and it starts affecting you early in the day, even the day before. Today will be bad, but tomorrow will be even worse. So, just to make sure she was okay in my wolf form, I walked close enough to see her but not close enough for her to see me. But as we got closer to the hospital, the trees got thinner and she got more and more paranoid, making it so she was constantly looking around as if she was going to be attacked. But this time when she turned around she saw me and froze, just like the first time she had seen me. I walk around so I am now in front of her

“Hey Mr. Wolf, we meet yet again.” ‘yeah actually for the fifth time' I think.

“I don’t want you to attack me, but I again have to get past you.” ‘yeah, I know just checking on you.’ I sniffed her a little. She doesn’t seem to have much of anything affecting her just yet, but just to be sure, I circle her once more, sensing nothing wrong and not seeing any physical signs of the wolf. I walk off, letting her go on without trouble.

I know it was risky to follow her when I am in my wolf form, but I am trying to hint at something to see if she hopefully gets somewhat of an idea before tomorrow. Because if she is at the hospital tomorrow like she is planning on she has a greater chance of shifting early if something sets her off, and any little thing could do just that. Tonight I have made the decision to visit her as the wolf and then walk off and shift back to human form and run into her in hopes that she will start to put two and two together and, hopefully, she will decide not to go to the hospital tomorrow morning.

I spend my day near the hospital out of sight of people walking to and from their cars just in case she needs me or anything. I find it fun watching people as they are all so much like me but yet so different. That is one of the reasons I approached Erica that first night in the woods.

Later that night, I smell Erica making her way towards me an hour or so earlier than normal, which could mean she is starting to feel the effects of tomorrow's full moon. I hopped up onto all fours and watched Erica as she walked into the woods not too far from where I was standing. I waited until she got further into the woods, then walked alongside her to her right several feet away, and progressively got closer until she noticed me.

“You again. Listen, Mr. Wolf, I don’t have time for this. I have a horrible headache. So if you could just run off again, that would be great.” She continues to walk and I walk with her since I now know that she is, in fact, being affected by the pull of the moon. “Why are you walking with me you are not planning on biting me again or doing anything worse are you, because I will tell you what I already healed from the bite somehow.” I look at her as she speaks and when she finishes I somewhat shake my head. “Did you just shake you're head? You did. You can understand me, can’t you?” I looked at her but didn’t react too much to her question. “Fine, you don’t have to answer, but I know that you do actually understand me.”

We walk in silence for a few minutes until I decided this would be the best time for me to run off and shift to meet up with her as a human. I take off deeper into the woods where she is not likely to see me until I want her to. As I run off deeper into the woods I hear her call after me.

“You are such a weird wolf, you know that.” I get far enough away and shift into my human form and then head back in the direction that I had just come from.

Erica

After talking to the wolf, I realized it was responding to me like it understood what I was saying, but it seemed to back off when I noticed it and a minute later it ran off.

“You are such a weird wolf, you know that,” I called after it as it ran away. I then continued my walk back home. A minute or two later, I heard noises that sounded like twigs snapping for a second, and I think maybe the wolf had come back, but it is Brett that emerged from the trees.

“Hey,” he says, coming to walk alongside me.

“Hey, did you see the wolf? It just went that way just a minute or so ago?”

“No must have snuck past me or went a different way. But I am going to guess you had another encounter with this mysterious black wolf.”

“Yeah, but how did you know it was black? I don’t think I ever told you what it looked like?”

“Yeah, you did. You said it was black with a little bit of white on it if I remember correctly.” I now remember telling him that.

“Ahh, right yeah, it just has this little patch of white on its chest, and he has these bright blue eyes. Actually, they are similar to your eyes.”

“Sounds like he's a beautiful wolf.”

“He really is quite a beautiful wolf and it actually seems to understand me when I talk to it.” I turned to look at Brett to gauge his reaction when I said that I think I can talk to animals and they can understand me or at least this wolf can. Either the shadow from the night was on his face weirdly or he was blushing a little, but why would he be blushing? I guess that's something else for me to try to figure out about this strange boy.

“How do you always seem to know right where I am walking? It’s kinda creepy.”

“I am just walking around and I guess I just happen to walk along the path right as you are. It must just be a coincidence, a lot of coincidences,” he replied as if he had been rehearsing the answer.

“Really? Somehow I don’t believe that.”

“What, do you think I’ve been stalking you all day every day just waiting for the right moment to be able to talk to you in the middle of the woods?”

“Not necessarily, but it is weird and creepy that you always end up finding me. I mean I have heard people say, once an incidence, twice a coincidence, and three times a pattern. It also makes it seem like you live in this section of woods.” He stays silent and seems to close off at that statement. Although I don’t question him any further as he seems like he doesn’t really want to talk about it and I respect that.

“Why can’t you show me what you want to show me now? Then it won’t matter if I go tomorrow.”

“On the contrary, it will matter because this thing I have to show you will be better if you see it in the light and it takes a little bit of walking to get there.”

“Maybe you can show me another day. The kids love hanging out with me and they aren’t judgemental like everybody at school is. They actually like me.”

“Well, I like you.” I turned slightly to look at him and give him a questioning look. “I mean I like you as a person, and a friend. I didn’t mean it like that, sorry if I made that a little awkward.”

“It’s okay. I am used to things being awkward. But I really want to go tomorrow like I said before, everyone is expecting me just like they are every day over the break.”

“I guess I can understand that, but just watch out for yourself tomorrow, try to stay calm.”

“Why are you saying that? Do you know something I don’t?”

“It is the full moon tomorrow,” he says as a matter of fact.

“So,” I say, dragging the o out a little in a questioning tone.

“Don’t you know? Haven't you heard? That is when all of the lunatics come out.”

“You are weird, just like that wolf.”

“Maybe it is because we both spend too much time in these woods. If you keep using the woods as your shortcut, who knows you may yet become one of us.” As he says that, we emerge into the clearing where my house sits.

“I sure hope not,” I said, turning to face him.

“Well, maybe I will see you tomorrow anyway.”

“Maybe.” I walk a few feet to my house but when I turned to say bye to Brett, he had already disappeared without making a sound.