Wolves

Chapter 6

I feel something cold, wet, pushing against my hand. I slowly stir as my eyes begin to open. My vision was blurry and cloudy at first; I kept squinting and blinking. I blinked a few more times as my vision became clearer. I see something round and black sniffing at my hand. I raise my head slightly to get a better look. There, a small brown cub was sniffing at my hand. I slowly rise to get up. As I do, the cub moves back.

“Ow,” I say, as a sharp pain hits my head. I lift my arm to touch the sore spot. Then I see a trail of blood dripping from my arm. I look over to see that my arm is cut.

“Ooh, dear. I need to take care of this,” I say.

But I have nothing to really clean it with. I look at the rest of my body and see some scraps on my legs and a small cut on my left thigh. I look towards my left and front to see if I can spot a river. I look towards the right, and to my surprise, the little bear is still staring at me. I was taken aback, as its eyes were locked with mine. I might have hit my head too hard because I asked the bear.

“Do you know where I can find some water? I need to take care of my wounds.”

Such a silly question to ask, but maybe he understood me. The cub tilted its head and then went to the bushes. I sighed, knowing it was silly of me to ask, but I had to try. Then I heard a tussle. I looked over towards the noise and saw the cub doing some kind of trick. It keeps going in and out of the bush. It goes in, then comes back out, then goes in, then comes back out, over and over again. It takes me a second to process, but it almost feels like it wants me to follow it.

He comes back again and turns again; this time I slowly stood up. The cub just stares from the bushes as if he's waiting for me. I look towards him and say, "I'll follow you."

The cub turns around again, but this time I follow its lead. The walk wasn't going to be as long as I thought, because soon enough I heard water, a stream. After a few turns, we came to a low-rise stream. I breathed the cool, fresh air. I turned towards the cub and thanked it. I slowly bent down. As my legs and back were in pain, I leaned my arm into the water to wash off the blood. Thankfully, the cut was not deep or large; the same goes for my knee. I clean off both areas in the cool water; it almost feels like it's healing them. I scoop some water in my hands and wash my face with it. I look at my wounds, but have no way to cover them; at least I didn't think so.

"How am I going to cover these?" I say out loud.

Then I feel something tug on my dress. I looked behind me to see the cub pulling at it. I looked at it in confusion; what could it be trying to say? The cub keeps tugging till he rips off a piece. Then it brings it to me; I look at it for a second, confused. Then it clicks: use the fabric from the dress as a bandage. I know it will upset them, but at this point I don’t have a choice. I grab the dress train and rip a big streak off. I feel guilty for tearing up such a beautiful dress. But it must be done. I tie it around my wound and put some water on it to help it stay. I do the same for the cut on my knee. I take a deep breath and look around. I feel movement in my arm and see that the cub is rubbing against me. I raise my hand to pat his head and ask,

“Where is your mother, little one?”

He snuggles up closer to me. Poor thing must have been separated from his mother somehow. Just like how I got separated from my family, Taylor, Melina, and Leigh, I hope Melina is getting better; Taylor will flip when he finds out I am lost. My mind is racing with so many thoughts. I snapped out of it when I heard a rustle in the bushes. I jumped and instinctively put the cub behind me. I looked around and picked up a rock. It may not save us, but it may give us some time to run and hide. A few minutes pass. I keep my eyes on the spot, waiting. To my surprise, another cub peeks out; I lower the rock in my hand.

“Oh no, another one is lost,” I say. Then something bigger comes out behind it. I stand up to take a step back as the mother bear comes out. I was stunned and couldn't move. I was waiting to be attacked, waiting for her to growl or sneer at me, but she didn't. She just stared at me, tilted her head almost in wonder. I took a step towards her; she stood on her feet. I stood still; she went back to her all fours. I took a deep breath and knelt to her, and bowed my head to show her that I meant no harm, nor a threat. She came towards me and put her head on my shoulder. I teared up as I nuzzled my head against hers, then I felt a little nuzzle under my left arm. I look down to see that it’s the baby cubs. They were letting me know it was safe. It’s weird; I feel close to these animals, though I have never been near them before. I learned at a very young age that animals are more scared of us than we are of them. That any time we see a scared animal, we let it know we are not a threat to them. I take a deep breath as we both lift our heads to connect our foreheads. The cubs started running around us and then splashed into the water. I looked towards them as their mother joined them in the stream. At first, I thought it must be because they were going to catch fish, but they kept walking through it to the other side of the stream. The mother bear looked back at me, as if she was telling me to 'come'. I didn't hesitate, as I followed her lead. I had no idea where she was taking me. Maybe they’d lead me out to the road; I knew they tried to stay clear of those, but it was just a thought. As we continued our walk, I started to hear the sound of water falling, sounded like a waterfall. After walking a few more, I learned I was right. A beautiful waterfall, not too big, not too small, and with a beautiful stream hole attached to it. I was completely in awe; I was snapped out of it when the mother bear came behind me and gave me a little nudge. I looked at her, and she moved her head towards the waterfall. I wondered what she was trying to tell me; she nudged me again. I walked towards the waterfall. As we got closer, I saw something behind it. Then I saw the cubs running behind it, then coming back out, kind of what the one was doing before. I walked closer to see the cave. I looked at the mother bear, and she nodded her head. I asked.

“You want me to stay here?”

She nodded her head. I smiled and said, "Okay." I looked around the cave; it wasn't too big, and it wasn't damp. I turned my head as I saw the two cubs playing with each other. I smiled as I walked towards the waterfall and put my hand underneath it. I took a deep breath, closed my eyes as I let the water hit my hand. I opened my eyes as I let myself go completely under it. I thought it was going to be rough and take me down. But it wasn’t. It was completely soft, like a shower. I stood there as I let the water wash away my fear, pain, and worries. I took off my bandage on my arm to let the water clean it. I felt so refreshed; I didn’t want to get out of the water. I walked out on the other side, and I sat in the swimming hole. I looked up at the sky and saw the sun starting to set. The sky was changing colors as the cool night air came in. My eyes started to tear up as I started to think about Taylor, Melina, and Leigh. I miss them. I want to see them; I am worried about them. I cried while looking at the sky as the stars filled the sky. I'm lost in thought; I almost didn't notice a little nose nudging me. It was one of the cubs. I looked down at it and petted its head and said,

“Oh, little one, how will I get home?”

It moved closer to me and put its head on my chest.

I sniffled, “I hope my girls and Taylor are okay. I hope to see them again.”

I rubbed the cub's head as I felt the other one on my other side. I rubbed its head as I got up to go back to the cave. As soon as I was inside, I immediately lay down. I felt a little nose nuzzle me. It was one of the cubs; it lay next to me. Both of them did; the mother bear lay behind my head. I lay there thinking about my family; the last thing I think about before I fall asleep.