Spirit Of The Wolf Collection

Chapter 1-2

“There’s no hurry. In the next week or so should be fine.”

“No problem.”

“Hey, John,” a voice called from across the room and John turned to seek the source of the voice. A woman with long blonde hair and a pink flower printed skirt and matching top was waving at him.

John turned back briefly to Nicole. “I gotta go. Katie needs a ride home, her car is in the shop. I’ll see you later, and thanks for doing the picture thing.” John turned and started navigating his way through the crowd.

Nicole quickly went over her schedule in her head, trying to determine when she would have time to take the photos. She was meeting Meg for lunch after she left the meeting, but after that, she had the entire afternoon free. She did have a report due tomorrow, but that would only take an hour or two to finish. She could do it after she’d taken the photos. John had said there was no hurry, but she was anxious to do something constructive. She glanced at her watch. It was almost time for lunch, so she left the SES building and headed to the diner. Maybe this day wouldn’t be such a total waste, after all.

* * *

David followed Nicole for a few minutes before he turned down a different street, where tall trees surrounded the road on both sides. He hadn’t been in this area in a long time, and a lot had changed since then, but he took sure steps towards his destination.

The old tree was still there. He was amazed it hadn’t been cut down by now. A new, modern house stood where the old one had been. This house was built of brick, and he could see a heating and cooling unit against one side wall. He tried to remember what the old house had looked like. It had been old, even then and was practically falling apart. He could still remember the trail of smoke which drifted up from the fireplace. Instead of a heating and cooling unit, there’d been a big pile of wood. Maybe, if the house had been made of something other than wood, they would have stood a chance.

“Can I help you?”

David turned to the old man behind him. He hadn’t even noticed his approach. That alone told him how much this was getting to him. “No, I was just… my family used to live on this land.”

The man seemed surprised. “My family has lived here for close to two hundred years, or more.”

“Do you know anything about the people who had it before that?”

The stranger looked skyward, rubbing his stubbled chin. “Hum. As a matter of fact, I do happen to know a little bit about them. If I remember correctly, they died in some kind of fire. I don’t remember their name, but my father told me about it when I was young. He said it was one of the worst fires this county has ever seen. The whole place was burned to the ground in less than an hour, with the family still inside. He used to tell me the story to keep me from playing with matches. He said if it had happened once, it could happen again.”

David fought to keep his emotions from becoming visible on his face and forced a smile. “So, did it work?”

“You tell me. I became a firefighter.” The old man barked out a short laugh and slapped his leg.

The smile on David’s face was the first genuine one in a long time. This man seemed nice enough. It was somewhat comforting to know something good had come out of this place. “Thank you for your time. I’d better be going.”

Before he could take more than a couple of steps, the man called out. “Hey son! Are you related to that family?”

David felt the swelling of regret and sadness hit him again. “Yeah.” This time he heard a little bit of emotion revealed by the harshness in his tone.

“Gee, I’m sorry to hear that. I hope things work out better for you than they did for them.”

“Thanks.” He hurried away, before the man could ask any more questions. Walking farther down the street, David forced himself not to look back.

His steps slowed once he neared the graveyard. He didn’t want to go in, but he found himself walking in that direction anyway. It was crazy, he didn’t even know where they were buried. He turned to leave the graveyard and stubbed his toe on a loose rock which he hadn’t noticed before. He glared down at the rock angrily, it was large and had no place in a graveyard. Really, they should keep the grounds clear of hazards like this. If they had any respect for the dead, they’d take better care of the place.

He scanned the nearby area, realizing there were no other rocks like this on the ground, only neatly-mown grass. Obviously it was an isolated case, an anomaly – not the product of mass neglect and disrespect. He calmed down and bent over to pick it up, noticing the name on the tombstone in front of him as he straightened up.

He froze in place. It couldn’t be. He read the name and dates closely and reread it again. There was no mistake. This was his father’s grave. He surveyed the nearby area, quickly finding the other graves and his legs buckled, bringing him to his knees in front of them like a man awaiting judgment. But there was no judgment to be delivered; there was no redemption in this place, no forgiveness or benediction. There was nothing to assuage his guilt over failing them.

After a long while, he got to his feet. There were no answers for him here. He didn’t even know why he’d come back here, to this side of town. He’d been fine on the outskirts of the city, miles away from the nearest subdivision or stores, away from everyone. The only time he ever needed to see anyone was when he did the occasional security consultation, other than that he was blissfully alone, exactly how he liked it. If it hadn’t been for that damned dream about Nicole, that’s exactly where he’d still be, but he owed it to Richard to ensure she was okay. She had certainly looked fine earlier. He was crazy to let a dream get to him like that – she was fine.

Still, he couldn’t leave town without making sure.