Tracy West

"I don't think it's right to just love one person for the rest of your life, I just don't think we're made that way." the underlying message was that I didn't think that I was made that way, I didn't know that those twenty-four words would change my life forever.

I flopped down on my bed and stared at the ceiling for several long seconds; before glaring at the open suitcase beside my bed. Half of the bag was empty, while the other half was filled with various bottles of sunscreen.

"Damn freaking weather channel." I muttered as I closed the bag and pushed it under my bed. It became painfully obvious after five minutes here that it always rained, and when it rained there were often many clouds, and when there were clouds which blocked the sun. Therefor there was absolutely no need for sunscreen whatsoever. Which only left me with a bitter remorse for the fact that I had just spent three hundred dollars on sunscreen. Now I could have always got some sunscreen here, at Walmart. But due to the fact I have incredibly sensitive skin, I have to use a special kind of organic sunscreen which I doubt I could find here in lil' ole Forks.

I'm serious that's the name of the town, a fork is an eating utensil not a proper name for a chunk of land. But it made my Dad happy to be here, I think it had given him something to focus on after Mom left. I usually didn't need a babysitter or help on homework; I was independent at an early age. I cooked, cleaned, and sometimes I even organized his paperwork sometimes. Being a doctor had started to become old and boring, but recently he got assigned some nice position at the hospital where he worked as a regular doctor and then did some research on rare blood types.

After about ten minutes of thinking how my life had gone from Fine to bad, and then good to fine once again. I decided that it was about time I went down stairs, to possibly do something productive rather than sulk; but it wasn't likely. I carefully walked down the spiral staircase that stood at the very corner of our new living room. The house was big, and old. Something I was not in particular fond of. It took me at least thirty minutes just to find a bathroom, and it wasn't even my bathroom on the end.

I entered the kitchen to see Dad reading the newspaper and stealing sips from a cold cup of coffee. I raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as I walked past him and headed to the fridge.

"I saw that." His tone hit a new level of flat that screamed of empty. I knew he was talking about the raised eyebrow.

"I didn't." I told him and he patted my head while I poured myself a glass of juice, it was three in the afternoon but it was never too late for a nice cup of apple juice.

"So how are the bottles of sunscreen?" He asked.

"Useless, how are those packages of blood?" I asked, pointing to a mountain of small plastic packages filled with donated blood from the hospital.

"Useless." He replied, he kissed my forehead before slipping on his lab coat.

"I'll be back around six in the afternoon, I think I'll pick something up to eat on the way back." He put on a pair of glasses and threw a semi filled ring of keys in his pocket.

"Your lovely car is in the garage, so if you want to go out and do young people things you certainly can." he removed his glasses, and then put them back on several times while looking at his distorted reflection in the stainless steel fridge.

"Now I have to ask you for your honest opinion." He paused for several long moments, before breaking the silence.

"Do these glasses make me look smart?" I broke out laughing, not only because he had just said something a teenage girl asked when she wanted to win over an academically inclined student. But because he had asked me it with a straight face, showing he was actually serious about this.

He just cracked a small smile when he saw me smile so brightly, dad would still be the same no matter how may packages of blood were piled on my kitchen counter.

I sat on a garden swing in my new backyard. It was right in the middle of the woods with a long winding road that lead up to it. So there were no fences, no boundaries. My fresh green grass just sort of melted into the trees. I was reading the newspaper, there was a ridiculous article about there being giant wolves out here. I really had to tell my dad to start ordering the new York times instead of whatever local crap this was. The entire newspaper was like a poorly written gossip rag, I wanted to throw up just reading the headline.

I heard a low rustle in the trees, and at first I let it off. But then I heard another one, I was quite for several moments before finding my tongue.

"Is anyone there?" I called out weakly, I almost smacked myself for being so stupid. Why would anyone be out here in the middle of the woods? If anything it was a animal. And just like I thought, a dog came out slowly almost like it was guilty. Well I suppose it wasn't really a dog, it was much to big. But this er... Canine looked to domesticated to be a wolf. I felt frightened as it came closer to me, but when I made eye contact with it all my worries vanished. It felt like I had known it for years, like he would sleep in my bed instead of on the floor but on the few occasions he did he would sleep right next to my bed. And yes I did notice at this point it was a he, I'm naive not a fool.

As he slowly walked forward I noticed his fur was a sandy brown, and he was still just as big; if not bigger that I had thought he was. But as I noticed his build the thought gangly came to mind even if I wasn't entirely sure of the meaning. He sat down at my feet and wagged his tail, and I didn't even know what I was doing until my hand touched his head. I ran my fingers through his short choppy fur, he was strangely clean leading me once again to believe he wasn't a wolf. At least not a wild one.

He wagged his tail harder and i smiled as I stoked him along his spine.

"You're not so scary anymore." I murmured, I would never admit it out loud; but I was scared he would straight bolt out of here if I talked too loud. He licked my hand, and I replied in a giggle. I stroked down his side and felt a wet clump of fur, only when he gave a hushed wimper did I raise my hand to see red.

"I'm sorry if I hurt you, I would wait for my dad to come back home but he'll take two more hours at work, and who knows how long to pick up food." I said out loud as I opened a small bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"He's a doctor, and even though he's not a veterinarian he'd do a bang up job cleaning this small wound." Though small was not what this was, it was a smack dab in the middle of his side, leaving a gapping hole of blood there. The wound itself didn't seem too deep though. The dog's head was held up as he looked at me with big brown eyes, he didn't move one bit as I swept the alcohol swab over the wound. After disinfecting it, now that most of the dried blood was gone I noticed that this was just a flesh wound. I finished by applying a thin gauze over it once I was done. I really didn't want to see this poor sweetie in pain because he got the wound infected.

As soon as I was done he hopped down from the kitchen counter, and stood against my leg, he almost reached my hip as his head brushed against my thigh. I put the all the. Things I had taken out back in the first aid box, and put it back in one of the kitchen drawers. And then finally I threw away the blood stained cotton swabs before washing my hands. I sat back down on the garden swing amd he climbed on and lied down in my lap. I didn't say a word to him for the next hour I just picked up my gossip rag newspaper and enjoyed his company. Even if it was a bit strange to enjoy a dog's company.

But all too soon it ended when a russet colored wolf appeared at the end of my lawn, this one I could tell was a wolf. His hair was long and shaggy, unkept and caked with leaves and mud. As soon as he came into my backyard the sandy haired wolf raised his ears and stood up quickly. The two seemed to look at one another for the longest time before my wolf turned away and from his gaze. I knelt beside him knowing all too well what this was.

"He's your friend huh?" I asked, and my wolf just looked at me with his big watery brown eyes, it looked like he was about to cry. Which almost made me want to cry. "Go, you belong with him. Just come by and visit sometimes okay?" I asked, I tried to keep my voice steady and confident but in the end my voice broke. A tear slipped down my cheek as I wrapped my arms around him, taking in his earthy scent one last time before I pulled away and he ran of into the woods.

And not once did he look back.