Esme and her boys
Intro
The sound was faint, muffled. She rose her nose to the west to catch the incoming breeze for a new scent. Something other than the leaves, urine and dirt characteristic of most woods. As she sniffed she got what she was looking for: Definitely human, young, with a vague hint of wood smoke, artificial strawberries and salt. Salt meant tears or sweat; coming from a child lost in the woods, it was probably both. Your typical camping trip gone. Humans should really learn to take a buddy when going to pee in the woods, she thought as she began to follow the scent.
The girl was no more than a few hundred feet away. With her quick paws and agile body, it didn't take long before she came upon the young girl crying at the root of an old fallen tree. It took the girl a moment to notice she had company since she had been crying into her sleeve. She finally lifted her had to wipe away some of the snot with her shirt sleeve when she finally saw the large silver wolf sitting quietly just a few feet away from her. The girl gasped audibly and probably would have made a run for it if she weren't frozen with fear.
"Good doggy?" the girl whispered with as much hope and courage as she could muster.
Doggy? She can't be more than 6 or 7 years old, I guess I shouldn't take it personally. Putting her brief feeling of offense aside, she put her head down to the ground and lifted her tail high with wag. The girl seemed to recognize the classic canine play stance. She relaxed a bit and even giggled at the sight of the 'doggy' rolling around on the ground with a tongue flopping around outside of her mouth.
"You're a funny doggy," the girl said as she finally got the courage to walk over and pet her new friend gently on the head. "And really big too!"
Now that they were close to each other it was fairly easy to tell that the wolf was nearly 3 times the young girl's size. But it was clear the girl didn't take size to inherently mean threat, in fact she was quite comforted by the wolf's presence: it was a safe feeling.
After it was apparent the girl was unharmed and crying only from fear of being alone the wolf began gently pulling on the girl's sleeve with her teeth. Slightly confused but not alarmed the girl tried to pull her arm back. "Whatcha doing doggy? You're going to rip it," she said while checking her shirt for holes. The wolf walked to the edge of their mini clearing. Turning to look back at the girl she stood and began to whine softly.
"Are we going somewhere?" The girl's question received the response of excited bouncing in place and a few short barks. "Are we going to my family?" she asked so hopefully that it was almost a whine. This time she watched the wolf running in small circles, like chasing her tail, but without the actual intent to do so. When the girl finally stopped giggling at the successful attempt to cheer her up and confirm their destination, the two set off into the woods in the direction of the campsite.
Unbeknownst to the duo, the girl's parents had awoken and noticed the absence about an hour ago. An official search team had yet to be formed, but a teenager, whose dad happened to be the sheriff, heard the call for a girl missing in the woods. It didn't take him long to call up his best friend and head out into the woods to try and find the girl before someone else did.
After all, tomorrow night was a full moon, and out in the woods near a full moon was not a safe place to be in Beacon Hills.
