p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="49175a6e10e4e5af8521a9088164b554"The Northern Rockies were beautiful this time of year, lightly dusted with snow and crisp, clean air. Every winter for three years I've come to Fort St. John to trek through the mountains at the end of spring to take pictures of the wildlife. For some reason I've always had a connection to forests and mountains, but this year felt different, the snow had stayed unusually late this year and there was a fresh coat from last night. Ever since I arrived in town a couple days ago I felt this sort of buzzing in my stomach like something big was about to happen and it just kept getting more intense the further I went into the trees./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="27dde8759aed6e0d6058ad10f72031be"Two hours and 30 pictures later, I came across a cabin in the middle of a small clearing, it had smoke coming out of the chimney and looked beautiful against the snow-covered trees. I looked for signs of the owner but only saw three sets of tracks leading away from the cabin. I debated on taking a picture without the owner's permission but figured I would miss the opportunity for a perfect shot. I would ask them later when I came back through if they were home I decided. I brought my camera up to my face to take the picture when I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous. I stumbled back into a tree and grasped at its trunk. Its bark felt rough and cold as I clutched onto it trying not to fall over when I heard someone say something to me. I turned to the source of the sound not comprehending the words as my head started to pound and heard the blood rushing past my ears and into my head. They dropped the wood they had been carrying and turned to yell at something behind them as I felt my joints crack and bones shift as I fell forward onto my hands./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="0f32db9b52041a7242b6b16b984ed763"Suddenly it wasn't as cold, and I could smell and hear everything going on around us. There was so much going on I didn't know where to look, the crackling fire in the cabin, the owl a mile away catching his prey, or the sleeping rabbits in their burrow underground. I looked back to the person with wide eyes and saw a woman sprinting through the line of trees behind the man, her long black hair flowing in waves behind her. She skidded to a stop beside the man and looked shocked. There was a noise to my left and when I looked there was a wolf standing there snarling at me. I backed away from it but stumbled on something and sprawled out onto the ground kicking up snow and leaves as I went. I looked to see what I had tripped on and saw not a rock or an overgrown root, but four legs covered in fur and shreds of clothes near the base of the tree where I had been./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #222222;" data-p-id="3f59337f1d00a5a7fefb0f8eb5db99e9"I heard the snow crunching and when I looked back to the people and the woman was walking towards me. I felt my ears pull back and tried to get up. She immediately stopped and pulled her hands up in front of her and started saying something as she slowly walked towards me. She placed her hand on the side of my face and I instantly calmed as she looked into my eyes. Everything became clear again and I could focus on her words. 'It's alright,' she said, 'you're safe here'. Then everything faded into black. /p