Chapter 1: The Campout
The full moon rises high in the sky, showering the forest with white-blue light and giving the lake a crystallize look. Under the moonlight, a campout sits in a clearing, a blazing fire being the only light in it. A man sits by the inferno, holding a pierced marshmallow over it. Hugh Test has bright blonde hair, blue eyes, and peach skin, and wears a green sweater vest on top of a white shirt, brown jeans, and black loafers.
His five-year-old twin daughters sit at the opposite end of the campfire, chattering with a book on their lap. Both have red hair and wears glasses and lab coats, but Mary Test wears a crescent moon band, keeping her curled hair in a ponytail, teal eyes behind crescent glasses, and wears a yellow shirt, blue baggy jeans with the bottom slightly ripped, and flat sneakers. Susan test has dark blue eyes, square glasses and hair reaching to her shoulders with a star barrette, and wears a blue shirt, black skirt, and white socks and sandals.
As they talk, their father asks, "So girls, how was the camping trip?"
"It was the best!" both scream.
"Ha ha, I'm glad. Did you find all the leaves in your book?"
"I think we did, daddy." Susan says. "These leaves should help us with our tree experiment."
Mary says, "Wait. I think we're missing one. And it looks like it's the important one."
"Awww. I really wanted to finish our experiment." she says, tearing up.
"Hey, don't be sad, Susan. We'll just go find it tomorrow." The twin tries to comfort.
"But we're leaving tomorrow. And this leaf could be anywhere in this forest."
Hugh says, "Here, let me see that book." The girls hand him their book and the father checks the missing leaf page. "Ah, that leaf is easy to find. It's just by that lake down the hill."
"Okay. I'll go get it." Mary grabs a flashlight and starts to walk out of the light, but the dad stops her. "No Mary. It is too dangerous to go out in the dark."
"I'm not scared of anything, dad. I read about things that are in the woods and I know how to fight back with them. I'll be fine, daddy."
He looks toward the menacing woods, then back to his cute daughter. "Oh, alright. If you're that confident. But if you ever get into trouble, just use this." Hugh hands the child a red flare gun, and she looks at it confusingly, handling it gingerly in her hand. "Uh, is this a gun?"
"Don't worry. It's a flare gun. If you get in trouble, you just point it in the air and pull the trigger, and a red light will shoot into the air. I'll come and get you as fast as I can."
"Uh, okay." Mary puts it in her pocket and gives Hugh a kiss. "And don't worry, daddy. I'll be back before you know it." She switches her flashlight on and walks off. Hugh watches her go, then asks himself, "Why do I get the feeling I'll regret it?"
In the forest, Mary walks down a used trail that heads to the large fishing lake. To anyone, the woods would've send fear to the heart, with the outstretched branches shadowed as hands, the nerve-racking animal noises going off everywhere, but Mary just laughs at it. "I wonder why people think these woods are scary. And I do not see how it is haunted. I've been here for a week and I haven't seen any ghosts or anything else scary. They must be trying to scare me because I'm five."
Soon, she finds the crystallize lake and starts searching around for the leaf. About an hour passes and the moon reaches higher, floating straight up, until the twin finds the leaf. "I finally found it! Now to head back to the camp." She starts to walk away, when her eyes spot something by the lake. A closer look helps Mary find out that the creature is a wolf, drinking his fill from the lake. She squeals in delight and says, "So cool. An actual wolf in front of my eyes. Dad will like to see this." She takes a camera out of her pocket and slowly walks closer, then snaps. White light shines around for a second, but long enough for the wolf to take notice of it. It raises its dripping muzzle up and turns toward the girl, growling and baring its fangs. She lowers her camera and whispers, "Maybe I should have shut off the flash. Heh heh. Nice wolf."
It steps toward the girl and Mary brings to mind all the things to do if you run into a wolf. Before she moves, the wolf stops then pushes up, standing on its hind legs like a human. The child widens her eyes in shock, squeaking, "You're not a regular wolf."
In response, it howls into the night air, toward the bright moon, and Mary runs back into the woods, screaming "Big wolf! Daddy!" She continues running in a direction, mind set on losing the large wolf at all costs. The child hears branches snapping and shuffling, and turns to see the wolf chasing her. "Leave me alone!" Mary continues to run, when she trips and falls down a hill, bruises appearing all over her body and dirtying her clothes. When she stops at the bottom, the child slowly gets up, crying her eyes out. "Ooowwwww! Daddy, where are you?"
The wolf lands in front of her and snarls, making Mary scream. She searches for anything to fight back, and finds a gun. "The flare gun." She points up and pulls, sending a flare into the sky. At a certain point, the blaze explodes, sending more light everywhere, and the wolf covers its eyes a back up with a whimper. The child was sure it would run away, but the large dog rubs its eyes and growls, walking closer. "No. Stay back!" Mary gets up and runs away again, but this time the wolf catches up and pounces. The last thing she remembers is intense pain, screaming, and a gunshot…
Mary Test shoots off her pillow in cold sweat, gasping. Panicked, she quickly scans her surroundings and slightly calms down, knowing she's safe in her room. Next to the teen is her fifteen year old twin sister, Susan, who's calmly sleeping. The teen wipes some hair out of her eyes then, after grabbing her crescent glasses, gets up and walks to the bathroom. She splashes some water onto her face and wipes some of the cold sweat off, then looks back into the mirror. A Mary Test looks back, same but different at the same time.
After staring at her for some time, she moves her sleeve up, showing her shoulder and a bite mark scar that stands. The bite mark that changed my life forever. Why'd it have to be me? She puts the sleeve back down and walks back to her room, falling on her bed. Mary has a hard time falling back to sleep, and by the time she does, the sun is already up and shining. Susan yawns awake and looks at her sister, unsurprised that she's still sleeping. The twin walks up and shakes her shoulder, saying, "Mary, wake up. We have to go to school."
The teen groans and turns around. Susan sighs and shakes her more vigorously, but Mary still sleeps. "C'mon Mary. Enough playing games. We're going to be late."
She continues to snore. The twin groans then opens a drawer, taking out a handheld horn. Susan covers one ear and presses the button, letting out a blaring sound and making Mary scream and cover her ears, as well as fall off her bed. The teen puts the horn back and says, "If you don't want to have a horn blasting in your ear, then I suggest you stop staying up so late."
Mary climbs back up and talks back, "I have very good reasons to stay up late, Susan."
"And what would that be?"
"That's none of your business. Now c'mon. We need to get ready for school."