Chapter Two: Time To Leave

I was walking in the forest. Nowhere near Jasper Park. There was no sound of any kind. Even the twigs and leaves I was stepping on were keeping quiet. What's going on? Did I go deaf for some reason? How did I get out here? Where am I? I kept walking, hoping to be able to hear something. Everything suddenly went white. I held my left paw in front of my eyes, trying to keep myself from getting blinded. It helped. What is going on? I decided to wait for the light to go away. It didn't take long. Only a short moment. I slowly lifted down my paw as the light started to fade away. The light did not completely disappear. It just faded enough for me to see one thing. A silhouette of a wolf, standing before me. I studied the black outline of the wolf, trying to figure out who it was. The biggest help was the voice that echoed from the wolf. It said, "Humphrey."

I instantly knew who it was from the sound of the voice. The voice I had not heard for five months. Five months of mourning. Five months of grief. Five months with no love. The wolf stepped forward so I could see them. Golden fur, golden-brown eyes... Even her voice was the same as I remembered. But, how could this be? She had died five months ago; I knew that better than anyone else. She had died in my arms. What is going on? I just looked at her. Kate smiled and said, "Surprised?"

I just nodded. I was too surprised to say anything. Kate walked toward me, and put her right paw on my shoulder as she looked in my eyes and said, "I have been watching over you. You have been taking good care of Lilly, haven't you?"

I nodded, and smiled before saying, "I promised you I would. I can't break a promise, specially if it is for you."

She smiled and said, "And I thank you for that."

I asked, "Are you... alive?"

"Technically, no. But, I will always live on in your heart. You know that better than I do. And speaking of hearts... You need to find another one that will care for you..."

What? I asked, "What do you mean by that?"

All she did was smile, and take a few steps back. She was not going to answer me... She walked backwards, turning herself back into a silhouette. The light grew brighter again. I used my left paw to shield my light-sensitive eyes. A moment later, the light disappeared and I lowered my paw back to the ground. Kate was gone. Even though she was gone, I still heard her voice echo through the forest, "Just keep Lilly safe..."


I groaned; I was laying down on rocky ground. The familiar smell of Kate's family's den filled my nostrils. Sensing someone lying next to me, I opened my eyes. I did not expect to see Lilly sleeping, pressed up against my body. The reason I did not expect it was because, when I fell asleep, she was laying farther away from me. I figured that Lilly had gotten cold and moved closer to me for warmth. Who could blame her? Jasper was pretty cold in the mornings, specially with these winds. I realized what had happened. The meeting with Kate must have been a dream. It was the only explanation I could think of. What else was there? But, there was one thing I couldn't figure out. Did the dream mean anything? Or was it just so I could see Kate again? I could not answer that. My gaze turned from the sleeping Lilly over to the mouth of the cave. From the looks of it, the sun rise had not occurred yet. I stood up, making sure not to wake Lilly, and walked out to the mouth of the den. This den was on a short cliff so I sat close to the edge and looked out to the horizon. The sun was going to rise at any minute, and I wanted to watch it happen, just as I always did. Doing this had been different for a while. Kate was not watching it with me.

I forced myself to hold back a tear; I was going to be strong. If I could not do that, there was no way Lilly and I would survive on our own outside of the territory. I had almost forgotten; we were going to leave the territory today to clear our heads of these memories of Kate and Garth. I thought back to the dream I had. What could it have meant? Did it mean anything at all? Kate had told me something that I knew was true. She was not technically alive, but she would live on in my heart. Footsteps came from behind me. I did not check to see who it was, because I already knew. Lilly sat next to me, looking out to the horizon that the sun was now peeking over. The ball of fire was bringing light to the sky. The two of us sat still as the sunrise came up over the horizon of the mountains off in the distance.

"Beautiful... isn't it?" Lilly looked to me.

I looked back at her. The purple eyes and white fur she had never reminded me anything of her golden sister. Their appearances were not similar at all. The only similarities I could find were about their personalities; both were nice, sweet, and caring. I answered her question with a nod and a smile. I did not expect it when she smiled back. Lilly had not smiled even once since they had passed. I just looked down to the ground and said, "I had the strangest dream..."

Lilly looked at me and said, "Really? What was it about?"

I proceeded to tell her about the dream. I told her everything. Stepping on the leaves and twigs with no sound. The bright flash of white light. The black silhouette of a wolf. Kate stepping forward. The short talk I had with her. Then, the second flash of light that took her away from me. I finished with the part where I woke up. I looked back to Lilly and said, "What do you think she meant when she said, 'You need to find another one that will care for you'?"

Lilly thought it over for a minute, probably going through everything that was said. After a moment, she answered, "To me, it sounds like she wants you to move on from her."

I asked her, "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I can tell that you think about her quite a bit. Maybe she wants you realize that thinking about her won't bring her back. And that she wants you to find another wolf to love."

I sighed. This was all so confusing. I have no idea what is going on anymore. I looked back to the sunrise. It had risen quite a bit while I told Lilly about my dream. Lilly and I laid down, our heads on our paws as we looked out at the glowing horizon. We laid like that for about half an hour at the least. Until Lilly stood up, looked to me and asked, "You ready to go?"

I said, "Ready when you are."

"Okay, let me say good-bye to mom and dad."

I nodded my head and watched her run inside her home. I watched as she gently shook both of her parents awake. I couldn't hear what she told them, but I knew she was saying it was time to leave. Her parents stood up and gave her hugs. I stood up as Lilly trotted back to me. As she approached, I asked, "What direction should we go?"

She thought for a second, and did not come up with anything. So, I started walking, not knowing what direction I was going at first. Not questioning me, all Lilly did was follow. The white wolf followed me at my right side as I led us down a pathway to our right. We were heading South. I could tell that by the direction the sun was at. I knew it rises in the East, so it was easy to figure out which way was South. Walking across the grass, I looked around at all the wolves looking at the two of us. I figured out that Eve and Winston had told everybody that we were leaving for a while and not to worry about us. As we continued walking on the grass, I took in the scenery. The soft, green grass. The clear blue sky. The familiar faces of the wolves. This was the last time Lilly and I would see them for a while.

We walked up a path, leading in to the forest. Before heading in to the forest though, we turned and went for a cliff. We sat on the cliff for a moment, looking at Jasper. Lilly and I would miss our home while we were gone. But, we knew we were not leaving forever. From this cliff, we could see dozens of wolves coming out of their homes for a day with their families. Families... I often wondered what happened to my family. My mother, my father, my sister. I remember them all, I just do not know what happened to them. I was out playing with my friends and when I came home, they were all gone. Never saw them again... When that happened to me, I immediately went straight to Kate since I thought her parents would be able to find them. They looked for many months, but eventually had to give up. If they were gone for that long, something bad had to have happened.

I looked to my right at Lilly. A small drop of water forced its way from her left eye. I was about to wipe it away with my paw, until she got it herself and turned her head away from me. She walked away. I decided to just let her go wherever, and follow her. We had to stick together. If I got separated from Lilly, there was no way I could keep her safe. I stayed pretty close to her at her side. We walked in silence for a while until she finally spoke to me, "I miss them, Humphrey..."

"I miss them too, but we need to move on. We need to forget them."

She stopped and turned around to look at me before walking closer until she was inches away from me. I sat down just before she did the same. Sadness could be seen in her eyes. She looked as if she was going to cry any second. She said, "I don't want to forget them. Kate was my sister, i'm definitely not going to forget her. And Garth..."

She put her head in to my fur, and began to cry in to my chest. I put my right paw around her, patting her back as I let her cry.