"Was that a wolf!?" I stuttered. It sounded close. Like it was right in the backyard. I ran to look at the blinds. I didn't see anything. Then I heard the howl again. A chill shot straight up my spine. I had no idea what was going on. I walked past the door to the basement. Another howl came through. A small one. I stepped back and slowly placed my ear against the door. I could hear... Nothing.

It was absolutely quiet. I backed up and slowly and creaked open the door. I flipped on the light. Then slowly tip-toed down the stairs. There was nothing down here. Nothing but empty shelves, and buckets of paint sitting on the cold, dusty concrete ground leaned against the wall, with a few boards and a box of nails. I was gonna turn back until something caught my attention.

Chapter 11

As I turned to walk upstairs, I noticed something. A white sheet with something under it. What is that? I asked my myself. I carefully and slowly made my way over. But before I could get any closer something touched my shoulder, which made me jump.

Dad! "What are you doing down here?" he asked, demanding an immediate answer. "I thought... I thought I heard something down here." I stammered my reply. Dad didn't seem amused. "Get up stairs and take a shower, please!" he said, pointing at the basement door. "School starts soon!"

I walked upstairs and into the bathroom. Brushing my teeth then showering. I slipped on my new school uniform and black jeans. I swept a comb through my new fresh cut black hair. I walked into my room and grabbed my new backpack, then made my way downstairs. Before leaving, I grabbed an apple and a bag of cantaloupe and pineapple.

My mom tapped me on the shoulder. "Have a good day." she turned me around and gave me a kiss. I walked out, and saw Sam. He was walking past my house. "Hey Sam!" I called. Sam turned his head and waved. "Hey Derek." I caught up to him as we walked together.

"So, what did you pack for lunch?" I asked. I knew the answer would mainly be candy. He smirked and said. "A peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a bag of Doritos, and a water."

I was surprised. I couldn't think of what to say next. "What about sweets?" I managed to cough out. He smiled and said. "I snuck in a few chocolate bars."

Chapter 12

I laughed. Then that feeling crossed my mind again as we passed by a couple of trees that led to the lake. I could hear the wolf howls, the snarling, and see the hairy creature. It's sharp yellow fangs, and it's eyes glaring at me. I had remembered I heard howling last night.

"Sam, did you by chance hear any howls last night?" I asked. Just mentioning that gave me the chills. Sam shook his head. He seemed confused. "Maybe it was a animatronic or something." He said. He reached in the side of his backpack and pulled out a set of earbuds. He connected the wire to his phone and put on some music.

I couldn't stop thinking about what was going on. The mysterious howling late at night. The strange warnings from neighbors. A mess in the kitchen. And a wolf. Thinking about this made my heart pound fast. I kept my hands tucked in my sweatshirt pocket and tried to think of something else. Something to get my mind off this craziness.

Chapter 13

Me and Sam finally arrived at school. Clearwater Middle School. I stopped to look at the school. It was awesome. The school was painted sky blue and white, and had the name Clearwater Cougars implanted and written above on the gymnasium building. I heard a snap. Sam. He was trying to get my attention. He urged me to follow him inside. The building was nice and warm, I noticed a couple of students sitting on the benches near the entrance, one looked up and nodded "What's up!"

We walked out in the hall. Drawings and flyers covered the walls. I noticed a soccer tryout flyer. That got me excited. Next to the flyer was the sign up sheet, I put my name up there and smiled. That's gonna be great.

Chapter 14

I turned around to look for Sam. He wasn't beside me. I looked up at the clock above the library. Seven-twenty-one. Class started at seven-thirty. What happened to Sam?

I continued to walk down the hall in search for him. A bunch of kids walked up and down nearly bumping into me. I stopped as I looked down another hallway and finally spotted him talking with another student. I walked up to him. "Hello." I said.

Sam turned around. "There you are. I was wondering were you went." He let out a small laugh as he went back to talking to his friend. "Who's this?" I asked. The teen had smooth light brown hair and cool sunglasses. His hands were tucked into his pant pockets. He lifted his hand and took off his glasses and said.

"You must be Derek. Hi, I'm Lance. Lance Wright." He held his hand out for a shake. I put mine out and shook his. I looked at him. He had smooth blue eyes and a handsome smile. He stuffed the sunglasses he had in his school sweatshirt pocket. "I heard you wanted to know more about the wolf."

Hearing that made my sweat. I didn't know what to say. I tried to be tough about it. "Yeah." I said.

Lance and Sam looked at each other before looking back at me. Lance was about to say something before the bell rung. Some students came walking down the hall and into their assigned classrooms. I still had my backpack on and didn't know what my locker was.

Sam stuffed in a note in my hand. "That's your locker and combination." I walked down the hall looking for it. It was the third to the last locker on the right. I put my combination in and pushed up on the handle. I unzipped my backpack and pulled out my binder and a couple of mechanical pencils and put the rest of my stuff in the locker.

Sam approached and grabbed my arm. "Come on. We're gonna be late." We both sped walked to our class. It was kind of boring. I mainly didn't pay attention until the teacher called me to answer a question.

After school, me, Sam and his friend Lance walked back to my house. We sat down on the lawn doing homework. Lance began to talk about the wolf and it's backstory.

"Back in 07' a wolf came out of nowhere out of the woods and chased all the lake goers out. People tried to go back, but it was no use. The wolf barked and chased the people away. And ever since no one has dared to step foot near the lake."

Hearing that gave me the chills. "What happens if you encounter the wolf?"

Lance gulped and replied with a sigh. "You'd probably get mauled." Sam nodded in agreement. "Yup."

Should I tell him? Should I tell him that I encountered the wolf. The question repeated in my head.