The Story of a Lonely Wolf Chapter 25: Runaway Wolf
What do we do now? Toboe asked himself. This is all my fault too isn't it? he asked himself as he stared at the silver bracelets that hung on his bandaged leg. They were all scratched up from the attack. This is my fault. If I hadn't changed into a human then we wouldn't be in trouble. I got everyone in trouble. Why? Why do I always do bad things? I never mean to they just happen. Maybe everyone would be better off if I was gone. If I was gone then Hige, Tsume, and Kiba wouldn't get in any more trouble. Maybe I should leave. I don't want to but if it will make them happy and keep them out of trouble then I'd do it in a heartbeat, Toboe thought to himself. He glanced up for a moment to see Kiba's blue eyes studying him from across the room. Hige and Tsume where fighting a few feet away from him.
"Hey guys I…" Toboe began, but was cut off by the sound of footsteps racing down the hall.
"Here they come," Hige said as he looked away from Tsume and toward the door.
"What's going on in here?" Drake asked as he pushed the door open and rushed in the room, Cassi, Sara, and Josh right behind him.
"What do you mean?" Hige asked. He was trying to play it cool and act like nothing had happened. After all if he would have jumped up and started yelling out things then it might make them suspicious of Josh's story and leading them to believe they were wolves was the last thing he wanted.
"Josh said something happened in here," Cassi replied.
"And just what was that?" Kiba asked as he looked at the humans.
"Tell them, Josh," Cassi said and looked down at her son who hid behind her.
"Well…" Josh replied. He really wasn't sure of what to say. He hadn't told them what happened only that something had happened. He wasn't sure if he really wanted to tell them. He liked Hige a lot and didn't want him to get in trouble.
"What?" Sara asked.
"Ummm…" Josh began.
"You better not have made that up and brought us all in here for nothing young man," Cassi replied and looked down at her son angrily. He had scared her half to death when he came screaming down the hall. If it was all a joke then she was going to be storming mad.
"What happened, Josh?" Hige asked again hoping Josh would play along.
Huh? Toboe asked himself as he looked up at the humans who stood before him. What do I do now? If Josh lies and says he made it up then he'll get in trouble and if he tells the truth and tells them about us being wolves then we'll get in trouble. So what do I do? Should I just save Josh the trouble and show them what happened myself? Or do I lay here and keep my mouth shut? Oh why can't we just forget about all this and no one gets in trouble, Toboe thought to himself as he picked his brain trying to decide what to do.
They all stood in silence waiting for Josh's answer. The humans were getting frustrated that Josh wouldn't answer, but the wolves were happy that he was keeping silent. This whole time Hige had been frustrated that humans changed their minds all the time, but this time he was actually happy about it. Maybe Josh had changed his mind and wouldn't tell their secret. Maybe they'd be safe. He hoped so anyway.
"Come on, Josh. What happened?" Cassi ordered her son to tell her the answer they all eagerly waited for.
"Umm…" Josh said again as he looked up at Hige. Hige just stared back at him with a hopeful smile on his face. "It was nothing, I made it all up," Josh said quickly.
"What?" Cassi said angrily and turned around looking Josh dead in the eyes. "How could you do that, Josh? You scared us all! We thought something serious had happened!"
Man, now I feel bad, Hige thought to himself as he watched Cassi yell at Josh. He did feel sorry for Josh. All the wolves did. He just got himself in major trouble to save them all.
"Humans…" Tsume said with a sigh under his breath so no one could hear. They always react before they think. If he would have thought about what was going on before running into the other room he would have saved himself a lot of grief, he thought to himself with a little smile. The way he thought about humans had changed a little bit. He still didn't think much about their smarts. They were still stupid, but they were kinder then he had originally thought.
"Hey come on now," Hige said with a nervous smile as he walked over to Cassi and Josh. He was hoping to get Josh out of trouble like he had done when he first met them.
"Stay out of this!" Cassi snapped at Hige.
Tsume smirked when he saw the look on Hige's face. For the moment he was jealous Cassi could scare people like that just by yelling at them. He knew he could make people nervous just by looking at them, but he couldn't make someone shake in their boots until he physically held them by their shirt collars and threatened to turn them inside out.
"It's ok, Cassi. I mean he is a kid after all. I'm sure if you were his age you would have done the same thing," Hige said with a nervous smile.
"I would not," Cassi replied as she glared at Hige. "That scared me to death. I would never have done that to my parents when I was a kid."
I'm sorry… Toboe whispered to himself. The feeling of guilt was taking over his mind. It wasn't just the guilt of getting Josh in trouble. It was also from the incident that happened with Granny, Tim, Leara's bird, and all the other times when he had hurt someone.
"Toboe?" Kiba asked as he looked away from the fight and at Toboe. Toboe's golden eyes where so sad, it looked as if his heart was breaking. It looked like Toboe was going to do something, but Kiba had no idea what it was.
I want to get out of here. I don't want to hurt anyone else. The world will be a lot better off without me here to mess things up and get everyone in trouble, Toboe thought to himself as he looked up from his bracelets and around the little room. He was looking for the back door. A place that he could run to and escape all this never ending pain. He didn't want to be alone, but he knew if he was then no one would get in trouble. No one else would be in pain because of him and that would make his pain go away.
"Cassi, please calm down it's alright. The boy didn't mean any harm. He was just trying to have a little fun," Drake said as he tried to calm Cassi down.
"Have fun my butt. He knows better then to pull pranks like this," Cassi yelled.
"Back off already," Tsume said in his usual tone, "You know nothing happened. Everything is fine. Nothing bad happened therefore it's no big deal and you should just forget it."
"I'm really sorry, Mom," Josh said as he put his hands behind his back and looked sadly at the floor watching as he moved his foot slowly back and forth across the white tile. Every parent knew this move well. It was the movement kids gave their parents to look very sad and sorry in hopes their parents would fall for the sad look and forgive them without a second thought. Sometimes the kids even got lucky and got a new toy.
"That isn't going to work on me, Mister," Cassi said as she crossed her arms over her chest and began tapping her foot. The kids knew this move well, almost as well as the parent knew their move. This was the movement that the parent gave the child when the child's sad movement didn't work. It was the 'stop that sad crap it's wasting my time' foot tap.
"Man, what a drag," Hige said as he rubbed the back of his head. He was running out of ideas on how to get Cassi's temper to subside and everything back to normal.
"This is ridiculous," Tsume said in an irritated voice. He was getting very annoyed that Cassi was taking this so seriously. He almost felt bad for Josh if she did this every time he did something bad.
"Toboe?" Kiba asked as he watched the little wolf. He wanted to know what Toboe was thinking and why he had such a desperate look on his face.
I have to get out of here, Toboe said again to himself as he looked around for a way to get out. He looked from the fighting adults to the sleeping animals in cages. He wondered how they could sleep through all the yelling, but he really couldn't think about that now. All he cared about was getting out. He thought once he left then all everyone's problems would leave with him. There! Toboe said as he spotted the back door that they had entered the vet's office from. It was behind him and that's why he didn't see it before.
"Huh?" Kiba said as he saw Toboe stand up fast and then jump off the table.
"Toboe?" Hige asked as he watched the runt stumble across the room and jump up on the door handle. Luckily it was a door handle that had a lever on it. All he had to do was push the lever down with his paw and he could get out. If it was a door with a knob then there was no way he could get out without turning human. He was very grateful it wasn't a knob. He didn't want them to see that wolves could turn to humans.
"Toboe!" Kiba yelled as they watched Toboe open the door and run out and away from the office. Sunlight filled the room as the door sat open. The noises from the outside world flooded the room. Noises of cars and people talking could be heard all over the office.
"Where's he off too?" Tsume asked as Kiba ran to the door.
"I don't know, but we have to find him before he gets hurt again, come on!" Kiba said as he ran out the door.
"Hey, what am I supposed to do? Do you want me to come with?" Hige asked. He didn't really want to run, but he would if he had to.
"No, stay here and talk to them some more," Tsume said as he ran out the door and after Kiba who was already half way down the street.
"Talk to them about what?" Hige asked as he yelled out the door.
"How should I know? Just talk, you're good at that!" Tsume yelled back as he ran down the street.
"Great…" Hige said with a sigh as he turned back to stare at the humans.
"What was that all about?" Drake asked.
"I have no idea," Hige replied.
"Hige?" Josh said as he looked up at the teenage boy.
"Yeah?" Hige replied as he looked down at Josh.
"Why did Toboe run away? He's not mad at me, is he?" Josh asked. He was almost in tears. He was afraid Toboe got mad at him for seeing him as a human and that's why he ran away.
"No, I don't think he is. I think he just needed a little walk," Hige replied with a reassuring smile even though he didn't know the reason why Toboe left.
"I hope not. I didn't want him to leave. He's hurt, he can't just leave… he'll die if he doesn't get the medicines for his lung infection," Josh said sadly as he stared at Hige.
"Don't worry, Josh. It will be ok. Tsume and Kiba will find him and bring him back," Hige said again.
"Should we go look too?" Sara asked.
"No, just let Tsume and Kiba handle it. They know how to bring back Toboe better then anyone. They'll bring him back," Hige said as he turned to look outside. It was daylight now and there were cars and people everywhere. I hope they can bring him back at least… Hige thought to himself as he watched the people pass by going about their day routines.
