The Tales Of A (Never) Forgotten River Wolf

by sctwilightvampwolfgal

There's a glimmer of unexpected surprise, when one finds out that not all mythological creatures have stayed without mixing into a new species. Aquatic wolves are not common, but sometimes the ability to be a river wolf is a burden or a hassle more than others expect, especially when a human discovers one.

4. Chapter 4

Maybe rough around the edges is a bit of an understatement. I've always been too eager to make friends or at least I have been for most of my life. First, it was just a way to meet new people and attempt to fill a void in my life that I wouldn't admit to having, if I'd figured it out.

Then, my mother got remarried, and suddenly her life revolved around the man that she married and the kids that they had together. I became practically invisible at home after that, so I made friends at school and did everything in my power to keep those friends. It was out of desperation then, a desire to be seen rather than overlooked, to be wanted.

And I like to think that I've gotten over that, as it isn't like I haven't reminded myself time and time again that I'm not invisible. And it's definitely not like I don't have a good job now or don't have any friends. When working hard to make friends started to fail me when I was a kid, I sort of gave up. I started to think that maybe I was invisible in a sense.

I'm neither trying desperately to make friends or avoiding the chance to make new friends. I sort of exist somewhere in the middle, and I don't think that's why I'm hurrying back, not to get away from others for some much needed fresh air, but to see if she's here again.

Yuki, a name as surprising as could be, for someone who likely lived within the river. But, I'd only seen her once, and sometimes it feels like a dream. It's as if I'm testing just how much is imaginary and how much really happened. I could have dreamed it all up, but I doubt it. I've never had dreams like that before, and it just feels a bit too real.

I almost stop, as out of the corner of my eye, I see a wolf dart through the woods. It's paws are big, and with each and every step, it seems strong enough to seriously hurt me, if I stop moving. But the wolf is heading further into the woods, at almost a diagonal angle compared to the path I'm taking. Then, it's gone. The large, powerful creature disappearing within the shelter of tall trees and thick leaves.

There's the river! It's empty, when I step close to it. So, I dip one foot cautiously in, feeling around for scales. I come up empty. No fish chance getting near a person, not when they surely feel as if they'll be caught.

But, I'm not out here to fish today, and probably won't be out to do that here.

"Yuki?" I try, feeling a little stupid, as if I'm asking for snow in fall, instead of calling for a girl that I met only once, "Are you out here?" I don't ask, if she's real.

I don't want to feel dumber than I probably look, and besides all of that, that would probably be a rude question.

I get no answer, except for the faint rustling of the wind. Maybe she's asleep. Or maybe I really did dream her up, but I've never paused to imagine a mermaid that looked like her. She never told me exactly what she is, and I'm pretty sure that the answer might not just be a mermaid, not when I can still picture the way her face shifted, the effect of the smoothing out.

But I don't think what I thought were mythological creatures have children with different kinds of mythological creatures, and if they do, it probably doesn't work well, like most interspecies breeding attempts, scientists conjure up.

I definitely don't want to think of that.

Perhaps she's just a kind of creature that we never thought existed before, like a new species just discovered or rather one that's just more than whatever we imagined could exist. It's hard to wrap my head around it. Just, she seemed comfortable in the river, and never grew legs.

But, she isn't in the river or laying across the ground right here either. That means she either scooted back into the river and swam off, until she's somewhere else along it, or she had another way of moving along that she didn't show me. It's hard to imagine her without the dark scales or the tail, so I stop that train of thought before it grows too impossible and leaves my head hurting, filled up with half-blurred what ifs.

Maybe she'll come back or maybe I'll wake up, and find that I was merely acting like Alice in Alice In Wonderland, sound asleep the whole time, just to wake up and find that it was merely a dream.