The Beginning
May
The tree outside my window had begun sprouting leaves, which was my first indication that winter was ending, though last week there was a heavy storm, so lots of snow still blanketed the ground. The days were getting slightly warmer and longer, so I found myself less often traveling to the thermostat, which was a good thing, as it meant I wouldn't have to leave the cozy confines of my bed, though it now did feel like I didn't have any other reason to get up.
It's been a month since my father left. I didn't like to think about it, but some days it was really hard not to. How could I not, when everything in the house further reminded me of his absence. That's why I stayed in my room. Stayed hidden under the thick blankets of my bed, staring at the plain wall, doing everything in my power not to fall asleep, because when I did, that's when the nightmares began.
My emotions… are deadened, and I hadn't grieved for a while. In point of fact, the only emotion that I've managed to express was gratitude, and that was only when Paul came to visit. He brought me food, drinks, and other things that he thought I needed, but I could tell how this was affecting him – seeing me in this… zombie like state. Some days I considered doing at least one thing productive, for Paul that is, but every time I tried doing so, I ended up failing miserably, and fleeing back to the shelter that was my bed.
That day would be so clearly etched into my mind for as long as I'll live. I remember the silence that lingered in the truck when he told me what had happened. I remember myself denying it over and over again, choking back on tears, until finally my barrier shattered, and I was left crying and screaming into Paul's shoulder. I remembered when they lowered him into the grave, and Paul had to get me out of there before I had a breakdown in front of the whole town – everyone in La Push knew my father, so it was only right for everyone to be there for the last time we would see him.
He had a heart attack - my father always had a weak heart. He was out hunting with Chief Swan and a few others when it happened. At first, I had assumed that the gunfire possibly triggered it, but I knew my father better than that. He would never be frightened by such a thing, so I knew that couldn't have possibly cause it.
After the funeral, I felt almost lost, as if I just didn't know where to go from there. That whole week, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, hoping that I was just having a reoccurring nightmare, but quickly finding that wasn't the case, as I ran to my parents' room only to find my lone mother.
Mom and Leah have gotten better, and it felt as if though I was lagging behind. They were trying to move on with their lives while I remained frozen. But of course, everyone grieves differently. That's what a man at my father's funeral told me. His name was Carl.
I knew that whatever I was doing wasn't the right way to go about things, but it was almost like I couldn't even stop it. I couldn't stop the unpredictable waves of fatigue that seemed to wash over me many times during the day. I couldn't fight the feeling of not wanting to move – to do even simple tasks such as changing out of my pajamas or using the bathroom.
Paul had been trying to help, and I could see that I was wearing him down. I was acting completely and utterly selfish, as instead of trying to take care of my family, I had someone taking care of me. I was weak when my family needed me the most. I had asked Paul if he knew anything at all on how my father died, and the words he spoke to me almost made me want to vomit.
"A bear attack." He said. A bear wouldn't possibly be out at that time during the winter, so I knew that there was only one other possibility as to what was seen.
It had to be the wolf. The gigantic black, bear-like, wolf that had been in the area, and that I'd seen twice now. There was no other explanation. The more I thought about it, the more real it seemed to become, and all of the theories I had surrounding the wolf – the ones about the tribe's legends and Sam Uley – seemed to disappear, as I knew that that there was no possible way that this wolf was anything but a monster.
I was sat at my desk, staring at nothing in particular really. That day was the first day we had a guest come to visit that wasn't Paul. Our neighbor, Mrs. Adelman, came over to drop off some casserole she had made, which I listened intently through my open door as she and my mother began conversing. One of the things that Mrs. Adelman mentioned had caught my ear, as she said there have been numerous bear attacks happening as of late.
At first, I hadn't the clue on what to do, but I knew I had to do something – for my father that is. I wasn't going to let this go, and even as I began preparing for what I was about to do, I didn't have the clue on where to start.
That is until I began rummaging through old photos. One in particular had caught my eye. It was the one of the majestic deer I had taken months ago, and as I began staring at it, reliving that special memory I had with my father, my gaze focused in on the corner of the picture. At first, it was completely missable, but at I concentrated harder and harder on that one point, I began to see the outline of it. The large figure so keenly tucked away in the shadows as it had watched our every move. It sent a shiver down my spine as I realized just how close it was to us, without us even knowing.
It was the wolf. It must have been trailing the deer when it caught wind of us, and noticed us as a possible threat. Why it wouldn't simply just attack us baffled me, and even made me think back to the day it had leaped out over me in that hiking trail. At first, I had thought that it was friendly to humans, but now that couldn't possibly be the answer, as it was picking off innocent lives in the woods.
It wasn't much of a lead, but it was the best I could get. That night, I made my preparations for the coming day.
I awoke in the middle of the night, hearing someone's door open, but I didn't bother to check, as I already knew who it was. Leah had lately been sneaking out late at night to go god knows where. Usually my curiosity would get the best of me in such a situation, but I hadn't been too bothered by it. I hadn't been too bothered by anything really – besides the malicious wolf that killed my father of course, but I was already acting on that situation. I closed my eyes again; sleeping a dreamless sleep.
I awoke early in the morning – before my mother – and got on some warm clothes before retrieving my bag, and tiptoeing down the stairs and into the garage.
People would probably call what I was about to do insane. Suicidal even. Of course, none of those people were around to tell me that, so I continued onward, loading up my fathers hunting rife, storing a few extra bullets in my pocket, and grabbing my father's bow, arrows, and quiver. Tossing it all in the bed of the truck, I went around the front, hopping into the drivers side and started it up. I was out of the driveway before it was even seven o'clock.
I went over the plan again and again in my head, all the while knowing that all of it would be for nothing if I didn't first find any sort of trail leading me to the wolf.
The sky was a cloudless blue.
The sun was still just peaking over the horizon as I parked my truck by the road.
I knew I wasn't thinking rationally about any of this, but for some reason, I felt as if though that wolf was the cause of all my problems in the last few months. It was the reason why Paul left me, and it was the reason why he returned. It was the reason I met Ben and Angela, my good friends at school, and it was the reason why my father was now six feet under ground, so whatever sliver of rationally I had left in me was thrown away without a second thought. I wanted to end this once and for all. End all of the problems that entered my life because of that filthy large mutt. Of course, it was all possible that the wolf had absolutely nothing to do with my fathers death, and that it really was a bear attack, but I was too angry to care.
I leaned my head on the steering wheel as I let out a stumbling breath, preparing myself for what was to come.
If Paul knew I was doing this, he would probably put steel bars on my windows and a padlock on the outside of my door so I could never leave my room to do something this idiotic ever again. For a second, I thought about what would happen if he did find out about this, and my thoughts quickly began to wander to what he would do if I didn't come back from this at all.
Would he be crushed to find out that some big wolf ate me alive? Of course, I had no doubt about that. But he would move on. Move on with his life, and possibly with whatever boy he seemed so infatuated with. My mother and sister would probably be the same. They would move on just like they currently were doing with my father. Life goes on – as John Mellencamp would say.
The creaking of my door sounded as I gradually opened it. Flinging a green jacket around me, I grabbed my bag, then retreated to the back to retrieve my weapons of choice. The rifle had a strap, so I slung it around me, letting it hang on my back as I fastened the quiver over my shoulder. Last but no least, I grabbed the bow, feeling the smooth texture of it in my hands, and feeling a wave of emotions overcome me.
My father had made this bow for the first time he took me hunting. Every single pattern and curve in the wood told a story of just how much my father loved the tribe, as there were small symbols all over.
I went back around the truck, before facing the woods ahead. I looked left and right, checking on both sides of the road before taking my step into familiar territory.
The woods were as thick as I remembered, but I quickly managed to find a small trail that lead me deeper and deeper. It was quite a whiles before I spotted anything I even slightly recognized – the first thing being a tree with an unusual shape that I always seemed to remember. I knew that I was making progress towards my destination, but for some reason, it felt as thought when I was with my father, we would get there much quicker than what it was currently taking me.
I quickly facepalmed, remembering that I hadn't packed anything in case if I'd gotten lost, but I knew I was in too deep to turn back now.
About half an hour passed before I finally found it – the clearing that was the exact same as in the picture. The one where the deer once stood so beautifully. I searched the parameter, looking for any clues to lead me in the right direction. It only took a bit of straying outside the boundaries to luckily find a set of tracks that fit the description I was looking for. They didn't look too fresh, but it was definitely better than nothing.
As I began my tracking, I felt the slight sense of excitement overcome me, with just a hint of fear. Excitement for the fact that I was on the wolf's tracks, and fear for the same reason.
Would it try to attack me? Or would it hold off just like it did last time. I hoped the ladder, though I felt guilt as I thought about murdering the animal in cold blood when it wouldn't even fight back.
That's when the doubt began to settle in. I wasn't sure what I was doing was the right thing anymore. If it really was peaceful, just like the time's I've seen it, then wouldn't it be shameful of me to kill such a creature?
That is, if I can kill it.
I knew how big it was. And as I began seeing fresher and fresher sets of tracks, the big bad wolf that you would hear about in that children's tale suddenly didn't even compare to the monster that lurked in these woods, and I was currently little red, but I didn't have any stones. Instead, I had a gun, I had arrows, and if everything goes south, I had my legs.
For now, anyways…
The constant tweeting of birds seemed to get quieter and quieter, and I knew that I was getting close now. My leg were hurting, and I hadn't the clue of the time, but the sun was directly above me, so I knew considerable time had passed since I began the trek. It was when the last tweet sounded that I knew I had arrived.
It was deathly quiet, and I began searching; looking all around me, searching for it. I did not move my feet, as I didn't want to make a sound. My eyes were narrowed, and I was now searching in the far depths of where I could see, until finally a black fuzzy tale began wagging in the distance.
My hand had already begun reaching for an arrow. I knew I had a better chance at taking it down if it didn't instantly know where I was coming from, and unless I managed to hit a critical spot, the rifle would turn me into the target.
My bow was now drawn, and I clutched tightly onto the arrow as I slowly but surely inched my way closer and closer to my target. The woods were thick though, so I was barely able to even see the behind of the wolf along with the tail that came from it.
My heart was now beating out of my chest – almost so loud that I was frightened that the wolf would hear it. My breaths were extremely slow and steady, and the snow underneath me barely made a sound.
That's when I saw it.
A tail.
But it wasn't from the beast I was currently looking at.
I let lose of the string almost immediately, but I kept walking. Closer, and closer until I could see clearly the sight in front of me.
I was hidden behind a tree as I took it in. The black wolf wasn't alone, and next to it was a wolf with reddish-brown fur, and it was just as big as the black one. I felt myself almost gasp, but I didn't dare to, as I knew I would probably be heard. For a second, the wolves looked to each other, and then they were on the move again. I couldn't even stop myself, as I began to silently trail behind.
They went downhill, but I didn't follow. Instead, I circled around to a long, flat rock that trailed out over the tiny hill where I would be able to over look them. I reached the rock, and I crouched down before lying on my stomach, and crawling out to the edge to observe the small clearing.
As I took in the sight before me, I felt my breath leave my body.
There wasn't two wolves. There were six, and they were all huge.
"Oh my god…" I whispered, not believing the sight in front of me.
It was simply unbelievable. There were no other words to describe it. My mind began racing, think of all the different things that this meant.
There were six wolves lurking in these woods, and they were killing people. I knew I had to tell someone about this; there was no doubt in my mind. But even if I did, I know no one would believe me. Who would? 'Yes, officer, there are six bear-sized wolves lurking in the woods of La Push, and they are killing innocent people one by one.'
Who in their right mind would believe that?
There had to be some way to communicate this without sounding like a complete lunatic, and when my hand clutched my bag, my eyes widened.
My camera.
As silently as possible, my hand shot into my bag, rummaging around to find the item I desperately needed. My hand quickly recognized it, and I ripped it out. I quickly did repeated checks over and over to make sure everything was ready to capture this moment. I crept back out to the edge, camera in hand. My hands were shaking, but this only made me tighten my grip as I began lining up to get the perfect shot.
Three…
Two…
One…
The camera shuttered, and I ducked back down, tearing the camera down to my side, praying that they either didn't hear it, or wouldn't bother to check.
The silence made my ears almost hurt, but I couldn't hear any footsteps, so I took it as a sign I was in the clear.
The film was hanging from the slot before I even realised it, and I snatched it out, eyeing it closely. The shot came out perfectly, and I had never felt so happy in my life. I clutched onto the evidence for dear life, but I knew it would mean nothing if I myself didn't get out of there while I still could. I stuffed the camera in the bag, but I kept hold of the picture, as I didn't even want it leaving my sight. With my other hand, I snatched up my bow and began standing up to make my escape.
As I turned around, I truly felt as if my soul left my body, as no more than three inches from my face was a silver-furred wolf.
A sound so inhuman left my mouth, and out of instinct I began quickly staggering back out of shock, trying to get as much distance as possible between me and the beast, until finally, I backed no further, and as I stood at the very edge of the peak, the rock crumbled, and I began falling before I could realise what was happening.
The sound I made as I slammed into the ground definitely didn't sound good, but pain was next to no importance, for as I opened my eyes, I stared on into the wolf pack in front of me.
Every single head turned on me, and as I laid in that freezing snow, I couldn't help but think back to what had brought me here in the first place, and I knew that within moments, I would soon be joining him.
The only sound that lingered in the air was the last few bits of rubble that fell from the top.
I knew that this was my end, as I was now trapped, with absolutely no escape. I surprised myself though, as all my life, I thought that when I finally stared death in the face, I would accept it gracefully, and go out without a thought, but as my violently shaking hand reached out for the bow that was so close yet so far, the one thing I wasn't going to let happen was to go out without a fight.
The first movement I saw came from my old time friend, the black wolf. It's front legs pushed back into an almost crouching position, as if it were about to charge.
About to charge at me.
I wasted no time as my hand picked up it's pace, seizing the bow almost instantly after I saw even the slightest bit of moment. My hand flicked behind me, grasping on to the first arrow that I could feel. It was running now, directly at me. The speed at which it ran was absurd, as if it had just launched itself from the barrel of a gun. It was like a blur, but that didn't stop me from drawing the bow back. It was in front of me before I could even comprehend it – on top of me, but I let the arrow fire. It missed, shooting straight up in the sky, but the wolf didn't stop. But instead of attacking me like I thought, it simply leaped over me, and that's when I heard an ear-deafening roar. My eyes shot back behind me, and the sight before me was something I did not expect.
The black wolf had it's teeth around the neck of a bear. One which had just emerged from the cave I was in front of.
The bear roared with pain, but the wolf did not stop it's attack. I felt myself trying to push myself back away from what was happening, my feet flaring frantically in front of me as I scooched backwards on my behind. That's when another attacked – this one had gray fur, and it moved with the same impeccable speed as the black wolf, it too then began attacking the bear.
I was shell shocked. Completely and utterly paralyzed, and I knew it. But I couldn't get myself to move, no matter how much I tried. I mentally screamed at myself, begging to run while I had the chance. When my head turned to see the other wolves staring at the scene in front of them, I listened to my own words, scoping back up the bow I had dropped, desperately turning myself around, and began kicking up snow as I began almost immediately breaking out into a full on sprint.
I didn't look back. If horror movies taught me anything, it's that you never look back. Trees began whipping past me as I zig-zagged through them, not knowing where exactly I was headed, but the only thing I cared about was to get as far away from that place as possible. My breaths were shallower than I had ever felt, and I felt as the adrenaline began wearing down, but I didn't stop. I knew my life depended on me not stopping.
I began to see a clearing, and I ran faster than what I thought humanly possible. A road was a head of me, and as I broke away from the trees, I jumped the gap of the ditch and landed onto the pavement. I frantically looked around, trying my best to get my bearings. I quickly recognized it as the road I had to drive down earlier this morning to get to the entrance of the forest trail, and I turned, breaking into a full sprint again in the direction of where my truck was.
It was minutes before it came into sight, and when I finally got to it, I chucked everything in the back, not caring about gentleness, and almost ripping the door off it's hinges just to get inside. The rumbling of the engine as I turned the key in the ignition was a painful wait, and when it finally roared to life, I didn't hesitate to slam my foot down onto the gas. I was at the center of the town, and now driving in the direction of sanctuary. It wasn't long until my house came into view, and as I turned into my driveway, I felt the truck drift slightly.
I stayed still for a moment, before slowly shutting the ignition off, leaving only the sound of my erratic breaths. I leaned my head onto the wheel, trying to calm myself down, and trying to process what had just happened.
The black wolf just saved my life… didn't it? No… no it couldn't have. It obviously just had to chose between me and the bear as to what meal it would like best, and I luckily got the long end of the stick.
The picture crossed my mind, and my hand shot out for my bag, only to realise that I never put it in there to begin with, and instead I foolishly dropped it when that silver wolf snuck up on me.
"Shit!" I cursed, smashing my fist onto the wheel. Without that, I knew no one would believe me when I told them of what I saw.
Except…
I jumped out of the truck as quickly as I jumped in. I hurried to the front door before pushing myself through.
"Mom!" My voice came out louder than I wanted it to. "Mom!" I repeated, searching through the house, only to find her running to me from the kitchen.
"What? Seth what's wrong?" She seemed frightened.
"Mom, I saw them!"
"S-saw what? Honey I don't understand-"
"The bears mom! I saw them! The one's that's been killing off hikers. But like, they are not bears. They're wolves- I mean they are like these huge wolves!"
"Seth, just calm down. Walk me through this."
"I-I was out hunting and-"
"What were you doing out hunting alone?" My mother accused.
"That's not the point mom! I was hunting and I saw this wolf, so I followed it, but there wasn't just one. There were six- No, seven! There were seven bear-sized wolves, and they're insanely fast! They're the one's that's been killing people. The one's that gave dad a heart attack!"
"Seth…" My mother said softly.
"You don't believe me?" I sounded desperate.
"No, no, of course I believe you. It's just…"
"What, mom? What is it?"
She only looked away from me.
"You don't believe me." I said, feeling the disappointment that suddenly washed over me.
"Seth, no it's not that-"
"Whatever." I cut her off, turning onto my heels and fleeing up the stairs. When I got to my room, I slammed the door a little harder that I should have, but I had hoped that that just told her how upset I was.
I stayed in my room for the remainder of the day, sitting still on my bed and going over the events of that morning repeatedly until my brain started hurting. I was disappointed with my mom for not taking my word, as I knew she was the best chance I had to warning people, but I was also disappointed with myself.
I idiotically put myself at risk, and as I was able to think more clearly, I felt a wave of guilt as I realized just how selfish I had been. My mother and sister would've been crushed if I had died in that clearing today. Paul… well, I couldn't've imagined what Paul would have done.
My thoughts soon were answered, as there was a light tapping on my door, and before I got the chance to ask who it was, Paul came in through, closing it behind him. I'm guessing he noticed the strange look that seemed to be etched into my face, as he just sat back by the door, staring at me with some expression I couldn't fathom.
"Hey, lil' pup." His voice sounded weird. I simply nodded in acknowledgement.
"Is… there something wrong?" He asked me, but his faced looked as if he didn't want me to answer. I didn't really think of an answer, as I let the first thing that came to mind come out.
"I almost died today."
He flinched.
"W-what?" He laughed, but I could tell it was one with no humor.
"It's… a long story."
He stayed silent, before slowly walking over to my bed. "I think I can keep up." He spoke, his tone gentle as he sat close to me.
I sighed.
"God, where do I even begin." I dryly chuckled into my hands.
"Well… just start from the beginning, Seth."
"The beginning." I repeated.
And so, I turned to him, looking into his warm chocolate-colored eyes, and started from the beginning.
AN: Oh wow, two chapters within a week! It's almost like I felt guilty for not updating for so long...
This chapter has been a chapter that I've been waiting to do ever since I even began to think about this story - it was the first one I had a concrete idea with actually. It was just so much fun to write, and once I started, I honestly couldn't stop.
I really hope you enjoyed it! And thank you so much for reading! ! !
