Ch.3 The Dream Wolf
I was in the forest, sitting on the top branch of a massive tree, I remembered it faintly from my many jaunts in the forest, taken with and without Jake. It was right behind my house. I was sitting on the limb, watching a wolf run around playfully below me.
It was not Jake, it was too scarred and had a limp. However, it still had some grace to it. It was more beautiful than any wolves I had every seen in the Quileute pack. I felt sorry for the wolf and yelled down to it.
"Why are you hurt? Who are you?" I yelled down. The wolf looked up and howled and I felt my heart stop. Staring into the eyes of the wolf, I knew that the battle scarred, graceful wolf below me was none other than Jacob Black.
I awoke screaming Jake's name. I hope Charlie didn't notice and come in, he would assume Jake had hurt me. Unfortunately, Charlie was bound to make assumptions like that. I shook my head and it cleared a little. It was hard to believe it was only a dream.
I couldn't convince myself Jake was fine. It was hard. Jake was out with the pack tonight, so he wasn't protecting me here. I felt almost guilty that he thought he would need to protect me over going with his pack, so I all but forced him to go with the pack tonight.
I looked at the clock and realized it was five. I got out of bed. Charlie wouldn't mind if I went for a walk just before sunrise, would he? I grabbed my coat and ran outside, barefoot and in my pajamas.
The night air was cool, and I couldn't help reprimanding myself for not bringing shoes. Nevertheless, I could feel an ever-driving force pushing me to go to the tree in my dream. I ran toward the forest.
I screeched to a halt in front of the tree. The first branch was a little high up, so I had to jump to get on it. Just climbing onto the one branch was exhausting, and I was just thankful that the limbs were all about the width of a door. I heaved myself onto the next one and continued in my twisted manner until I reached the top.
Standing on the top branch, gripping the trunk, I felt more a peace, even more than with Jake. Even though it was hard to see in the pale light of the moon, I still felt at ease. I looked down and thought briefly how dangerous it was to be this high in the air, but the combination of height, sleep deprivation and fear generated such an exhilarating high I honestly didn't care.
I felt something odd in my jacket pocket and pulled it out. As far as I could make out, it was the note from Jake and the pen he had used to write his note. I pulled it out. Suddenly I knew why I had come here. I sat down and started to sketch the wolf from my dream. It was not hard to do it in the darkness; I was sketching only from memory. I could have done it with my eyes closed.
When I was done I tried to make out my sketch. Then, as if on cue, the sun rose slowly, and I watched as I gradually made out my sketch. I gasped. It was a perfect likeness of the wolf. Captured in my little amateur sketch were its deep eyes, its scarred fur, even the grace in it. And all this is coming from a girl who couldn't draw a banana for her mom's anniversary card.
I watched the sunlight catch the pencil markings and make then light up; causing it to look like the wolf was a little sun. I watched the rays of light for a few seconds before remembering Charlie would be worried.
Still I couldn't help but to think of the sketch I slipped into my pocket. The littlest sun in the universe.