Chapter 1: Unexpected Introduction

Chapter One

The moon, such a beautiful nightly sight, it disgusted me; I despised the very sight of it. Not that I didn’t find it intriguingly magnificent, that wasn’t it at all. I was, in fact, jealous of its beauty and enchanting charm. Sitting so beautifully and so quietly in the sky for all to marvel upon, while I lay hidden in the shadows of the deep forest as a forgotten and despised piece of history. There was no place for me in this world . . . Not that there ever was really.

I laid my head upon a mound of leaves and straw and lay staring at that object of my fascination and despise. I wondered if I could ever be loved or even adored–hell–Any kind of affection would be nice . . . Anything to snag me from this lonely shell of an existence. I was so lonely . . . always.

A rustle from the bushes behind me gave me a scare, and I turned cautiously in the direction of the noise. There was a little more rustling, but nothing exposed itself. I stood and tiptoed over to the spot, snatching my knife from its holster on my hip. As I readied myself for a violent encounter, a cough sounded from behind the bushes. Then I heard twigs break as a heavy object broke through the bushes and brush, landing at my feet. It was . . . a young man.

I was so surprised that I stumbled backwards and fell. I hadn’t gotten a good look, but I was certain that it was a young human male. I watched him for a moment, but he did not move. It took me another moment to regain my composure and crawl over toward him, stealthy as a cat.

I was right; it was a young man. I eyed the dark hair that was stuck to his face. Due to the dirt and sweat that covered his face, I felt I couldn’t get a good look at him. I noticed he wore dingy and torn jeans and a button-up shirt that was no longer white. He was unconscious, but I was still too cautious to get too close to him. However, as he began groaning in agony, I felt obliged to help.

Placing the back of my hand against his forehead, I realized that he had a fever. After a moment’s hesitation, I pulled the dingy shirt off of him and ran to find water. I ran quickly to a small stream and dunked the shirt into the water and rung it around quickly in the water to knock off some of the dirt. Then I carried the soggy shirt back, folded it, and threw it on his forehead in an attempt to cool him down. He stopped groaning, but it was obvious he was still very ill and hurt.

With the corner of the shirt, I started to wipe the dirt from his face. I did so out of curiosity. I had never been this close to a man before or anyone for that matter. Was it my womanly compassion that was now kicking in, or was it just my want to interact with someone that made me inch closer to him until I could scoot no farther?

His breathing had now slowed, and his body relaxed. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully now. I laid my head upon his slenderly muscled chest and listened to the beating of his heart and the rise and fall of his chest. It was such a nice feeling that I lost myself in it and fell asleep.

I was awakened by the rapid beating of his heart and his shallow, frightful breaths. I lifted my head to see the sun had risen. He stared at me in disbelief and shock . . . terror, too, obviously.

He spoke with a tremor in his sweetly deep but soft voice, “. . . Nice, wolf . . . Please don’t eat me . . .”

He was afraid of me, and I felt bad for it. I backed away from him with my tail between my legs and sat down.

Sitting up, he watched me closely with his deep, blue eyes. Then he stood slowly and with a bit of difficulty. It was obvious from the way he shifted his weight that he had sprang his left ankle. I watched him waddle a few feet before I slowly started to follow him.

As he stopped and turned toward me, I stopped and sat down. Then he’d start walking again, and so would I. We played this little game for the next ten minutes or so before he started trying to ignore me. It seemed that he finally understood that I wasn’t trying to hurt him.

He sighed and flopped down under a tree. “Ugh, I am so hungry . . .”

I walked up to him and nudged his foot.

“Oh, why are you following me, you crazy mutt?”

Man, is he stubborn.

I ran off toward the sound of a nearby stream. My guess was that he couldn’t hear as well as I. Otherwise, I’m sure he would have went there.

I stepped into the edge of the water and looked. Yes, there were plenty of fish in the stream. I thought maybe if I got him a fish he’d be nicer to me, so I waded around in the water until I caught one in my mouth. Then I stepped out, shook the excess water from my fur and ran back to where he was sitting.

He made a face at me as I dropped the fish into his lap.

“Oh, gross. That thing’s covered in dog spit!”

Ah, I thought, how rude. As a retaliation a shook myself dry again, this time right in front of him.

He grabbed the fish and tried to shield himself with it, which I thought was rather funny.

“You crazy, wolf. Just leave me alone already!”

Alright, yes, I was amused, but I wasn’t inconsiderate. I nudged his foot and whimpered a bit. Then I stepped up closer to him and licked his cheek.

He wiped his cheek, grunted, and looked down at the fish. “Well, I am very hungry. Hey, wolf. Can you understand me? I want to know where you found this.”

I walked off a bit, wagged my tail, and turned back to face him as he stood. Then I started walking, and he followed.

As we reached, the stream, he dunked the fish to rinse it. Then he gathered firewood and began roasting the fish on a stick. I sat patiently next to him as he sat quietly tending to his meal. Finally, he began eating it, and I watched him happily. However, he thought I was begging, and as kind-hearted as he was, he offered some of it to me. I just turned my nose away, letting him know I didn’t want any. He shrugged and scarfed down the remnants and sighed.

“I guess you’re not such bad company,” he said, petting my head.

I didn’t approve, but I sat silently and let him pet me anyway.

“My name’s Darius. What’s yours? Hmm . . . I suppose you don’t have one. I can give you one." He paused for a moment in thought. " Hey, wait! Are you a girl or boy?”

He rolled me over and scratched my stomach. “A girl, huh? I’ll call you, Sanna.”

God, this guy is really embarrassing me. I rolled back over and spotted a small cavern amongst some tall grass and trees and had an idea. I stood and ran over to it.

“Hey, Sanna! Wait for me!” he said, running after me.

I ran into the cave and dodged into the back out of the sunlight.

Darius stepped into the cave. “Sanna, where’d you go?”

I stepped forward enough to be seen without stepping into the sunlight.

“Excuse me, miss. Have you seen my wolf?”

I giggled. “You have no idea who I am, do you?”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“But you named me and everything . . .”

Darius stared blankly at me.

“I’m Sanna, you dope.”

He looked at me puzzled for a minute before he laughed. “No, Sanna is a little brown wolf that’s been following me around. You, well, it's obvious you are no wolf.”

I smiled and stepped forward into the sunlight. As the sunlight touched my skin, brown fur covered my body as I shrunk back down into the small, brownish-black wolf that Darius was looking for.

Darius rubbed his eyes and gasped. “That must’ve been some bad fish.”

I stepped back into the shade and laughed. “No, the fish was just fine." I smiled and shook my finger at him. "By the way, my name is Jayda, not Sanna."

He laughed nervously and fainted.

Argh! Wants more of the story!