The Little spirit Wolf

Chapter 1 - An old friend

A wolf. An ordinary wolf. Or at least Cindy thought so. It's tail was long, it's ears pointed but it's eyes human. The eyes of the wolf looked into Cindy's eyes. Did she know this wolf. Had it seen her before, she wasn't sure.

The wolf unlike any other wild animal, as you would expect did not run. Cindy crouching down having hidden herself from the snarling sounds it had made, was sat down behind the biggest tree in the forest.

How had she got here, there wasn't a forest in her backyard at least not at the new house anyway. There was a forest in her old house in California, where she had grown up and where her mother always came running after her as a little girl, as she stumbled into the forest. Her mother didn't approve of her going in alone, but she was too young to understand and she would cry every time she was taken back inside. She hadn't want to leave California, but what could she do, she was only twelve.

She right in that moment as she was face to face with the wolf, remembered when she had see it's face at the end of her bed, back in California. Was this wolf the same wolf she thought, maybe this was that same forest. These questions swam around in her mind, for she couldn't tell.

The tree as she took her eyes off of the wolf for only a second had a large hole in the bottom of its trunk. She used to crawl in there when she was little, she looked at it, wondering how she had, wondering why she had pretended to be a wolf as a young child. The wolf stuck its nose high in to the air and opened its ears, it could smell something, it was listening. Something was watching nearby.

The wolf pushed past her, knocking her over. The leaves below her feet crunched. She rubbed her eyes and stood up, where had the wolf gone. If it was hiding then shouldn't she be as well. " What do I do now", she mumbled to herself, " if I just stayed where  I'm supposed to then this wouldn't happen", she added. " Now I'm talking to myself again, this really is a bad day", she told herself, as if she was checking this out for a fact.

Cindy was about to think out loud again, when she suddenly felt the wolfs paw tapping her foot, tapping on her boot. The wolf had hidden in the hole in the tree. Cindy tried to fit inside, but she couldn't, the hole was too small and the wolf was too big. There was no room for them both.

When suddenly the hole in the tree grew bigger. A bright blue glow appeared. Cindy could fit, the hole was now big enough for the both of them.

However, as Cindy crawled in she had no time to think about what had just happened, as she heard growling coming towards them. Little Wolf hid behind Cindy's back, the Alpha wolf then appeared, snarling and sniffing the leaves where Cindy had been only seconds ago. Cindy tried to calm the Little Wolf, " it's ok little wolf", she said, letting it smell her hand so it knew she meant it no harm. Cindy rubbed its head as the Little Wolf still hid under the hood of her jacket, getting tangled in her long brown hair.

She had never seen a wild animal, or any animal in her life act this way before. She felt they were connected somehow, but she didn't know why. She couldn't help but think the wolf had come to find her. Maybe it needed her help.

The Alpha wolf sniffed closer this time, it's large nose was hunting for them both. It didn't stay long as a howling was heard in the distance. It ran to the call of its partner, to the other side of the forest. Cindy let out a deep breath that she had held this entire time. The wolf crawled out on its belly, but it didn't leave her. The Little wolf pulled at Cindy's sleeve of her jacket, trying to get her to come out. The hole in the tree opened up again and the blue glow returned. Maybe the wolf was enchanted and had helped her to hide, or maybe, just maybe it was the forest that was enchanted.

Cindy crawled out of the tree as she thanked the wolf, " thank you Little wolf. "That was really close". The wolf turned its head as if it was trying to understand her. Cindy brushed off the leaves and twigs from her clothes, before they checked that the Alpha wolf had in fact gone. Cindy walked beside the wolf, which seemed to be checking now and then to make sure that she was staying close by.

As they walked, Cindy wondered if the wolf had a name, she thought about what she could call it. " Long claws and a fluffy tail", she muttered, " well I can't really call it that, maybe it does have a name", she thought out loud. They continued to stumble over the leafy bed of the forest, before they came to the edge. A beautiful view of the rest of the forest below them, " it's only a short, rocky, steep way down from here", Cindy said, seeing that the Little wolf had stopped, lowering its head to have a drink from a nearby puddle. Cindy wondered where they were, as she tried to spot a path they could take down the cliff that would be safe enough. But as she turned around the wolf had gone.

" Little wolf...Little wolf. Are you hiding again. Where have you gone". Cindy called out, looking everywhere for the wolf. She stepped away from the cliffs edge and walked back into the forest. She couldn't see it no matter how hard she searched. When up ahead she was sure she saw Little Wolfs tail disappear between two identical trees. Cindy with care walked up to the trees, there was a shimmer in between them, like an invisible door.

She walked closer, but as she did she found herself face to face with what looked like her bedroom. " How is that possible", she muttered to herself. She reached her hand out, it went right through it, just like she was reaching through an open doorway that she could not see. Her hand and arm had vanished. "Wow", she gasped. She closed her eyes, took one more look behind her and stepped through. "It's just a door, it's just a door", she kept telling herself.

She was back in her room, in their new house. Her mum was downstairs calling her name. She sat up, Cindy was expecting to be sat on the forest floor again, but she wasn't, she was laying on her bed. She was late for summer school. Her mum had signed her up, she believed her daughter really needed it. She thought it would help her daughter to stop wanting to talk to animals.

Cindy's mum had hoped that moving might have done that, but it hadn't worked. " Cindy were late, let's go", she heard her mum calling her again. Cindy grabbed her backpack, that of course had a picture of a wolf on it. After all what other animal would it be. She looked at her bedroom before slamming the door. She ran downstairs, stopping in the hallway by the front door to check her mum had grabbed the house keys, as it wouldn't be the first time she had forgotten them. Cindy closed the front door, hearing the lock click as she ran out to the car and jumped in the front seat.

"Summer schools going to be fun Cindy, your going to really enjoy it", Cindy heard her mum say. Cindy's mum was a very positive person, she didn't know just how much Cindy disagreed with her in that moment and she didn't know what Cindy had just seen. She held on tightly to her backpack, as she watched the cars drive by on the other side of the road. Cindy really wasn't looking forward to summer school, not at all.