Wolves

Chapter ten

Nick jumps as steadily as he can, rock from rock, descending down near the creeks water and scooped up the clothes floating freely around.He examins them and realizes that yes, they where definitely John's. But how did this happen?! How could John come this far to try to jump a creek and fall in, unless there was another side to this....
Nick held the clothes closely to his chest, not caring if they were wet. He squeezed his eyes shut and sat down on a nearby rock.

" How could I do this?" Nick mumbles quietly, " where is he?"

After a few minutes Nick slowly got up, staring at the clothes as he did so.

" John....." Nick says, his voice trailing off as he climbs onto the bank and a bark came from ahead of him.
Startled, Nick almost falls down and back into the creek, but grips firmly on a root sticking out of the ground.
Nick looks up to see yet another furry face. Another wolf. Nick muffles a scream and notices that the wolf is seated obediently about a meter away from him.
Nick's face turned confused, this wolf looked like the others he had met except that this wolf didn't seem vicious. It seemed rather calm.
The wolf had sandy brown fur,speckled with tiny black spots and hazel dark brown eyes.
Those eyes were locked onto Nick's. Not able to move Nick stood there staring into them frozen. They seemed to sparkle with happiness, but also crossed with fear, that Nick's gut tells him that they are all too familiar.......

Nick, cautiously climbs up ontop of the bank standing straight, and looking down at the wolf. Confused Nick takes a step to the right. Nothing from the wolf. He takes a step forward, the wolf immediately starts growling defensively. Nick steps back and the growling stops. Nick's mind swirls with confusion.
' What is up with this wolf?' Nick thinks to himself
The wolfs eyes venture from Nick to the clothes he is gripping tightly in his hands. Nick looks down at the clothes, then back up at the wolf.
The wolf tilts its head, and Nick grips the clothes tighter, then the wolf gives him a look as if to say ' fine '.

Nick side steps to the right again.
The wolf showing no sign of threat.
He side steps again, but this time, a little forward.
The wolf does not react.
Nick sighs
' I guess that's how it's gonna be' Nick thinks to himself.
Nick makes his way around the wolf, side stepping and stepping back when the wolf isn't pleased with him stepping to close to it.
Then he is on the other side of the wolf, still shocked of the non attacking wolf.
Then the wolf gets up, bows his head in a respectful manner, turns and walks the other direction.
Nick, dumbfounded, turns and walks to the town, still clutching to the clothes of John.

After a few minutes of endless walking in the woods, Nick sits down on a rock, massaging his temples. He was still tying to process what had just happened. He had seen two dangerous wolves, howling, snarling and growling, while this one sat and watches Nick. Why was it pleased and displeases at the form of footing that Nick has used? And after it bowed, then scampered of happily, what was up with that???
Nick pushes the thoughts from his mind. He needed to relax, nothing bad happened, he was ok, that was what mattered most. Nick got up and walked in another direction. If he wanted to be alone, lost in his thoughts, he had to do it, well, alone.

Nick smiled as he came across what he was looking for. He looked up to see the full size if the old oak that had a tree house build strongly on the thick branches of the oak.
He and Stefanie made the tree house when they where kids, built on the best tree in the forest and the strongest.
This is where Nick came to be alone. Away from his mom, his annoying little sister, and the rest of the town.

Nick sat there, thinking about the wolf when a break of a branch snapped him out of his thoughts.
Nick looks outside the opening of the tree house and sees movement among the trees. Then Stefanie appears from the leaves and bush.
Nick exhales, relief washing over him.
Stefanie looked so beautiful in the natural light of the forest.
She came here as usually as Nick did, usually alone, but happy for any company.
Stefanie notices him gazing at her and she gives a warm smile to him. She walks up to the foot of the oak tree and Nick hangs from his feet to help her up the steps of the ladder to the tree, pulling her when her waist was visible, Above the platform of the tree house.
" You know I'm not helpless, I can climb steps you know" Stefanie says, teasing in her voice. " Well, I wouldn't be much of a gentle man,now would I ?" Nick says politely, stopping himself from grabbing her hand in his. " It's nice here," Stef says. " Yeah, it is " Nick says, taking in the sight of the inside of their tree house. " I was worrying about you," Stef says, her cheeks slightly reddening.
" Why?" Nick asks, slowly turning red too.
" Well because I usually come to your house around lunch, you always answer the door. But this time your mom answered," she says, " oh and I got you lunch, you must be starving." She says a matter of factly. She pulls out a sandwich from her bag that she always seemed to carry, and handed it to Nick
Nick took it quickly from her hand and started devouring the carefully made sandwich.
Stefanie, eyes wide at Nick, started laughing at the sudden movement from him. When Nick finishes his sandwich he gives a toothy grin at the laughing girl. She was so beautiful when she laughed. She sounded graceful when she laughed.
Then she climbed up the rest of the steps and sat next to Nick pulling out her own sandwich and started to eat and examining the tree house wall. the wall with a map of the forest. Nick was looking for his dad, and he has marked al the spots that he could have been. But his dad was no where. What had happened?
Nick pushes the thoughts from his mind when Stefanie swallowed and asked, " when do you think this is going to end?" " what do you mean?" Nick asks back confused by the question. " I mean like, where do you think your dad is? We checked most of the forest and came up with nothing". That was true, multiple time Stefanie and Nick would set out and look for his missing father, but only to come up empty handed.
" What do you think we're doing wrong?" He asks her. " I have no idea", she ends starting at the map. Nick sighs, he needed to tell her about John. He needed to tell someone and the best person would be her. " I have to tell you something', Nick says slowly. Stefanie breaks her gaze with the map and looks at Nick. " Yea?" she asks wondering what he might tell her. " It's about last night", he says rubbing the back of his neck. She nods at him as if to tell him to keep going .

He tells her about John and the finding of the clothes in the stream afterward.
He leaves out the part with the wolf because he has already encountered three wolves and he doesn't want to tell anyone there is more of them.
Stefanie looks at him, mouth wide open, staring at him in shock.
" Why would you leave that boy???" she asks, shocked, sad and angry in the tone of her voice.
" I- I" he stammered.
Then he thought for a moment.
" I don't really know..." he said quietly.

" What?!!?!?!" Stefanie yells.

" No!" Nick says.

She glares at him.

" Uh, what I meant is that he didn't budge when I told him we where going to the town. He yelled something about that he can't go there...." Nick explains.
Her gaze softens.

" Did you ask why?" she asks

" Yea. He wouldn't tell me though. "

They sat in silence for about a minute. Should he tell her about the wolves? N no he couldn't, she would think that he was a freak.

Stefanie sighs, gets up slowly and climbs down the ladder her gaze fixed on Nick.

He looks back at her.
Sadness overwhelms him. She was right, what was he thinking?

She finally broke the gaze, and landed on the forest floor.

Nick looked back at the wall that had the huge map.
He was thinking hard.
What could he do?
That remained a question unanswered.