Short Stories

The Last Day

The sunrise was so beautiful on a normal day, but from up here it seemed even better. The den sat a few feet from the cliff which surrounded one side of the lake. The waters were still dark as the rays of the rising sun had yet to hit them, but there was now enough light to make out the waterfall that hid the path up to the den and the thousands of trees filling the forest around the lake.

There was some movement behind me and it didn't surprise me when I heard a soft voice say, "Wolfie? What are you doing?" I turned my head toward the small girl that was standing just outside the den. With a small jerk of my head, I pulled her attention to the approaching sunrise. A soft wolfish smile pulled my lips upward as I heard her gasp and saw her eyes widen in wonder at the sight that lay before them.

They had made it to this den last night after the little one had managed to stumble upon it in her exploration. These past three days had been some of my favorites as I had traveled with the girl. I had found her washed up on the side of a river, drenched from head to toe and freezing. After dragging her into a safe spot in the sun, I curled up around her until she woke up.

The first day the little girl, Lilly as she said her name was, had talked my ear off as she described her family and how she had fallen into the river while trying to reach for some flowers. As she told me of her parents and siblings, I knew I needed to get her back to her family somehow. So, I started my journey toward this lake. In my journeys, I had often found humans not too far from this area so I hoped I could find some this evening when the fires would start.

I turned to look at the little girl. Her hair was the same color as the dry leaves which were stuck in her hair from her crazy adventures over the last two days of travel. No matter what I did, Lilly always managed to get distracted and head off to examine some plant or animal. It was cute, but it had made their journey take longer. Turning my head back to the sunrise, I felt a mixture of sadness and joy at the thought of finding her family.

After a while of watching the forest welcome the first morning rays, the little girl spoke up, "Wolfie, I am hungry." I turned to look at her and found her large blue eyes staring at me. I nodded and crouched down next to her and allowed her to scramble up onto my back. When I felt her little legs wrap around my waist and her tiny hands grab onto the thick fur around my neck, I stood and carefully made my way down the cliff.

I sniffed around to find a berry bush and carried Lilly there before letting her slip down to the floor. She shouted, "Berries!" before she started picking and eating them. I never cared for berries too much but to each their own. I went a bit further into the woods and caught and ate a rabbit before once more returning to the girl. She had sat down next to the bush and was intensely staring at something on the ground while she absentmindedly continued plucking and eating berries. A small smile once more lifted my lips as my eyes found what she found so interesting.

A snail. It was probably the size of Lilly's pinkie and doing nothing but slowly crawl along the branch, yet Lilly stared at it like it was the most interesting thing she had ever seen. Her wide eyes scarcely blinked as she watched. A quiet huff left my nose as I shook my head in something between amusement and wonder at the little girl in front of me.

At the soft sound, her eyes snapped up to mine and a large grin covered her face. Lilly quickly ran to me and threw her arms around my neck, leaving both the berries and the snail forgotten. "Wolfie, can we swim?" I nodded my head and the girl took off for the lake. I was able to quickly follow after her as she headed to the lake's edge. She had wanted to go into the water at every lake, pond, and river we had seen but I hadn't let her until now because it would've taken up too much time.

She went knee-deep in the water before turning and splashing me. I jumped back to dodge the water before lunging forward to use my head to splash her back. We continued to play at the water's edge splashing each other for a while until she threw herself at me and I let her knock me onto my side and into the water. Lilly's laugh filled the air as I gently used my paws to wrestle with her for a while longer.