Obviously I was startled by the lightning. I yelled at the top of my lungs and stumbled back a few feet until I hit a tree. Alejandro took off in the direction of the forest, leaving me sitting with my heart racing and staring at a charred piece of ground.
What startled and interested me even more is what happened next. It seemed as though it were something out of a fairy tale or those old Native American tales I loved to read about. The moon illuminated the charred ground more than any other area. This light started changing into different wavy colors, which then separated into sort of like colored snowflakes. The snowflakes fell onto the ground, forming a shape. I yelled when it was completely formed.
"Angelica!" I scrambled to her on my knees and hands. I picked up the sleeping beauty in my arms and fixed her hair for her. Never had I ever been so happy to see someone. It brought me to tears even. I smiled down at her with tears forming in my eyes.
I felt huge gusts of wind coming from behind me and I knew it was Alejandro. I turned to him and asked "Can you please breathe a bit softer?" as nicely as possible. He backed up, but the exhales had already woken up Angelica.
Her eyes slowly opened and closed, and she so adorably frowned as she slowly opened them completely. She looked up at me and smiled, but then she looked around then back at me, then asked, "Where are we?" I shrugged. She sat herself up and looked around again, this time, she didn't miss the mini van sized bird. She squealed and stumbled, trying to get her footing. Eventually she got to her feet and ran.
Of course I chased after her. She was a fast runner, but not as fast as me. I caught up to her, grabbed her wrist, and turned her around. "Angelica, stop running, he won't hurt you."
She looked past me with big eyes. I didn't even turn around. I could smell what was behind me. I recognized it because I had had several wolf encounters before, but this one was stronger. I said quietly, "Angelica, I want you to stay calm. Don't run, don't yell, don't move."
I slowly turned around. Behind me was a wolf about 5 and a half feet tall. His fur was completely white and thick and his eyes were entirely red - there was a lack of pupils. He didn't growl and he didn't attack. He stood inches from my face, sniffing me. If you show weakness in the wilderness, then you're dead meat. I stood tall and strong. I wanted so badly to close my eyes, but I didn't. I stared into its eyes, and I could've sworn I saw flames.
It studied me for about a minute, then it used it's nose to try to push me to the side to get to Angelica. I stayed in its path and whispered to Angelica, "Take three steps back." I heard the crunch of the grass under her feet, then I stepped to the side. The wolf started examining Angelica from a few feet away. I backed up a few feet and yelled, "Alejandro!" Alejandro tore down from the skies with his wings spread and claws out. I yelled "No kill!" He smashed his claw down around the wolf's neck and pinned it to the ground.
The wolf flailed and flailed, but Alejandro didn't even loosen his grip. I walked over to the head of the wolf and took off my shoe. After it snapped at me a few times, I took my shoe and tapped it on the nose. It recoiled with a confused look, then snapped again, so I tapped again. It tried snapping one last time, and I tapped again. This time it whimpered.
I walked over to its belly and realized it was a she, I put my shoe back on and continously scratched her belly as fast as my hands can go. She stopped moving and seemed to like it. "Want to join me in my second taming, Angelica?" I smiled at her. She looked at me with an open mouth and no response. I looked at Alejandro and said, "Hopefully you can let go now, can you go get three pieces of meat for me?" He let go and flew off.
As soon as the wolf was no longer in restraints, her leg started kicking at full speed. I looked at her claws and they seemed sharp enough to cut obsidian and fast enough to catch a lightning bolt. All she was was a big fluff ball that everyone ran from. "Awe you're so adorable, I think I'm going to name you Jaja."
Angelica came up behind me and tapped my shoulder, still shocked. I looked up and it was already morning. Alejandro was back with a sausage, a fish, and a steak. I took all three and said "Thank you." I placed the fish in Angelica's hand. As soon as I stopped scratching, the wolf flipped over on her feet and licked my entire upper half. "Hold it out to Alejandro. I want you to see he won't hurt you."
"Shawn. I'm not the one without fears and I want to go home and I really miss you and was scared and thought you had gone missing so I alerted the police and in reality you're here with this giant bird whose beak is the size of my head and a giant wolf and wait... did you say you named him Alejandro? Isn't that what your name was supposed to be?" During her rant she went between languages, so it was a good thing I knew Spanish and English. "Nevermind, but Shawn I'm not hand feeding this killer bird."
"Fine," she handed me the fish and I held me hand out to Alejandro. He gently picked it up and let it slide into his mouth like a sophisticated bird. I turned to the wolf and threw the sausage in the air. She jumped up and snapped it in one bite. Then I held the steak out in one hand. She licked it off of my hand so her teeth came no where near my hands. I turned to Angelica and asked, "Angelica, do you ever get tired of the real world? Where there's people that talk about you behind your back. People that kill others for fun. People that abuse animals, children and their own family." I looked down at my shoes and pretended to kick a rock, when in reality I didn't want her to see my tears.
"Well, of course I wish none of that existed. Is this about... you know?" She tilted my head up by my chin and wiped the tears out of my eyes with her sleeve. "He's locked up, Shawn. There's no need to-"
"I think we should stay here."
"Shawn, we can't stay here. People go insane when they're alone for too long, plus there's all these giant... creatures... and we don't have anywhere to stay." Her hands were on my cheeks, squishing my face into fish lips in an attempt to make me laugh.
"We can start our own village on the beach, there's more people here. We can be the rulers of a wonderful place with no violence or killing or any other ignorant things like that. And haven't you realized how sweet these creatures are once they're accustomed to you?" I reached back and scratched Jaja's leg.
She looked me in the eyes for a while. It seemed every second her eyes pierced deeper into my eyes and soul while I made fish lips. Eventually, she muttered, "Realmente puta te odio," and kissed me.
I threw my fists in the air in triumph, then put my hands on the sides of her face and kissed her back. We stood there for a while, doing nothing but kissing until Jaja decided to tell me it was time to stop by licking me. I laughed and looked up, "Oh shoot, the morning festival! Get on Jaja's back!" I helped Angelica onto Jaja and told her how to hold on. Then I climbed onto Alejandro and said, "Let's get to the village, but no flying." He spread his wings and let out that ear - piercing shriek again, and charged through the trees, knocking down every one that came in contact with his wings. Behind me, Jaja was hoping from fallen tree to fallen tree as if it were a game. Those years of us bull riding really paid off for Angelica. I couldn't stop thinking though, what would the chief say when he saw her and I told him I wasn't leaving the island?
