Chasing the Day

Prologue

November 2005

I was running through the forest at a fast pace—well, as fast as my short legs could carry me— but my body refused to stop to let my brain catch up. The last thing I remember was telling my mommy goodnight as I made my way up to my bedroom, and yet, the forest looks nothing like my bedroom. I'm not allowed in the forest alone, especially not at night time, and as i chanced a quick glance up at the moon, I could tell that it was very late — definitely way past my bedtime. Mommy and Daddy are going to kill me! But still, my body refused to cooperate, and so I kept running at the fast pace. The wind barreled past me as I threw all my strength into putting one leg in front of the other, and then suddenly i was able to make out the faint smell of my father's scent. Although startled the moment the smell hit my nostrils, it didn't deter me in getting to my destination, despite not actually knowing where that was going to be. I noticed that I was unconsciously following my dad's scent as it was growing stronger the farther I ran. Why was my dad out here so late? Why was i hurdling in his direction?

I tried to recall why I was awake and not at home tucked into bed, but it was as if my mind was blank. It was a serene feeling on the contrary, and yet there was an overwhelming amount of alertness in my body and mind as I knew there was a reason I was here. Trying to think back, I vaguely recalled my father talking about a meeting with a rival pack tonight.

The question still remained, why was i sprinting through the forest? I realized that I was quite far into the forest as I sprinted past one of my favourite places, the lake. Taylor, Asher and I would often come out to the lake to cool off in the summers with some of the other pack mates, and that lake was the halfway marker between our pack, the Red Forest pack and the neighbouring Blue Moon pack. I shouldn't have been this far into the woods all by myself, especially not at this time of night. Anything could happen.

Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something move, and without thinking about it, I whipped my head in that direction, quickly scanning the area for any sort of threat, all without breaking pace in my quick run. I didn't see anything, but just as i was about to turn my head back to face the front of me, my body slammed into a tree, throwing me backwards and resulting in me landing painfully on my backside, twigs snapping their protests underneath my sudden weight. I screwed my eyes up tight, the rest of my face scrunching up with the motion as I tried to will away the pain in my body while I desperately gasped in air, trying to control my hectic breathing as I sat myself up.

Suddenly I heard a deafening growl from above me causing my breathing to stop all together as I held my breath in anticipation. Slowly, I opened one eye and looking at the forest floor, I saw two insanely large black and white paws on the ground. The claws extending out slightly as they gripped into the ground, sending a slight shiver to the base of my back.

Ever so slowly, I trailed my eyes upwards as I noticed the paws turn into front legs, with beautiful patches of white fur dotting his coat here and there. From his front legs revealed a massive torso which was heaving as he huffed out air. And finally, my eyes reached his face, where I saw a beautiful black wolfs head, with a white patch spread out over his muzzle right behind his nose. His eyes were pitch black as they glared down at me in anger, causing all the air to rush out of me as I stared in horror at the beautiful creature that stood in front of me, ready to tear me apart. I cowered back as the massive wolf before me let out a fierce growl that rattled me to the core, and revealed sharp white teeth as he bared them at me in an act of dominance.

Without another thought, I jumped to my feet and did the most stupid thing that anybody could have possibly done in a situation like this. I'd like to blame the lack of control of my body as the culprit, but only because I have no other better explanation for what I did just then.