"So. How long will we be walking for?" I asked dragging the tips of my worn out converse shoes through the dirt. Hansel pouted his lips and furrowed his eyebrows, thinking.
"A day. More or less."
"How long until I fully turn into a wolf?"
"A day. More or less." Gretal said, reciting her brothers exact words.
"Well this is just fantastic." I exasperated throwing my arms up in the air.
"I believe you will make it." Gretal said comfortingly placing a hand on my shoulder.
"If I don't- can you please kill me. I've been thinking, and I don't want to live like one of them."
"We will do what is necessary." She said after a long pause. I turned my head to Hansel who was smiling half heartedly. I gazed upwards, looking at the unusually green looking sun peering through the leaves of a weeping willow that was tiredly draping over the lake. I stopped in my tracks and stared at the tree. There was something odd about it.
"What on earth are you doing Red?" I tilted my head slightly
"There is something odd about that tree. I can't put my finger on it..." I said trailing off. They fell silent and we all just stared at it. The air was cold and bitter, biting my exposed skin making me feel even more uneasy. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks. The tree had a hole in the trunk giving the impression the tree was hollow. Weeping willows aren't hollow. A creature suddenly appeared in the hollow of the tree. It looked at us intently, tilting its head slightly. It had the head shape of a dog, but something was off. The figure crept through the hole in the tree with cat like stealth. It had four scratched up legs, a long slender body, and a tail that whipped out behind it, it was the size of an average household cat. It's ears were pressed flat against its head aggressively. Parts of it reminded me of a small jaguar, while others were more of a wolf.
"Oh no." Hansel breathed.
"What?" I asked afraid to tear my eyes away from the creature "what is it?"
"It's a Castaway." Gretal spoke, obvious fear flooding her eyes. The castaway glanced at the stream separating us, then flicked its gaze back up. It clawed the ground with its front left leg. Then it did something no animal could do. Two hidden flaps at the tip of the snout lifted up, revealing rows of sharp canine teeth. It let out a loud angry roar and more castaways started emerging from the tree. The first one jumped into the creek and tried swimming towards us. I looked towards Hansel and Gretal for help.
"Run!" They yelled, turning on their heel and sprinting into the forest. I ran after them. We were running away from the stream. We were going to get lost and I was running out of time. A low hanging tree branch nipped at my cheek. I pressed on. I felt one of the castaways bite into my ankle, I turned around and kicked it in the face. It stumbled backwards briefly, regained its balance, did the weird flap jaw thing, then kept running after me. I looked back in front of me to see Hansel and Gretal both stumbling up a large tree.
"Up here Red!" I grabbed the lowest hanging branch (which was about shoulder height on me) and pulled myself up. I climbed the tree, getting higher and higher until I felt the branches couldn't hold my weight anymore. I looked at Hansel and Gretal who were sitting on the same branch I was on.
"Don't look down." Hansel said. Being the natural rebel I am, I looked down. Castaways were swarming around the tree. Some were trying to climb up. We were really high up. Ridiculously high up. I tore my gaze from the ground and focused my gaze on Hansel, I swallowed the cotton ball in my throat and began to speak "Don't they live in trees though? Why don't they just climb up?"
"They can't climb very high. Weeping willow trees have lots of creases for them to use as foot holds. Large tall trees like this, not as easy. They can't do what we just did and use the branches to their advantage. They aren't large enough." I fought the urge to look back down and tried to process what I had just been told.
"When will they go away?"
"Not until they forget we are here." I agitatedly ran a hand through my hair. He was just answering questions with things that made me want to ask more questions
"Which is how long exactly?" Hansel and Gretal looked at each other sadly.
"A tall tree like this" Gretal began "makes it hard for them to see us. They should forget about us fairly quickly, but not fast enough. We will be waiting a day at least."
"I don't have a day!" I blurted out "I'm going to change soon!"
"We will do everything in our power to help you regain your old form." Hansel said, putting a reassuring hand on my shoulder "we promise."
•••••
Hope you enjoyed the chapter :) Please don't forget to vote if you think the story deserves it
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Red
Mystery / Thriller"Have you ever felt so much hopelessness at one time, that it forms a solid substance and builds up at the bottom of your stomach? It makes you feel empty and dark, like the sky on a foggy night. It slowly builds up. Getting thicker and thicker, unt...
