The Old Well

Five Kids

I sighed and looked out the window. School was so boring. I hate to be so blunt but it's true. I looked up to the front of the class. Mr. Welts pointed to the board and rambled on about why chemosynthesis was important.

My thoughts traveled back to the day before, the kids living in the well. Why were they in the well? Where was their pack? A thought occurred to me.

They could be abandoned pack members.

A lot of packs were doing that now, sending others off that weren't strong enough. They must have wandered from the north. A small town like Jettsburg didn't have a lot of visitors.

The bell rang. I grabbed my things and was the first one out the door. After chatting with some friends, I shoved my things in my locker and walked home. I normally didn't linger to long at the school, I'd much rather be at home or in the forest. Watching the buses taking off to take kids to their houses, I walked towards my house. I took a deep breath of the fall crested air and dashed into the woods across the street.

I jumped into my wolf form and flew across the landscape. Dodging trees, I ran to the site of the old well. I had to confront them. The well was far into my territory, way past the borders. I'll just have to show them whose land it is.

I pushed myself to run faster. All the wolf senses inside of me took over. This was my territory.

I arrived at the well site to find it completely deserted. Nose to the ground, I discovered five different scents going into the well. Cautiously, I jumped into the well to find it wasn't very deep, only about seven feet. Tunnels took off in different directions at the bottom. I heard whispering at the end of a tunnel. Following it, I creeped into a small roundish room that looked like it must have taken days to build. There were claw marks everywhere indicating that they dug it in their wolf forms. They must have been very desperate.

I peeked into the round room to see a quite sad sight. The older girl, Ann, was sitting on the ground leaning up against the dirt wall. Her eyes were closed. Grace, the little girl, was sleeping with her head on Ann's lap, her legs sprawled out behind her. The oldest looking boy was on the other side of the room sharpening a stick with a swiss army knife. The twin red head boys were nowhere in sight.

"Ann," The older boy said, his voice echoing through the tunnels. Ann opened her eyes."That she-wolf yesterday, this is her territory. I told you we have to go."

Ann rolled her eyes. "Oh, let her come, Leo. One she-wolf can't do much." I held back a growl.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. "Come on, Jake! Hurry up!" My heart skipped a beat. They were coming. Fast.

As quickly and quietly as possible, I scrambled into a nearby tunnel just as the twin boys ran by. I peeked around the corner. They scattered grocery bags full of food onto the floor.

Grace woke and rubbed her eyes. Her face brightened when she smelt the food. She jumped onto Ann's lap and brushed dirt off her pants. Ann smiled and gave her a hug.

"You hungry?" She asked.

Grace nodded quickly. Ann laughed. It was a full-hearted laugh that I could tell hadn't been forced. "Alright, what'cha got boys?"

The boys named off about 20 different products, half which were meats. My mouth watered when one of them mentioned roasted honeysuckle ham.

Suddenly, the oldest boy, Leo, whipped his head up. He glanced around nervously, sniffing the air and shuffled over to Ann. They talked in the back of the room while the others were munching on peanut butter crackers.

Then they turned and walked towards the tunnels. Right in my direction.

They knew I was here.

I racked my brain for a animal to turn into. These were pack wolves. Well, recently. They could kill me easy. Suddenly, I had a idea.

Fox

My fur turned red and white. My body shrunk. I leaped into action. Lunging down the tunnels, I let out a mocking yelp at the two teens. Immediately, Ann jumped into her wolf form, snarling and barking warnings. She looked expectingly at Leo. He hesitated for a heartbeat, then sank into his wolf form also. I snarled at them and ran to the entrance of the tunnels, hearing their nails scraping down the tunnel behind me. Then I came to the entrance. With one leap, I jumped up the tunnel.

Bursting into my owl-form halfway, I soared up, thrashing my wings rapidly. I cocked my head, looking down at the two snarling wolves, now out of the tunnel, jumping and thrashing their teeth.

I flew home, and landed on my balcony. I went into my human form and walked inside just in time to hear my mother scream.