The Woods

Chapter 1-Harper

Press play on the youtube video when reading this chapter (it sets the 'mood...') to do that just click on the book cover and flick to the right

"Don't go into the woods" my mum warned me "there are wolves out there..."

"But I won't be long I just want some of the wild flowers I saw when I walked past" I begged

"fine, but Harper be very careful and don't go right into the woods stay on the edge where the flowers are".

I run upstairs and get my jumper. I don't want the flowers, I want the wolves. The beautiful mysterious wolves that I have never seen. I go downstairs again and sprint to the woods. They are so close I can see them from my bedroom window so I get there in no time. I ignore everything my mother told me and walk right into the woods. The trees get thicker and thicker the further I walk, until they almost completely block out the sun. A shiver runs down my spine I have never been this far into the woods and I'm getting the feeling that someone or something... is watching me. I turn quickly and spot two... no three... no four pairs of glowing yellow eyes! Four beautiful wolves. I tip-toe closer until I can almost touch them. Suddenly one of them snarls and I get a glimpse of its sharp white teeth glistening in the dim light of the woods. It slowly creeps towards me baring its teeth. I scream just as it pounces pinning me to the ground with such force that the air gets knocked out of me. I lie there winded and for a few seconds we just stare at each other and I notice something almost human like about its eyes... Before I can think about what was weird about it the wolf howls signalling to the pack that dinner has arrived. About ten other wolves run silently through the forest towards me and within seconds I'm surrounded. They only get one small bite out of my arm because they are distracted by someone crashing through the woods not to far off I turn to the sound and realise it's my mother - she heard my scream... "Get off my daughter" she's screaming with tears streaming down her face and waving her arms around. The wolves jump off me their attention on my mum. "Look after yourself" were her last words, she was ripped apart in a second...

I wake up screaming my bed clothes drenched in a cold sweat. I've been having nightmares about my mother ever since she was killed by the wolves two months ago. It's the middle of the night and I know that if I go back to sleep I'll have another nightmare. So I pick up my book and read until dawn. When the sun rises I go downstairs to the kitchen and begin to make myself breakfast when I see something move out of the corner of my eye. I sigh it's that wolf again looking at me from the edge of the woods with a hint of pity in its eyes. I sometimes wonder if it lost its mother too and feels sorry for me. It's been watching me ever since two weeks after the incident with the wolves. I still have the feeling that there is something not quite right about those wolves. "Today is the day" I decided "I'm going to pull myself together and find out what the problem is with these wolves..."

I finish making my breakfast shovel it down grab my bag and rush to school. "Emmy! Emmy!" I shout when I see my friend in the school corridor

"Harper what's the matter!?" she says with a worried look on her face

"I need to find out why the wolves in the woods are different from other ones"

"why?"

"I just do ok?" I think I said that a bit to harshly so I explain to her more gently. I sigh "you know how the wolves look almost like they have personalities?"

"Yeah"

"Well I just HAVE to know why..." The bell rang meaning class had started

"um... well see you at recess then" Emmy says awkwardly

"yeah see you then". And we walk off to our different classes. I groan- Emmy must think I'm crazy now! And to make things worse I had maths first lesson. AARGH maths feels like it goes for days it's so boring. The next lesson is history and it's over in the blink of an eye! Finally it's recess. My relief is short lives when I remember Emmy and the wolves. I spot her sitting on a bench next to Summer and Rachel, so I wave and sit down next to them. I let out a sigh of relief I'm glad that Summer and Rachel are here it means I don't have to further explain the wolf situation to Emmy because she wouldn't like talking about crazy stuff like that in front of them. We end up talking about silly things like TV, movies, school, boys etc... The bell rings and I'm of to class again time goes slowly but at last it's home time. I catch the bus home and hop onto the computer. I quickly type up wolves with human personalities instantly it comes up with millions of entries of werewolf facts. I read a few but most of them seem unrealistic. I check the clock that hangs above the picture of my mum. I still have two whole hours until Dad comes home. Just enough time to get a closer look at the wolves, I'm going to go on the woods to investigate! I get my camera so I can just take photos of the wolves that I can study at home instead of getting right up close to them. As I'm walking towards the woods, I spot the little brown wolf again staring at me from the shrub. When I walk closer to the woods it shakes it's head almost like it's telling me that it's to dangerous and I don't have my mother to save me this time. Maybe it is... I gasp. My mother! That's who the wolf reminds me of! She has the same beautiful hazel eyes! I'm so shocked that I don't know what to do other than stare at it... or her... in absolute awe. The wolf starts to move deeper into the woods and I'm snapped out of my trance I quickly grab my camera from out of my bag. I should take a photo before she runs away. I make sure the flash is off and "click" it's done.