Black as Night (Completed)

Chapter 13

Julie

The thought of Ryan holding me in his arms creeps into my mind. I just don't understand. Why would Ryan leave me? Did he ever really love meMatt asks pitifully with a his lips pursed.

“You know what I mean,” I state stiffly. Matthew frowns.

“What's the matter? Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” I say quietly. “Nothing is wrong.” Matt looks up at sky.

“I'll start building an actual shelter. It might rain tonight.” I see thunder-clouds rolling over us, threatening to pour down. “Could you go find some kindling for a fire?”

“Sure,” I convey. I walk through the trees and find a bundle of small twigs. 

As I come back to the campsite I notice Matt already hard at work. The shelter is half-way built. “You were gone for a while.” The shelter seems to be about six feet long, three feet wide, and five feet tall. Matthew advances toward me. “I missed you.” He comes closer. He stands over me, looking down at me. His eyes move back and forth, studying me. “Please, Julie. I desire you, I need you, I want your body close to mine.” I don't even pretend to feel the same way. He took Ryan away from me, in a way. I always wanted Ryan, I never wanted Matt, I never wanted my best friend. I look past him. “You should probably finish the shelter. Matthew frowns deeply. “Okay.”

He continues working. I walk back into the trees. I find some a variety of berries to eat. I walk to the river and fill both Matthew and I's canteens. I fish. I catch two, large salmon. I walk back to camp.

Matt has finished the shelter. It looks like a mini cabin. There's a small door. I push my hand against the wood. The door opens. I walk inside. I see a a bar of wood on the door. I pull on it and the door shuts. Matt  has started a fire. I set the berries and fish on the ground next to the fire. Matt looks up at me. We sit and stare at the fire for a while.

“I can't believe you caught two, big salmon. That has to be a big deal for you,” Matthew teases. The look on his face looks like the old Matthew. Kind, caring, a friend.

“A little bit.” I smile. Matt does too. 

We cook the fish and eat the berries. We drink some water. We reminisce about when we were younger and how we use to play by the river. “Do you remember that one time when you were twelve and you declared that you could hold your breath for a minute?” I ask. “You almost drowned. I'm so glad I was a worry-wart and I dragged you above water.”

“Yeah,” Matt says. “I remember that. I also remember almost freezing to death also. You had to bring me to your house and sit me in front of the fire with a blanket wrapped around me.”

“We shared that blanket. I rubbed your arms until some of the color returned to your cheeks,” I add.

“Good times,” Matt jokes. He smiles a broad smile. I  smile a huge, hideous smile back. “That is the ugliest smile I've ever seen,” Matthew says with a mouth-full of fish in his mouth.

“You're so mean!” I say. He smiles again. We laugh out loud. 

Ryan 

After walking for about a day I come across a sparkling stream. I pull a canteen out of my bag. I set it in the river. The cold water washes over my hand. My canteen fills up.

I sit down on a big rock. I raise the canteen up to my mouth, then I stop. A baby deer leans its head down to the water. It sticks its tongue out to slurp up the water. After a few drinks it looks up at me. It turns to run, but stumbles and falls over. I race over, splashing through the ankle-deep water on my way.

I kneel down. I lift up its head. It opens its big eyes groggily to look up at me. It closes its eyes and lets its head slip out of my hands. “No, no, no, no, no!” I whisper harshly. “No!” I put my ear to its heart. It doesn't have a pulse.

It can't be dead. It can't. All it did was take a drink of water. Wait! I remember a tale Mama once told me to keep me from wandering around. 

My mother tells me.

“So he was...,” I start to count on my fingers. “He was six!” I declare while holding up my fingers.  

“Yes he was. Now this little boy wandered away from his village and into the forest. He came upon a beautiful stream that sparkled in the sunlight. What the little boy did not know was that the river was tainted by fairies. And if you took a drink you would die,” Mama said solemnly. “

Oh, no!” I cried.

"Oh, no indeed. The boy jumped in the water and gulped it down. He suddenly became sick. He held his eyes open for as long as he could then he closed them and died.” “That's terrible,” I say. “The moral of the story is to never wander away from home.

I knew that fable was to keep little boys from roaming around. I never thought it would help me figure something out. I jogged back across the stream. I pick up the canteen and throw it at a tree as hard as I possibly can. It explodes when it comes in contact with the tree. My werewolf abilities must be getting stronger.