A Strange Kind Of Love

Chapter 2: Trouble Brewing

  Hi! Janet here! If you like this story please vote/comment/share or follow me for updates.

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Chapter 2: Trouble Brewing

A few kilometers away from Jasmines house, in the depths of a dark forest which surrounded the bridge that led in and out of the small town. Two teenage boys were walking on hard mud, stepping over the roots of trees that were fifty times their size. They passed streams and boulders that seemed to have their own unnatural glow partly because of the gleaming moon above them and partly because of the mysteries that resided in them. They were talking, their breaths foggy in the bitterly cold autumn air, in the middle of the night. The moon light radiated off their bodies and illuminated their handsome faces. They were tall and fit, one had a mop of unruly black curls and dazzling emerald eyes while the other had messy, dirty blonde hair and icy blue eyes that could hypnotize you with one glance. They wore jeans and trench coats. They boys fell into silence, through some trees, in a small clearing they saw the smoke and naked flame of a campfire that was surrounded by young adults. The small clearing was surrounded by tents made from sticks and linen cloth. The people there wore dirty, baggy clothes and were eating and drinking from metal cups and bowls. The boys could hear their maniacal laughter and smell the pungent odor that spread from their little campsite. As they crept ever closer they could see the people sitting on logs and smoking their own hand made cigars while others stood around the fire eating pastries, the boys knew in an instant what those cigars and pastries contained. They looked at each other and then back at the campers. 'River don't.' the boy with the black hair said sternly but it was too late as his friend had already started to snarl and shake violently. Within seconds the blonde haired boy was nowhere to be seen and in his place stood a cream colored wolf with cold icy blue eyes. The dark haired boy wasn't scared, instead he just sighed while the cream colored wolf took off, sprinting towards the camp sight, spit flying from his mouth as he snarled and growled. The other boy just stood there shaking his head and muttering 'Karlos will have your head for this' while the screams from the victims filled the air. When the lone wolf returned with his paws and snout stained with the blood of his victims, they started back the way they had come and after a few moments the wolf had gone and was replaced by the boy with the blue eyes. 'Did you enjoy that?' asked the dark haired boy. 'Can't say I didn’t ' said River, shooting the other boy a smirk. The dark haired boy tut-tutted and added 'Karlos won't be happy about it.' 'I know' said River, 'But c'mon Cole you saw them, and what they were doing. I just couldn't help it.' Cole put his hand around Rivers shoulders, 'I hope Karlos isn't too hard on you.' These were Cole's words of encouragement. 'Thanks bud.' Said River as he ruffled Cole's hair. 'Oh you've sure done it now!' shouted Cole, ginning. River sped off through the forest with Cole at his heels, both laughing, both having forgotten what now lay ahead of them.

By the time the two boys reached their home in the forest, dawn was fast approaching. Some people were already bustling about in a small settlement, bringing water in buckets from the streams to their huts. So the boys crept around the outside of the houses so as no one would tell Karlos, the leader of the little village, that they had been out at that night. When they reached the back of Cole's house the two boys said their goodbyes and parted ways, River headed away from the settlement and towards a cluster of massive oak trees which housed families of a different nature.

As in the village, these oak trees had their own small huts nestled on their branches. The people who lived in these huts were known for their strong connection to the earth but River was an exception to that. As he climbed a rope ladder that led up to many of the small huts he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off about what happened that night and that it would most defiantly come back to bite him in the butt. He reached the small landing area around a hut that had a crescent moon carved into its wooden door. The landing area was connected to wooden bridges that led from one tree house to another. He let himself in to the quaint hut, taking in his all too familiar surroundings. A couple of massive sitting cushions on the floor arranged in a circle, a sturdy wooden table and two chairs that River had crafted himself. Next to that was an archway which led into the kitchen that contained a basin of water and jars of preserved fruit, salted slabs of meat that came from animals that River had killed and a wooden rack containing colorful jars of powder and other little tidbits. Near the cushions, which was the designated living room area, there was another archway which led to a small hallway where River's room and his guardian's room was.

No sooner had he looked around the room than he was greeted by, 'Where have you been?' A middle-aged woman screamed at him flailing her arms around, River chuckled at her manic gesture. 'What's so funny? You know Karlos will punish me for your wrong doings if he catches you young man!' 'Chill out Senita, he won't find out' soothed River, he patted her shoulder and walked past her heading for the kitchen. Senita huffed and crossed her arms as she followed him. Despite her age on the outside, Senita acted like she was in her early twenties. 'So where did you go? Who'd you go with? What did you do?' Senita asked as if interrogating him. 'Cole and I were just walking around, no Biggy' answered River as he chewed a chunk of meat that was on the table and shrugged his shoulders. 'Mm-hm, and what else?' This interrogation went on for quite some time until Senita finally got the truth out of River. Her reaction was expected. She yelled at River saying how irresponsible he was and how bad things would be if Karlos found out. She treated him like he was her own son and as much as River loved her, sometimes he wished that he didn't have any parents, this was one of those times.

River spent the remainder of the morning and most of the afternoon catching up on some z´s. He was woken up by Senita knocking on his door and reminding him that she had to go to a meeting with Cassandra and that he should stay out of trouble. River moaned a reply and rolled out of bed for he knew that he wasn´t going to be able to fall asleep again. His room was small but had all the essentials, mostly items that River had made himself. He got dressed and decided to head down to the village to find Cole. On his way there he saw many familiar faces, including Nathan who was Cole´s older brother and his friend Austin who were going hunting. The three didn't have much in common so they passed each other in relative silence.