Dear Sophie

The Hidden Cabin

I stumbled along in the forest path, which was barely visible to the human eye. Bursting out of the trees, I almost fell over the edge of a cliff, and into the pacific.

"I followed the trail! What do want me to do?! Jump over the side of the cliff?!" I yelled at nowhere in particular. But as soon as I said it I realized that of course my parents want me to jump over the side of a cliff. What else would they possibly ask me to do?

Stupid parents. I shifted my backpack from my left shoulder to my right and prepared to jump. 1, 2, 3... right over the edge... and I landed flat on my face as I jumped through a barrier, camouflaged to look like the edge of a cliff.

"Of course." I laughed, looking around. It was another section of the forest, just hidden away. Why someone would hide half of a forest, I have no clue. I started checking out the trees, to find that they were just ordinary trees. Strange. There has to be something special in here, or people wouldn't be trying so hard to hide it.

"Who's there?" Someone asked. I stopped in my tracks. Maybe is isn't something special, but someone. Thinking fast, I climbed the nearest tree and perched in the most concealed branch.

A boy walked into the clearing. He had a hunters knife and I could easily see his small pistol, which was tucked into the back waistband of his jeans. When his eyes scanned the trees, looking for the intruder, I held my breath. With his demeanor, I could easily tell that he knew what he was doing. I didn't know how sharp his vision was, but when his eyes passed over my tree, I exhaled in relief.

Big mistake. The boy turned around and looked at the place the sound had escaped from. I could see his freckles from where I hid, and I stupidly leaned forward to see if I could count them. I ended up leaning too far, and I took a wonderfully painful fall out of the tree.

His knife was drawn, and pointed at me. But it was shaking. I looked at his face then, merely a couple meters away, and realized that he was laughing at me! That jerk!

I stood up, and brushed the leaves and dirt off of my clothes, then drew my own knife. "Excuse me, but who do you think you are, laughing at me?" He looked at me, a smile still playing on his lips.

"Well, I wouldn't be laughing at you, if you weren't going around falling out of trees. And who do you think you are, trespassing into my home?" His gaze shifted from playful to irritated as he looked me up and down. "Where did you come from, anyways? This place is supposed to be secured from hunters."

A shiver ran down my spine. Secured from hunters? "You isolated yourself on purpose?" I questioned him, bewildered, "Why would you do that?!" He opened his mouth to respond, but the sound of branches snapping behind me stopped him short. I turned slowly, only to meet a pair of yellow eyes staring me down. Wolf eyes.

I backed up towards the boy as the wolf padded further into the clearing, where the fading sunlight hit it directly. I audibly gasped. It wasn't a wolf. It was a man, with wolf like features. My back hit something, and the boy whispered into my ear, "Werewolf." He took my hand into his. Alarmed, I glanced at him. the wolf took another step closer to us, and the boy looked at me and mouthed run. I shook my head. No. I wouldn't run away. Not again.

The boy sighed in exasperation and tugged my arm, forcing me to step backwards, away from the dog. It followed, still, slowly padding it's way towards us as the boy dragged me along, further and further into the trees. When the werewolf was just at the edge of my vision, I pushed the boy away and ran. Another big mistake.

The wolfs ears perked up and I instantly regretted my choices. It took off, making a beeline for me. Crap. The boy reappeared out of nowhere and grabbed me, slinging my petite frame over his shoulder. "I could have taken him you stupid-"

"Taken him?" The boy repeated, "That's a fully grown werewolf, if you hadn't noticed! He would rip you to shreds!" The forest was dark behind us as the boy kept running, his speed would have been amazing if it hadn't matched my own. Another cliff loomed in front of us, but this time we were at the bottom of it.

I heard the water before I saw it. "Are you insane? A waterfall is not going to get rid of a werewolf! It's only going to get us soaked and killed!" I could feel the boys laughter rumbling through him at my statement. The water was getting louder now, I had to shout if I wanted him to hear me. "Unless you know something that I don't, WE ARE DEAD!"

"It's a good thing I do actually know something that you don't, then!" He shouted back at me. we were on the riverbank, now. The boy stopped, his breathing heavy. He set me down, and I noticed that I was a few inches shorter than he was.

"We didn't lose it," I said in acknowledgement to him looking around, "Once a werewolf captures your scent, they'll have it forever. We have to kill it."

"No," he replied, his eyes finding mine. I was abruptly startled by just how green they were, losing all track of the conversation at present. I snapped back to reality with a cough, and we both looked away, flustered. He cleared his throat, a blush creeping up his neck, "Your backpack, give it to me." I was momentarily confused, until I realized that I was still carrying it around. Slinging it off of my shoulder, I gazed at the boy accusingly.

"I don't even know your name." He looked at me and smiled, but it disappeared when we heard a twig snap. We both turned our heads in the direction of the trees, and the same werewolf greeted us with a snarl. I froze.

The boy took this opportunity to grab my bag and sling it over his shoulder. I couldn't move, it looked too much like the other one. Too much like the one that I murdered. Too much like the one that murdered my parents. The boy grabbed my hand as the wolf kept towards us. "What are you doing?! Let's go!"

He dragged me into the water, and not a minute later we were consumed by the roar of the waterfall, which drenched us from all sides. He kept pulling on my arm, I was too weak from shock to retaliate. when we emerged from the waterfall, we weren't in a cave, like I had figured.

We were in another part of the woods. And in the center of the clearing, surrounded by flowers and covered by ivy, stood a cabin.