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The strangest thing Joshua ever saw was about half of the sophomores were gone without a trace, no nothing left behind or anything about where they could be. They just vanished.
Class was officially cancelled for the remaining sophomores that actually showed up, including Joshua and Ryan, and wouldn't be back in session until everybody has returned.
There was no return date.
So, Ryan had the idea of going back to the forest since he wanted to take more pictures and wanted to see if the wolves would come back. Joshua, on the other hand, was completely denying that idea since, after last time, he promised himself he wouldn't even step near the trees.
Ryan won anyways.
So here they were, Ryan completely ecstatic while Joshua watched with uncertainty settled in his eyes.
The forest seemed to be much more..quiet as Ryan happily pranced around, sometimes stopping to take pictures. Joshua though walked a lot slower and looked over his surroundings, being a lot more cautious then he was before.
A rustle in the bushes caught Joshua's attention, stopping completely. A voice in his mind was telling him to follow and for a second, he stuttered in his spot. The voice continued to lurk in his mind, continued to whisper for him to follow but something was stopping him. Joshua looked forward to see Ryan was gone and the voice was gone, looking back to the bushes before jogging to catch up.
Joshua didn't need to look back to see them watching him.
-
It took about ten minutes to find Ryan, who was sitting on a fallen tree looking at his camera.
"Ryan! What the hell, you can't just walk away and leave me behind!"
Ryan snapped his head up and smiled, stuffing his camera back into his backpack.
"Hey, sorry about that. You just missed them though."
Joshua raised a brow and leaned against a tree, not trusting himself to go sit next to Ryan.
"Missed who?"
Ryan rolled his eyes and threw his backpack over his shoulder.
"The wolves! Duh."
Joshua didn't say anything but nodded his head. Ryan's fascination with the wolves was getting out of hand. Ryan smiled again and got up, turning his head and waving off at the distance before coming up to Joshua.
"I'm ready to head back, what about you?"
Joshua didn't trust himself to speak but agreed with a head nod, letting Ryan take a head start before following behind.
The forest seemed to be a bit more lively then it was, Joshua, watching the small critters run about as if they knew it was safe to come out. An hour passed until Ryan and Joshua walked out of the clearing of the trees, Ryan making his leave and saying that he had some stuff to do. Joshua didn't question it and watched his friend walk off, waiting until Ryan got out of view before walking to his house.
No one was home when Joshua got there, slipping off his shoes before jogging up to his room. He rubbed his forehead once he shut the door, notching a sleeping Jim on his bed and the necklace on his desk. Ever since Joshua's first encounter with the wolves, he hasn't worn the necklace since then. Ryan has noticed but never brought it up.
Joshua sat down next to the sleeping pup, who instantly woke up and wagged his tail excitedly.
"Hey little bud, were you waiting for me to get home?"
Jim yipped and jumped off the bed, trotting out of the room and leaving Joshua to his thoughts. Joshua sighed and fell back into the bed, trying to assess what happened in the forest before a wave of sleep came over him.
-
Joshua gasped awake and looked around, noticing that he was not in his room but in an open meadow. He felt a sense of security when a deep brown of a wolf came waltzing his way, the deepest of red eyes but that didn't scare Joshua.
The wolf settled right next to Joshua, placing its head on his lap and looking up. Joshua smiled and looked back up, seeing Ryan coming his way with a wolf by his side.
It felt so domestic for Joshua like this is what his life is missing.
"Hey, Josh, hi, Tyler."
Tyler, that was what the wolf's name was.
"Hey, Ryan, nice to see you again, Brendon."
Brendon, that was the other wolf and also Ryan's mate.
Other wolves seemed to appear but they stayed away, watching from a distance but also playing with each other.
To Joshua, this felt like family, like this is where he belonged.
-
A loud bang woke Joshua up. He looked around noticing he was in his room and his door slightly ajar. He heard a few voices downstairs and only to realize it was his family, taking a deep breath and rubbing his eyes.
