Willow's Tree

1

"Okay. Bye mom."

I hung up the phone and sighed. Today would be another day where I stayed home alone. It wouldn't be any different from the past three years, so I wasn't complaining. That was just the result of having parents who traveled around the world due to their famous and successful business of marriage counseling. It amazed me how many couples had problems in their marriages, and how many were actually desperate to patch up their broken relationship—something I didn't understand and probably never would.

As my stomach growled, I walked to the fridge and opened it to find leftover spaghetti from last night. I tossed it into the microwave before I leaned against the counter and stared through the back door.

Outside, it was a white wonderland. Snow upon snow covered everything, including my willow tree in the backyard. The vines that hung from its branches looked like long, white fingers, reaching to touch the ground. As I stared at the wonders of Mother Nature, I noticed a dark pile underneath my willow tree, nestled by the trunk.

My curiosity got the better of me and I grabbed my coat and boots before I headed outside. A blast of icy wind slapped my skin as I made my way through my back yard. The closer I got to the tree, the clearer my vision became. When I moved the last obstruction—the vines of my willow tree—I discovered that it was a dog. Or at least what seemed to be a dog. There were occasional sightings of wolves in the woods of my backyard, but it couldn't possibly be a wild animal. It seemed too lax for one.

The...creature...perked at my arrival and stood in a protective stance, preparing to run—or attack—if necessary. When it saw me though, it only released a puff through its nostrils and dropped back down on its belly, into its original, calm state.

I raised an eyebrow. "That's weird."

To be ignored was the last of my expectations. It completely disregarded my presence. Normal dogs would've welcomed me, or barked, or at least kept an eye on me. Wolves—though I had no experiences with them—should've ran, even before I reached them. That was how animal instincts worked, right? But this...dog...wasn't even looking at me. Its eyes were even closed.

After a few silent seconds, I crooked a finger and clicked my tongue.

"Come here boy. Or girl," I muttered the latter half, not sure what its gender was.

However, it seemed to have heard me anyway and growled.

"Boy?" I asked, but of course, received no reply from the dog. "Aren't you cold?'

It ignored me again.

"Want to come into my house?"

Ignored.

I pursed my lips and stared at the dog, unsure as to what to do. Then I noticed something that was mostly hidden by the large body of the animal. Splotches of the snow were darkened by something red.

Blood.

"Are you hurt?" I approached it with my hand outstretched. It growled and I stopped and let my hand fall back to my side. Once it saw that I no longer moved towards it, it relaxed again.

Instead of going home straight away, I crouched and balanced on the balls of my feet. My arms folded atop my lap and I remained still, staring at the dog. It noticed that I wasn't leaving and opened its eyes to stare back. The color of its irises were a warm orange, like the sunset. I had never seen such a shade before in eyes and stared back, mesmerized. However, I blinked and the dog released a harrumph, causing a cloud of smoke to puff up from its nose.

"Are you sure you don't want to come in?" I asked.

It continued to stare wordlessly. Of course, that was the only reaction I expected out of it. After all, it was a dog. Dogs couldn't speak human words. It couldn't reply yes or no to my questions.