Progeny

Where's John?

I was beaming with delight and excitement. I've always wanted to travel in the woods at night. I very much enjoyed the thrill of it. I never attempted to do so because I hadn't anyone to do it with, but now I had my two new friends with me. I grabbed each of their hands and rushed off into the trees.

———

In a way, the woods reminded me of Kilf'rt. Just like the town, the woods had another kind of beauty at night. Instead of sunlight, it was slivers of moonlight that beamed through the treetops. It resembled the town's lanterns, only it was illuminating a bluish-white glow. The trees once looked like tall and wide giants. Now they looked like enormous shadowy figures. The thin and brittle branches appeared to be lengthy fingers, reaching out to grab me. The leaves were no longer vibrant green, but seemed to be black and dark. Even the ground was an endless abyss of darkness. It looked as though I were walking on shadows, but the ground felt hard and bumpy, reminding me that the environment had not changed.

I didn't dare close my eyes, for I didn't trust that harm would not come. I could still hear the water flowing upstream, but there were more sounds at this late hour. Instead of the sweet melody of birds tweeting, there were owls asking me the same question over and over again. Who? They wanted to know who was trespassing in their home, but I did not answer them. Instead, I kept listening to the woods. Crickets were chirping all around me, and bushes rustled as well. I told myself repeatedly that it was just the soft, chilly wind making them rustle.

The eerie sound of animals howling in the distance made the hairs on my neck stand. I assumed that it was the wolves, filling the silence with their voices. Although they're my favorite animals, they still frightened me. They were dangerous and could do some serious harm. I learned in school that they howled for a variety of reasons. They do it to defend their territory or to gather the pack together.

Apparently, the only thing that wasn't different at night was the smell. Day or night, the plants still released the same odor. At least some things didn't change. As much as I hated it, change was inevitable. I needed to accept that fact and learn to adjust to it. I was brought out of my thoughts when a twig snapped to the right of me. Edith, Audrey, and I all whipped our heads in the direction of the sound. I peered deeply into the darkness until my eyes settled on two big yellow ones. Audrey gasped, and Edith smacked her arm to silence her. The four of us made no sudden movements, in fear of an attack.

The creature then moved slowly out of the shadows. Wolf. Its fur shined under the moonlight's glow. Its sparkling black coat was one of the prettiest sights I've ever seen. The moment the wolf became visible, the girls and I relaxed. It was just a pup that must have been separated from its pack. I motioned for Audrey and Edith to continue moving in case the pup's mother came looking for it. The last thing I wanted was to be mauled alive by a hungry pack of wolves.

We heard more rustling and I thought that I jinxed myself again. Soon after, I made out a couple of voices and let my shoulders fall. It's just the boys. I put a finger to my lips and grinned, telling the girls that I wanted to scare them. A memory of Darren, doing the same action, flashed to my mind. I pushed the ancient recollection out of my head and advanced towards the group. Once close enough, I jumped out at them and let out a reverberating cry.

Every single one of them jumped out of their skin. I was sure that if I looked hard enough, I could see their hearts beat right out of their chests. Some of them yelled, and some of them screamed like little girls stumbling across a spider. I fell to the ground, laughing so hard that I was unable to breathe. My stomach ached, and tears came streaming out of my tightly shut eyes. My body was shaking as I began wheezing uncontrollably. I could hear Edith and Audrey laughing loudly as well. Once I calmed down, I rose back up. I took deep breaths and looked at all of the stunned faces in front of me.