Misadventures

Freedom

I scramble away from the cave hole unknowingly tumbling down a rocky mountain. I roll down uncomfortably scraping and scratching with the sharp earth, I try to control my fall and I eventually slow down.

All the energy I once had was suddenly drained from me. I didn't sleep that night so I'm catching up now.

-

I wake up in darkness but this dark is different. I am really free now, surrounded by familiar wooden trees. I'm also really warm, I don't remember the fur skirt being so warm.

I feel rough fur giving me warmth, and soon realize it's  not the soft bear skin I have. I lift myself up and see a gigantic grey wolf.

Fear, surprise, confusion, fear and panic overwhelm me. The wolf turns to me and I become a still statue. It lays it's head on my lap, I want to take it that it is being kind but I'm not sure.

After Trey stabbed me in the eye I don't think I will trust anyone like ever again. I only have my parents really, and that's enough for me.

My parents. I must get back to them. I can't let them wait I need their love! But I have a giant predator on my lap.

I don't know what to do. I lift my hand and stroke the rough fur. It's kinda ironic, the bear has soft fur but it was ready to kill me and this wolf has rough fur and it seems very calm.

I tensely wait for day break just as I did in the cave. I lay back down enjoying the wolf's warmth from the cold ground. If I die here I hope it's peacefully.

-

I woke up and the wolf was still by my side looking away from me and staring ahead. I get up as best I can but I fall back down. I now have a broken foot and an arrow stub stuck to my arm and they're both beginning to turn black. The wolf looks at me and stands. It is taller than I expected.

Towering over me the wolf pushes its head against mine, I don't know what's it's doing. It walks around me and pushes me more and more to the point where I feel like I'm suppose to get up. I use the wolf for support and pick myself up standing on one foot and leaning on its body.

The wolf walks around me and ducks underneath my legs. I take the chance and sit on the wolf, hoping that that's what it meant. The wolf  got back up on it's four legs and I had to grip it's fur to keep balance.

It started to walk and I was having a hard time staying upright. I pushed myself further back and layed my chest and head down on it's back. I only gripped the wolf's fur with the bruising arm and wrapped my good one around it's neck. I layed my head to the side and watched the wolf gradually increasing it's speed past the trees like a moving car.

After a while the wolf stops, and sits. I get off him and sit next to him. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl but I'll assume it's a boy.

He nudges my head with his nose and looks pointedly at a direction.

I look to where he is looking at and I don't see anything. I look at the wolf, "I dont see anything." Yes I spoke to an animal that can't talk back.

He growled and moved forward still looking pointedly at that direction. I don't know what he wants me to do for sure but I look around for a big stick to keep me upright and I hop to the direction the wolf is looking at.

I look back hoping the wolf won't leave me. Every once in a while I look back and see the wolf on the same spot as he was. I kept hopping and when I turned back to look at him for the twentieth time, he got up and ran the opposite direction.

I kept hopping straight to the direction the wolf was looking at. After 20 more hops I saw it. The familiar muddy stream that made me chase a frog, the tree that had the weird scratches, the woods where I played in for so many years.

My home was near! I could see them soon. I hopped higher and farther wanting to see my family more than ever.

I could see the familiar green grass on my backyard, I cry when I see my house, I cry more when I feel the soft grass on my bare feet. I get closer to the back door and enter. Looking for their love and embrace, I go to the living room and sit on the counch. Crying in releif.

-

I am woken up by sobs and words of consolement. I open my eye to see my mother crying on her knees and my dad staring intently at me.

"She's awake," My dad said so low I couldn't beleive my mom heard it.

She stopped her blubbering like a record player and stared at me, "My baby you're alive!" She hugs me so hard I feel like I will break. My dad comes down and holds us as well. I cry into their shoulders not caring if they crush me with hugs.

We all hug and cry and kiss for who knows how long until they finally asked what happened. I told them everything from the woods and mazes to the wolf helping me out.

"I can't beleive how strong you are." My dad looks at me weirdly.

"You survived all that with your smarts and past experiences. I'm proud of you honey, but I would never want you to got through that again." She is cleaning the wound in my arm and removed the arrow stub while I was telling the story of the bear people.

My father iced my foot, "And you had no idea where you were for the most part?"

I shook my head, "I thought I was in a cave but sometimes it didnt feel that way, it was too big to be a cave but it also had the shape of a cave." I told him.

My mom started cleaning my face after placing the bandage on my arm, "And you never saw Carla again right, sweetie?"

That's a weird question, "No, I didn't."

"So she just wanted to go to the woods and you don't remember how you got to the cave?" My quickly dad asked.

"I don't know how I got there." I look down feeling bad.

"It's ok sweetie, we just want to know why all this happened and find Carla, to see if she is in a y danger as well like you were." My mom cleaned my face and examined my eye.

I never knew my mom would know how to do all this stuff, I wonder if she was a doctor before.

She checks my eye and looks at my good one, "Unfortunately sweetie you're going to be missing an eye."

"That's okay." After all that, I think I could live without a limbs just so I could never go back to an experience like that. I'm really tired, and I have so many questions but I'm too tired.

I fall asleep.