I wave goodbye to Jill as the car pulls away from the house and does her usual goodbye by making her hands look like a heart and then blowing a kiss. I walk up the steps of the deck to my house and to the front door. I search through my backpack for the keys; once I find them I insert the key into the lock and unlock the door. Inside I kick off my shoes and throw my backpack on the couch. All the lights in the house are off, a clear indication that both of my parents are still at work. I walk across the living room and flip on the light in the kitchen. I look in the fridge for a small snack and pull out an apple and then walk up the stairs to my room. The kitchen, dining room, and living room are all located on the main floor. The bedrooms are all upstairs. I walk past my parent’s room and peek inside to double check if someone is home. Nothing. My mom has been working a lot of extra hours at the hospital as a surgical nurse, and my dad is the lead engineer of a construction company. I’d gotten used to coming home to an empty house. At first it was kind of eerie walking into a silent house; the creaks in the floor under my feet as I walked sounded louder than usual. I would jump at any little sound, but now I’m used to it. I don’t mind the solitude all that much.

In my room I slip into some comfortable exercise pants, a light long sleeved shirt, and a pair of running shoes. I tie a jacket around my hips, and pull my long blonde hair into a high ponytail. Downstairs I grab a backpack for hiking out of a closet near the front door. Lastly I fill up a water bottle and leave a small note on the kitchen table explaining to my parents that I’d be out on a hike.

Once outside I lock the door behind me and jump off the steps of the deck and head towards the trees near my house. As I walk into the clutter of trees I feel as if I’ve entered a totally different world, leaving behind the one outside. Inside here I feel free, I feel like a different person, a person no one will judge. Although this place harbors a scary memory from my past I’ve never been able to find place in my heart to be scared of this place. This is the only place I can feel relaxed and clear my head. That, and it held the answers I knew I was looking for from what happened ten years ago.

The trees seem to go on endlessly, just like my thoughts. I climb up some big boulders and a look out as far as the trees allow. I hear the rushing of water from a small river just a couple hundred feet away. Birds sing in the trees, and everywhere around me leaves of red, orange, and yellow float to the ground. I take in a deep breath and let myself soak in the view. I think of everything that happened today; all the teaching, loud hallways, shoving teenagers and let them disappear into the vastness of my mind. Then I think of my encounter with Macie and how Jill had stood up for me… again. I linger on that memory for a few moments and then let them melt into the back of my subconscious. I take a drink out of my water bottle and climb back down the large boulder and continue walking further into the trees. I keep my eyes peeled for any sign of wild life and clues that could help me find the truth behind what happened ten years ago, even though I have no idea as to what it is that I’m looking for. I guess I secretly hope that the truth will just appear right in front of me, or I’ll recognize a clue when I see it.

My thoughts are cut short when I hear a twig snap behind me. I fall to the ground and hide myself behind the large grass next to me. A couple hundred feet away I see two men, one looking to be in his mid-twenties and the other a few decades older, dressed in camouflage hunched over a small hill, the younger man is holding a rifle and pointing it at something. I follow the direction the gun is pointed in and see a beautiful black wolf. I’d never seen a completely black wolf before, I’d seen pictures of wolves with colors of black on them, but this one was completely black. It looks a little larger than a regular sized wolf though. It stands over near some bushes and tall grass completely oblivious to the two hunters just a few hundreds of feet away from him. I can understand how the two hunters could see this as a prize kill; he is truly unique and beautiful. I look back over at the two hunters, the younger one is positioning himself and adjusting his gun to get a good shot at the wolf while the older one makes small hand movements as if he’s telling him what to do. I know that it’s not hunting season and a law was just passed about it being illegal to hunt wolves due to their decreasing numbers, I knew these men were hunting illegally. I look around for something to alert the wolf. There is a rock the size of a golf ball just a few feet in front of me. I grab it and chuck it in the same direction as the wolf. It hits the ground with a loud thump. The wolf’s ears pull back and its head raises straight up, alert. The young hunter curses and before he can finish aiming he shoots at the wolf so it doesn’t run off. Startled it takes off into the brush disappearing into the bushes.

“Did you hit it?” The older one yells

“I think so.”

“Then let’s go find it. If you did shoot it, it wouldn’t have gotten far.”

The two men stand up and disappear in the direction they saw the wolf go. Now, any other person would have run away and alerted the police, but being me I can’t help but chase after the wolf, because unlike them I saw which direction it really went; just after it had disappeared into the brush I saw it make a turn and run away in a different direction. Trying to stay out of sight of the hunters I follow the direction the wolf went.

It’s been a few minutes of looking and I’m starting to lose hope that I’ll find it, and I just hope that it had gotten away uninjured, then I hear a small and quiet whimper. I come to a small, yet steep hill covered by bushes. I move some of the branches aside to look down to see if I can find anything. At the bottom of the hill I see the black wolf lying in a small pool of blood under its stomach. Suddenly, a bright mist surrounds the wolf, it’s almost magical looking. The mist grows and wolf is enveloped by it, after a few seconds it dissipates. I gasp in surprise; the wolf is gone, now a young man lying on his side is in the same spot. I shake my head and blink my eyes really fast totally taken aback by what I just witnessed. His clothes are very strange. His pants are a black leather; his boots are metal and navy blue with gold designs, they almost look like boots from those of a knight’s in a fairy tale story, only nicer. His top is long and navy blue with a long sleeve on one side, and on the other side it stops at the top of his shoulder and from there almost a woven-like leather all the way down to his elbow till the it completely covers the rest of his arm. Covering up his forearms are two gauntlets that match the color and design of his boots. His hands are covered in black leather gloves. The bottom of his shirt looks likes its been shredded at the ends at different lengths. Tied around his waist is a thick black and blue cloth that covers most of his lower abdomen. After a moment, I realize he’s still hurt and slowly begin to make my way down the hill. The loose leaves make it difficult to keep myself from slipping, which would lead to a serious injury, so I hold onto the branches of small trees and bushes as I make my way down the hill. There is about a three foot drop off that I have to jump off of before I land on flat ground next to the young man. I kneel down next to him. He doesn’t seem conscious and I place my hand above his nose and mouth to feel for breathing. After a few seconds, I see his shoulder slowly move up and down. I let out a sigh of relief. Looking down at his side I see where the hunters bullet hit him. His entire side is covered in blood and the pool on the ground next to him is getting progressively larger, I untie the jacket from around my hips and wrap it around his waist tying if off tightly above the bullet wound. He groans in pain.

“I’m sorry, but I have to stop the bleeding.” He doesn’t seem to understand what I’m saying. Off in the distance I hear the hunters shouting and getting closer. I stand up and look around for a way to hide him, if the hunters found us it wouldn’t end well. I notice under the three foot drop I’d jumped off of is a small opening. I get down on my hands and knees and look inside. There are no animals inside and the hole is just big enough for a small person. I look over at the young man, judging by his size he wouldn’t fit inside. I could, but I can’t leave him out in the open like this. My heart is racing and my hands are shaking; an idea comes into my head and I gather a bunch of large branches and leaves to cover him. After analyzing the pile and declaring it good enough I crawl into the small hole, hoping and praying they won’t find him. Just above the hill I hear multiple footsteps.

“You’re absolutely certain you got him?” the older man asks.

“It wasn’t a lethal shot, but yes, I’m certain I got him.”

“Well either you missed him or the shot wasn’t good enough to slow him down.” I can hear the man’s frustration in his voice as he keeps walking along the top of the hill.

“Maybe it went down this hill?”

I hold my breath and look over at the large pile of branches and leaves covering the young man. ‘I hope it looks natural enough that they won’t suspect anything.’

“Well, take a look.” The older man says, even more frustrated.

I hear branches move as the younger man looks down the hill. I close my eyes and pray that they don’t try coming down here.

“I don’t see anything. And it’s too steep for an injured animal to get down safely.”

“Great, you lost a perfect prize!”

“I’m sorry, something alerted it before I could get off a good shot.”

“I don’t want to hear excuses. Let’s just get out of here, we don’t want anyone to catch us.”

I wait a few minutes after they leave before I crawl back out of the hole. I walk over to the pile I had created and take the branches and leaves off uncovering the young man. I see a large pool of blood at my feet, ‘Oh no’, I start to move faster. After I dust off the last of the leaves I check his side where my jacket is tied around his waist, blood had begun to seep through the jacket. I look at his shoulder to see if he’s still breathing. After a few moments of suspense, it moves up and down slowly. I let out a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. I have to get him out of here. I have to get him help, otherwise, he is going to die. I take off my backpack and put it inside the small hole I’d crawled into, it was only going to make it more difficult to carry him to the house, and I can come back for it later. I rush back over to the young man. I get down on one knee and put his arm around my neck. He groans in pain and opens his eyes; they are so black I almost can’t tell the difference from his pupils.

“I need your help. I can’t carry you by myself, so I need you to stand up okay.” He stares at me blankly for a few seconds then attempts to sluggishly put his feet under him. After a few failed attempts and his constant moans from the pain I finally get him on his feet. He is so heavy I wonder how far I’ll actually be able to carry him. As we stagger through the forest he stumbles over rocks and stumps, which causes me to use all the strength I have to keep the both of us from falling to the ground. I hadn’t gone too far from the house so it wasn’t super long till we had reached the end of the trees and I’m able to see my house. The lights are on and I can see two figures moving around inside. I let out a sigh of relief as sweat trickles down my forehead. Just before we reach the house I feel him go completely limp and we both crumble to the ground. I try to get him back up but he is unconscious; I try shaking his shoulder, but he doesn’t wake up. Panic starts to set in. I look up at the house and the figures inside.

“Mom! Dad! Help!” I scream as loud as I can. Before I know it, I hear the front door swing open and footsteps run to the side deck towards us.

“Natalie, what’s wrong sweetheart!” Mom yells as she comes into view. She looks down at the young man lying next to me; the color rushes from her face when she notices my blood-soaked jacket around his waist.

“Oh my…. Stephen get out here now!” She runs off the side steps of the house over to us. My dad runs around the corner and before he can register anything my mom yells at him again.

“Get the car and bring it around. Hurry!”

Without a word he turns around and disappears to the front of the house. A few moments later I hear the car start.

“Natalie what happened? Who is this?”

I look back down at the young man and my mom as she inspects my bloody jacket around his waist.

“I.. I don’t know, I found him like this.”

The car screeches to a stop next to us. My dad gets out and runs around next to us.

“He’s lost a lot of blood; we need to get him to the hospital.” Mom says to dad as he stands over us. He nods and they both lift him up. “Natalie open the door.” I get up and swing the back door of the car open as my parents set him down on the seat inside. “Okay, Natalie I need you to sit next to him and put pressure over the wound. We need to try and stop the bleeding.” I nod and slide in next to him, my dad shuts the door and rushes around to the driver’s side while my mom gets in the passenger. I place my hands over his side and push down; he groans, but it’s so quiet I almost don’t hear him. My dad pulls out onto the street and speeds down the road. We live just outside of town where the houses are spread far in between. And normally I feel the road isn’t that long, but right now, it’s totally opposite. No matter how fast my dad seems to drive the road feels like it stretches on forever. My heart is racing and all I can do is worry that we’re not going to make it to the hospital in time. We finally pull off the long strip of road and onto the main street. My mom pulls out her phone and dials a number then holds it up to her ear.

“Janis hi, I need you to contact Jim and tell him to meet me in the E.R…. I have a young boy in my car with a gunshot wound to the lower abdomen; he’s lost a lot of blood and needs immediate attention. Also, contact the O.R. and tell them to prep it for surgery. We’ll be there in ten minutes…. Ok, thank you.” She hangs up and looks back at us.

“How’s he doing?” she asks

I look over at him; his head is tilted off to the side facing downward, his chest barely moving. I look down at my hands on his side, they are now covered in blood. I look back up at my mom she can see the fear written all over my face. She reaches back and grabs my knee, then looks over at my dad. The car races down the road; thankfully it’s late enough that there’s not a lot of traffic as we speed towards the hospital.