Escape

That night, I lay in my room on my back, looking at the ceiling for hours. Everyone else was in bed, likely asleep, and I was still thinking about everything that had happened in the woods and what my grandmother had told me when I got back home. There was so much I didn’t understand, so much I didn’t know, and I had no idea when I might figure it all out.

But I felt like it was important. Once I had discovered there was a possibility that I had been brought there to be closer to the wolves and not to run away from them, I had to start asking myself why. Why did the forest call to me the way that it did? Why had my grandmother given me that odd red hood that looked like something out of a fairytale I’d read when I was a little girl? 

Despite all of my questions about my own existence that kept circulating through my overly tired brain, I also couldn't keep my mind off of the guy I’d come across in the woods. Even though I was worried about my own future, I kept thinking about him, how beautiful his eyes were, how his muscles rippled through his T-shirt as his arm moved to cut through the wood. It was out of character for me. I’d never really been hung up on a guy before. Don’t get me wrong--I’d noticed an attractive guy now and again, but most of the guys I went to school with were such jerks, I never even thought about attempting to date them or anything like that. I just figured I’d wait until I got to college to find a guy that I really hit it off with to be my first boyfriend. 

Not that I wanted this guy from the forest to be my boyfriend or anything! I was really getting ahead of myself. It was nothing like that. I kept reminding myself that I didn’t know his name or who he was or anything about him. Just because he was hot and had beautiful eyes, that didn’t mean I was in love with him or anything.

I did think it was really odd how his eyes looked so much like that wolf’s eyes, though. And… my grandma had asked me what color the wolves’ eyes were. I had no idea what that was supposed to tell her, and she hadn’t elaborated. Had she seen those wolves before? When I told her what color their eyes were, she had nodded like it meant something to her. I wish she would’ve told me more, but I knew she wasn’t ready to say anything else at the time. Maybe tomorrow I’d be able to get more information out of her.

As I lay there in the dark, going over everything again and again, I heard a distinct howl in the distance. Immediately, I sat straight up in my bed, my eyes going to the window next to me. I couldn’t see anything but moonlight over trees, but when I heard a second owl, a different wolf, further away and to the south of where the other had come from, I had to wonder if those were the wolves I’d seen that day or other wolves?

I lay back down, wondering why I’d never heard any howls coming from the woods before. Until my adventure earlier, I never even realized there were wolves in these woods. Did it mean something that they were calling to each other on the same night that I’d first seen them? I had no way of knowing for sure, but it seemed unlikely that that was the case.

Eventually, my eyelids began to grow heavy. I continued to hear howling in the distance, but it didn’t keep me up. It did, however, influence my dreams. That night, I dreamt that I was running with wolves again, all four of them. I also dreamt of the guy I’d seen chopping wood, nothing distinctive, nothing I could remember in the morning. Only his eyes. Those stayed with me both in my dreams and when I awoke the next day. Something told me it would be a long time until my mind was free from those eyes.

***

The next day,I was hesitant to go back into the woods. I knew I wouldn’t go far, that I’d stay within sight of Grandma’s house for at least the next week or so, but after breakfast, I didn’t exactly run out the door like I usually did. Instead, I lingered at the kitchen table.

Grandma said nothing about the wolves, but then, the rest of my family was there, and I didn’t think they were aware of what had happened the day before. I didn’t tell them. They all scattered after we were done eating. I stayed to help Grandma do the dishes and then sat back at the table, thinking.

I don’t know how long I’d been there when Max came in, his eyebrows raised. “Not going out today?” he asked quietly.

“I think I will. But not at the moment.”

He nodded as if he had an idea of why I was hesitating, even though I had no idea why he would know what was keeping me inside. He kept his voice low and said, “Do you want to go into town with me?”

My stepdad had my attention now. “Where are you going?”

He looked over his shoulder, and I realized it was because he didn’t want my grandma to hear him. “The store.” Max took a few steps closer to me. “I need a few items Grandma refuses to add to her shopping list.”

I couldn’t help but smile at him. I had never been to the local grocery store, and I seriously doubted it was anything like the massive shopping centers I was used to back home, but I was ready to go there. I was ready to go anywhere. “Sure!” I said, grinning conspiratorially at him. “Should we ask Gray?”

“No. She’ll be too loud. But we’ll pick up some stuff for her.” Max rubbed his hands together, like a burglar in a cartoon, and I stifled a giggle. We tiptoed to the door and headed for the van, praying Grandma didn’t catch us before we could get out of the drive. She might realize what we were up to by the time we got back, but at least we’d get to have our fun first.