Kindness And Darkness

• Erin Nielsen, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2013

I step out of my shabby little hut and take a walk through the forest; so many beautiful things lay in the forest. Just nature itself is beautiful. The sound of a male wolf in pain catches my interest. I walk towards the sound. My breath wedged in my throat. As I get closer I can hear other wolves.
I push aside two branches and peer out. I see a wolf lying next to the river bed. Without shilly-shallying I move towards the injured wolf. I crouch down alongside him and look at the injury on his side. I gasp in alarm and I shared a piece of fabric off my skirt. I damp it in the water and press it gently on the gash. Blood spilling onto my hands, the wolf howls in pain. I cringe as though I’m cutting him open.
“Settle down, it’s ok. I’m not going to hurt you,” I whisper to the wolf quietly. I rinse out the fabric and dip it into the water again. I gently pat him on the head and then I start to stroke his fur. I complete this for a while and when I notice the sun setting I jump in shock. I hadn’t noticed that it was so late. I continue working until I feel satisfied with the amount of help I have given the wolf.
The other wolves come out of the forest and circle us. Wolves are such strange and beautiful creatures. I get up slowly and I stand back. Then something I wish I had never seen happens. The wolf turns into a man right in front of my eyes. I look into his deep green eyes. The man slowly gets up onto his feet. He is at least 6”2 and he is well built.
Backing away in fear, I turn on my heel and run for my life into the forest, only looking back just the once. This is impossible! He can’t really have done that. The howling of wolves reaches my ears and I push myself to go faster. I can hear the pounding of paws getting closer. Werewolves aren’t supposed to exist but if they do does that mean that other mythical creatures exist as well?
Suddenly I’m tackled to the ground. I look to see who tackled me and it’s none other than the werewolf man. I struggle against him but it does nothing because he wraps his arms around me and growls at me.
“Mate.” He growls in my ear and I get a sharp pain on the base of my neck. I scream out in pain. I have never felt anything so terrible in my life. It aches and my breathing becomes shallow. A tear escapes my eye and slowly makes its way down past my cheek. Darkness, its all I can see as my eyes start to droop. I struggle to keep my eyes open, to not fade on the different shades of darkness.