Gale

• Monet Volkmer, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2022

A calling surrounds and overlaps the wailing echoes of gale.
The deer leaps over thorny mulberry wilds. The creek bellows and the flame and smoke make their way to the breath of the mountains. Night fog covers the moonlight umbra. Flowers hide away to protect their valuable gold.

The night stretches over wild and tranquil land. The canopy darkens, and owls begin to scout. Faint dim lights flutter up and through the branches together with shrubbery. Suddenly gale hissed. One gust kills the fire. She froze, opening her green eyes wider to reveal the foggy path ahead. She was cold, with only her hair hanging off the sides of her pink cheeks. She stood afraid of the fear of dying in the woods. All she desperately wanted was to find a way back to her home. She rashly pulled the backpack off her aching shoulders. She pulled the zips to find a torch or something to light around her. The still air tickled the hairs on her arms and worn-out legs. She chattered her teeth while the temperature dropped and dropped.

Grey tails, white snaring teeth, and big pointy ears. Their calls being heard from miles away. The pack lay peacefully covering their faces from the bare chilling night. One subtle noise could awake them, one hoot of an owl, and even a snap of a twig.

The girl held onto a thick tree branch she had found at her heels. DING. Her phone buzzed. She looked at the time 8:01 pm, the battery was 21%. She had been walking through the forest since broad daylight. Her heart now began to race, her breath smoking the thin air. She started to sense a dizzy feeling. Her eyes closed, and she dropped her bag. THUD. Her arms and head felt heavy. Everything became blacker than before.

BEEP.BEEP. BEEP. A thin blue line jumped up and down. She carelessly raised her arm. Wrapped around was a bandage. She shook her head, her eyes adjusted. She wasn't in the forest. Trying to pull herself up, the bed swayed. She read a sign, EMERGENCY HOSPTIAL. She held her left arm in front of her, "OW" she silently blurted. Using her right arm she lent against the warm metal rails. Stretching her hand to grab the spinach green curtains. The curtains shoved into each other. Next to her was a doctor. "Why am I here?" she asked. "You were bitten" the doctor replied.