"The Howling Woods" by Robbie Railton

Long ago, there existed a beautiful forest. In this forest, in the tallest tree, lived a little girl named Kimberly, who was the age of ten.

What she especially loved to do was explore the many caves that were spread throughout the forest.

However, despite all the fun that she always had, Kimberly was very lonely. “If only I had a friend to share my adventures with,” Kimberly would say to herself, “then I would be happy.” She had no idea that was all about to change.

It was a quiet spring night. Kimberly was running through the forest as fast as she could, wishing that she could stop and rest, but the knowledge of what was chasing her kept her feet going. Kimberly began to cry as she thought of that one fateful night of her childhood that changed her life forever.

When Kimberly was very young, her parents would tell her stories of creatures that lived in caves—creatures that only came out at night.

“Just before a hunt, the creatures let out an eerie cry, which can be heard throughout the entire forest.” That is how her parents had described them.

But Kimberly was too smart for her parents’ stories. “They’re just telling me that so I won’t stay out after dark,” she would think to herself. She never realized why they were so concerned until it was too late.

There had been one fateful night where she had discovered a strange, new cave, where the entire mouth of the cave was covered by flowers.

When Kimberly examined the flowers, she noticing something hidden underneath them—a wooden sign. Kimberly was about to see what it was, when something caught her eye. She turned her head to see the sun, glowing a mixture of orange and pink, about to set behind the horizon.

Immediately, Kimberly forgot all about the cave and bolted for home. By the time Kimberly reached the tree house, the sun had been completely swallowed by darkness.

“Please don’t be angry with me,” Kimberly begged, “I got distracted…” Kimberly’s voice trailed off as she looked around the one room tree house. It was completely empty.

Kimberly glanced around the room. “Mom? Dad? Where are you?” she cried.

She climbed down out of the tree house. Frantically, she began running all over the woods, searching for them.

Tears began to fill her eyes, but, suddenly, a high-pitched, howl suddenly filled the air. A look of shock appeared on Kimberly’s face, and then vanished, replaced by a look of pure terror.

Slowly, Kimberly turned around. “It can’t be,” she whispered, but there it was. Sitting on top of a hill was a large, white-furred creature.

After a few minutes of listening to the creature’s howling, everything that was happening finally sank into Kimberly. This was the creature that her parents had warned her about; this was a wolf.

Just thinking of that night made Kimberly consider stop running and giving up.

She wanted to look back and see if the wolf was gaining on her. As she prepared to do just that, she tripped and fell hard onto the ground. She saw something white walk towards her, then everything went black.

Kimberly woke up the next morning in the back of a large cave. The warm light from outside shone into the cave. Carefully, Kimberly stood up. When she reached the mouth of the cave, she turned around and looked at the entrance; it was covered in flowers. “Oh my gosh!” exclaimed Kimberly, “this is the same cave! I wonder if…” Kimberly reached up and moved the flowers aside. There was a wooden sign hanging from an outcropping in the cave.

As Kimberly was reading it, she heard a voice behind her. “You’re finally awake.”

As Kimberly spun around to face the speaker, the motion made her slip and fall to the ground. She looked up, meeting the gaze of…a white wolf. Terror swept through Kimberly. It only stayed for a moment, for when she looked into the eyes of the wolf, and saw the sadness they carried, she immediately forgot her fear, and, having a big heart, felt only compassion.

“What’s wrong?” Kimberly asked.

The wolf glanced at her, his eyes full of pain. “It was the winter of three years ago.” My four pups were hungry, so I went out hunting for them.” The wolf began to weep heavily. “When I got back, I found human foot prints outside the cave, and I rushed inside. My mate and pups were gone; all that was left was blood and fur.”

That’s terrible!” exclaimed Kimberly, horrified.

“They took my family and I wasn’t there to stop them!” shouted the wolf, tears pouring out of his eyes. “A few days later I found fresh paw prints that smelled like my mate and children. For the last three years, I’ve been following the blind hope that I’ll be able to find them…” He paused, letting his voice trail off, then continued, “I’m sorry; I don’t expect you to understand.”

“But I do understand,” said Kimberly. “When I was little, my parents disappeared, too, but through all of these years, I never gave up trying to find them.”

“You know, we have a common goal—to find our families. I think we should look together,” said Kimberly.

The wolf looked away, saying, “Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“When I was little, my parents told me stories of creatures that lived in caves and howled before a hunt,” said Kimberly. “But you don’t howl because you’re hunting; you’re calling for your family.”

“That’s right,” said the wolf. “You and I share a common bond.”

Kimberly stood up and looked at the wooden sign hanging on the cave; the sign read, “LIFE IS SHORT, BUT FAMILY IS FOREVER.” She smiled.

Then, they ran off, side by side, to continue the search for their families. Only now, Kimberly and the wolf not only had the hope of finding their families; they had each other.

Return to list