The Howl

Luke doesn't really care for animals but for some reason he has the ability to talk to the woodland creatures. The only other person beside him who knew about his ability was his twin sister named Mary. She loved animals and was jealous of the ability Luke had. Luke would have given the power to her if he could. The twins were walking to school one morning. Luke was ahead of Mary. Mary started yelling his name. ¨What do you want?¨ Luke said annoyed. Mary replied ¨I want to talk to the woodpecker over there. I need you to translate for me.¨ Luke stared at the red- headed woodpecker for 5 seconds. ¨No, we do not have time for that. Come on.¨ Mary followed him disappointed. They got to school and went their separate ways. Luke was on the school´s boxing team. The boxing team and football team hung out together and were friends. Mary played the guitar but usually hung out with the cheerleader group. Mary greeted her two best friends Carrie and Ava. Carrie had a crush on Luke. She liked his shiny blond hair and sparkling brown eyes. Luke greeted his best friend James. They talked about an upcoming boxing tournament. They all watched the clock eagerly waiting for the day to end. Luke and his friends planned after school to go to a forbidden forest that was in their town. It was James' idea. There were rumors that it was a military base, aliens lived there, nuclear weapons were being made, new technology was being developed, or a secret society lived there. Noone knew why the government forbid anyone to go into this forest. They boys were going to go on a mission to figure out. Soon school was over. Luke texted his mom that after school he had to stay for extra help in geometry. His mom texted him that it is fine and tell me when you are finished. Soon school was over. Mary came over to walk with him to the car rider line. Luke told her he had to stay for extra help in geometry. Luke and his friends stopped by a store to buy some snacks and water since they did not know how long they would be exploring the forest. Most of the group thought it was unnecessary to bring a flashlight because they would probably be back before dark. Luke brought some anyways because he liked to be prepared for anything. There were 2 guards on each side of the forest. They would just have to sneak past one and go in the middle of the forest. James threw his metal water bottle on to the ground away from them. It made a big clanging sound. The guard quickly went over to where he heard the sound to check it out. The boys quickly and quietly went by. Soon they reached a distance where the guard would not see them. They entered the forest. The trees were twisted and twirled in every direction. The boys never saw trees that looked like this. They stared at the trees in awe. Luke took out his phone to take a picture but he could not get any signal on his phone. There was wifi called milifi but it required a password that none of them knew. They found a dirt path and decided to go down it. The birds were chirping. Suddenly a deer ran in their path blocking the way. Luke told the deer to move out of the way. He could speak to the animals through his mind so his friends did not know what he was doing. The deer said ¨No, there is a fee if you want to go any farther down the path.¨ Luke replied ¨No way. You are an animal and you do not own this path.¨ His friends thought the deer was cool and started getting a bag of carrots to feed it. James gave him some carrots. The deer quickly ate them. ¨That will do. Y´all are free to go now¨ the deer told Luke. ¨Whatever¨ Luke replied. The sky started to darken. A storm was coming. Big gusts of wind blew everything. The boys tried to avoid getting hit by the swaying branches of the trees. Soon a rabbit came hopping by. He sensed Luke´s ability to talk to them. ¨Turn back. I am warning you. The alpha is coming, ¨ the rabbit said in a frightened voice. Then the rabbit quickly went away. Luke wondered what the rabbit meant but he did not tell his friends about it and continued on. Rain started coming down hard and heavy. All the boys put on the hood of their jackets to keep from getting wet. Some of the boys thought they should head back now but the majority of them voted to keep going because this could be their only chance to explore this forest. They walked for miles. It seemed to them that the time passed fast. It was now dark but the moon shone more bright than usual. It was a full moon. Despite the rain they did not need their flashlights and could see clearly thanks to the moon. Boom! Everyone jumped! It was just thunder. Big streaks of lighting started lighting up the sky. All the boys wanted to head back now except James and Luke. They were already going to be in trouble for staying out so late. Lukeś parents were probably worried about him right now. He hoped that they did not call the police to look for him. James´s parents were used to him coming home at late hours in the night and did not care. The rest of the boys decided to head back. Luke and James decided to continue on together. The storm was now over. Everything was still and quiet. The path seems to go on forever. Soon they hear wolves beginning to howl. Each and every wolf at their own unique howl. One wolf could be heard louder over the others. Luke and James got scared and could not tell how nearby the wolves were. They decided now was a good time to start heading back. They were too scared to continue on. Whatever laid ahead would remain a secret. They walked about 2 miles. Before they knew there were werewolves surrounding them. There were dark red eyes staring at them except for one pair. One werewolf who seemed to be in charge of the pack had piercing green eyes. It was the alpha wolf. Luke and James did not believe in werewolves. This is impossible, they thought. Luke became entranced in the werewolf's eyes that were green. The pack began to growl at them. Luke and James snapped back to reality. This was real and they had to find a way out of this. Luke´s whole body was shaking. The green eyed werewolf spoke and said ¨You are still young. So, I will give you a  chance to live. You have to answer these riddles correctly or pay the consequences. Four for each of you. The first one is for Luke. What has many keys, but cannot even open a single door?¨ She said it in the human english language so James  also understood. She must have read their IDs they still had on from school to learn their names. Luke was relieved because he knew the answer to this riddle. Mary had told him this riddle before. He could not figure it out and Mary told him the answer. ¨A piano¨ Luke quickly replied. ¨Correct. Next one is for James.¨ said the werewolf. All the other werewolves surrounding them were waiting for the green eyed werewolf´s next command. ¨David´s father had three sons. Two of them were named Joe and Calvin. What was the other son's name?¨ said the werewolf. That is an easy one thought James.  ¨David¨” sid James. ¨Correct. The next ones will be harder. What is more useful when it's broken? Luke.¨ the werewolf said coldly.  Luke thought hard. He had to get this answer right. Their lives depended on it. Suddenly he got it. ¨It is an egg.¨ said Luke. ¨Correct. Took you long enough.¨ the werewolf said annoyed. ¨James, the last riddle. I am not alive but I grow. I do not have lungs but need air. I do not have a mouth but water kills me. What am I?¨¨ added the werewolf. James tried to come up with an answer but he had no idea. ¨I do not know¨ he finally admitted. Luke and James moved closer to each other. They knew this was the end. The werewolf´s bright green eyes glared in anger. ¨You are wrong. You have failed. Now you will pay¨ she said. She commanded her pack to attack. They all circled in getting closer to them ready to kill them. Luke and James closed their eyes waiting for death to come. One second before they started attacking a big roar was heard. The werewolfs started running as fast they could away from them. It was a tiger. The tiger roared in agony. Luke saw that it was starving. It had not eaten in days. Luke felt a little bad for the tiger. James still had his eyes closed. Luke shaked James and told him they had to run. They started running as fast as their feet could carry them. The tiger chased after them. After one mile fire flashed in the sky. Luke and James stopped in their tracks and started in shock. The tiger ran away from them. This was crazy. What was going on? A big red dragon soon stopped in front of them. Blocking their path out of the forest. The dragon told Luke ¨Don't run. I will blow my fire on you if you do.¨ Luke told his friend James about his ability and what the dragon had said. Under normal circumstances James would have not believed him but with everything that happened so far he believed in him. ¨I will not harm you but only one can leave the forest and the other has to stay with me forever.The one who stays will serve me. They will hunt food for me. They will do whatever I require. I will protect whoever stays from the other creatures in the forest.¨ said the dragon. There was no other way out of the situation then to do what the dragon requested. James said in a small voice ¨I will stay. It was my idea to come here. I got us into this mess.¨ Luke said ¨No, I will stay. It was my choice to come along and I wanted to.¨” James protested. After a few minutes James finally convinced Luke that he would stay. They said their goodbyes in a depressed mood. The dragon moved out of the way and let Luke by. Luke ran all the way back. When he got out of the forest he decided to go home. Surprisingly the guard was gone. He finally reached home. His legs were super sore from all the walking and running. He tried to quietly go back and sneak through the front door. When he came in he saw his mother sitting at the kitchen table. It was 1:00 am in the morning. His mother's face was stained with tears and wrinkled in worry. When she saw Luke she jumped up. ¨Where have you been? There is a whole police force out there looking for you. I have been worried sick. I called your teacher and you never went and got extra help for geometry. You lied to me. Tell me now. Where have you been?¨ his mother said. Luke did not know what to say. ¨I am sorry mom. I am so sorry.¨ said Luke in a shaken voice. Luke could not say anything else. His mother kept asking him where he was but he just kept saying I am sorry. His mother got angry. She called the police and told them that her son had come home and was no longer missing. Mary soon came down. She hugged Luke. He embraced her back. Their mother told Mary to go back to bed. Mary went back to her room obediently. ¨You are grounded for a very long time.¨ the mother said. The next day James' parents reported James missing. Luke´s friends asked what happened and where James was since Luke and James continued on the trail together after the rest of them left. Luke said ¨You would not believe me if I told you. Just do not ever go to that forest again.¨ His friends were very suspicious of him but did not tell anything to the police because they did not want to get in trouble for going to the forbidden forest. If anyone found out they could be spending a lot of time in jail since the forest was considered private property of the government. From there on Luke distanced himself from everybody. He was ashamed that he left  James there. He missed his best friend. Mary kept bothering him through and said there should be no secrets kept between them. He eventually ended up telling Mary. Surprisingly Mary believed him. Mary felt bad for everything they had to go through even though she thought it was stupid they went there in the first place. They grew a closer bond with each other. James was never found.  The both of them kept it a secret for the rest of their lives.