It was here....

After three weeks of living free and hunting for my own, I found the human scent. But it was fresh, tickling my nostrils before I snorted and sniffed at the grass again. It was an odd scent for a human. Usually they smelled of whatever they ate, the fat and grease wafting from their pores.

This scent was...fresh. It made me think of how fresh snow smelled like, or a hot rainy day. I sniffed it again, slowly tracking the scent down. There was only one human... didn't they usually travel in groups?

I slowly, hesitantly tracked the scent, keeping my ears perked for any sound or indication that they were rushing back. Instead, I followed the steady footprints and paused in the bushes as I saw the human ahead.

The boy was reaching out to the trees, touching them almost lovingly as he looked up at the canopy. My eyes dropped to the hand dangling beside him, thumb tapping against each digit in flawless rhythm.

Sniffing at the air, I stepped closer, hesitating. This boy...didn't seem like the other humans. I followed him silently but he never looked back. He went from tree to tree, whispering to himself, as he looked at the canopy, touched the bark in a gentle caress before going to the next one.

As I tracked him, I could detect hints of an older scent. His scent. He must've been over this path again and again for the ground to become saturated with his scent, especially after the rains from last week.

The clouds darkened overhead and I suspected the boy to look up, maybe run for cover from the oncoming downpour. Instead he kept walking, rubbing over the side of his head as thunder rumbled in the sky.

His fingers were growing more agitated.

I frowned and crept closer, tilting my head at the odd human. It was weird though... for once, I didn't feel fear or disgust when meeting a human. I've seen plenty of humans from my cages or as they dragged me along on a leash. But not with this one.

How odd...

My paws carried me further ahead, watching the boy growing closer. I silently hopped over a fallen tree and squirmed through a few bushes before coming to a halt when I realized my mistake.

The boy had stopped, fingers stilling as his eyes landed on me. My panting paused, ears pricking forwards as I looked at the odd boy while standing a few feet away from him.

Completely revealed.

And absolutely mesmerized by his eyes.

It seemed as if his eyes had absorbed all the colors of the forest I loved and displayed them in a passionate explosion of life. Blue from the skies above tangling with the vibrant green of the soft leaves swaying in the wind. And mixed with all that, a warm brown of the trees that surrounded us.

He tilted his head slightly, observing me as he made a throaty sound. Surprisingly he didn't ran, nor did he approach or talk to me in that annoyingly high pitched voice humans tended to use.

Instead he stood there, slowly getting soaked in the drizzle...and waited. I let out a soft snort when nothing happened, intending on moving back in the forest. When I was halfway turned, I was surprised when I heard a similar snort coming from the boy.

Turning, he was still standing there, tilting his head slightly, watching me as closely as I was watching him. I avoided looking in his eyes but after a few seconds, I realized the boy was doing the exact same thing.

When he took a step towards me, I backed up a bit, a low growl rumbling in my throat as a warning to back off. His eyes fluttered from my flattened ears to my curling lips before flashing to my paws as I took another step back.

He stayed put.

He respected my boundaries.

Intrigued, I took calculated steps forwards until I was one firm leap away from the boy. I stopped when I noticed his fingers starting twitching, quicker and quicker with each step I had taken towards him. When I raised my paw, intending to breach the gap and sniff at him closely, he took me by surprise.

He growled.

I froze, eyes flashing towards his and expecting to see them glow golden like those wolf men. They were the same unique mesh of colors, tainted with agitation and fear. When I slightly arched forwards, he bared his teeth the same way I had done, growling louder.

As soon as I stepped back, he paused, lips twitching as I tilted my head with a curious whine.

Did he understand me?

I yawned in an attempt to relieve the stress building up in my body and turned away from the confusing human. A boy who didn't act like a human at all... yet he wasn't a wolfman either...

With another silent huff I trotted along the path, hearing the boy walking behind me. I didn't feel threatened because I knew we were merely using the same pathway. At a crossroad of the road, I walked back into the woods, jumping on a few rocks before looking back.

The boy was standing in the middle of the road, touching the massive oak that stood in the middle of the forked roads. Snorting, I shook my head and went out to hunt. He couldn't have understood me.

Nobody ever did.

And nobody ever will.

---Felix' POV---

The rain was softly pattering on the cap of my jacket, distracting me immensely until I brushed it off my head. It lessened the sound to a bearable degree as I slowly walked back through the woods, pausing at the spot where I met the wolf.

I could still see its paw print on the mud, tilting my head to observe it closely as my mind flashed with interest. The rain picked up, rushing down with a loud noise as another thunder crackled in the air.

The sound echoed sharply through my ears and I panicked, swallowing sharply as my fingers started tapping once again, humming to drown the sound out. The rain brought along smells of churned up dirt, a fresh breeze and the smell of my damp clothes.

Too much info.... Too much....

I knew I wasn't too far away from home. Only 215 steps left and I was at the porch, three steps up and I was at the front door. My eyes picked up movement as I walked up the cabin.

That never happened before...

My breath caught in my throat at the sight of the wolf on the path. That wasn't normal. Wolves belonged in the forest, animals belonged in the forest. It was to be expected to see animals on my daily walks.

Like yesterday, with those chipmunks as they darted over the floor. I knew they were looking for nuts and stashed them away for winter, often forgetting where their food stores were.

Another sound made me look up before glancing away to avoid looking in mother's eyes. She was standing on the porch again, hugging herself as she waited for me to approach.

One, two, three steps up.

"Hey Felix, welcome home sweetheart. Did you have a good walk today?" I rocked on the spot, eyes averted from her face before she sighed slightly. "Felix. Look at me." Frowning, I looked up, eyes flitting over her face.

Eyes pinched, brows slightly furrowed, a lock of hair curling between her eyes and gracing her cheek, scent of fragrant perfume, a loose thread on her cardigan, lips curling down as her mouth moved, sound overwhelming my ears. The door creaked in the wind, rain falling down on the roof as I felt the rain slowly soak through my clothes, making them stick against my body-

"Felix!"

I moved my eyes away from her, glancing back at my hands. The nails were slowly digging into my palm, pushing me back into my body. I hummed deeply, trying to differentiate which sound came from my body, where I was amidst this hurricane of sounds and sensations.

She pushed the door further open and I stepped inside, bending down to remove my shoes and place them neatly underneath the clothes rack. My jacket followed soon, frowning as I spotted drops of rain rolling down the hem.

Mom doesn't like it when I hang wet clothes up inside the closet.

So instead, I closed the closet and put them on a hanger, opening another cabinet to withdraw a few old towels to place underneath it.

"Thanks Felix dear. You can go up to your room honey, I'll call when diner is ready." I nodded sharply, already walking towards the twenty steps up to my room. I was the only one sleeping upstairs in our small house.

I liked being alone. Nobody understood me anyways. I could see the confused and annoyed looks thrown my way, people speaking about me when I was standing beside them, as if I was stupid. Moronic.

I'm not a moron. I simply didn't find a need to speak. Words were useless, I gave plenty of signs when I didn't like something, So it wasn't my fault people weren't paying attention.

Closing the door of my room, I instantly went to my desk near the window and put in my sound mufflers. I didn't like thunderstorms. My autism made me acutely aware, hypersensitive to the world around me. A thunderstorm along with the spices of mom's cooking might push me over the edge.

Flicking the small light on, I reached forwards and pulled the box of pencils from its place before opening the cupboard and pulling out my sketchbook. Already my heart rate was calming down when I opened the box, turning the pencils all so the cursive writing on them faced upwards.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. One eraser, one sharpener."

Letting out a slow breath, I allowed my mind to slip free and release the stress of today. My ears faintly picked up the sound of the pencil core scraping over the paper, images appearing on the paper until I heard the muted knock on the door, making me stop.

"Felix, time to eat. I made your favorite."

I hummed slightly, closing my pencil case and leaving the light on. I would return to draw after dinner. As mom opened the door wider, the light of the hallway fell onto the picture of the forest, complete with raindrops falling down.

And hidden in the canopy, the golden eyes of a single wolf that seemed to understand me.