I was standing in the dark. the only light I saw was a faint red glow castes in my nose, coming from my eyes. I heard a long, painful howl from behind me, and turned around. My hair must have been out, since it brushed my back and shoulders like a soft wave. I could feel a dress wave softly at my legs, but my movement was restricted by the tightness of my chest and waist.

The howl stopped as soon as I turned around. I relaxed a bit, but a terrible feeling rose in me.

I heard the clack of paw steps on hard ground behind me. I turn around again, cautiously. A wolf, that stood out from the darkness stood I front of me. It had long, willowy legs and a proud face. It's underbelly was blond, it's back was a dark brown, and the rest was a russet brown. It's eyes were the color of fire.

I froze, and the wolf tensed with me. I tried growling at it, but the wolf growled back. I barked, and it barked back.

I waved my hand, and the wolf lifted it's paw.

"It's a mirror," I say to myself. The wolf barks.

I feel a hairy, giant hand rest in my shoulder. I jump around in surprise to see a wolf like create, but the size of a bear and with human like qualities. It's red eyes glowed brightly in the dark, illuminating his black fur.

"You can not hide from your fate..." He growled lowly. "You can run as fast as you would like, but you can not hide from me."

He gets down from two legs, and starts running into the darkness on four. Then I hear a scream.

I sit bolt up in my sleeping bag, making Tar Tar claw his way out. I realize that the scream is real, and not too far away.

jumping out of bed, I pull my socks off. I run towards the sound barefoot, trying to shake grogginess off. Tar Tar was at my heels. Should we be running towards the sound? He says in my mind. (Oh, I forgot to tell you that animals can talk to me telepathically, but only if they are smart enough and they trust me. I've only talked with Tar Tar and a few other animals, though.)

"It sounds pretty human." I say between breaths, jumping over a rock.

What if it can mimmic humans, like that cyclops we saw?

I didn't really want to think about that. It wasn't fun, and I got a large cut on my back from it.

"I don't think it's a monster. It wouldn't want to be so close to the city."

We saw the chicken girl in the city.

I didn't respond.

The screaming died down to a heavy breathing. We burst into a clearing with a stream, and a dying fire next to a makeshift tent. An orange back pack hung from the tree.

The breathing slows. "Who's there?" A boy speaks precariously.

I don't speak. I only trod carefully on the soft dirt to the entrance of the "tent". A boy with long, mangled, dirty blond hair, and worn out clothes was sitting in the tent. His face looked like a trapped animal's, and he was stiff.

I crouch down so he can see my face. "I heard you scream." I say calmly.

"What? Oh, yeah. Probably did." He said as he loosens himself.

He smiled with an embarrassed look on his face, but I didn't return it.

He looked at my feet. "Where's your shoes?" He asked.

"At camp. Why are you in the forest?"

"Because I don't like sleeping on the streets. Why are you here?" He asked.

"I live here... sort of." I say, standing back up.

I look around his camp, and notice the bag in the tree. I easily grab it by making a strong jump up.

"Hey!" He says, "Leave that alone!" He crawls out of the tent and tries to grab it from my hands, but I turn away faster than him.

I can tell he just got new supplies by the quality of them. I pull out some chips; cheetoh puffs.

"Really?" I ask, holding them up.

"They're good!" He says as he yanks the bag and chips from my hands.

I cross my arms. "If you are considering staying away from home, you shouldn't fill yourself with junk food."

He puts the chips back in the bag, then sets it in the tent. "Junk food's cheaper! And I have some granola bars!"

I roll my eyes and examine the camp again.

"Where's your camp?" He asks.

"Over there." I say while kneeling by the creek. It runs to the south.

"I can't tell where you are talking about."

I point to the East.

"Oh. Okay. Why are you in the forest?"

"I belong here." I say simply. "Unlike you, obviously."

"Oh, so you live here?" He says defensively.

"No! I belong here!"

"Okay, then where do you live? In a tree, raised by elves?"

"I don't live anywhere. I move so much."

He was quiet, and Tar Tar started moving around. He rubbed the boy's leg.

"Hey! Is this your cat? Why is it with you?"

"He's my pet." I say simply. If I were to say he isn't always a cat, that would arouse suspicion.

I hear something in the distance. An animal, of some sort. Their steps are soft and quiet.

"What are you doing?" He asks after a long moment of listening.

"I thought I heard something." I say.

"Well, you're sort of creeping me out. Could you just... go back to where you came from?" He said sternly, as if he was talking to a mangy dog.

"Fine. But when you feel like getting that grime off you, and eating some real food, come find me." I saw plainly before running into the woods.

My camp is only a few minutes away. Tar Tar shifts into a fox in order to keep up.

Once at camp, I wipe my feet off and slip my shoes back on. I quickly roll up my sleeping bag and fully put the fire out. To avoid leaving traces of me, I scatter the burnt fire wood and add a new layer of pine needles and dirt across the clearing. Once finished, I climb up a nearby tree and perch on it's branches, looking to see if the boy would follow. Tar Tar shifted back into a cat then climbed the tree.

In about ten minutes, I hear the boy running through the forest. He was so loud I saw him nearly five minutes after.

"Hey! Where are you?" He calls, slowing down below me. I jump from the tree and land behind to him along with Tar Tar.

He whips around to look at me. "What- oh, you were in the tree." He points sheepishly to the branch I was perched on. "Why were you up there?" He asks, out of breath.

"Never mind. I like to keep a lookout on things. What's your name?"

"Tristan. Yours?"

I hesitate for a second. It wouldn't be fair if he told me his name but I didn't tell him mine.

"Aviana, but others mostly call me Avia. And that's Tar Tar."

Tar Tar nods curtly. He doesn't trust Tristan fully, and neither do I.

"So... what about getting the grime off me? I feel gross."

"There's a spring that comes from a rock, about two miles from here. It's perfect for a shower, but I don't have any soap."

"Two miles?"

"If you can't take a quick little hike, then you might as well just go clean yourself in a gutter in the city."

"Nope!" He says with out hesitation. I can tell he's really desperate to get clean, if he's willing for a stranger to lead him on a hike to take a cold shower. "Which way is this spring?"

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

We walked quietly to the spring. I could have ran there in a few minutes easily, but Tristan would never be able to keep up. He was breathing heavily in the strangely warm spring day anyway.

He tried to arouse conversation, but I didn't attempt to continue them. I don't like talking to, or even being near strangers.

"So... how long have you been in the wild?"

"I don't always stay in the wild; I'm not a mangy animal, despite what you think."

He blushed, and looked down at his ratty sneakers.

"I go in the city sometimes, but I like the forest much better."

"But, you weren't always in the wild, right?"

I sighed, but didn't respond. I hoped he would shrug the question off.

After a few minutes of silence, he said "What?"

"What do mean what?" I barked.

"Well, you weren't always in the wild, right?"

I nodded.

"Where were you before?"

"Foster care. Since you're out camping by yourself in the woods, I assume you've had a similar experience."

The silence claimed that I had hit home.

{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}

The large, limestone rock peeked through the trees. The trickling sound of water arouse from the spring falling into the pond, then the river.

The trees cleared away, and a small clearing opened before us. Green grass carpeted the ground with leaves and blossoms. Opposite of us was a big, sand colored rock about forty feet tall with a large crack large enough for ten people to stand in. Water from the crack fell to a platform with a dip, then fell into a pool you could lay in. The river then came from it. Moss dripped from the crack and lined the pool. A tree hung over the pool with a low branch you could hang your clothes on.

"Cool..." He said.

"Careful; the water's cold, and the moss can be slippery." I said.

"Wait, so you've used this?" He asked, looking at me.

I nodded.

"So... the river connects to this? The water I drank, you showered in?"

I shrugged. Not my fault he drank my shower water.

He made a gagging gesture and emptied the water in his bottle. "It's contaminated..."

"Oh, shut up!" I punched him. "I'm sure I'm not contaminated! Even if I was, my germs would be long gone before you drank any!"

He rubbed his arm.

"Well, get showered! The water will only get colder after noon."

He muttered something about it being only ten, but I ignored him and walked back into the woods.

"Wait! Are you just gonna... let me shower?"

I growled a little in my throat. "Would you like me to throw you in the pond?"

"But how do I know you're not watching?!"

I rubbed my forehead. "Now why would I want to watch?" I sighed/moaned deeply. "I'll go take a run or something. If it makes you feel better, I'll have Tar Tar guard you."

"What would a cat do to help?"

Oh, you'd be surprised. Tar Tar said to me. He was right; there had been many occasions where he would look out as I showered, and warn me if there was anything like monsters.

"He attacks pervert mice." I said sarcastically.

"Really?"

I didn't answer that. I simply dropped my bag and ran the way we had come. The sound of water faded away to birds chirping and the forest.