A/N
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This book has a slow start, the first chapter is pretty long but all the topics are important for the rest of the story, but I promise you, there will be drama at the end of this chapter.

It is Sunday afternoon, the last day of the summer break. I sit in my garden and listen to music, while the sun shines bright and burns lightly on my skin.

With my eyes closed, I focus on the pure sounds of the piano. Classical music is not my favorite type of music, but occasionally I do listen to it. The music is so peaceful and calming.

I have been sitting on the porch swing for hours, read a book and I continued with one of my sketches. 

I lean back and almost falling asleep... 

"Cira hurry up, we have to go!"  My eyes fly open and I see my mom rushing to the car with a bag in her hands. Her voice startles me, making me remove my headphones. 

Where are we going? Oh yes, I completely forgot that we're going to see my aunt. I put my stuff inside before joining my mom in the car.

When I get inside, I quickly look down at what I'm wearing. White sneakers, denim shorts, and a white sweater, I look okay. 

My mom starts the car and drives off while I open the sun visor to look in the mirror. My shoulder-length black hair is a mess, I quickly put it in a bun before looking at my face. I didn't put make-up on today, so my eyes look smaller than they normally do and the dark circles under my eyes are visible, not very clear, but they are there. I close the sun visor again and look ahead.

I only now notice that my mother is driving quite fast, too fast.

"Wow mom, are we in a hurry?"

"Yes Cira, we're late. We had to be there at half-past five, and it is ... "she looks at the clock next to the wheel. "Half-past five!"
I know that my aunt and uncle wouldn't mind if we are fifteen minutes later.

"It's not that bad, they never eat at half-past five anyways." She doesn't respond to that and turns the radio on. 

''Good afternoon,  ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to today's news. 32-year-old Niek van den Meer has been missing since Friday last week. He was last seen in the flower forest in Groningen, where he works as a forest ranger. At a quarter past seven in the evening, he spoke to his girlfriend, that was the last time anyone spoke to him. He is around 6 feet, a sturdy build, blond hair and blue eyes with a mole around his chin. Leave a message if you think you've seen him." The reporter continues to talk about the weather and traffic.

"I hope they find him soon,  his girlfriend must be very worried." my mom says. I nod and look out the window. I wonder what would have happened and why. It can be anything. He may be on the run for something or someone, maybe he is kidnapped or killed. More than a week has already passed so he could be on the other side of the world with a completely different appearance, so no one will ever find him again.

"Didn't you have dance practice tonight?'' my mom asks when the traffic light turns green. ''You said you will have to go to dance practice more in the coming weeks." 

"No, not yet, I think in a few weeks. We have three months left and we already know most of it so far ... "

"Yes, but knowing Jo, a lot will be changed last minute." My mom laughs. The tournament will continue in a few months. She is right, with a coach like Jo we will be taught many more new choreographies.

There are fewer cars passing by us since we turned right by the traffic light. We ride towards a wooded area. My aunt has moved out of my grandparent's house two months ago. Christina, that is my aunt's name, told me that she lives in a very wooded area. Now that I see it myself I think it's beautiful, very quiet. Speaking of quit, we are the only car on the road entering the forest. My eyes fly around, looking at the beautiful surroundings. Trees so high that I can't see the tops, making it look later in the day than it actually is. There are beautiful flowers in countless different colors filling the ground. When I breathe in it feels like I'm inhaling clean air, pure nature, no chemicals flying around the air. It doesn't take long before we see the exit of the forest and I'm draught out of this wonderful place. 

There is one row of houses, one of those is my aunt's. We have to walk a bit before we arrive at their house. I press the bell at number 76. The door flies open within seconds.

"Hey, Jennifer!" she jumps excitedly while hugging my mom.  ''I haven't seen you in so long'' She let's go of my mom and looks at me.

"Ciraaa,'' with a big smile on her face, she turns to give me a hug too.

''Hey, Chris" I say and hug her back.

She's only 22, so she doesn't want us to call her aunt. My grandfather and grandmother adopted her when she was 6.

She takes a step back so we can get inside. The kitchen and living room are on the second floor so we have to go up the stairs. The house is very light and open. White walls, wooden floors, smells like flowers and there are a lot of windows.

In the living room is her husband, Tyler, whom I also greet. When I walked into the living room my eyes fell on the beautiful glass wall. Well, it's not really a wall but a huge window that allowed us to look out on the forest. I watch TV with Tyler while Christina and my mother are cooking, but I can't keep my eyes off the window and its beautiful view.

"Come," Tyler says when he sees me looking at the windows again. He walks over to the part of the window that can be opened and opens it. Because we're on the second floor we can look out over a forest that seems infinite. They live in a terraced house, from the window we can see their small backyard. A little bit furder, there is a lawn where some kids are playing soccer now. The lawn extends into the forest. I look over the treetops at the sun that is starting to set.

"School is starting tomorrow right?" Tyler says with a teasing smile.

"Yes, I am really looking forward to it," I respond sarcastically.

We are talking about what I will do when I finish high school. Everyone in my family knows that I really want to go to the art academy. That is the only school where I can continuously do the two things I love, draw and dance. 

"I'm going to help in the kitchen, okay? You can watch TV again or stay here, do whatever you want." Tyler smiles and walks away.

I stay at the window and watch over the forest.  

My attention is quickly drawn by a butterfly that flies past the window. It is darkish purple with a black border. I've never seen one like this. It flies past the window and sits on the other side of the glass. I walk in the direction of the piece where the butterfly is sitting, tapping the window very gently. The butterfly doesn't move, he'll fly away eventually.

The sun disappears behind the trees and the sky around it turns red-orange.

The parents of the children playing on the lawn are picking them up. Now it's really quiet outside.

From the other side, the same kind of butterfly comes flying in this direction. Only this one is a bit bigger. When the butterfly comes closer, the other butterfly flies away from the window in the same direction the bigger one goes. That's weird, just like they'd agreed to meet here.

I lean on the window frame and see the watch on my wrist. Oh wow, I've been standing here for almost half an hour. I look back to see what my mother is doing. She is talking while the food is already on the fire, it will not be long before the food is ready.

The view is really beautiful, the forest with the sky in the background. I grab my phone and take a picture. I zoom in to see if everything looks nice. The light rays attract the most attention. At the bottom of the photo, I see something sticking out of the forest. I zoom in, but that makes the photo blurry. It is something brown, probably a branch. I look away from my phone to the piece of the forest where I saw the branch. 

I step back when my eyes find the same spot. 

Wow, that was definitely not a branch, it's a paw of a huge dog! I look carefully and see that he is slowly walking out of the forest. I don't think this is a dog, a dog can't be that big. It can't be a wolf either, because there are no wolves in the Netherlands and it would still be too big to be a wolf. Looking at the ground, he walks further out of the forest, so I should be able to see him better but he appears to become smaller every second.  His body slowly changes. HIs he falling down? Is he injured? It is still far because I'm on the second floor and he is near the edge of the forest. The dark brown fur disappears, so does the tail and ears. His body moves in ways that should not be possible. 

I open my mouth so say something but no sounds comes out. I don't know why I'm not reacting to this. The only thing I can do is stand still and watch him.

 It no longer looks like a dog. The wolf is no longer on four paws but now stands on two legs! When he looks up, the face transforms until everything animal has disappeared. It transformed into a human face. A few seconds later he stands up straight, like a man, a boy.

I take a step away from the window but still can't look away.

What the hell is happening? I try to call for my family to see what's going on but my mouth won't let me form words.

He looks around him, probably checking if anyone has seen him. With my eyes still focused on him, I realize that I can't hide anywhere, the whole wall is made out of glass, and I can't suddenly run away. Then my family will ask what's going on and I don't think they will believe me. I look to my right and see the curtain. I will stand there, he will think that I haven't seen him and my family will think that I'm bored. 

Great solution Cira, looking at curtains will help. 

I look back at the boy, wolf, whatever it is. But it's already too late, his eyes are already focused on me.

When our eyes meet, my whole body petrifies. My thoughts are blank, I'm no longer shocked or surprised. It looks like a picture where everything is blurred except for his eyes which are green with brown. It feels like I'm being dragged out of reality. 

"Cira the food is ready!" I blink and turn around to answer my mom. 

"OK ... I'm coming," I call back.

I quickly look at the grass again, but the boy is no longer there. I look at the forest, over the grass again, but he's gone.