The wind begins to pick up, rustling the leaves in the branches over my head. The breeze cuts through the entrapped humid air of the forest, and brushes against my skin. It’s a refreshing change in the forest atmosphere, but I fear the threat of more rain coming with it.
However, first things first, my head needs some relief. Tending to the pressure on my head, I lower myself onto the river’s edge and, using the t-shirt from the backpack as a pillow, dip my head into the water. The cool temperatures offer some relief. Hopefully, it will be enough for me to gather some strength and continue my journey home while looking for food.
The sooner I get out of here, the better, I tell myself.
Closing my eyes, I focus on the gentle rhythm of the water as it caresses my temples. The songs of the birds are garbled under the water—even the chirping of the crickets has morphed in a strange warble. The gentle gurgle of water over small rocks fills my mind in a calming and hypnotic melody.
I’m not sure how long I lied there. It could have been half an hour, or it could have been a couple of hours. Maybe I even dozed off, I can’t be sure. A short yip breaks through the tranquillity and I open my eyes to see Cody standing over me. His golden eyes look concerned before he pulls back a few paces.
I draw myself up, shivering as the cold river water runs down my shoulders from my drenched hair. The breeze has kicked up even more, and I can see dark gray clouds through the treetops overhead.
Groaning at the thought of more rain, I lower my head. It shouldn’t come as a surprise—we always get lots of rain this time of the year.
It won’t make things any easier, that’s for sure, I think as I wipe the water from my face with the back of my arm.
Cody barks to get my attention. He swings his head over his shoulder before sitting down. His tail wags slightly once as he points his nose down towards the pile of greens next to him. More wild asparagus sit in a bushel on the dirt.
More asparagus. Sighing, I know I should be thankful, and I am, I just wish there was something different that I could eat.
“Thanks Cody,” I say under my breath.
He smiles at me as his tongue rolls out. However, my lack of enthusiasm quickly has him close his mouth and tilt his head in question.
I press my hand to my forehead again. “I got a killer headache. I better eat these up and maybe it will go away.”
Bending down, I pick up the t-shirt that is still sitting in a lump in the water. I wring it out and then tie it on my head like a bandana. It’s cold and helps ease some of the pressure. I then pick up the bushel of wild asparagus and practically hop on one foot to the creek to wash off the dirt and wolf slobber. I start munching away on it as I’m washing, too impatient to wait until everything is clean before eating.
Cody steps up next to me, a few feet between us, as he helps himself to a drink of water. His front paws are dirty, as if he spent some time digging up the asparagus. The dirt on his paws wash away as his tongue laps up the liquid.
Why does he bring me food? And why did he protect me from the other wolves? These thoughts are unsettling with their lack of answers.
The big wolf should have attacked Cody, but he didn’t. Why? Why did he back off when Cody could hardly be considered a threat to him? He could have taken Cody down in one swift attack, but something stopped him. Something prevented the two from even engaging in a scuffle. Cody has no reason to protect me from the bigger wolf.
I chew on these thoughts as I chew on the woody stalks. Watching Cody as he rests by the water’s edge, I wonder what thoughts are passing through his mind. What am I to him?
He closes his eyes, and I reach over and poke him on the nose with the tip of a green stalk. Pulling back quickly, he shakes his head and looks at me with his head again angled to the side and his ears pointed toward me.
“Ready to go, or do ya need more rest?”
A raindrop falls on his nose, almost in the same spot that I poked him, and he turns his head up to the sky.
Following his gaze, a raindrop falls on my forehead. The wind is picking up even more and I can see the dark clouds swirling overhead.
Heaving a sigh, I say, “Looks like we should skip on walking and just find some shelter, eh boy?”
Snorting, he gets to his feet and takes a few steps toward the forest before he turns and waits for me to catch up.
Finding shelter with a twisted ankle in the rain is going to be fun.
I tell him to wait, as I untie the wet t-shirt from my head and wrap it around my ankle. It feels so much better, that I flash Cody a smile. “Let’s go, aight?”
He turns back toward the trees and steps through. This time, he’s consistently looking over his shoulder at me and is purposely walking slowly so I can keep up.
It’s hard work, trying to move around the dense forest with a twisted ankle and a walking stick to lean on for support, but I try my best and Cody is patient.
The asparagus helped to ease the pain in my stomach, but I am far from satisfied. There’s no time to look for food now. The rain is coming down, not in torrents, thankfully, but enough to make the forest floor slippery and muddy.
My flip-flops squish in the mud and I try to not let the mud between my toes gross me out. It’s just mud, it’ll wash off.
Keeping myself from slipping and falling over is another challenge. Gritting my teeth, I’m determined to keep pressing forward and not let Cody down. I have to prove that I’m capable of keeping up and not some pathetic weak girl who can’t do anything with a twisted ankle.
Thoughts of Mama fill my mind. Mama never gave up. Even when Daddy had that heart attack two years ago, Mama picked up extra shifts at her job to pay the hospital bills. Some nights, she came home after midnight and had to leave again in the morning before the sun rose. For three weeks, I didn’t see her because of all the work she did. I was old enough to know how to look after myself, thankfully. I did the grocery shopping, cooked all the meals, and even washed dishes on weekends at a local restaurant to help bring in some extra cash. I wanted to do more to help out, but Mama told me no.
“You have school work to do. I won’t have your studies suffer just so you can make a few extra bucks,” she had told me.
But I did it anyway. I babysat kids in the neighborhood a couple of nights a week, that way I still made a little bit of money and was able to keep up with my school work as well.
Daddy was able to get a desk job at the warehouse he worked at, which was a slight cut in pay, and he began working again one week after the heart attack. Mama tried to tell him to take a second week off, but he refused.
“Can’t let my woman do all the work, can I?” he had said to me with a smirk—a smirk that had guilt written all over his face.
I know how he felt. He hated feeling weak and dependant, just like I hate feeling weak and dependant now with Cody in the forest.
I have to be strong like Mama. I can't give into weakness. Not now. Not ever.
ŞİMDİ OKUDUĞUN
Zara's Wolf (Book 1 of the Zara's Wolf Trilogy) BWWM
Kurt Adam[Complete] "He follows me around like a predator seeking a moment of weakness before he takes down his prey. But his eyes are soft and tell me a different story." Eighteen-year-old Zara is a born and raised African-American city girl. She's always...
