Short Story

[Ryder]

I'm wrighing this story for Creative Wrighing and want to know what you guys think of it. My keyboard was being stupid and wouldn't let me indent just to let you know.

Into the Shadows

History is erased (Chapter One)

Sighing, she looked down at her paper, eyeing the blank worksheet. It was almost the end of class and she still hadn’t done any of her homework. It was just one of those days when Ryder didn’t feel like doing anything; laziness had struck the girl, crippling her day to say the least. Though today, most kids were like that, after all it wasn’t every day that your best friend and loved class mate died in a savage animal attack. Jessie, had died the day before, attacked by some kind of animal, the police said that it was a mountain lion. However, one man who saw it happen said it was a wolf. Everyone laughed at him, called him crazy, how could they not? Wolves have been dead for the past 50 years, there was no way it could have been a wolf. Yet, Ryder could think of no other animal that would attack a human like this. 50 years ago wolves were hunted down, since rabies spread to them, and it had become untreatable. They attacked and killed hundreds of humans, until people finally gave up, and killed them all.

Turning her head away from her work she looked out the window, and felt her jaw drop, her eyes wide. Outside the window stood a large black canine, with bright gold eyes, to her it didn’t look like a dog. ‘Wolf’ the only thought in her head, as she stared at the animal, gaping in awe, and fear. It took a step forward, and in that second she forgot that there was a wall in-between herself and the animal. Jumping to her feet at the utter shock and fear of it, the whole class turned to look at the sudden outburst. She felt herself become hot with embarrassment, as a low giggle passed through the class. She heard someone clear there throat, and saw that Miss. Swan was looking at her.

“Is there something wrong Ryder?” There was a question in the tone, something odd, since Miss. Swan didn’t show much emotion. The ruler lay lazily in her hand, as her gaze took in the class room.

Now Miss. Swan wasn’t the greatest teacher in the world, many said she liked to watch her students embarrass themselves. “I t-thought I saw a wolf.” It was at this time, that the class burst out laughing, mostly the boys, while the girls kept their low giggles. It wasn’t until Miss. Swan slammed her ruler down that the class stopped,

“I will hear none of it Ryder. Just because you’re best friend was killed by an unknown animal, doesn’t mean you can make up these stories.” A cold unforgiving tone, as Miss. Swan glared at her, passing a message of hate towards the student.

This time the hotness that rushed to her face was one of anger, and she soon clenched her fist. The class knew of Ryder’s temper that often exploded at random, and at anything; however she had never gone off on a teacher before. Picking up her books and her bag, she sung it over her shoulders, before her feet took her to the door. Opening it, she looked back at her teacher, yelling a swear word at her teacher before she slammed the door shut behind her, leaving the class and teacher in shock.

Walking quickly down the hall, she knew that she was expected to go to the office, and tell her principal what she had done, but she wasn’t in the mood to do that. Pushing open the doors she soon reached the outside, breathing in the cold air, of autumn. This was the time of the year that she loved best, the leaves falling, and the smell of people cooking on an open grill. If she wasn’t in such a bad mood the breeze and smell would have cheered her up, but it didn’t do that today. All she wanted to do was to get out of here, and she soon started to run to her old beat up pickup truck. Her truck was old, with parts of the paint chipping of leaving an ugly rust colored coat. She made a note that she would have to put a fresh coat of black paint on her truck soon. Opening the door, it came open with a creek, and she soon climbed in, starting the engine. It came to life with a roar, as the truck shook a bit, before she put it into gear. Pulling out, her truck roared in protest at being pushed to its limit right away, as it sped out of the parking lot, and down the streets.

In her mind she was wondering where she was going, she had just told her teacher off, and left school. She couldn’t go home; her mother and father would have a fit, and demand that she go back to school. There was only one place that she could think of, the forest, her secret hiding place in the forest. Turning her truck down the street, she floored it reaching a speed of 45 in a 25. It only took her 12 minutes to reach the state park, and after a smile and a wave to the game warden she was allowed into the park. She sighed as she heard the cry of the birds, and the breeze that pushed its ways through her open windows. She started to calm down, as she soon parked her truck, and opened her door. Turning off her truck, and getting out, she looked at the large trees that stood above her. The trees were losing the leaves, and those that still had them, their leaves were turning colors.

She left her backpack in her truck, as he made her way into the forest, hearing the leaves crunch under her feet. Laying her hand on one of the trunks she sighed, and slowly sat down, with her back resting on the trunk. Closing her eyes she thought about her best friend, seeing her body bloodied and torn. She had never thought about death at her age, but with the death of her best friend, that’s all her mind was on these days. She knew that any of them could die any day; it was only a matter of time before their time came. Opening her eyes she looked around, and saw something standing off a little ways. It was dark and she guessed that the animal’s fur was black. She quickly rose to her feet, and took a few steps forward, to see if she could make out the animal. It wasn’t until it came closer that she felt shock wash over her once again. It was the same animal she had seen at her school, and for a few seconds she was dumbfounded. How could this same animal get from her school to all the way out here, and why did it seem like it was following her?

She was about to walks towards it, since she wanted to know what it was, but suddenly the animal darted away. She was puzzled as to why it left, but a loud bang told her why it had fled. She looked back to see a hole in the truck of the tree she was just leaning against, gunfire in the forest? She didn’t have time to think about this since there was another loud bang, and she was shocked, were they shooting at her? She didn’t have time to think about it, as she broke out into a run, fear flooding her body, and pushing her legs forward. So many questions raced through her head, why were hunters in a state park? Why were they shooting at her? The one that was strongest in her mind, was she going to die today? As she ran she heard the thuds of the hunters following as there heavy boots hit the forest floor. She judged by the sound of their footsteps on how close they were to her, thud…thud, it echoed in her ears as she felt them getting closer.

Rounding a corner she saw a black animal in front of her again, and she knew that it was the wolf that she had seen at school. She didn’t know why but she followed it, trying her best to keep up. The animal lead her through thick bushes, and around many trees, and finally over a creek. She panted feeling her breathing becoming jagged at the force of running nonstop, and she felt her feet becoming heavy. Almost tripping on a fallen branch, the thought of death came rushing back to her mind, and this made her force her legs to go faster. Once they were clear of the creek the animal slowed, and ran into a big open cave, and she quickly darted in after it. It was a huge cave with what looked like fallen rocks blocking the view, so one from the outside couldn’t look deeper into the cave, without going into the cave. The animal hide behind one of these rocks, and Ryder was quick to do the same, pressing her back up against the hard cold rock.

She closed her eyes, willing the hunters to go by, and soon heard them outside of the cave. She felt her heart beat in her neck, the noise of it beating in her ears. She felt like her eardrums were burst, and all she could do now was waiting, would they find her and kill her? Or would they simple leave and forget about her? They were yelling she could hear them yelling to each other, and by the sound, they sounded like they were mad. It wasn’t until the sound of a dog bark that she started to shake, and tears came to the rim of her eyes. If they had a dog with them, they would find her, and kill her, and then she would never see her family and friends again. She stayed still for what seemed like hours, she didn’t hear them come in, but she didn’t hear them leave either. It wasn’t until she was in the cave for some time that she saw the animal laying a little ways away from her. Staring at it, she confirmed what she thought it was in the first place, it was a wolf.

“Impossible.” She panted trying to catch her breath as she stared at the wolf in front of her, in awe and shock. Ryder herself loved wolves, even though she had never seen one before, this one look just liked the pictures she saw in books. She pulled herself closer to the rock when she saw two other wolves in the cave as well. A tan and brown wolf, and a silver and black wolf that were lying next to the pure black one, ‘The black one must be the leader.’ The black wolf got to his feet, as well as the other two, and took a few steps towards her. The black one was closer to her, its face almost in her face, and it just stared at her. While she looked at the wolf she felt like time was standing still, and swore that at any second the wolf would attack her face or something. Though it didn’t, and after what seemed like hours the wolf finally pulled away flicking its tail and the two other wolves following it out of the cave.

She stayed still; trying to get a grip on what had just happened to her, being shot at, being lead to this cave by a wolf. All of this seemed like a dream, but she knew that it wasn’t the pain in her legs proved that it wasn’t. After sitting in the dark for a few more minutes soon pulled herself to her feet, and dusted off her pants. Slowly, she walked out of the cave, looking around and seeing no sign of the hunters or the wolves. Even though she didn’t see them hunters she was careful as to where she walked, looking around before she came out into the open. As she walked the leaves crunching under her feet, and the random calls of a bird, she got the feeling like she was doing something that she shouldn’t be doing. Her feeling was confirmed as she tripped over something, and fell flat on her face, in the wet leaves and the mud.

Groaning, she pulled herself to her feet, feeling the wet mud on her pants, and scowled mud on her pants was the last thing that she needed right now. However, she couldn’t think about that for long, the smell of blood overwhelmed her, and she turned to looking at what she tripped on. As her eyes lay on what she had tripped on, her hand was brought to her mouth, to stop the scream that had started to escape her lips. Her legs quickly pushed her back, as she stared at the dead body of a man laying face down in the dirt. She felt sick, a single bullet hole to the man in the back of the head, and suddenly it all made sense to her. This was why the hunters were shooting at her, that’s why they were in a state part to start with. No one would look for a dead body in a state part, since game wardens look after this place so well. The hunters knew that if she found the dead body, she would be a witness, and could get them sent to jail.

Even though she didn’t want to touch the body she had to, she needed to see who this person was. Slowly flipping the body over, she looked away, feeling herself become sick, and had to get a grip on herself first. The body was still a bit warm, and the man’s eyes were wide open. She decided not to look as she felt for the pocket of the man, to try and find his wallet. After some feeling around, she found his wallet, and was about to open it, when she heard the cock of a gun, and heard someone order her to get to her feet. Her heart started to race, was it the hunters who had come back? She shut her eyes waiting for the end, feeling her heartbeat in her throat once again. In the few seconds that she expected death, it didn’t come; she instead heard a voice over a radio. Slowly, she turned around, and found herself face to face with a police officer, and let out a sigh of relief. She guessed that this officer was looking for her, since the school must have called her mother and father, telling them that she left. Her mother must have called the police and told them to go looking for her, and bring her back home. But since he had his gun out, she knew that he had seen the dead body, and could only guess what he was thinking.

She heard him speaking to the voice on the other end, and flinched saying that he had founded a dead body and a young girl. She was grateful when he took the gun away from her, and walked her back to his car, and didn’t even put the cuffs on. “You don’t have to treat me any different Seth, just because you’re my boyfriend.” She felt him tense as they walked, and he opened the front door for her, and waited for her to sit down. He walked around to the other end, and got in,

“I know I don’t have to, but I want to.” The voice was soft, as he seemed confused about all of this. But what was she going to say to him, I was shot at, and this wolf lead me to a cave, and then I found this dead body, no. She sighed as she covered her eyes with her hands; this was turning out to be the worst day ever.