"I would have loved to get out and explore the world someday, i'm sure that you have a lot of souvenirs while you were away or some interesting stories." Sarah said taking a sip of her coffee and then took a bite of her turkey sandwich, she leaned back into her seat running a hand through her hair. "And that's a good motto to go by as well, enjoy as much as you can. Though I cant really do it with Riley as well as my job to." Sarah said softly.

She thought for a moment and then smiled getting an idea. "Well maybe Riley, and some of her friends could help out I remember she really enjoyed hanging out with you the last time you were here. And its summer so she doesn't have anything much really to do either." Sarah suggested as she finished eating the rest of her sandwich and coffee.

''I can always share those with you, I made a lot of pictures'' Vanessa said with a smile. ''Riley did like hanging on my arm yes, she was like five years when I last saw her, I wonder if she still remembers me'' she said as she ate some of the cheeseburger. ''But if she and her friends want to help, that's cool and if not I can always hang a flyer asking for help in Lamb's Supermarket'' she said with a smile. ''I mean, I would love the help from Riley and her friends but they must have their own time too of course'' she said and finished her plate with fries and smiled.

The Night Before At The Café
"Riley I know still remembers you, she did enjoy being with you and still sometimes asks how you are doing." Sarah said and smiled as she leaned back into her seat letting out a soft sigh and looked outside seeing that the sun had completely set now and wondered how her daughter was doing and her friends. "If her friends aren't able to help i'm sure a lot of people will be willing to help after all everyone pretty much knows each other here." She then pulled out her wallet as a waitress came up and handed them their check, Sarah quickly paid in cash and stood up. "I'll take you home Vanessa and then i'll come over tomorrow since I don't have to work tomorrow and we can catch up some more."

The Next Morning Back Up At The Lake:

Riley:
Hearing the birds chirping loudly Riley groaned loudly as she opened her eyes, she held her head as she tried to squint her eyes from the early morning sun shining through the leaves. Her whole body was in a lot of pain, and closed her eyes for a moment getting glimpses of what happened the night before which made her quickly sit up. The last thing she remembered was the wolf jumping onto her and feeling a sharp pain in her shoulder, she looked down feeling for any wounds and realized that there weren't any wounds except for small parts of her clothes were covered in dried blood and tears in her clothes.

Then Riley looked down seeing Ryan was still laying down on the ground unconscious, but she still had a worried look on her face and quickly crawled over to shake Ryan awake if he was. She looked down seeing that the wounds were completely gone as well with some dried blood and torn shirt. "Ryan wake up!" Riley said loudly sounding worried and concerned for him, and then started to worry about her friends and if they were safely back at camp or they got attacked as well.

Krista:
As Krista laid there, she groaned loudly and quickly opened her eyes shaking her head she looked over at Cassandra seeing her crush on the floor next to her. Doing the only thing she could think of Krista quickly rolled Cassandra over and gently held her hand, she could see the slow rising of Cassandra's chest going up and down. Letting out a soft sigh she leaned herself up against the tree near where they laid down Krista quickly then noticed that whatever had attacked them last night there wasn't a scratch on them except for the torn shirt where the wolf had bit them. Krista gently continued to hold Cassandra's hand still looking concerned for her.

Cassandra didn't know if she was asleep or not. She recognised the absence of pain, so perhaps she was in a dream, especially since her arm should be hurting from the bite, the wolf attack.

Wolf attack! Krista!

She jolted out of the darkness of sleep, eyes slamming open, looking around wildly before registering that Krista was awake, and holding her hand. She calmed herself with some effort, glancing around for any sign of the wolf. There didn't appear to be any. Nor was there any injury on her.

Had they just...imagined it?

She swallowed, looking to Krista, examining her, too, for any sign of the attack. Apart from their tirn clothes, nothing. They could have died last night. What were they thinking, going off like they had?

"You're okay" she said relieved, pushing herself up into a seated position, "thank god." She shifted slightly, and managed to smile at Krista. "I do like you, you know"

The forest was in a state of eerie silence that morning, aside from the few birds that dared to flutter from tree to tree and whisper in soft voices. There were no deer appearing from the pine boughs to forage for food, no rabbits bounding across the trail, and hardly a sign of the usual bear that wandered through. Everything was silent.....almost frightened to begin their day and emerge into the open.

The wolves were loud last night......but that wouldn't make the entire forest come to a standstill....

Sky frowned and kept her brown eyes fixed on the trail ahead; sitting astride her horse with shoulders back and head high.
The animal beneath her chose it’s steps carefully yet swiftly while maneuvering down the rocky path. Its hide was a glistening gold in the sunlight while its mane and tail were ebony black. Snorting it shook its mane and gazed with rather tense brown eyes at its surroundings; as if something in the trees could jump out at any second.

Sky sighed and looked down before reaching foreword and patting her horse ‘Mya’ on the shoulder, “It’s alright girl…..”
Reaching up she adjusted the wide brimmed cowboy hat on her head and grimaced. After last night…..nothing was quite right.

All through the late night Sky was kept up by the distant yet unmistakable howls of wolves; or rather a single wolf. For a long while it just howled, then silence, then the spree of spine chilling cries filled the night air once more. Compared to the usual chorus of voices, the single howl had confused Sky as well as intrigued her. She went out the next morning, her day off from work, in search of signs.

Now, a few miles from her home Sky kept watch for any sign of wolf anywhere. But had not yet been successful.

Horse moving into a trot up the pathway Sky directed her west; towards the nearby lake where campers often stayed the night. The howls had originated close by……maybe they knew something.

Coming up to a break in the treeline she sucked in a breath at the sight of tents clustered nearby the shimmering water’s shore. Sky would have to go up and talk to them; get some answers, then hopefully leave with a little more information than she started.

Breaking out into the open Vashti nudged her boot gently into her horse’s side, not helping but grin when they took off at a steady canter. She remained neatly balanced and moved with her mount; guiding her right up to the nearest tent.

Sky frowned when she saw no one at first glance. They had to be nearby…..

Cupping her hands around her mouth she called out, “Hello? Anyone there?”

Ryan opened his eyes slowly, raising his hand above his eyes to block the sun from them as well as be prepared to defend himself in case the shaking that he had just felt were a sign of coming violence. He had heard a voice, but the previous night's events had left him fairly disoriented. His thoughts flashed to what exactly had happened just before he fell unconscious and he quickly opened his eyes fully, prepared to blind himself if it was necessary to find out whether the wolf had returned for a snack. He moved his hand slightly so he could see the figure, only to realize it was Riley just before he blinded himself with the sun.

He shut his eyes and shook his head, sitting up. "That wasn't a dream... Or a hallucination, was it?" He opened his eyes barely, still uncomfortable with the light's blinding rays, as he looked to the shoulder he had been bitten. As he saw the torn shirt and dried blood, he stopped, raising his other arm to touch his shoulder. How does that even happen? Was I in a coma or something...? Shouldn't I be starved to death if that were the case...? "Did... Did we fight off the wolf, last night?" He glanced to Riley, his eyes beginning to adjust.

Krista:
Krista blushed softly and smiled at Cassandra, she was happy to hear it from her once more though the wolf attack had shaken her up slightly watching her friend getting attacked by that wolf made her scared. "I am happy to hear that, I always liked you as well since we gotten to high school." Krista said blushing slightly looking into Cassie's eyes and smiled. Then she remembered their friends and quickly stood up offering a hand to help Cassandra back up. "Lets go back to camp, hopefully someone is still there." Krista said softly

She was still very worried for her friends, then she heard a woman's voice nearby and looked down at Cassandra when she was finally up Krista started to walk back the way they had came until they were at the clearing and spotted Sky on her horse. Though she had only talked to her briefly in the past they got along well. "Hey Sky, how are you?" Krista asked.

Riley:
Riley shook her head at Ryan she wasn't sure if it was a dream or not herself, though the torn clothes and the dried blood on them suggested differently. Still her wounds have seemed to healed quickly, she looked at Ryan once more before she answered his question. "I don't know I was out the moment I hit the floor.." Riley answered, then she heard someone's voice and quickly stood up and started to run over towards the campsite where she found Krista and Cassandra, as well as Sky who was on her horse.

The morning sunlight was streaming down through the canopy. As Griffith moved to sit up, the leaves rustled beneath him and scratched at his exposed skin. His perfectly clear, untarnished skin. The same can certainly not be said for his clothes—his shirt was littered with specks of spilled blood. As he became vertical, he felt the tent spike fall to his lap. Damn lucky it wasn’t pointing down. Whatever was going on, if he hadn’t bled to death, then the others were probably alright. Wherever the fuck they are “Mae angen diod i mi.” Slipping into Welsh, he began muttering all sorts of profanity under his breath. Given his personality, most of his friends would be surprised at his vocabulary—if they could understand it.

Eventually, he wandered his way back to camp—the voice of a fairly loud woman checking things out. At least there’s someone in this forest with some sense. Possibly. When he emerged from the tree line, he realized that he recognized her—even if he couldn’t quite grasp her name. He’d met her once or twice, but if she remembered his name, it was probably from his insistence to pronounce it the proper, if only subtly different, Welsh way. He doubted she would even then. How in the hell did she get so–oh, she’s on a horse. Is that Cassandra and Krista? Indeed it was. “Bore da chi.” ‘Good morning everyone.’ Shit. Should probably leave out the little touches while that other girl is around. ‘Little Touches’ being what Griffith called the bits of Welsh that he still slipped into everyday conversation. His friends would understand it, or at least recognize it, from exposure. This new girl would not, at least not right away. On that topic, I probably shouldn’t say anything about the wolf either. At least, not until its clear just what the hell happened. “Morning. How are you all holding up?” It would probably sound strange coming from someone stepping out of the tree line, while speaking in tongues no less, but hopefully Krista and Cassandra would get that he was talking about the wolf attack. Assuming it went after them too—but they weren’t in the camp when I went looking, so that would make the most sense.

Sky looked up from the tents when someone spoke her name, blinking when she found Krista and a second girl standing nearby, "Krista? I didn't know you guys were out camping...."
She had met her a few times before in town; albeit short moments, Sky thought the girl was very kind.

Glancing to the second girl she nodded and shifted in her saddle. Leaning foreword she swung one leg to the side, over the seat, then slipped to the ground. Taking a moment to gather her horse's reins and stretch the kinks out of her legs Vashti turned, just as Riley -another girl she had met a few times in town- appeared.

Smiling kindly to her acquaintances Sky pulled off her hat and wiped the sweat clinging to her brow, "I heard a wolf howling up a storm last night; over in this direction."
She noticed odd tears and stains in the girl's shirts, just as she finished her sentence. What had happened to them? They looked as though someone got into a wrestling match and things went bad. But she didn't inquire.

"Happened to see anything?"

Another voice sounded, in a strange tone and accent that made Vashti blink and turn to see a young man appearing from the tree line. At first he was unfamiliar, until Vashti recognized him from some instances in the town. He was one of Krista's friends....a welsh she thought....

Cassandra took Krista's offered hand, pulling herself up, and then just kept a hold of it. She glanced around them, warily. There were signs that something had happened, once you knew what to look for. Scuff marks that could have been claws. Dried blood, from their wounds. The rock she had hammered against the wolf. And yet...they had no mark on them. How was that possible? As they walked back to camp, and encountered Sky, Cassie stayed silent, thoughtful as she tried to figure out what had happened.

And then, of course, Sky mentioned hearing howls. A shiver ran over Cassandra. So, then, it hadn't been some mass illusion, some practical joke, although she still hadn't figured out how their friends would have caused them pain and create an injury. It had been real. She looked down at her arm, where the wolf had bit her. Smooth, unbroken skin.

She looked at Krista, at Riley and Griffin, seeing that they had joined them. They seemed a bit out of sorts, too. She looked at them, as if to ask What do we say? somehow, Cassie thought that saying they had been attacked, only to have no wounds, might get them into more trouble then it was worth.

"We heard the howls too" Cassandra said, looking to Sky

Vanessa smiled and nodded. ''I would love to see her again, she is such a nice girl'' she said and got up from her chair. ''I am sure about that, I mean, I remember not all my summers because I was a kid but still know how helpful everyone is here'' she said and followed Sarah to her car. ''I mean, the reservation where I camped with my parents isn't far from here and when that wolf attacked me, everyone helped who was there and we got here as fast as possible'' she said, without really noticing she laid her hand on her collarbone and stretched her shoulder.

She had been around the age of Riley when she had gone camping in a reservation near red lake, after that week they would go visit her grandparents and she had loved both ideas. When she was on a little hike to look around she had come eye to eye with a wolf, it had growled and she was so scared that she had forgot about the stuff a ranger had told her to do when she saw one of the animals and it had noticed her too. In this case, she should have take a seat down on the ground and looked away.. She ran away and the wolf followed her. Her scream had warned her parents and right when she thought she would be safe, she tripped and fell on the ground. The wolf jumped on her back and kept growling, leaving a deep claw mark over her right shoulder blade.

Vanessa got out of her terrifying memory and looked at Sarah. ''I can't promise you tea or coffee yet, i am gonna start with stripping the walls in the living room so I can start dying those walls first. Grandma always told me, It doesn't matter how you sleep, as long as you can offer your guests a good seat and a cup of coffee with a biscuit'' she said and giggled some.

Once she got home and gout out of the car from Sarah she looked at her friend with a smile. ''Thank you Sarah, for welcoming me and helping me with my neighbor and for the meal.. Give my kind greetings to Seth and when Riley comes back from her camping, don't inform her yet, please tell me and I'll drop by when she is home'' she said with a smile. Then closed the door and walked inside, waving one more time and after she closed the door she went straight upstairs and looked at the bedroom doors.

She opened the one from her grandparents and smelled her grandma's perfume and smiled some. She closed the door and walked to her own old bedroom. the last time she had slept there, she had been fifteen years old. She opened the door and fell on her bed, she was tired. Very tired and soon she fell asleep, still a dressed up but for today, she didn't care.
-----

The next morning:

Vanessa stopped her alarm and stared at the ceiling of her old bedroom. She had taken the choice to sleep in this room because she didn't feel like sleeping in the bed from her grandparents, today she would take time to make a list in what she wanted to replace and what she would need. A job was number one she thought with a smile and got up.

After a quick shower, she got downstairs and made some breakfast. She didn't know when Sarah would come but she knew that she wanted to be started before she did so she would deserve a break and smiled by the idea that her friend would stop by. She opened the door and saw it was a sunny day and so she took her bowl with cereal and yogurt outside and stood at the front door, watching Red Lake to wake up. She waved at some other early birds and thanked the paper boy for her paper.

She would take a look into it today or so and if she didn't really like it she would use the upcoming weeks to get the paper from the boy so she could use it a a protector of the floors when she would start dyeing the walls. After she finished her bowl of cereal she walked to the old swing that still hang in the tree and looked at it. ''It's still in perfect shape Grandpa.. Just as you promised'' she said with a smile and laid her knee on the seat and looked around for another minute or two.

Ryan frowned as Riley seemed to not know anything more than he did, and looked to the ground. He saw marks in the dirt, as well as a bit of dried blood dripped around. He was still staring at the ground when Riley seemed to suddenly get up and head back to the camp. Why's she just randomly leaving? Did she get upset about something? He started to stand up, and realized there were some voices coming from the camp. She might have been checking that out... Or checking to be sure no one else was attacked...

Ryan followed after, curious about what was happening at the camp, and whether the others were confused about Riley and Ryan's disappearance. As he arrived back in the camp, he found only a few people there, one of which hadn't been there the night before. His confusion about the situation only grew as he saw that someone came out into the woods to check out wolf howls without any weapons or back-up. He glanced at the horse for a moment, before looking at Sky, not sure what to say. If he spoke, he'd probably just draw attention to the very obvious blood and tears in his clothing, that he probably wouldn't be able to explain. Maybe we can say we went hunting, and each had to retrieve our own ammo? Where would that put the weaponry for the hunting, though...?

Scout got off of the ground and stretched his arms. His waking thought was to quickly brush himself off of any dirt and bugs that could have possibly gotten on his clothes. His next thought was of the wolf attack. "That dumb mutt attacked me! Usually my friendly nature and playful attitude puts animals at ease. Wish I could do that for bees too then I could get honey like in Fried Green Tomatoes." Scout yawned before he started to walk back to camp. he analyzed his clothes realizing his shirt was ripped yet his chest was fine as well as his arm. "Was it a dream? No it was too real and my shirt is ripped... Oh butterballs! Were the others attacked?" Scouts walk had changed into a sprint and made it back to the camp quickly. He found a few of his friends and some other girl. They seemed to be fine. "Hey guys... Did anyone notice my absence last night?" Scout had yet to notice anyone's blood stains. "Did you all forget about me?" Finally noticing the blood and ripped clothes on his friends his eyes grew wide. "You guys did encounter that big furry jerk! I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect you!" He started to hug Riley and sobbed. "It didn't hurt you did it?"

Sky was about to ask the others what they saw and heard; if the wolf had come close to camp or if it kept its distance. Her curiosity was lifted when each person appeared; all with tears and bloodstains in their clothing. What had happened to them last night?

Suddenly, another person appeared from the forest, a young boy. When he asked them a few questions Sky remained quiet and reached up to gently stroke her horse, but then he started blabbering something about the....'big furry jerk'.

Frowning in confusion Sky stared at him, then went wide eyed as he hugged Riley, "Wait....you were attacked? By the wolf?"

She watched everyone's gazes and gasped, "Why wouldn't you tell me this?"

But slowly, she remembered the tears in their clothing......yet from what she could tell there were no wounds. This was getting strange, and she didn't like it.

Riley turned and felt Scout wrapping his arms around her waist, she was happy to see that he was okay though she quickly noticed that the same bloodied and torn clothes on him as well 'So he did encounter the wolf to.' Riley thought to herself, and then quickly turned her attention back to Sky. "I think we scared that wolf off honestly I don't even know where it had ran off to. I think though that we should cut the trip early I think its dangerous if there is a wolf here." Riley said looking to her friends and then up to Sky. "So what are you up to here other then searching for wolves?"

Krista reached over and held Cassandra's hand, and looked at her for awhile though she didn't want to have the trip to end early she wanted to still spend sometime with Cassie. "If we are going back to town do you want to go and grab something from the café?" Krista asked quietly she wanted to make plans with just her and no one else.

Back at Town:

Sarah yawned loudly as she slowly opened her eyes looking over at Seth who was still sound asleep in bed, he didn't really wakeup until later in the afternoon when it was his day off. She decided to head over to Vanessa's house for the day, she headed down and started to cook herself some breakfast. And then made some leftovers for Seth when he wanted it, once Sarah finished cooking her scrambled eggs and bacon she sat down at the desk and quietly read the newspaper.

After breakfast Sarah walked out the front door, she didn't want to take her car and started to walk down the sidewalk until she finally found Vanessa sitting on the front porch and approached her. "Good morning." Sarah said with a smile.

Cassandra was relieved that the others were okay as well, especially Scout. She knew he considered most canines as puppy's, and if the wolf had attacked him, she was sure he would have tried to treat it like such. But he seemed alright, if torn and bloodied like them all.

At Sky's shock that they hadn't told her, she looked to the girl and said "Would you have believed us? Not a one of us has a bite or claw mark" She said, shaking her head, looking to Krista as she spoke to her.

She nodded and smiled, "I'd like that"

Ryan frowned, hearing Riley say that they should end the trip. He agreed, but it was sad, considering they had almost all been looking forward to this for months, possibly longer. At least, that's what he believed. No matter how much he wanted to continue the trip though, he knew Riley was right. He sighed, glancing to his tent that he had set up and not even really used. I guess I should start packing up my stuff... He looked back to Sky, who seemed to be very curious about their situation. He glanced to Cassandra who tried to simply say that she wouldn't believe them anyway, before returning his gaze to Sky.

Ryan began to speak up, having thought of a story, albeit not foolproof, to at least tell. "The wolf seemed weak and disoriented... It was bleeding when I saw it, too... It tried to bite me, but just missed, ripping my clothing and getting blood on it. It looks like something similar to happened to the others, which doesn't surprise me much... The blood was getting in the wolf's eye, so it's probably difficult to actually bite what you try to bite." He looked at the others, "Is that what happened to each of you as well?" He put a slight amount of emphasis on the sentence, hoping the others would catch on to his ruse. He knew it'd be too difficult to explain that he had been bitten and healed overnight, and hoped the others agreed to what he said.

Vanessa looked up and smiled. ''Good morning, you are up early'' she said with a smile and got up from her porch and looked at Sarah. Yes, this young women was really her best friend in town and probably even her best friend from all over the world. ''Wanna have some tea? I found the grocery closet from my grandma, she had so much left and all aren't even close to their due time.. I really wonder how she knew someone would soon move in too her house.. or my mom did the shopping once she had my letter about that I would take this house'' she said and shrugged. ''It doesn't surprise me if she did.. anyways, coffee or tea?'' she asked with a smile.

Before Sarah had arrived, Vanessa had packet the last boxes from her car so now all the boxes where pilled up against the wall in the hallway and living room and she just had gotten herself a bucket with warm water and a glue dissolve substance so she could easily peel off the wallpapers. After that she had made herself some tea and another small break.

Why can't I see? The girl thought, staring through the black and the void of her vision. Maybe it's safer here, where I can't see anything. It's just my own little world, my own little void. Ruby releases a loud sigh, before realizing that the source of the void and black of her vision was the fact that her eyes were shut. A shame, as Ruby would have enjoyed a longer rest, a longer separation from remembering what had occurred the night before. A second thing she realized was that the excruciating pain from the attack had vanished to nothing, something she was highly thankful for.

As she rose into a sitting position, Ruby realized that she was on her own. Nobody else was near her, and she felt like that was a good thing to happen to her. It meant there was no horrible wolf tearing into her, but on the other hand, it would mean that her friends were separated from her and if she needed help she would be unable to receive it. The girl took this moment to begin thinking about what next to do. I could sit here and continue thinking, or I could try to get back to camp. Immediately, Ruby rose to her feet, looking around. She vaguely remembered which direction she had came from, and began to stumble that way. More thinking time as I walk, she thought to herself.

Why am I crying? Ruby thought, as she stumbled through the treeline toward the camp. Tears streaked down her cheeks, tears of sadness for what had happened, and tears of fear for walking back alone. Though being alone had benefits, they also had disadvantages. At the camp, Ruby saw some of her friends there. Thank god, she thinks, stumbling toward the camp like she had just come from hell. Not knowing that the others were also attacked by a wolf, though seeing that it was possible they had too by the tears in some of their clothes, she moves over, wordless. She had no idea what to say. I can't exactly say, 'oh, hey, I was attacked by a wolf. Cool stuff, eh?'

Sky frowned in confusion, looking at the one boy there....she thought his name was Ryan....
He told her what had happened, and for a moment she believed it......well.....what else could have explained the blood and the tears, yet no true wounds?

Nodding she reached up to scratch at her head, then turned to Krista. Making a small smile, she slowly began to relax after the short moment of panic.

"I'm kind of odd that way.....I heard the wolf and I came down to take a look....nothing more really..."

She was a little different compared to others her age.....on her day off she should have been relaxing or having a day of fun.

Then again riding her horse out in the middle of the wilderness WAS fun. To her at least.

Glancing to each of the others she went quiet, then turned back to Krista, "You all are SURE you're alright?"

She thought it was odd that a wounded wolf would go around trying to attack people....unless it was starving and had gone desperate enough to seek humans for a food source....