Dara came back to her seat. That boy wasn’t there. “Where is he?” time passed but he still wasn’t there. William came and sat beside Dara. He teased her during the lectures and the boring day turned into a pile of fun and laughter.
On the last period, that boy showed up. William rolled his eyes and got up from his chair. That boy sat beside Dara. “Where have you been?” she asked. He ignored her and only peeped outside the window. “Why is he like this?” Dara thought.
She tried to focus on her lectures but could not. There were many things popping in her head. She wasn’t thinking about Wade. She was thinking about what wrong had happened to that boy. Meanwhile in a period while the teacher was out a boy threw a pencil from behind towards that boy’s head. It hit him on his head. Some of the students started to laugh. “Stop it!” Dara got up from her chair, turned around and yelled. It was silences in the class. Everyone stuck at their place. Dara then sat back on her chair.
“It’s no use yelling.” the boy next to her spoke.
“Why not? They were trying to bully you.”
The teacher came in the class.
“Charles.” The boy said while looking straight to the board.
Dara looked at him.
“My name. It’s Charles.” he said again while looking forward.
Dara smiled and continued to focus on her lecture.
The departure bell rang. Students rushed outside the class.
“Want to hangout for a while?” Dara asked Charles from behind.
He only looked at her and then went away. “Well at least he told me his name.” she smiled and said to herself.
“So what are your plans for tonight?” William came from behind her and grabbed her from her waist.
“Oh!” she exclaimed and chuckled, “You scared me.”
“Come I’ll show you the place around.” William said.
“Mom is expecting me home.” Dara told.
“It’s a small party at eleven. I’ll be expecting you there.” William winked and moved away.
There was something about that guy. No doubt he and his friends were the coolest in the whole school. He attracted her a lot. “How am I going to find Wade?” she thought.
Ashley passed by. “Hey Ashley!” Dara called her. She turned around and Dara went close to her. “I think we should go now to find your brother.” They both came out from the school building. Dara’s car was waiting for her outside the school gate. Dara went to car and told the driver that she would walk back home with her friends. She called her mother and told her the same thing, “Mom I’ll be fine.”
“Dara you don’t know this place.” Ellen spoke on the phone.
“I’ve a friend. Her name’s Ashley. I’ll be with her and will be at house in about an hour.” Dara told.
“Okay sweetie. Take care then.”
Dara hung up. Let’s go. Dara and Ashley started to walk. “What is his name?” Dara asked.
“Ben.”
Dara held Ben’s photo in her hands and started to walk.
“How do you know where he is?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t know. It feels as if I know the way.” Dara was also confused.
“My father died a year ago and after that it was all on my mother to take care for us two…” Ashley told her story, “Uncle Stephen was very humble to help us. After my father’s death, my mother got badly depressed. It was hard for her to recover but she recovered. Now Ben got lost. It’s been a week. I’ve searched him everywhere I can. I haven’t seen Mom coming out from his room from four days. She stays there all day and talks to his toys. I can’t see her like this.” She started to cry.
“Hey…hey…” Dara put her hand on Ashley’s shoulder, “He’ll be fine. I can feel that. Don’t worry.”
They walked and walked.
“It’s the jungle.” Ashley stopped.
“I think he’s in there somewhere.” Dara spoke.
“This can’t be.” Ashley looked afraid, “the woods are filled with wolves. If he went there, he won’t be alive till now.”
“He’s not dead.” Dara suddenly uttered.
“Ho..how’d you know?” tears rolled down Ashley’s eyes.
“I want you to trust me.” Dara held Ashley’s hands, “I’m not even sure if he’s here or not but we can’t lose our chances because I can feel that he’s here.”
“I feel stupid to believe this but let’s do it.”
They moved in the woods. It was dark and cold.
“Ben! Ben!” they both started to call him. Dara suddenly stopped and turned to her right. “He’s there!” she said and started to run. “Wait Dara!” Ashley ran after her.
Dara stopped and found no one there. “This can’t be. I can see him here.” She held her head and sat on the ground covered with dry leaves.
“I think we should go now.” Ashley said.
“I’m not leaving without your brother.” Dara replied.
“Dara these woods are dangerous.”
Dara suddenly got up and turned around. “There!” she pointed at a pile of broken trees and weeds.
“How can he be there?” Ashley asked.
Dara started to move towards it. She tried to move the weeds and woods to find a way, “Come on help me.” Ashley ran to her and started to help.
“I think he went through here.” Dara pointed at a ways which led inside a cave or something. “I’ll go check it while you stand here and if anything happens just call me.” Dara said this and went inside.
She had to crawl. It was not a cave. It was kind of a small tunnel. It didn’t take her long when she found a boy laying inside there unconscious. “Hey Ben wake up.” she tried to wake him up. She pulled him outside.
“Have you found him?” Ashley asked Dara when she saw her legs moving out from that tunnel.
“Help me pull out.” Dara uttered.
Ashley helped Dara to pull out from that tunnel. She saw her brother. She quickly helped Dara to pull him out form that tunnel. Her eyes filled with tears. They put him on the ground. He was still out of count.
“Ben wake up!” Ashley tried to wake her brother up.
Dara took out a bottle from her bag pack and splashed some water on his face.
“Uhh…” he murmured.
“Ben you’re okay.” Ashley hugged him.
Ben looked at Ashley and then at Dara. “How’d you find me?” he asked.
“Tell us what happened?” Dara asked him.
“I was playing with my ball and it came in the woods. I couldn’t find it. I started to hear the wolves. I saw one too and I ran. I hid myself in there but couldn’t come out. I had a bit of water and a sandwich which kept me alive I think. But how’d you both find me?”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re safe.” Dara spoke.
“Wes should get out from here now.” Ashley said.
All three of then stood up and turned around to move but suddenly saw a wolf standing. They stuck to the ground. Dara’s heart thudded hard in her chest.
“Whatever happens, try not to panic.” Dara said in a low voice.
The wolf then ran away and they three started to run to find their way outside the jungle. They started to hear the wolves. “They’re coming for us.” Ben shouted. Those three ran as fast as they could. Suddenly, Dara saw Charles going in the woods. She stopped and yelled, “There are wolves there!” but no one was there.
“What’s the matter Dara? We can’t stop.” Ashley grabbed her hand and started to run again.
They came out from the forest and walked towards Ashley’s house. Ben ran inside the house to meet her mother while Ashley stood outside with Dara.
“Thank you Dara!” she hugged Dara.
“I just want you to do me a favor.” Dara uttered.
“I’ll do anything.”
“I want you to keep this a secret from everyone and tell everyone that we only went to see if Ben was there or not and we found him.”
“Okay Dara but can I at least know how’d you know where he was?” Ashley questioned.
“I don’t know. It just appeared in my eyes.”
“Thank you again.” Ashley smiled.
“Is there any boy named Wade studying in our school?”
“Never heard of any Wade. Were you expecting someone?”
“Don’t know about me but my Mom’s expecting me home.” Dara chuckled.
“Won’t you come inside?”
“Some other time.”
“You’re always welcomed.”
Dara walked towards her house. It was an exhausting day. She was covered with mud and dirt. “Now what’s Mom going to say?” she thought, “I hope not to get scolded.”
Dara reached home. Stephen was in the garden with Ellen.“Dara, where have you been?” Ellen looked worried, “And what is all that dirt on your clothes?”“I…I have been playing.” Dara lied.“Have you been to the woods?” Stephen asked.“No…no Grandpa.” Dara lied again, “I got a new friend today. Her name’s Ashley. We were at the park near her house.”“Good. Its better you stay away from the woods.” Stephen spoke.“Ashley told me that the woods are filled with wolves.” Dara uttered.“Those woods are deadly. You really do need to stay away from that part of the island.” Stephen said while gasping a big breath, “Her brother got lost a week ago. I hope she and her mother manage to bare the loss.”“Honey you should go get something to eat.” Ellen spoke.“Sure Mom.” Dara smiled and moved towards the entrance door.“And get yourself cleaned.” Ellen said from behind her.Dara went in the house and directly went to her bedroom.
Dara ran and ran to make her way out from the jungle. She could see nothing but the big trees all around. “Can anyone here me?” she screamed but there was no one who heard her.She suddenly felt something running behind her. She quickly turned around. There was nothing there. She felt it again and soon she could see something running in the woods. It was black and huge. “Stop!” Dara ran towards that thing. It was the same thing she had been seeing in her dreams.That thing stopped and Dara went close to it. She went closer and closer. It was dark, hairy and big. It was huge. She could hear it groan. She went closer. She was scared but at the same time she wanted to see what that thing was. It was huge and sounded fierce. “What are you?” Dara asked in a scared tone from behind. It turned around.“Uh…” Dara’s eyes opened. Her head felt dizzy. She moved her hands towards her head and suddenly saw blood on them. She got up with a scream.“Is everything alright?”
During the class, Dara couldn’t focus on her lecture. The flash backs appeared before her eyes again and again. She could hear that boy scream for help and beg for life. This was like a thunder on her.The bell rang.“Finally!” Dara exclaimed.“Dara…” Charles held Dara’s hand, “Be brave.”“Come on let’s get you home.” William spoke from behind.Dara turned to William and then turned back to Charles to say him goodbye but he wasn’t there.“Have you lost something?” William asked.“No…” Dara looked puzzled, “Let’s go home.”They both walked outside the school.“Aren’t you coming Will?” Stacy gave William a voice from her car. Lenny and Sabrina were also in the car.“I’ll catch up with you guys later.” saying this William moved further with Dara. They walked along with the bicycle.“What happened beautiful?” he asked her along the way.“I don’t know. Everything’s strange here…” Dara was about to tell him ever
Dara moved here and there on her bed but couldn’t sleep. Her eyes remained open. She was feeling hungry. She got up and sat on her bed. She started to think about her time with William. Her stomach gave a sound, “Huh I should not be going to the kitchen in the middle of the night.”She got up and gazed outside the window. She stared at the big round shinny moon in the sky. It looked as beautiful as anything could be. She opened the window to let the cool fresh air come inside. She stared at the moon and cared about nothing. She started to feel strange. Her head started getting dizzy. Her nails started to grow. She could feel her bones moving and changing their places. She could feel hair grow on her skin. She didn’t know what to do. She turned to the mirror and saw hair grow all over her body. She saw her clothes tearing off. She was scared. It was painful but ticklish too. She saw herself turning into a wolf.She was big. She was huge. She was all covered with dark hair
“My room’s messed up. I need to clean it up.”Dara went upstairs to ask the maid help her clean her room, “I was wondering if you could help me clean my room.”“Sure Dara. Just let me finishes the dishes and I’m there.” the maid replied.Dara came back to her room and lay down on her bed. She pulled the pillow towards her to cuddle it and she saw her diary under it. She picked it up, “It’s no use writing this anymore.” She put it in a small plastic bag with the mirror and the cards too which were in her study table.“Your room’s really a mess.” the maid entered.“Well I suppose it is.” Dara smiled while putting the bag in her side drawer.The maid went to the bed and started sorting out the bed sheet.“Let me help you with that.” Dara uttered while sorting out the other side of the bed.“No it’s okay.” the maid uttered, “You should go get ready for the funeral while I clean your room. Your grandfather’s not expecting you to be late.”
Dara walked in the school hallway. She was finding William. “Where is he?” she thought. Someone tightly grabbed her from behind and whispered in her ear, “Dara I’m here. I came back for you cookie.”“Wade!” Dara woke up with a shock, “Oh it was a dream.” She looked beside her but Charles wasn’t there. She got up and knocked at the bathroom door, “Charles, are you inside?” She got no answer and then she decided to go inside. She slowly opened the door. “I’m coming inside.” she chuckled. No one was there. “Hmmm I suppose he left earlier.”She brushed her teeth and changed her clothes. She put on her wig in front of the mirror. She looked at herself thinking about what Charles told her last night that she was beautiful. She took it off, “I don’t want to hide myself anymore.”She went upstairs for her breakfast. There was some kind of change in her mood today. She went to the dining room and waited for her grandfather. After a few minutes Stephen entered the dining roo
Dara rushed to her bathroom as soon as Charles got out from her room. “I know we’re going to have something special between us today.” she smiled while washing her face. “He asked me to get ready. What should I wear?” Dara murmured as she searched her closet. She picked out a gorgeous short red colored dress. It was made up of beautiful red colored net. It was reached till her thighs. She took out a pair of black underwear and black colored braziers. “I hope he’ll like me in red and black.” she uttered while getting undress. She wore her undergarments and then that red dress. Her cleverage could be clearly seen in that dress. She put on some mascara, some blush on and maroon lipstick. She tied the hair of her wig in a high messy bun. “I do look good enough I think.” she checked herself in the mirror. She looked sexier than ever. She took a photo of herself and sent it to William. “I’m all ready for you hon.” she texted him.“Wow is that for me. Just turning your street.” he te
Dara felt relaxed after spending time with William. Her problems were not yet solved but she felt tension free. “Should I tell everything to William?” she thought, “But I don’t want him to think that I’m a monster. What if he leaves me after I tell him the horrible truth about me?” Dara kept on think the same thing, “And if I don’t tell him it’ll mean that I’m betraying him.” She sighed, “I’ll tell him when we meet next time.”Dara felt hungry and went upstairs to eat. She had a sandwich. She went outside in the garden to sit with her grandfather.“Need some company?” she smiled.“Hello dear!” Stephen greeted her, “Come sit with me for a while.”Dara sat on the chair, “Where have you been?”“You know how dangerous it’s now getting to go outside because of the wolves. People of the island want to hunt them down. So I called a small meeting to tell them all that we can’t kill the wolves.”“But why not?”“Well, I don’t know if you’ll believe me