Wolf’s Bane

The lumber camp was not too far away. A walking distance from his parents’ house, if he was patient enough to walk through the forest for at least half an hour…

But it so happened that it wasn’t a bad thing. Not after falling asleep thinking of werewolves and his beloved sister.

Jack woke up early and left the house before his parents noticed.

The air at that hour and up high in the mountain was crisp and fresh, not exactly like the rest of the day would be during the hotter season, and that’s why he enjoyed the early hours so much those days.

With a bottle of water and a large crisp green apple taken from his mother’s kitchen, he started walking slowly to work, taking in life and what had brought him.

“Sorah, how would things have been if you had not left?” he mumbled, letting the images of himself during the time of his youth invade his head.

He wasn’t unattractive, not even as a teenager. Actually, since he went more often than not to help in his father’s company, he was tall and had a marked body that was uncommon to see in kids his age, even if he wasn’t that bulky.

Girls in town were really interested in him. And he was in them too, but then…

+++

“Jack! Wait a second!” he heard from behind him.

“Oh, Em… Hi,” he shyly said.

His usual routine was that, as soon as his school day ended, he’d run to the lumber camp and would work both in his father’s office and in the field. That’s why many of his classmates both looked up to him, but wouldn’t invite him to anything outside school activities.

He didn’t have time for all those, but it was his choice not to go. He not only learned what he would need to know to run his father’s company but also would get to earn some money if he completed his job well enough and on time.

Besides, he had a few other projects up there.

One of the permanent employees was teaching him how to use the wood turner and how to make furniture, which seemed to be what he liked even more.

The idea of creating something out of practically nothing was like magic in his eyes.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

That’s why, even if one or two of the girls his age were of interest to him, he didn’t stick around to go anywhere and do anything with them.

After all, what would he do when they’re together?

He wasn’t exactly shy, but didn’t know much about girlfriends and relationships, besides kissing and going out…

The nightmarish stories about female jealousy, fights and possessiveness he’d heard other boys talking about in the school’s small changing rooms were also enough to keep him away from those situations and he found himself focusing on what made him happy at the time.

But, that day, after Emily ran to him, something different seemed to have awakened in him.

“Hi…” she greeted him, her cheeks pink both blushing and for the short run from their classroom to the school entrance since she was trying to catch up with Jack. “Uh… I wanted to give you this…”

The black and purple envelope was decorated with golden flowers and fine lettering.

He eyed it as she extended it in front of him, then reached to take it, surprised by the casualness of the gesture, and even more so because Emily was the prettiest girl in his class.

She had very long, reddish hair that shone like copper in the sunlight. Her eyes were a dark emerald green, decorated with long eyelashes. Her white, perfect skin was adorned with the few freckles in her high cheekbones, and a shy dimple that showed when she showed her perfectly aligned white teeth. Her body was slim and starting to show curves, and she was what Jack would describe later, during dinner at home, as a ‘perfect height,’ being not too tall, but not too short.

“I would really like to see you there,” she said as his awareness went back to their conversation, and he raised his eyes from looking at the envelope until they met hers. “It’s for my 16th birthday… in two weeks… I know you’re busy with your family business, but… if you could…”

She left the phrase unfinished, adding a bright smile that reached her eyes, and made all of the amazingness that Jack, and many other boys, would see in her.

“Thank you for inviting me. I never go to any of these,” he let out the partial truth… After all, it was true that he never went… “But I think I would like to go to yours…”

He racked his fingers through his hair, unconsciously letting his shirt up, showing a bit of his young, marked abs, and some of his muscular arm as well.

Attributes that he was not even conscious he had.

“Great!” she said, feeling her friends behind her drooling over one of the most handsome guys of their class. “I’m… happy to hear that,” she added as she played with her fingers, reluctant to let him go already, but she didn’t know what else to say to him to make him stay.

“Okay,” he less-than-smoothly said. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow. Thanks again!” and turned before she noticed the heavy blush that was covering his face suddenly, as he almost ran away.

Behind him, he could hear some excited squealing. But he would have never thought it was for him.

Not back then, but years later, it made him smile.

That afternoon and evening, there was no other topic he would talk about. Emily’s beauty, Emily’s voice, the way she spoke, and last but not least, Emily’s party.

“You seem to really like her,” Sorah teased him.

“What!? N-no way! I… don’t have time for that kind of thing, Sis!” Jack attempted to defend himself, making the whole table, with their mom, dad and sister, burst into laughter. “Besides, it’s just a birthday party and not a date, come on…”

“What do you plan to give her for her birthday then?” his mother asked him, trying to take the general attention to something all of them could actually help her youngest child.

“I don’t know… maybe something I can make for her… I’d like… a chest… with different colors and shapes of wood! I could ask Martin to help me!”

“I’ve noticed that he’s been teaching you a few things. I’m okay with it, as long as you don’t distract him, or get too distracted. Remember that he’s working on the machines and those need careful handling,” his father reminded him while smiling and reclining in his chair.

“Yes, Dad, I’ll be careful and will use only our breaks or after work! Mom… do you think that’s a good gift? Sorah?”

“I think that you could give her a stone and she would like it,” his sister mumbled, her mom being the only one close enough to hear her daughter, and ended up smiling secretly. “I kind of know that she likes you that much, brother.”

“Huh? What did you say, Sorah?” Jack asked, confused by their amused expressions. “Stop mumbling coz’ I can’t hear you, much less understand what you’re trying to tell me.”

“I think I speak for both of us females of this family that you’ve gotten very good at your craft, Jack. So yes, she will probably like your gift very much. I know it will end up really really nice by the time you have completed it!” their mother added, making it a unanimous agreement.

“Although,” Sorah suddenly added, “you have the money, brother. Why do you want to make such a big effort for a girl who is not even your girlfriend?”

“Well… she’s not my girlfriend, but…” her brother attempted… Why indeed? He wasn’t even sure but it was something he felt deep inside him…. and he was ready to go with his strange and unexplainable feelings.

The days passed. It actually took him a lot of effort, but since he dedicated so much time to the chest, it was finished in just a week.

Martin, his father, and all the workers praised his amazing work. The cover was rounded, lined with dark brown then very light brown wood and the box itself had the same colors of wood, but instead of the thin, organized lines on top, he took the time to shape and turn them in different shapes, looking more like a colorful jigsaw that he carved in the back.

It was beautiful and unique and was ready for the night of the party.

When he arrived, she walked towards him as if she was waiting for him. Emily received him with a shy but sweet smile framed by pink-tinted lips that had the same color as rose petals.

“I’m glad you could come,” she softly said.

“I’m happy to be here… Oh, this is for you,” he said, handing her a perfectly arranged present bag that his older sister fixed for him.

“Thank you! But you didn’t have to…”

“Of course, I had to…”

She took it out and her jaw dropped. The box was really that pretty.

“Wow! Don’t tell me you made this yourself!!”

“Uh… yeah… It’s-”

She didn’t let him continue talking. Moving close to him, she pressed her soft lips to his, surprising him, and as soon as she got close, she pulled back.

“I’m sorry to be so forward but… I like your present very much… And I like you as well… But I guess you never noticed it, Jack…”

“I would have never thought you did… But I like you too… And that kiss you just stole from me was my first… Now you’ll have to give it back,” he said with his and her blushing cheeks hidden by the dim lights of the party.

She smiled widely once more, and got closer again, this time he wrapped his arms around her and got lost in the kiss.

“Would you like to dance?” he now smoothly asked.

Of course, they spent the rest of the night dancing, laughing and talking.

But then, a few nights later, Sorah was taken, And all his mind and efforts were split between his school grades that started to drop. And he started having a hard time getting passing grades while working with his dad. But Jack still managed a little to try and look for his missing sister Sorah.

And he never got to see or hear from Emily again…

+++

A bitter smile was on Jack’s face, as he remembered his first crush’s party. And was completely lost in it when he felt someone crashing against his back and falling back, followed by a loud cry.

“Owww!”