Encounters

"Going through the motions of gathering the dirty plates, cleaning the table off, and finally sweeping the floor was basically how my days started."

"It was always unfair that my father and brothers got to work the ranch while poor ol me was stuck at the house cleaning, sewing, and cooking."

"Truthfully, I don't think going through another year is feasible. Eighteen years and this is what it's come to."

"I couldn't hate them for it, but the feelings were still there."

After cleaning the house, I went to find my mother out on the porch in her rocking chair, putting a patch on one of my father's jeans.

Sitting down with her, I started looking at the beautiful terrain of the ranch below.

I saw the river flow through my family's land; the pasture to the west side was where the herd of my father's prized horses was.

Our house sat atop one of the few hills on the property.

My family has called this place home for nearly twenty-five years.

They came here from Pennsylvania on a wagon train; that is how my mother and father met. They got married, left the wagon train, settled here, and the rest is history.

"Ma, would it be okay to go to the creek?"

Mother looked up from her little project, pondering my question a moment.

" I don't see why not, hun; just don't stay out too long and be home in time to help me make supper."

With that, she went back to sewing.

I got up and headed to the creek before mother could say another word or change her mind.

When I was out of her site, I picked up my skirt so I wouldn't trip and began jogging. Across the clearing behind the house, following the old trail.

The trail started to go down the hill into the forest, a path that wove threw the trees.

I followed the old trail until I came to the creek's edge.

Turning left, I headed up steam to a monster of a hollowed-out tree. I could fit in there if I crouched down.

I crouched down and crawled into the tree.

Feeling around my hiding spot, my fingers grazed over one of the books. I pulled it out.

My father banned this particular book because it was too "unladylike" and "too unorthodox " for a young lady to read...

I bought them anyways the last time we were in town. I've stored a few other "band books" here as well. It felt like the forbidden library that felt like an escape.

Settling down into my usual spot between a couple of large roots, with my back against the trees, I began my adventure.

After a couple of hours of reading, I honestly didn't want to stop reading, but on the other hand, swimming for the last hour of my time out sounded refreshing.

I began to unlace my shoes when a thought occurred to me.

I hadn't heard any birds or wildlife making any noise for the past few minutes; the forest always was moderately filled with noise.

Stopping my progress, I look around before looking to the other side of the creek.

If you weren't looking for it, you would have never noticed the movement in the underbrush.

On instinct, I froze and crouched down; not wasting a second, I Climbed inside the tree; I put a hand over my mouth to cover up the sound of breathing.

The entrance of the hollowed tree faced away from the creek, so whatever creature was out there Might not find me; I

waited for an eternity before finally adjusting to give my muscles a break. That was my mistake.

As soon as I made a little noise, I heard a low growl from the other side of the tree. A gasp escaped as absolute terror took hold; that was mistake two.

I crawled out of the tree and was on my feet, running toward the house.

Low-hanging tree beaches hit me as I ran, leaving scratches on my forearms; as I protected my face.

My lungs burned as I reached the incline, and my legs began to shake.

Pumping them as hard as possible was putting too much stress on them.

Growls and tree branches breaking flooded my ears.

Morbid curiosity got the best of me, and glancing behind me for a split second caused me to run straight into a tree.

The air escaped my lungs as I fell onto my back.

My vision swam as I tried to breathe normally.

When my vision started to become normal again, I looked up; I saw a grey wolf the size of a bear watching me. I was like a statue, still and unmoving.

The wolf watched me for a while before it started by sniffing my leg, then it wrapped its mouth.

Around my ankle and began to drag me!!!

I began kicking at the wolf with my free leg. After a few attempts, I landed a hard kick to the snout, causing it to yelp and let go. I scrambled to my feet and ran up and out of the forest; my leg throbbed, but I kept running till I tripped in the field.

I was maybe fifty yards from the house. I layed there breathing hard; anxiety reaped havoc on my chest. I slowly sat up and peered at the tree line. There standing right where I broke through the tree line was the wolf!