Title: A Red Moon

It’s a beautiful day in Massachusetts, about 65 degrees with a slight wind blowing, and the leaves are vibrant with colors of red, yellow, and brown. Walking back home from school through the forest I go through everyday, I notice a girl that walks around the woods. Today I decide to meet her. I don’t think that she’s in my school at all so it’s weird seeing her for the first time, but the moment I see her I’m in love. She’s so beautiful. a painting of red: red straight hair, Red lipstick on her stunning smile, a cute red sweater and beautiful red heels walking along the red leaves. I approach her, but when she sees me she is startled.

“Interloper, what is your business here?” she speaks with fear.

“Did I scare you? Sorry. I have no ‘business’ here, unless you’re referring to yourself.” I cringe in my mind after saying that, but it sold.

She laughs at my attempt at a pickup line. “What’s your name?”

“My name’s Kyle, what about yours?”

She responds timidly. “I’m Brynn.”

I respond with awe. “What a beautiful name!”

She smiles. “Thank you!”

Here’s my chance. “Hey, do you want to go on a date with me tomorrow? Maybe somewhere else besides this place?”

She looks at me confused. “Date?”

“You don’t know what a date is?”

She shakes her head.

“Well how about I show you tomorrow?” I look into her beautiful red eyes.

“Can we have it here please?” She looks back at me as if she was begging.

“Sure, I guess.”

She responds, “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Going back home, as soon as I arrive at my house, I run to my room immediately and start drawing pictures of Brynn in my sketchbook. “Tomorrow’s gonna be a good day,” I say to myself.

The next day after school I walk back to the forest and I see her with the same outfit. “So you ready?” she nods her head and smiles. This was a good choice of where to go. “Hey Brynn,” I say. “What made you want to have our date in this forest?”

She looks at me intently as if I said the magic words that unlocked her heart. “I don’t know if you’ll believe this but I was actually born and raised here.” She points to a distant tree that has a hole next to its roots.

“Wait, you live in a hole?!” I say.

She laughs sweetly. “Guess I gotta come clean.” I’m paralyzed by her beauty as the sun hits her face just right and I melt a little more looking at her. “My parents were actually on the run from the cops after killing various animals. They were horrible!! They deserve their fate.” I start leaning in a little more close to her. “Once they had me, they were killed by wolves that happened to find them, but I was left unharmed. Maybe they saw something in me, I'm not sure what, but they dug up that hole over there, grabbed me by the neck in their mouth, and placed me into the hole as if I was a pup of theirs.”

“So are you saying that you were raised by wolves?” I blurt out.

“Yeah, actually.” She puts her hand behind her head, looking embarrassed. Then her eyes start to water and her smile fades.

“Oh no, did I do something?” I respond thoughtfully.

She starts to cry as she speaks. “No you’re fine, it’s just…these wolves have felt like the only beings I can truly feel safe around, but I’ve never had any person in my life that treats me like that.”

We walk to the hole as the leaves rustle at our feet. I let her sit down with me next to the tree. “Can we go in the hole instead?” She is still crying.

“Yeah” I respond. It gets a little darker and we lie down on a wolf pelt pillow in the hole. It’s so cozy. I feel safe even though I'm surrounded by dirt and darkness. But the sun comes in the hole at the perfect angle and turns the hole golden. I make my move. “Baby, if you want, would you like me to be the first human you can feel safe around?” It feels like the trees are watching us, but I don’t care.

She responds shyly. “Yes, I would like that.”

I put my arms around her and she closes her eyes. I run my fingers through her crimson flowing hair as she emits a somewhat dog-like sigh. I put my face in her hair and close my eyes. It smells like honey and nature, I love it. The sun goes down as we cuddle together in this luxurious hole. Wow, I would've never thought that my crush and now girlfriend would be a wolf girl. What a score for me. Wait till I tell my homies!! We slumber together as I dream of her and wolves. She leans into me more and I smile. I’ll never leave her side. In the middle of the night I awake by myself holding what used to be Brynn, but she’s gone. Then I hear screams in the night far away. Maybe there’s another part of red that I didn’t see in her.