Page 52 of When the Snowman Whispered
“No!” I screamed. This time when I stepped back I fell. Where the land should have been solid and steady, it was as empty as a cliff. I’d fallen off some sort of ledge, dropping. Descending into darkness. Plunging.
I had no control.
No way to stop the sinking into black.
Nothing to hook onto and stop my drop.
No one’s hand to grab and save me.
Just my screams.
And the darkness that raced upward and swarmed all around me.
Chapter 11
Daniel
A
pack of white creatures howled at the moon.
While many didn’t see wolves in our parts, they were around. The United States had more than eleven thousand gray wolves alone, spread out through forty-eight states. Wolves didn’t attack humans much. Attacks depended on the location.
There hadn’t been any incidents in our area for many decades.
However, there was a stronger history of humans killing wolves. That was why no one saw them. Wolves were smart enough to live far away from people.
Where are they?
Howling sliced through the snowy night. I increased the speed on my snowmobile, hoping to find their trail.
Wolves howled for many reasons. Most of the time, they did so to defend their territory and gather the pack. Other times they sung together in a chorus of howls as they raced by another pack. It was a show of pack defense to the other packs in a don’t-fuck-with-me way.
Regardless, when a wolf howled it sounded like a train whistle or police car siren.
These wolves’ howls were something else. It was more like a chorus of humans howling verses real animals. They came out too high-pitched and ragged.
What are these things?
If I had any sense, I wouldn’t have been out here this late at night. There were many places where snowmobiling was prohibited—airports, cemeteries, parks, golf courses, sacred Native American lands, and even designated wilderness areas like where Faith lived nearby.
I’d chased the wolves to her land, following their howls and hoping they didn’t go too close to her property. Crazy things happened during a full moon, but not this odd.
The wolves shouldn’t have been so close to humans.
Why are they making so much noise over here?
And contrary to popular belief, wolves didn’t howl at full moons any more often than at any other time. Packs made a racket near sunrise and sunset. In this moment, the clock had already passed four in the morning.
There’s something weird about this.
I’d heard them last night too, after leaving Faith’s property. When I drove away, worried about her, the wolves howled on the outskirts of her land. Luckily, I’d had the music off and window down, just taking in the silence of the drive and considering all the ways I could’ve talked to Faith more.
I had stopped the car and strained for more noise, but none came.
Driving away, I figured it was just my imagination and didn’t consider it anymore.
But tonight, was different. Leaving Faith’s place gave me a weird feeling.
