1 WHY?

She runs without looking back, the branches of the trees tearing at her clothes, her skin laced with wounds. But her mind implores her not to stop. She must escape; she cannot allow them to capture her again. Darting through the forest, her bare feet are pained, bleeding from numerous injuries, yet she does not halt. Something within drives her onwards relentlessly.

Her life depends on her escape!

After racing through the dense undergrowth, she arrives at a clearing where a vast river flows. Without a moment's hesitation, she plunges into the water—it is her only route to freedom. Unversed in swimming, she clings desperately to a log that materialises in the tumultuous current. The voices of her pursuers echo in the distance; she propels herself with her feet, the current sweeping her along with formidable speed. 

She has nearly lost her grip on the log several times. Water floods her mouth repeatedly; she fears she will not last much longer, but a voice inside her head insists she must not give up and persevere. Her body is frozen and begins to go numb as a strange current runs through her skin filling her with heat for moments. The current is violent and carries her away from her pursuers whom she can somehow hear perfectly even though she has left them far behind. 

After a sharp fall down a huge waterfall, when she comes to the surface again, she feels how she stops, everything is very dark. As best she can, she manages to kick to steer the huge wood that has kept her floating until she sees how she approaches the shore.

It is raining torrentially, not even her hands can be seen. Her whole body does not feel it, it is numb from the cold, she tries with all her strength to stand up, but her numb and aching legs do not support her. She falls again after making several attempts at the insistence of the voice in her head that tells her that they cannot stop, they have to hide in the forest. However, it is so cold that the current that has run through her several times, filling her with warmth, has not returned, so she drops and curls up on the ground, crying inconsolably.

She is very frightened, she thinks she is going to freeze to death, the rain and snow do not stop, and she has no strength to continue. She doesn't know where she should go either, the dark night surrounds everything, only the noise of the falling waterfall and the wind blowing now reach her clouded senses. She is about to fall asleep when she begins to perceive wolf-like footsteps approaching fast, she tries to stand up, to move. We have to escape, we have to escape! 

She hears the insistence of the voice in her head, but she falls back to the ground without strength and recovers her curled up form hugging her knees waiting to see what will happen.

 He listens with his now fine-tuned hearing as it approaches running at high speed, he concentrates, it is only one. She tries to get up again to face it without success. A few footsteps stop next to her, she raises her head in terror. Four huge black furry paws are beside her. She looks up, unable to believe her eyes. A huge panting wolf with its red tongue out drooling, the huge fangs ready to bury themselves in her, looks at her closely with its red glaring eyes as if inspecting her. 

Gil trembles with terror at the sight of it, thinks she is going to die and shrinks in on herself more, thinking of her beloved parents one last time, ready to feel the worst of pain. She is astonished, however, when the wolf, far from attacking, runs his tongue over her face, wiping away her tears and without further ado lies down beside her, wrapping his tail around her, giving off an incredible warmth. She does not move, the terror that seizes her does not allow her to do so. 

But the wolf's warmth makes her regain her own warmth. When she sees that he is still there calmly, without doing anything, just warming her, she gets between his paws, and hugs him excited and happy. She doesn't know why the wolf is doing that, or who it could be, but it is very clear that he will not attack her and will defend her from those who are chasing them. 

 Her body is impregnated with its comforting warmth. She sinks her head into the chest of the wolf, who purrs happily. It seems familiar to her and to have been between her paws before, but that's impossible she thinks, it can't be, and with this thought wrapped in the warmth emitted by the giant black wolf, she falls asleep.

 The brightness and the cold make her open her eyes. She is still naked, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by snow and vegetation. Everything around her is dressed in white, it seems that it snowed very hard at night, if it wasn't for the wolf she would be frozen for sure, where is she? Would it be true or not? 

She looks around, and sees no sign that a wolf has been there, there is not a single footprint. She slept next to a mound of earth that prevented the air, rain and snow from damaging her further. She convinces herself that she dreamed of the wolf. Some noises in the forest, make her look over there, frightened. And she sees it, the big black wolf with red eyes is staring at her from a distance. It's huge! 

For a moment they stare into each other's eyes. She thinks he is one of her pursuers, but the way he wags his tail tells her he is not. She doesn't know why, she stands with great difficulty, heeding the voice in her head telling her to trust him. She struggles to her feet and staggers to meet him. The wolf sees her and waits for her; every time she gets closer, he moves a little further away.

 Finally, she understands that he wants her to follow him into the thick forest. She does so moaning, her feet hurt terribly. His whole body is full of wounds. The cold is a torture as if they were daggers digging into her skin. She cries silently as she moves forward with great effort behind that huge wolf that does not know if it is going to eat her or help her. She doesn't know how far she walks, going deeper into the forest until she comes to a cabin, the wolf gets lost through the door.

She can't believe there's a cabin in the middle of nowhere!

The very sight of it fills her with strength and she finishes walking the remaining distance to reach it. She enters and is greeted by the warmth of the fireplace. She looks around looking for someone, but sees no one. She moves forward resolutely until she is in front of the fire. Some blankets in front of the fireplace attract her attention. 

 She takes them and wraps herself in them. She lies down next to the comforting warmth, she has no strength, she closes her eyes that have already stopped shedding tears, feeling like the most miserable girl in the universe and keeps asking herself.

 Why are these strange things happening to her? Who are those people who kidnapped her from school? Where are her parents? Why does this wolf look familiar? Is it the same one who visits her in the forest?

 It can't be—she felt as though they had travelled miles and miles in the trunk of a car after she woke from the effects of whatever substance they had administered to her nose, inducing sleep. Why would anyone want to abduct her? She is merely the daughter of humble confectionery shop workers, who must be fraught with desperation, realising she hadn't returned home from school. And that peculiar girl—why had she allowed herself to be deceived so easily by her? What does she want? Why had she kidnapped her?

They are deep within a forest, a place far removed from the city where she resides. She had never heard of such a locale teeming with wild animals. The creatures pursuing her were bizarre, sometimes they walked on four legs, other times on two, covered in fur with enormous fangs. What kind of supernatural beasts roamed this place to which she had been brought?

Why had the old man insisted that she must be sacrificed? And that strange voice in her head dictating her every move—what could it be? And why could she suddenly perceive everything in the dark so clearly? Her sense of smell had become incredibly acute, and the wolf—could it indeed be her wolf?

As she continues to ponder these questions, she succumbs to a deep slumber, embraced by the comforting warmth of the fire crackling in the hearth, oblivious to the fact that two red eyes have been fixed upon her. Unbeknownst to her, the wolf—her wolf—had been vigilantly observing her the entire time from the other side of the door.