The Forest - my story in progress...

Chapter 1

The howl was long, sad and lonely. It shattered the tranquillity as the Forest echoed with it. The howl broke off, but the Forest remained quiet, listening and waiting for another howl to follow. It was the same with Kira. She huddled in her sleeping bag and waited. But it never came. Kira sat up and slid out of her sleeping bag. Thirsty, she crept out of her shelter and went to the river to drink. As she looked into the water Kira saw her reflection by moonlight. Her ginger-brown hair swayed in the icy wind, her beige lips going pale in the cold, her sandy-brown skin beginning to get goose bumps and her olive green eyes looking back up at her. In the reflected image in the water, Kira saw an old oak tree in the background.
After she had finished her drink, Kira scrambled to the tree and sat with her back against it. Her mind started to wonder, and after a while it rested in the past. Kira started to remember the orphanage she came from. The one she had been at all her life. The past few days had been bad, so Kira had run, ending up here in the Forest. She floated into memories… there was Lisa and her horrible gang of girls that would always pick on or bully Kira. What harm had she done to them? She vaguely remembered a time, not long ago, where one of the Lisa’s closest friends - Gemma - was walking past Kira. She had whispered,
“Did you know that there is actually a reason we pick on only you?” stunned, Kira asked “Not really. But what is the reason?” Gemma smirked,
“It’s because you’re different.” Kira frowned, puzzled.
“I don’t understand. How am I different?” Gemma sighed and started again,
“Let me put it in a way you would understand, if me and Lisa and all the rest of us were dogs, you would be a threat to us. You aren’t meant to be here.” Kira didn’t know if Gemma was lying or not so she asked one last question,
“Where do I belong?” Gemma rolled her eyes and replied,
“How am I supposed to know? All I know is it’s not here!” Kira felt a thump and opened her eyes. She was lying on her side. She had fallen asleep. She shivered and, exhausted, crawled into the tent and into her sleeping bag and drifted to sleep.

*

“BBuuzzz…BBuuzzzz” Kira slapped her cheek; the fly fell to the ground. She stretched and yawned. Picking herself up, Kira blinked and rubbed her eyes. Yawning, Kira took a step forward and tripped over her sleeping bag, falling into the dirt.
“Oww!” she cried meaninglessly. Kira was too tired to realise her hurt. Stretching again as she got up for the second time, Kira wiped herself of dirt and continued to the river. Sitting where she had last night, Kira washed her face. She watched the last few drops of waterfall into the river and looked into its crystal-clear depths. Kira saw waterweed, and rocks. Suddenly a fish swam by and Kira felt a pang of hunger. She hadn’t eaten for a long time. She needed to leave here and head for the town. Kira had come to her last option: Stealing. She knew it was wrong, and would be punished if caught but having no money and not wanting to beg, in case recognized by someone, Kira was forced to steal.
She went back to her shelter and started to undo it. Pulling four pegs out of the ground and untying the string on one side and doing the same with the other, Kira had a big tarpaulin draped over a branch. She unhooked the tarpaulin and folded it up, leaving it to one side. She then went to her sleeping bag, crumpled up and ready for shaking. Kira shook it hard and left it hanging over the branch. Now her bag. Reaching into a hollow of the oak Kira lifted her bag out of it and checked the contents. Once happy that everything was there, Kira grabbed her things, stuffed them in her bag and stared to walk back to town.

A few hundred miles to the West, the Wolf Pack were panting and jumping, not resting for a moment, as they loped through the trees of the Forest in search of their pack leader.