Wolf Moon (Chapter One) {Possily Partial}

I stared out the window at the nightime sky. A warm, desert breeze played across my skin and teased at my hair. The city light kept the moon and the stars just out of sight. I sighed, knowing it would be the last time I would stand like this.1

In the morning I was to catch a plane at eight a.m. I would leave warm, sunny, big Santa Fe for small, dark, cold Moshaw, Oregon and a father I barely knew. Which is where, hopefully, I would spend the last two years of my life as a minor. I sighed heavily, taking a deep breath of city air.2

"You don't hae to go, you know."3

I turned from my place at the window to see my fourteen-year-old sister standing in my doorway. I simply nodded and moved to finish packing.4

"Soli," She padded across the room to sit on my bed beside my old suitcase, "why are you going?"5

I sighed again, "Carmen, we've been through this. I can't stay here. Not after everything that has happened."6

She nodded sadly and tucked her feet up under her. She bit her lip and watched me force my suitcase closed, "Marisol.....I'll miss you....You're my best friend...."7

I paused. Carmen always knew what to say to throw someone off. Even if she wasn't meaning to at the time. I turned to study my little sister.8

We were mexican-americans, both of us, but we didn't really look it. We were both abnormally pale, especially for the desert climate. Carmen was blonde like our father and I was a red-head like our father. She was small, like me, and fragile. She looked to me as if a sudden gust of wind could blow her of the face of the earth. The thought terrified me.9

I sat down and pulled her head onto my shoulder, "I know, poco una, I know. And I'll miss you, but I still have to go."10

She nodded an looked on the verge of tears. She looked around as I pushed my bag off into the floor, "Marisol......can I sleep here tonight?"11

I glanced over my shoulder at my little sister, at my best friend.12

"Of course, Carma. Get in." I crawled into bed with my little sister, knowing I wouldn't get any sleep. For in the morning, my new life would begin.13

I looked around the small airport lounge. Jack, my father, was supposed to meet me here. I was just starting to panic when I felt a tap on my shoulder.14

Every horror movie about small town murders that I'd ever seen flashed through my head. I spun, ready to attack, only to find myself face-to-face with the largest man I'd ever seen in my life. I instictually shrunk back.15

He chuckled slightly, " Marisol Patterson?"16

I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked up, up, up at him, "Yea...."17

He smiled and it seemed to shift his face. He was no longer the scary, large, murderer, but a soft, cuddly, given large, teddy bear. He held out his hand to me. "I'm Daniel Johnson, a friend of Jack's. You don't remember me?"18

I racked my brain for a moment. Finally, it came to me. Eight years ago, I remembered. He had been my dad's friend and fishing buddy. It had been during one of the rare summers when Carmen and I had visited. I also remembered he had had a son about my age. I frowned and looked back up at him.19

"Yes, I remember you....now." I glanced around, "Where's my dad?"20

He picked up my two small suitcases and started walking. What must have been relatively slow for him had me nearly jogging to keep up. He threw a smile over his shoulder for me and slowed his pace even more. 21

"You're dad asked me to pick you up. He had to run out to a job. Last minute thing and he's really sorry. He asked me to bring you back to the house." He led me out of the airport to a large pickup truck that waited on the curb.22

I gulped. My dad was a firefighter. Cheif, actually. Being called out on a job meant something was burning. "What happened?" I managed to gulp.23

Daniel glanced over his shoulder at me, "Oh darlin' don't worry. Everything's alright. The old Carter farmhouse caught fire. Nothing major. Nothing to spare a second thought about."24

He helped me up into the large truck and climbed into the driver's seat. He shot me a warm grin as he pulled away from the curb, "how's your little sister? What's her name? Cara?"25

"Carmen." I whispered, remembering my little blonde haired sisters tear as she clung to our Spanish Beauty of a mother at the airport back in Sante Fe. "She's fine. Just fine. How's your son?"26

He smiled with obvious pride, "Christopher is doing just great. He's a junior this year. He's starting quarterback. He's got a job down at Trager's sporting supply. No girlfriend at the moment, but several good prospects."27

The rest of the fourty minute drive back to Moshaw was spent with Daniel Johnson chattering away about his children's acheivements. After the first ten minutes, I began tuning him out. I wasn't trying to be mean, but I remembered his son. Christopher was a mean little snot. I wasn't really interested in hearing about his great acheivements. 28

Finally, we arrived at the tiny firehouse/police Station. Moshaw had a grand population of 512, well 513 now. It was small to say the least. So the Town Hall, Police Station, Firehouse, and Sanitation Department were housed in two buildings, rather than four. Daniel helped me out of his massive truck and told me to leave my suitcases. I nodded and hitched my backpack up a little higher on my shoulder. I followed him into the building.29

It was in that building, sitting at a desk sketching in my sketchbook, that I got my first clue. I've already told you that I was starting a new life. But what I didn't know, even then, that that new life would be so strange I would never have believed it possible. It was that day and my decidion to move there that decided my destiny. What that destiny is, Im still wondering. I guess it will be revealed in time.