• The night was quiet. A small breeze flowed through the trees of the forest, and the animals seemed more silent then they usually were. Suddenly, the low howl of a wolf pierced the silence and echoed throughout the forest. Within seconds, more voices joined in, drifting over the area and alerting everything to their presence.
    A nearby lone she-wolf pricked her ears, and numbly got up onto her feet. Her joints were stiff, and her paws ached. Wind ruffled her snow-white fur, and the blue streaks in her fur seemed unnatural. Slowly, almost as if she was unused to moving, she stepped toward the pack of wolves, which lay farther ahead, continuing their howling. Fear should have slowed her down but she continued despite this, shivering with anticipation.
    A scent suddenly made its way to her nose, and she stopped dead in her tracks, glancing around. It took the wolf a moment to identify the smell, but she soon recognized it as rabbit. Hunger seized her, and as much as she wanted to continue toward the pack of wolves she moved closer to the area the scent came from. Her ears twitched, and she crouched low to the ground, thanking the wind for blowing her scent away from the small mammal.
    The rabbit was in a small open area, nose twitching as its upper half ducked down to grab and snack on some type of vegetation. It was completely brown, and on closer inspection seemed to be female. The she-wolf ducked down as the small mammal lifted its head, quickly glanced around, and went back to eating. Now! The wolf pushed off of the ground, lunging herself at the rabbit. Paws reached it first, and it uttered a high squeal -
    *

    “Sintake!”
    Sintake woke up with a jolt. Her pulse was racing, and adrenaline pumped through her veins. She quickly sat up, rubbing her eyes and casting a glance over her room, trying to assure herself that she had just been dreaming.
    “SINTAKE!”
    She jumped slightly as her name was called, glancing toward her door, “Yeah, Mom,” her voice was shakey, and she cleared her throat, struggling with words for a moment, “what is it?”
    “Hurry up and get ready! Or you're going to be late for your first day of school!”