Dream Prince Wolf
Author:© WebNovel
Chapter 1: Chapter 1: A Strange Sighting
The audience was on their feet. Their applause was thunderous. Julietta smiled broadly and bowed in all directions to her imaginary fans. Something caught her eye just as she was getting ready to jump up and down to celebrate her successful rendition of a woman who had just lost her favorite pet.
Julietta stared hard into the forest ahead of her to see what had moved there in the fog just a while ago. She loved the beauty of the green forest set against the background of a sky that was usually azure blue.
On foggy days the view was just as charming because she loved the charming atmosphere leant by the sense of mystery that the fog presented. She loved to imagine what was beyond her immediate view.
She was just about to turn around and get ready to head home when her eyes adjusted well enough to the fog to see what looked like a big, white wolf a distance into the woods. She looked away and checked again.
“Am I seeing things?” she asked below her breath. It really was a wolf that was apparently staring straight back at her.
Julietta felt her knees tremble. What if the animal charged at her? She stepped back slowly and stopped immediately when she realized that the lake was a short distance behind her. She could fall in.
She glanced at the wolf. It did not seem interested in following her, so she stood still for a short while. She then turned around slowly so that she could head back home. It was getting late, and the wolf was just staring right now. Julietta looked away to glance at the path and when she looked at the wolf again it turned around and disappeared deeper into the woods.
“How strange!” Julietta gasped breathlessly. She decided not to go after the wolf because it was almost dark now. So, she walked to the footpath, which led home. She couldn’t believe that she had been rewarded with a glance at a big white wolf.
Julietta sang all the way home, where she lived with her parents in a comfortable three-bedroom cottage-style house. They also had a lovely, small garden with a fence around it which was fenced off with a picket fence for privacy.
***
“What is wrong with you?” Mrs. McGreeves asked when Julietta almost dropped a plate while she was laying the table. “Your mind is everywhere but here,” Mrs. McGreeves complained.
“I’m excited about the new play at school,” Julietta responded quickly. She was not going to tell her mother that she was spending time hanging out at the lake by herself. So, she would contain herself until she saw her friend Emile at school tomorrow.
“What is the play about?” Julietta’s mother asked curiously. She did not want her daughter to be so taken up with drama lessons at school. She and her husband wanted Julietta to become a doctor one day. So, she needed to focus more on mathematics and science and less on drama.
“It’s about a lonely woman who lives with her dog and then one day the dog goes missing and the woman ends up being beside herself with panic and anxiety,” Julietta responded with sincerity.
“How sad,” Mrs. McGreeves responded half-heartedly. Julietta did not mind because she knew that her mother was not that excited about her love for acting. She had realized early enough in her life that her parents only wanted her to study medicine.
***
Later that night, as she lay in bed, Julietta recalled the moment when she laid eyes on that magnificent wolf. It was out there in the fog. Emile might think that it was only her imagination.
“I will tell him anyway,” she told herself before falling asleep.
Julietta dreamt about being in a fantasy world where she was a queen surrounded by many subjects who were sometimes human and sometimes animals. They bowed down to her and tried to fulfill her every wish.
She woke up feeling disappointed that the dream was not real. Then she remembered the wolf in the forest.
“I’m sure that it was real,” she said to herself while she brushed her hair in front of the mirror. She couldn’t wait to tell Emile, her friend ever since she had first gone to St John’s School.
***
“I’m coming with you tonight,” Emile said in a determined tone in response after Julietta told him about her encounter with the wolf.
“What if you frighten it away?” Julietta asked. She was suddenly not so sure about whether it had been a good idea to tell Emile about the wolf. Maybe it was only her imagination because it was already dusk when she saw the wolf. She wondered whether she should perhaps have treasured the experience for herself before sharing it with anyone else.
“It wasn’t frightened away by you, so why would I frighten it away?” Emile asked. “You said it was very big anyway, so why would it scare easily?” he continued.
“Its size doesn’t make a difference,” Julietta objected. “Alright, then let’s go there together, but we should practice caution,” she suggested. She immediately lowered her voice when she noticed that some children were drawing closer out of curiosity because she and Emile were talking with their heads close together..
“Yes,” Emile responded. “You know that I am always cautious whenever necessary,” he said just as the school bell rang to indicate the end of break time.
***
Emile came rushing up to Julietta at the end of the school day.
“I have to practice basketball today so that I can be ready for standby duty for today.
“So, you will have to sit on the bench in case someone gets hurt?” Julietta asked.
“Yep,” Emile responded with a forced smile. “It’s my turn.” He did not like being called upon at the last moment.
“Oh, no,” Julietta responded. “Did they only inform you now?” she asked.
“Yes,” Emile answered in disappointment. “But I can always go to the lake with you tomorrow,” he added quickly.
“Oh, of course,” Julietta agreed. She was surprised to realize that a part of her was relieved about the fact that Emile was not accompanying her to the lake anymore. It suddenly felt like her own private experience, and she did not want to share it yet. She wondered why she was so impulsive sometimes.
“I will go home quickly and get my cell phone so that I can take a photo of it,” Julietta promised. “Then you can share in the experience as well for today.”
“That’s a good idea,” Emile agreed before turning around and heading for the sports grounds.
Julietta then did exactly as she had promised and rushed towards the bus, which would take her home.
When she arrived at home, she went straight to her bedroom to collect her cell phone, which she was not allowed to take to school with her.
“Are you going to do homework in the park again?” her mother asked. Julietta only told her parents that she focused well when she did her homework in the park.
“Yes, Mom,” Julietta lied. She did not want her parents to know that she went as far as the woods and the lake by herself.
“I will have to start taking a walk,” Mrs. McGreeves announced suddenly. “I think I should walk with you. The park is not so far, for starters,” she added with a sudden sparkle in her eyes.
“Uhmm…excuse me Mom?” Julietta responded in alarm. “Where do you wanna go?”
Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Disappointment and Chaos
Julietta stared at her mother in disbelief. She couldn’t believe her ears. Of all days, her mother chose to accompany her today.
“Don’t you keep saying that I should get some exercise?” her mother asked indignantly.
“Yes, but in the afternoon. It won’t be fun for you with all the school children around,” Julietta tried to explain. It was as good a time as any for her mother to visit the nearby park. But Julietta herself was not going to the park and today was not a day for revealing the truth about her afternoon expeditions. Even her friends knew that her parents would not allow her to go to the forest and the lake on her own.
“So then, when should I go, according to you?” Mrs. McGreeves asked impatiently.
“In the morning, when other ladies are out there instead of all the children,” Julietta answered with a kiss on her mother’s cheek before she grabbed her homework bag and ran out the door.
“I think that I should be the judge of all that,” Celia McGreeves shouted after her daughter.
***
Julietta did not want to waste any further time, listening to her mother. She ran almost all the way to the forest.
When she arrived there Julietta could not believe her eyes. There were people everywhere around the lake. Some were even having a picnic on the grass.
“Why today when I want to see the white wolf again?” she complained to herself dismally. “It’s all because of the fine weather,” she commented as an answer to her own question.
So Julietta walked over to a spot underneath a tree. She sat down there and took out her books.
“I can just as well do homework anyway,” she said in a practical tone of voice.
She read for a few moments but was distracted by the voices around her, so she looked around a little bit. A middle-aged looking lady smiled at her and Julietta spontaneously smiled back. She made sure that her smile was not too friendly though.
“Why can’t they just leave so that the wolf can come out?” she thought in frustration.
“You’re actually thinking that it is coming out only for you,” she said to herself inwardly and suppressed a giggle as she moved her glance towards the lake itself, where two small boats were afloat. The day was sunny. That’s why so many people had come out, Julietta realized, but it still upset her that her “private spot” had been taken over by all these strangers.
She returned her focus to her homework and set out to complete her tasks.
***
When she looked up next, Julietta found herself almost alone. A mother and two children were hastily packing up their picnic basket as they prepared to leave the lake. There was not much daylight left. Her homework was done, and it was time for the wolf to appear because it was becoming foggy enough.
Julietta slowly packed up her homework bag, pretending to leave as well. She didn’t look at the departing family because she did not want them to start a conversation with her.
When she rose and glanced in their direction again there was no sign of the little family. They did not waste time with leaving. She looked around the deserted place. It seemed as if the group of people who were there for the afternoon had never existed.
Julietta rushed over to stand near the lake again so that she could observe the forest.
After a while of staring at the exact spot where she had seen the white wolf the night before, Julietta shook herself physically.
“He won’t necessarily be standing in exactly the same spot like a spook, silly!” she reprimanded herself out loud.
So, she averted her gaze and scanned the rest of the foggy forest scene in front of her. There was no sign of a wolf. Was it shy or did it simply have somewhere else to be tonight?
It was getting too dark to be there by herself anyway, so Julietta turned around in disappointment.
“It was that silly crowd!” she blurted out to no one in particular. “That, or my imagination,” she resolved reluctantly as she walked away from the lake with hasty steps.
When she reached the road, she took the street which led to her home, but after a few steps, she stopped. It did not feel right to show up at home with her disappointment written so clearly on her face. Julietta was not good at hiding her emotions.
“I will rather go to Emile since he expected to go to the lake today anyway,” she told herself. So, she turned back and turned into Emile’s street. Her head hung low, and her chin touched her chest as she walked dejectedly down the well-lit street.
***
“Oh, cheer up!” Emile exclaimed in disbelief when he saw how disappointed his friend was. He ruffled her curly brown hair to lighten up her mood. “Tomorrow is still another day and the day thereafter,” he added with a smile.
Julietta looked at him in surprise as she sat down on the chair that he pointed out to her. Since when was he so light-hearted about disappointment? He usually carried on for days on end whenever someone made “sour” comments about his artwork.
“Okay then,” Julietta responded. “You haven’t shown me your latest paintings yet,” she commented with a raised eyebrow.
“Come along and see them then,” Emile offered. He confidently led the way to the small gallery at the end of their lounge.
“When is your mother coming home then?” Julietta asked while she gazed at the paintings on the wall. Emile’s mother was usually at home by this time.
“She went to talk to someone about donations towards her foundation for disabled children,” Emile replied.
Julietta noticed for the first time that Emile’s latest paintings were rather unusual. He usually painted house pets but this time he had ventured into wild animals like bears, jaguars, and even wolves.
“Your imagination is rather keen for you to be able to draw such animals from mere memory,” Julietta commented as she frowned at the paintings.
“Who says they were done from mere memory?” Emile asked.
“Oh?” Julietta responded in shock. “So, when have you seen a jaguar in real life?”
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