A light breeze picks up blowing leaves across Opal’s path. She takes no notice, crunching them beneath her feet. Her voice, raw from screaming for her parents, only comes out as a hoarse whisper as she tries again.

“Mom, Dad, where are you?” her voice breaks with despair.

She lets the words linger in the air before they disappear so insignificant in this giant wood. The trees seem to close in on her, trapping her in their maze of twists and turns. She sits down exhausted and runs through the last few hours in her head. She remembers how she ran through the woods without a care in the world. How she turned around and realized she could not see her parents. The fear that had sparked in her racing along her bones.

She remembers the last time she was lost. She had been 6 and had been running through the woods like today but when she realized she was lost her parents had found her only a few minutes later. They had told her to be very careful from now on and that they were scared she had gotten eaten by a wolf. Back then Opal hadn't realized what they had meant but smiled and nodded. But now she was older and cold dread filled her.

The stars peeking out of the clouds grow brighter in the darkening sky. Opal climbs to her feet. Her legs feel like lead from searching for her parents and the path but her search has proved useless. But she walks on looking for a spot to sleep. As she looks about at the twisted trees that look like leering faces in the dim light, she catches a glimpse of something red. She stops her mind racing with the possible wild animals that it could be but as she looks closer she realizes it's only the light, catching blood red raspberries. Her stomach rumbles and she picks a couple and puts them in her mouth. The sweet juice explodes on her tongue. 

She eats a couple more then spies a gap in the trees. She takes one last look at the raspberry bush. Then walks through the trees and comes upon a pond almost glass reflecting the setting sun in its smooth reflection at the bottom of a small cliff. Upon closer inspection, she sees there is a small overhang on the rock that looks cozy enough. Opal looks around the trees that encircle the small clearing cast ominous shadows and she can barely see the ground in front of her. 

Opal climbs into the small cave-like space and settles down. Knowing she can't find her parents in the night where the dark seems to squeeze around her stealing the air from her lungs. She stares at the cave ceiling, noticing every crack in the rocks that almost make it look like the night sky scattered with stars. With a sigh, she turns over and drifts off. 

Two big green eyes await her when she awakens. Opal, still half asleep, thinks they look like green emeralds.

“Emeralds,” she murmurs sleepily.

 Suddenly the things she thought were emeralds seconds before blink and Opal startles and sits up then freezes in horror. A big wolf stands at the mouth of the cave, its coat the color of rust and something red dripping from its jaws. His eyes glitter, green shafts of light dancing in them. His muscles stand out from his pelt and she can see he is a powerful wolf. His ears are shoved forward in a show of dominance and he is poised as if to strike. His lips pull back revealing sharp teeth stained red.

Opal is usually a very calm person and rarely gets scared. Even one time when she was watching a horror movie with her friends, her friend's little brother had jumped out to scare them. All of her friends had screamed and hid but she had sat calmly and asked her friend's brother if he was going to eat them. But she is scared now, she sits as still as the rocks at her back, her mind racing on what to do. She remembers from a book that you should try to appear small. Maybe that was for bears should I try to appear big she wonders. She reasons that she should not try to appear big in case the wolf attacked so she slides down until she is in a tight ball. Panic explodes in her chest racing along her bones. Her heart was pounding so hard. She was sure the wolf did not need heightened senses to hear it thundering in her chest and the blood rushing to her ears. 

The wolf seems to study her, its big eyes sharp and scanning. His gaze sweeps over her and settles on the small stash of raspberries she had grabbed as a midnight snack. When, after tossing and turning for hours, she had given up and grabbed a snack. Running back and forth between the bush and the cave,eyes are scanning the dark looking for movements. 

Opal looks closer and sees that she can see ribs poking out of his pelt. This only makes her panic worse, she knows that a hungry wolf is a desperate one and, although they rarely eat humans, they could if they were hungry enough. The wolf's gaze slides over her but instead of lunging at her and ripping her throat out its gaze drifts back to the berries at her feet. 

Opal wonders why the wolf would want a couple of berries when she is a much bigger snack. Once again the wolf's gaze lifts and through her panic, Opal can see a question in his gaze.

 Her bones feel like they have a thousand rocks piled on top of them. But they move as she slowly and clumsily shoves the pile of berries toward the wolf answering his unasked question. His gaze follows her every movement and she gulps wondering if he will just eat her instead. But he moves towards the closest berry and lifts it ever so gently in his teeth then crushes it in his big jaws. Opal imagines, instead of the raspberry her neck being crunched between his jaws. 

She gives an involuntary cry of panic and imagined pain. 

The wolf stops eating and jumps up its hackles raised. Opal tries to squish herself closer together to make her appear smaller. But instead of ripping her throat out, he backs away, giving her a look that’s a mix of pity and concern. Opal watches dumbfounded as the wolf walks away from the food. He makes his way to the bushes watching her.

Opal sits as still as she can even as the wolf disappears and hours tick by. In the end, it's midday, the sun high in the sky when hunger drives her from the cave. She makes her way to the berry bush shivering. Even though the sun is at its highest point the sunlight does not reach beyond the canopy. The shadows stretch long and dark across the ground. When she reaches the berry bush she sees a rusty red tail peeking out from the bush. She starts and the red wolf turns and she sees the same one from before. He's probably the only wolf in the woods. A stab of pity shoots through her.

“All alone?” she asks, “I know the feeling.”

The wolf looks at her and Opal stills but not with the terror that she knows she should be feeling. But instead, a calm settles over her, even as the wolf walks forward red dripping from his jaws and his eyes searching over her. He moved slowly. Opal stays in place watching. 

Leaves crunched beneath his feet as he jumps.

Opal closes her eyes waiting for the hot breath on her neck. But it never comes instead she hears a whimper and the snap of branches. She opens her eyes slowly. The wolf is on the ground tongue licking a cut on his paw pad and glancing up at the raspberries on the bush. Broken branches litter the ground with small but sharp thorns on them. As Opal watches the wolf tries again leaping at the bush trying to get the berries just out of his reach. He crashes to the ground, paws bleeding from small cuts. 

“Let me help you,” she says

He looks at her as if he understands her. Opal moves slowly. She reaches out a hand, picks a couple of berries off the bush and tosses them gently on the ground next to the wolf. He licks them up greedily with more juice dripping out of his jaws. Opal takes a step back in surprise. The red stuff she had thought was blood was berry juice! 

“Maybe you're not so scary,” she says while she throws some more berries and the wolf leaps to grab them, his green eyes flashing in excitement.

“I'm going to name you Emerald,” she decides,” cause your eyes are the exact color.”

Emerald jumps up and down in excitement as if he knows that he has a name. Opal laughs and tosses a couple more berries his way. They play for hours.  After Emerald has eaten his fill they run to the small pond and Emerald jumps in with no hesitation. Opal a couple of seconds after him. When they are done with splashing around they lay in the sun and nap.

“I miss my parents,” Opal sighs 

Emerald licks her as if in response and Opal sits up suddenly.

“Emerald?” his head shoots up at the sound of his new name,” do you know where the path is?” Opal asks.

Emerald gives a short bark that seems to mean ‘Of course I do. I own these woods’ and Opal laughs. The trees around them have a nice golden glow as the sun pierces the canopy. Opal looks around as the trees she had earlier seen as twisted in the long shadows are now as straight as the ones in her backyard. The shadows that had covered the ground like a warm blanket on a suffocating hot day, now recedes and reveals grass greener than she had ever seen.

“It's beautiful,” she breathes as she looks at the wolf that is so much kinder than she thought he would be.

“Opal.”

She sits up as her name cuts through the air stinging her ears and ringing in her skull. She turns to Emerald, her stomach churning.

“My parents are here, I have to go,” she says, her voice cracking with unexpected sadness. She expected to be happy when she found her parents.

Emerald shifts and sits up and Opal is sure he understands her. He nuzzles her as she sits stock-still, surprised that a wild wolf would do that. A tear falls from her eye and falls into the thick soft hair on Emerald's head. Then she stands and Emerald stands with her.

“I'll visit every day if I can,” she promises.

Emerald gives a small bark and Opal knows what it means ‘I'll be waiting.’ Then she turns and walks out of the clearing. She gives Emerald one last tearful look as she breaks into a run and falls into her mother's arms.