The girl's steps were slow as she walked towards the woods. She was still terrified but she couldn't make herself turn back.
She headed towards the exact place where she saw the boy.
When she finally saw that rock where the boy had stood on yesterday, she stood in place. She hid behind the tree trunk and observed her surroundings. There was no sign that a person or an animal was around.
Breathing deeply, the girl bravely walked towards the rock. Her heart was beating wildly as she looked around, on guard.
She climbed on top of the rock and then looked around again. The place was eerily quiet. The snow had stop falling but everything was still covered in white. As she stood there, her fear was slowly being replaced with worry. She couldn't help but imagine that the boy was indeed shot that night. But if he did, wouldn't the folks down at the village talk about it?
"H-hello?" she uttered in hesitation. There was no response.
"Hello?" her voice became louder. "Are you there?"
She waited but there was still no response. Time ticked by. The girl knew that she had to leave now or her grandparents would start to wonder why she was running late.
Biting her bottom lip hard, the girl was about to climb down but a thought made her stop. She stood still for a moment before she crouched down and opened her bag. She stared at the things inside it. She looked like she was thinking about something.
After a while, she put her hand inside her bag and brought out three chocolate bars. The chocolate bars were her favorites and she always had some in her bag wherever she went.
The next she took out was a permanent marker and she wrote something on the chocolate's plastic wraps.
'ARE – YOU – ALRIGHT?' these three words were written on each of the chocolates. The girl then lined the chocolates in order on top of the rock and when she was finally satisfied, she stood, looked around again before she climbed down the rock and hastily left the woods.
The next morning, the girl returned to that place.
She was as wary as the day before but this time, the girl was walking faster, her mind full of the thought that maybe, she would see him today.
But she was wrong. The boy wasn't at that place but…
The chocolates were gone.
The girl stood on top of the rock again, her eyes roaming around the forest before she opened her mouth.
"Hello?" her voice was louder than yesterdays. "Where are you? Are you alright?"
Again, there was no response. The girl stayed and waited for a while longer but when no one came, she took something out from her bag again.
This time, she brought three red apples with her. After scribbling something on them, she lined them up on top of the rock before leaving.
'I want – to see – you' were written on the apples.
When she returned the next day, the apples were gone again but just like yesterday, she couldn't see any footprints because it was snowing every night.
She did the same thing the next three days. She left a box of cookies with the words 'please show up' written on it the third day. Three bottles of chocolate drinks with the words 'You're not hurt, right?' for the fourth day and a lunch box filled with healthy food for the fifth day.
'Are you alright? I'm really worried. I just want to know if you're alright. So, can you let me see you tomorrow?' she wrote a longer message this time in a sticky note, stuck it on top of the lunch box before wrapping the lunch box with a plastic bag.
…
It was Sunday so the girl had no school. Her grandparents went downtown for her grandfather's regular check-up.
She used to always go with them but this time, the girl insisted in staying home, telling her grandmother that she had lot of homework to do.
Of course, her grandparents didn't forget to remind her not to go to the woods before they left. But the girl had already planned to disobey their warning again. She didn't know why she was being stubborn. She wasn't just worried any more, she was also curious about that boy she had seen that day. She kept thinking about whether or not what the folks at the village were saying was true. Was that boy really a monster? She couldn't make herself believe it. She knew that he was a human like her but how could he tame those large wolves? And what was he doing in that place? Could a human survive by themselves in the woods covered with snow?
The little girl was extremely curious. She wasn't like the other kids who were fond of playing. Most of the people who knew her even kept commenting that she was too mature for her age. That was why her grandparents kept telling her to go and play with other kids but she had always preferred to be alone. She preferred to read books, unravel the unknown or just take a walk somewhere quiet.
But the extent of her curiosity this time was a little too much. Even she herself didn't know why she couldn't stop herself from going to that place despite knowing how dangerous it was.
Inside her room, the girl packed snacks and fruits inside her bag. She even brought a bottle of hot soup with her and an extra knitted bonnet.
When everything was ready, the girl left the house and headed to the woods.
She didn't rush this time. In the last five days, she was beginning to doubt if it was him who was taking the food she was leaving out. She thought that maybe an animal was taking them but she would at least have seen some signs if it was an animal. The possibility that maybe a hunter was getting them of course popped in her head but for some reason, the girl didn't think so.
She didn't know why but she just felt like it was him. Perhaps, it was because she kind of felt like someone was watching her every time she stood on top of the rock.
She wasn't sure. Therefore, she made a plan to confirm it.