The Werewolf(Yumnah TK) I got up excitedly, rubbed my eyes and looked out at the brilliant spring's morning. Today I was going into the depths of a forest with a school field trip.

The other day our teacher had handed out brochures with information about this forest. The forest was a famous tourist site and there were no wild animals around.

There was an interesting and strange story about the forest. Many had sighted a werewolf at the west of the forest; others had heard it howl. Some people also had sighted the werewolf's human version. But that area of the forest, where the werewolf lived, was prohibited and was away from where people normally visited. Moreover, the werewolf had never been seen in any other parts of the forest and it was known to be safe to stay where we were going for a day or 2 or even more.

I got ready, grabbed my backpack and rushed over to the bus for school. Everyone from my class chattered excitedly about the trip. The most attractive bit about this trip was the overnight stay and campfire in the forest. I sat next to my best friend, Ayesha, and she didn't stop talking until finally we reached the school.

There, we didn't go to class as usual, but we sat in another bus that was taking us for the trip. Everyone patiently waited for the bus to start moving.

When we got settled in the bus, Ayesha murmured excitedly in my ear, ”Do you know tonight there will be a full moon?”

I looked at her with confusion and asked, “So? What’s so exciting about it?”

“Haven’t you heard that the man transforms into a werewolf on the night of a full moon?”

Ayesha was making a plan to sneak out at night to see the werewolf. She was not adventurous but she usually liked to take risks. I was sure there was no such thing as a werewolf and so was Ayesha, but she just wanted to know the truth behind all the stories.

Slowly, the bus started to move and everyone squealed with excitement.
We passed our school district and entered the city. Soon we were out of the city. After a drive of about 40 minutes, trees started to surround us. Yes! It was the forest.

Everyone jumped out of the bus as soon as the driver stopped it in front of the forest. The tents were already set a day before. Our teacher told us to settle in and then we'd go out to explore. The tent was just enough for two people to lie down. There were two sleeping bags already kept for us. We threw our backpacks and sat down.

Ayesha started making a plan about the night, "When we are sure everyone's asleep, we'll go to the west of the forest. I've read all about the werewolf of this forest. Don’t worry, I've got a map, compass and 2 torches with me."

'Wow! She’s really prepared for it', I thought. I didn’t really like the idea of doing something which we were not supposed to do, but I didn’t want to say no to Ayesha or she may think I was a coward.

A whistle rang which signalled that we had get out and go for exploring.
A guide gave us information about the forest and took us around. The weather was perfect. The sun was low and the rays of sun were playing hide and seek through the thick trees. We hiked along the beautiful paths surrounded by dense trees. Birds were chirping around. The guide told us what the use of forests is and how forests help our environment. The trail took us to an open ground where an artificial lake was made. It was so beautiful out there. We sat beside the lake for a while where the guide kept telling us more about the forest products and their uses.
After the tour we had lunch. The lunch was tuna sandwiches and lemonade.
Then, we went back to our tents and rested for a while.

After a bit of rest, everyone set out to get wood for the campfire. We had to be ready with the fire before it was dark. We collected wood twigs and pine cones as the guide had told us.

Just when the forest started to be dark and dusky; our campfire was ready for some delicious food. We all sat around the fire and had roasted marshmallows for dinner.

After the dinner, we started talking to each other. It was great fun. We told each other scary stories. Then, soon, to everyone's sorrow they had to go to the tents and sleep.

Ayesha and I were quiet in our tent, and we waited till we thought everyone was asleep. It took quite a long time as everyone kept on whispering and chatting, and most of the people took long to sleep with all the excitement.

Once it was really quiet and we were sure everyone was asleep, Ayesha grabbed her torch, map and compass, and then we went out. Moist air greeted us and the full moon was shining right in the middle of the sky. It was very quiet. She looked at her compass with her torch light and pointed at the west, “That's the west, where the werewolf lives.”

I nodded sarcastically. I knew we would end up caught by a teacher, getting lost or be back disappointed but safe in the tent. We started walking to the west, and as we went deeper the trees were getting denser and they hid the full moon. Ayesha had her eyes glued to the map and the compass. She wanted to be sure that we were going on the track where the werewolf lived.

It was a long walk. Finally Ayesha said, “I think we are very near to the place.” Suddenly, I heard a noise beside me. I turned but no one was there. I looked around with the help of my torch light.

“Ayesha!” I called.

“I'm here,” she whispered from the ground. “Help me up.”

Ayesha had stumbled on the trunks roots. I laughed at her and pulled her up and she started laughing too. At the same time, we heard some rustling from the bushes. We fell silent. My heart was beating really fast - and in no time we both screamed loudly and ran with shivering legs. Yes, we had seen the werewolf.

I tried to run fast but my legs wouldn't take me and it was hard for me to keep my balance with all the trees so close together. The werewolf was a lot scarier than I had thought. It started to come towards us slowly.
Ayesha bumped me from behind. I stumbled from a tree and fell hard.

“No,” I moaned. I just had to get up or else the werewolf would bite me and I'd be transformed into a werewolf in no time. I tried, but I just couldn't. Weakness spread all over me and then I felt a hot breath on my back. I couldn't move, I knew the werewolf was behind me. I tried to open my mouth to scream but I just couldn't. The werewolf growled, and it came closer and closer.

I managed to get up and had enough time to help Ayesha get up and we both ran as fast as we could. The trees were coming closer together. The werewolf, of course, was trained of these trees so he was running faster.

Then suddenly we heard a voice, “You’re going the wrong way, go to the right.”

Who was that? Maybe the werewolf can still speak like humans even in the wolf version. We turned to our right and tried to run as fast as we could till the growls fainted.

I don’t know for how long we ran, but slowly our tents came in sight. I was relieved. I ran into our tent and sat there out of breath. Ayesha came running in trying to catch her breath. For a while we heard, but there was no sound of the werewolf.

“Wasn’t it supposed to follow us?” Ayesha whispered after a while.

“I don’t know,” I said angrily. “You know what, Ayesha? I am never listening to any of your plans anymore. We could have got the werewolf bite, but thank God it didn’t follow us!”

“Ok, I’m sorry,” Ayesha sighed. “I thought all the rumours of the werewolf were not true. I just wanted to have an adventure, I didn’t expect the werewolf is real.”

We fell silent. We both were very scared and couldn’t sleep, afraid that the werewolf might be hiding somewhere ready to catch us. Whenever I closed my eyes to sleep, the ugly and horrendous image of the werewolf came in front of my eyes and I opened my eyes wide to make sure it’s not around.

I think I slept when the sign of dawn started to appear, but after a while I woke up because of the bell that rang. I tried to get up, but I felt very dizzy and my body hurt a lot.

“Come on,” Ayesha said. “Get up.”

“I can’t,” I sighed. “I feel dizzy.”

Ayesha shook me. “Oh, you feel hot, I think you have a fever,” Ayesha said. “I better get the teacher.”

I lay there thinking what had happened last night and what could have happened if the werewolf didn’t spare us. It was a relief that we were leaving just after a while.

A little while later, Ayesha came back with a teacher.

“What’s wrong with her?” the teacher asked. She put her hand on my forehead and said, “It’s a very high grade fever, I’ll get the first aid nurse here.”

***

I was lying on the bed of my house, slurping soup. My parents were worried about how I had got so sick all of a sudden and they kept asking me questions. I wanted to, but I knew I couldn’t tell my parents about what we had done last night. I felt guilty and finally, to get rid of this guilt, I decided to tell my parents about what had happened there in the forest.

Mom came in the room holding a thermometer.I told her about what had happened and as I expected she said it was impossible, that I must have been dreaming of a werewolf. I insisted, so she called Dad.

Dad actually listened to me and he said he would call a friend of his who knows a lot about forests. He, in fact, was a manager of the same forest where we had been. Dad called his friend and told him the whole situation. He told dad that he would like to see me and my friend, so dad took us both to his house.

His house was almost attached to the same forest and as we approached that area, shivers ran through my spine. I held my father’s hand tightly.
We met the forest manager. He welcomed us with a warm smile and led us into the living room. In there, we were surprised to see the mounted trophies of the heads of a real lion and a stag. The house itself looked like a mini forest.

After settling down, the manager asked me, “So what made you feel so scared?"

I told him how ugly and fearful the werewolf was. He smiled and asked me, “Do you promise to keep to yourself what I am going to tell you now?”
I nodded and wondered what it was. He continued, “I would have never told you, but as your father is my friend and you have promised not to tell anyone, I am going to tell you the whole story.”

Ayesha also promised him that she wouldn’t tell anyone.

He started, “Now that you’ve been to the forest, our guide must have told you how important forests are. Forests are full of valuable things, we could not live without them. They provide the oxygen, wood for construction and fires. A lot of animals live here. Some plants can give us very important products. This part of the forest where you have seen the werewolf has trees which give us ‘amber’. Have you heard of amber?”
Both of us nodded. I remembered reading about amber in our science book.
“Amber is very precious and is an ingredient in perfumes and some herbal medicines. We can also make jewelry with it. This part of the forest was kept out of bounds to protect all the trees that give us amber, as some of the people can destroy them.”

He paused for a while and then continued, “In the past, we put a sign of prohibited area, but people didn’t stop to barge in. We planned to spread stories about that part of the forest, so people stopped entering that part. This had been working very well. The werewolf is just our watchman with the costume we had prepared with a wolf hide.”

I sighed in relief and felt very comforted. But we learned our lesson never to go about breaking rules. I learned another lesson that we shouldn’t listen to just anything our friends say and must speak for what we feel is not right.

****THE END****

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