Chapter 1
She walked up to the trailhead that would take her on her next journey. She had no idea of what was in store, so she prepared as much as possible in her backpack. With her backpack secured, boots laced up, thigh-high socks and garter fastened over a wicking pair of shorts, tank top with baby girl written across her chest, and jacket slightly unzipped. She tucks her pink beanie in the side pocket of her backpack to begin her journey. The old sage that told her about this trail said it was worth the hike. Unsure of what they meant by that, she knew something about how she said it made it worth trying.
"Ok trail, let's do this." She started to take a step but remembered her stuffie George in the car. She ran back to the car, unlocked the doors, and quickly grabbed George, her stuffed hippo. She kissed him and opened her pack. "You are not gonna wanna miss this George," she said as she put most of his body in the bag allowing for his arms and head to stick out to watch her back. Skipping back to the entrance of the trail and clicking the lock button on her car and hearing the chirp chirp of her car saying it was locked. She pats George's head and walks forward.
The trail was set in a forest that she had never seen before. Full of huge trees with large trunks. The canopy was full of tree branches but the branches never covered the path. Curious, she thought to herself.
She took out her phone and took some photos of some amaryllis that were all along the path. They are her favorite flowers so she was able to spot them right away. She dug into the ground to see if she could find any bulbs and to her luck, she was able to locate 5. With joy, she took one strap of her backpack off and in the mesh pocket in front put the bulbs. Putting the strap back she continued. The flowers were so beautiful along the trail it was as if they were planted just for her.
She came to a river and rinsed her hands in the cool water. She heard a splash a couple of yards away and quickly reached for her concealed knife strapped under her left thigh high. She tilted her head slightly to not alarm the thing that made the noise that she had heard in case it was something not safe.
As her eyes lifted she saw a beautiful purple fox playing at the water's edge.
How is that even possible she thought as she stared at the fox's two-tone tail.
The fox lifted its head towards her and gave her a head nod acknowledging her presence. She looked at the fox for a little while longer until she noticed the large Grey wolf behind it.
"How did I not notice you?" She must have said aloud because instantly the wolf took a protective stance between her and the fox. She looked between the two and saw the fox hiding within the wolf's shadow. "I'm sorry to disturb you. I mean neither of you any harm." She said sweetly. The wolf nodded its head and urged the fox to get out of its shadow. With a couple of licks and fox was back at the water's edge playing in the cool river water looking back at the wolf and giving playful splashes of water. This warmed her heart to see such an unlikely pair together.
With that, she arose from her crouched position and the wolf's head darted toward her. "I am leaving now. Sorry to disturb you, have fun." She said and gave a wave. The fox gave a yip in response and the wolf just nodded its head.
As she continued thinking about the purple fox... a purple fox. The color of the fox's fur reminded her of her hair. Hmm. Interesting she thought.
Lost in thought she took a step and didn't notice the unsteady ground. Her right ankle rolled and she landed hard on her knee. She screamed out in pain. The knee brace cushioned some of the impacts to her knee but her concern was her ankle. She rolled so she was sitting resting her back against a fallen tree that had to cause her to fall. "Stupid tree," she said aloud.