where are we going:
They all look at you the same.Worthless, dark, a monster, just trying to survive. Even a shadow survives. living on the edge of light.
You survived before but you always had help. not this time pal.
you know what darkness can do to a person. darken there heart. It will make you fight for your chance to shine. this life is all just a dream inst it. A sick twisted dream.
we both know the answer to that.
Do not act like were different people.
the light is just a lie. giving people a distinguishable difference between the well and the ill.
those who bare themselves as light without helping those in the dark are the real monsters.
you live on the edge of a shadow because you pull people out of its dark grasp.
does that make you dark? maybe.
but a monster no.
some might consider you a hero.

Star Wolves - Chapter 1 - Lonely Curiosity - J.I.Snow

“Uncle, where are you going today?” A brown-haired boy asked through a broken window.

“I’m exploring the forest, since yesterday I saw these odd wolf tracks in the dirt,” The uncle replied, shouldering a brown leather knapsack.

“Can I come with you?” The boy asked, leaning out of the window a bit.

“Not today David, you are going to stay here,” The uncle replied once more, gesturing for the boy to stay put.

“Fine, but what did the tracks look like that made them odd?” David questioned, putting his chin in his left hand.

“You ask a lot of questions,” The uncle sighed with a smile, running a calloused hand through peppered black hair, and turned to David. “They looked like normal tracks, but with them are what appeared to be very tiny stars. They twinkled on their own while they eventually faded. They’re why I’m going; I want to see what they belong to”

“Cool, now can I come?” David asked eagerly, his green eyes widening.

“Still no,” The uncle told him sternly with a small laugh. “Not until you are fifteen.”

“But I’ll be fifteen in one month,” David complained. “And I don’t want to stay in this old house while you’re away. They’ll come back.”

“One month is not fifteen,” His uncle reminded him, wagging his index finger. Then sympathy came into his forest green eyes. “And you’ll be fine,” He came up to David and lifted his only nephew’s chin. “As long as I’m alive, I won’t allow you to be harmed. I promised that a long time ago,” Silence hung in the air as he held David’s gaze. “Now off I go,” He said, taking his hand away and readjusting his bag filled with all the things he needed, and disappeared into the forest.

"I know, but when will you come back?" David stared in the direction his uncle left in, knowing that this could be another long trip his uncle was taking, before he forced himself away from the window.

David replayed the memory again in his head. Many months had passed since he had seen his uncle go into the forest and never return. David had kept watching from the window, hoping that his adventurous uncle would come through the forest. But that never happened, and now David was alone in the place that his mom and dad had found and lived in. The place even still smelled of medicine that had been used by a man that had died here supposedly centuries ago. David grabbed some stale bread and some dirty water for his breakfast before settling at a window to watch the other kids play outside. They all ignored him, or would throw rocks at the abandoned house. I don't understand, I never did anything to them. David lost himself to his thoughts as he watched, pondering all the things of what he could have done.

Clink.

David’s survival instincts kicked in at the sudden sound. In one motion he whipped around and dove under a table. He peeked out and saw a large white wolf with what looked like starlight on her fur looking around and getting into the cupboards, the starlight falling from her and puddling on the floor. After a moment she took herself away from her searching and walked past him to look out the window he was previously looking through. As she turned and walked back, she stopped at where he was hiding. Her massive head came down and with blue eyes looked at him before she exited the house, leaving him dazzled. By the time he got out of his place under the table the wolf was gone, but had left a light trail of tiny stars. He slowly followed the starry trail into the forest as it wove around various trees and bushes. When he looked up from the starry trail, he could see the white wolf in the distance. Eager, he quickened his pace until he was at least twenty feet away from the wolf. The land began to slope down, and soon he saw the white wolf go down a steep slope. He hid himself behind a tree before he looked into a clearing full of wolves, large and small, with a variety of colors. As he observed, he started noticing that some of these wolves were transparent as they mingled with the living ones.

One of the transparent wolves came up to join the white one he had followed. It seemed to talk to the white wolf, then looked up at him with white eyes that were like miniature suns. They burned with intensity, looking into his soul. As the white wolf began to turn her head David turned around and fled along the starry trail that was now fading back to the abandoned house. He ran in and hid under the worn green covers of his small bed. Slowing his breathing, he calmed down and began to carefully construct a plan to observe the wolves without being seen.

“They’re so close,” he thought aloud to himself. “So why didn’t Uncle Paul return?” He fell out of the bed as soon as he heard the pelting of rocks against the house, and cursed. That’s it. He thought, and he snatched up a soft-feeling rock that had come inside and threw it out a broken window at the kids. It hit a boy a little older than himself in the head and the boy went down with a thud, wailing in pain. David smiled triumphantly at his success against his attackers.

“Samson!” A girl about his age with blonde curls and wearing a frilly light blue dress screeched, running over to the boy. She looked back at David with hatred then back at the boy named Samson. “Come on! We need to get him to his mom!” She started dragging him by his arms and the others joined in by grabbing the rest of him, shouting insults at David along the way. David got down from the window and gave a slight grin. That should keep them at bay for a while. He thought proudly, and got back on the bed to begin to think once more, the question of why his uncle hadn’t returned now on his mind as well.

I must find him, and I know those wolves have the answer.

* * *

The next morning, he was eating breakfast that consisted of water and stale bread as he once again was at the window, pondering why those kids picked on him in the first place, ever since he was little. Hearing a clank behind him, he rushed under the table just as before but thinking it may be the white wolf, spilling his water and dropping the bread as he went. He looked out and saw the girl with blonde curls looking at one his dad’s old watches with curious blue eyes. She had delicate features, and her pale fingers reflected off the surface of the watch. Zooming out from under the table, he grabbed his brown leather bag and snatched the watch from the girl. Rushing through the open, gradually breaking, wooden door, he thought to himself, I really should fix that.

“Hey! Wait! I need to talk to you!” She shouted after him. He slipped behind a tree and waited quietly, hardly breathing as his heart pumped so rapidly from the scare that he thought it would burst. He stuffed the watch into the bag and after a few moments he looked out from behind the tree from where he was hiding. The girl was no longer at his house. Closing his eyes, he breathed a sigh of relief and ran a hand through his medium-length, brown hair.

“Do you really think that will work?” A feminine voice asked him. David snapped his eyes open. There in front of him was the girl, her arms crossed.

“Ach!” He yelped, and ran past her, diving into bushes. Pain shot through him and he realized that he had dived into blackberry; he cursed and tried to free himself. The girl found him again, her arms still crossed. She had an amused but disappointed look on her face. “What do you want!” He yelled at her. “I’m sorry for hitting your boyfriend but he deserved it, now go away!” He pushed her to the side with his free leg and got up, carefully picking the tendrils of blackberry from his clothes. After he brushed himself off he grabbed his bag that was tangled in the blackberry.

“He is not my boyfriend!” She shouted, hands clenching into fists. The girl quickly regained herself and patted the skirts of a similar blue dress compared to yesterday’s. “He’s my cousin. He wouldn’t say that he was sorry for hitting your house, so I came instead to say it.”

“It’s not lady-like to shout,” David told her as he observed his bag for tears. “But sorry doesn’t fix my house now does it? And they do it all the time without an apology, so yours isn’t necessary.” David slung the bag over his shoulder and turned to her with a questioning look. “What is your name anyway?”

“I won’t say mine till you say yours,” She retorted, her face twisting with annoyance.

“Fine, I’m David, David Blackbird,” He told her, mockingly bowing. “Now what is your name?”

“Mine is Thomasina, Thomasina Jasmine,” She replied, putting out her hand.

“Well Miss Jasmine, I best be on my way,” He said as he ignored the hand and turned to leave. Thomasina snagged his shoulder and turned him back around.

“Can I come with you?” She asked. “Please?” David glared at her before snorting with disbelief.

“No,” He said, and took off without another word.

What a stubborn boy, Thomasina thought, and looking at his fading form thought about how she was going to gain his trust.

David tried to remember the way he had previously gone as he strolled through the forest, writing the directions down on a small piece of crumpled paper. When he finally came to the wolves' camp entrance that was bordered by flowered bushes, he backed off by twenty feet. “There,” He said and made a makeshift bed with some blankets he had brought, proceeding to watch the entrance behind fallen tree branches.

Minutes went by, sitting and waiting for any movement. Eventually there was movement in the bushes to his left. Bringing the branches closer together, he sat still expecting one of the starlit wolves. But he felt his blood go cold as something else stepped out from the bushes. A pure black wolf with dark red eyes like pools of blood, huge paws, and a black mist trailed behind instead of the twinkling little stars. The wolf turned its eyes to David, the blood red color solidifying him to where he was. His hair stood on end, raising goose-bumps. The black mist flowing from the shadow wolf puddled around its paws, curling around the nearby plants.

A twig off to David’s left snapped, and to his amazement the wolf instantly jumped into the air, turning into a bat. It quickly flew away, keeping to the shadows of the trees.

David’s attention on the bat was averted when another twig snapped, his gaze now landed on a red wolf with a black ruffle around the neck. David stayed as still as possible and watched, wanting to follow them. But he stayed where he was as he saw a large transparent wolf following close behind that made him uneasy. He quietly sighed and minutes after they left he covered his things with the branches and headed home, glancing back once for a glimpse of any of the wolves.

When he got home he washed his dark brown hair in the broken sink with a bucket of puddle water. He looked up and into the stained mirror in front of him. Into his green eyes. Something seemed…different about them. He leaned in closer for a better look, but he didn’t know what the difference was in his own eyes. He shook his head and left the mirror, going straight for his weathering bed. Too tired to eat, too tired to take his dirty clothes off. From the bed he stared out the window at the starry sky outside before closing his eyes and falling into a deep sleep.

Star Wolves - Prologue - J.I.Snow

She ran through the forest, dodging trees, branches, and bushes. They all clawed at her, ripping at her simple brown dress and long white-blonde hair, and cutting her delicate skin. The townspeople were after her, thinking that she was a witch and had brought a drought to kill everyone. As the doctor’s daughter, she knew of all the cures better than her father. This made them wary of her in the first place, because she was female, and was not supposed to know these things. But in reality, her father’s mind had kept wandering, and so she had to remember them.

Suddenly she tripped on a root that had come out of the ground and fell. She tried to get up, but searing pain shot through her. Looking down to find the cause, she found that her ankle was broken. With the townspeople coming closer she dragged herself under a bush and tried to hide herself by pulling in fallen tree branches with her. Just moments later a young boy passed the bush she was hiding in, kicking a rock the size of a small baseball unknowingly toward her. The bushes slowed the rock down just enough to leave unconscious.

After the townspeople left, a gray and white wolf with starlight on his fur and eyes like tiny moons trotted through the forest. The scent of blood came to his nose, the foul smell wrinkling it. It faintly smelled familiar, which he found odd, and with curiosity pricking his mind, followed it. Under a nearby bush he found the girl and dragged her out. He knew this girl, that’s why the blood smelled familiar, he had seen her and her father before when they came to collect medicine, which they made themselves by using the plants they picked. Her name was Sarah, and she had been coming into the woods by herself to pick the medicinal plants, and now here she lay unconscious and hurt at his paws. He briefly looked around before dragging her farther into the woods by the back of her dress. Soon he came to a valley clearing with a perfectly round pool in the center.

A light gray she-wolf came out of a branch-woven den, and when she saw the gray and white wolf she ran up to him, horrified. “Moon! What do you think you’re doing!” She growled at him.

“Helping,” He responded through the clothing in his mouth.

“We can’t have humans in the camp, you know this,” The she-wolf sternly told him as he continued towards the pool.

 “But Cloud, it is her. The girl I told you about.”

She gasped, then ordered, “Well let me take a look at her then,” He set her down and she examined Sarah. “Well, I don’t think I can properly treat this,” She informed Moon as she pointed at the girl’s ankle. “But when she wakes up I‘ll give her something for her head.”

“Reason why I’m putting her in the pool, so you can properly do something about it,” Moon explained, and started dragging Sarah again, only to set her back down as the she-wolf talked again.

“We can’t do that; she’ll become one of us!” Cloud retorted. “You know that well enough as well!”

“I know that, Cloud. However this must be done. It is time. From here on she is one of us, this is her fate,” He said, giving the female wolf a look to keep her mouth shut. Moon started dragging Sarah again and placed her onto a little woven raft. He pushed her to the center of the large pool and swam back out, his fur glistening in the moonlight.

“May our destinies for ever entwine, and save us all,” He mused as the full moon centered itself above the pool. The raft holding Sarah sank, and a few heartbeats passed until the raft resurfaced with a white wolf in the place of Sarah. Moon swam back to the center and pushed the raft out. He dragged the white wolf onto the shore of the pool and prodded her with a paw. “Sarah,” He whispered. The white wolf opened her blue eyes and slowly sat up; she looked around and at herself. When she realized what she was seeing, she seemed to jumped strait out of her new form.

“A-a-am I dead?” She asked shakily. The pure white fur of her new fur form ruffled with anxiety.

“No, you are not, Sarah,” He told her kindly, in order to ease her nerves and not worry her further.

“Where in the world am I?” Sarah asked herself and Moon, while feeling her fur-covered head with a paw.

“You are in the Star Wolf camp, this is your new home now,” Moon explained. Sarah then looked around her for a minute, taking in the new sights and smells of her surroundings, and eventually her gaze ended at her paws below her.

“Are you okay?” Moon asked her, “Is there anything I can do?”

She hesitated before answering. “If I am not dead, not dreaming. If all of this is real, may I change my name?”

“Why is that, Sarah?” Moon asked curiously.

“I just don’t want to be called that anymore!” She barked with sadness. “It holds too many awful memories! That name will forever tie me to the past! Please let me change it!”

Moon moved back and thought of a name for the young she-wolf. He stayed calm, knowing that she was going to face challenges only she and a few others could fix based on the prophecy, and he thought it out carefully. “How about Zyntara?” Moon suggested.

She looked away, thinking it out, and then met his eyes. “That will do,” Zyntara said, sounding a little reassured and relieved. “However, I must ask because I appreciate this, how did you know my old name?”

“I have known you for a long time, Zyntara. Longer than you can imagine,” He turned to Cloud and bowed his head to her. The medicine wolf guided Zyntara to her den, and Moon walked away to his, saying now to himself, “And I have been aware for a long time that you would soon appear, for the beginning of a new dawn. One that could only foreseen as long and challenging.”

Waterlily Love - H. Snow (From my series^^ - TPS)

Water Lily Love

_{~ Hannah Snow}

<sub>.
He puts his hands up into her hair and glides them through the streams of infinity
Nuzzling her collarbone
....falling further into her eternity
...his subtle tears little lakes compared to the vast oceans of her love
...great lakes... for all he wishes to do is to make her proud

He brushes his skin lightly along hers
Drifting softy amongst the surface of her water lily skin
...her touch the water
...her skin the covering water lilies

oh how he drifts along the waters of her love
....how he'd die in her arms
...how'd drowning in her love one last time would make life all worthwhile.

As he brushes his tears onto her collarbone he feels as if he has contributed to her somehow
He feels special
A lake giving all the love
....all the water that he has left to her
...his ocean
...his goddess...
How he'd die for her for he knows he'd be remembered by her touch
....her memory,
....her love
... and would live on in the vast oceans of her love

For not did she make him the great lake that he is
.. but the puddle on the beach watching the sunset -
where he could gaze off into the wonderful colors of her sunset..
   her soul...
         her glamour...
              her touch
...and to be swept off into the sea by her skin
...and drown in her love evermore...

... and for eternity...</sub> 

_{…glide silently amongst her soul} 

©2015H.SnowTPS

There's this funny thing about silence It's somewhat comforting yet at the same time, its terrifying. You sit with absolutely no sound, you are alone with your thoughts, leaving you vulnerable to your self criticism.
After you're in isolated from sound long enough, paranoia sets in. Every little sound must be a monster. Even the sound of your breathing

Gone Surfing

Heading out the door grabbing all the last minutes necessities, my beach bag, my board wax and most importantly our surfboards. We rush to the car not wanting the miss any time in the water. Hannah, Sam’s older sister gets in the driver's seat and I hop in shotgun. Sam shoots me a dirty glance jokingly and then smiles. He puts our surf boards on the roof rack and gets in the back seat. Hannah starts the car and we are ready to start our adventure.

About a week ago Sam had called me and blurted into the phone that he had found a great little surf spot and it was a secluded cove. It was an awfully good idea. We planned that we would go that next Saturday and his older sister Hannah offered to drive us, not knowing how else we were to get there we happily said yes.

Hannah’s phone is connected to her radio by bluetooth and as soon as the music starts playing it is up all the way and as loud as an airhorn.

She hands me her phone and says, “You are in charge of the music now.”

I like the song that is playing currently so I let it be and look at her playlist to look for the next song. As I am looking I see the song It Girl by Jason Derulo and I play that song next.

I roll down my window and Sam and Hannah follow suit and in a second all of the windows are down. With all that wind my hair is as wild as Medusa’s. As I wait to go surfing the anticipation was killing me.  

It was late June and as hot as the sun, with beach goers everywhere. Sam and I needed to prepare for the Junior Billabong Surfing Competition and the only beach near his house was to crowded to walk. Whenever we tried to go there we couldn't even make it to the water with our surf boards. We would just go to another beach but the only problem is that, the beach behind his house was the only beach close enough of reasonable walking distance with boards. We talked on the phone about how Sam had found a great little secluded cove.

Sam and I had been best friends ever since we met, it was friendship at first sight our parents say. His older sister was at my house studying with my older sister Marlee, and Hannah had been babysitting him at the time so she brought him along. Hannah and Marlee had been in seventh grade and were working on science homework, now they are both seniors in high school. Sam and I are in ninth grade now at the same school as our older sisters and have multiple classes together.

When we were in seventh grade Sam and I were introduced to surfing and we both picked it up like riding a bike. My parents in disbelief came to watch us one day and even they said it was like we were born to do it. Within the next couple months, days full of surfing session after surfing session, I was sponsored by multiple  companies including “Surf Dome” and “Rip Curl” and most of them thought I could stand a chance in the Junior Billabong (JB) Championships. Although in order to be in the championships it is required that you can check off these three things, you have to be at least fourteen years old, have sponsors that are willing to pay for the traveling bills and you have to have at the minimum amount six other wins, in national championships. Luckily for me I had all of the requirements filled except one and that was the age requirement. I was thirteen at the time and I was turning fourteen in two months. After I turned fourteen I could apply for the JB championships. The next time the competition would be held in June of 2014 and with it being so close I had trained as hard as I could and you better believe I was in the water more than I was asleep.

“Hey, could you turn down the music for a second please?” Sam asked loudly over the music from the backseat.

“I guess,” I glumly reply as I turn down the music just quietly enough to hear Sam without him having to yell over it.

“Thank you,” he starts “now we are getting close to the turn. It is just around the corner.”

“Okay, cool. Would you just tell me when to turn please?” Hannah asked as she turned up the music a little bit.

In a couple of seconds the turn approached and Sam spoke up seconds too late.

“The turn is right here,” Sam blurted out.

Hannah made a shape left turn and just barely made it without swerving off the road, she yelled at Sam “Geez, thanks for telling me when to turn.”

“Sorry, I was looking at my phone and then I looked up and we were at the turn.” Sam said apologetically.

Once we were on the road Hannah did not need anymore direction from Sam, it was a straight road with no turns until the end, which forked off into two roads. One way was a gravel road and one was a dirt trail which had a small almost parking area off to the right of it.

Hannah turned back to Sam for direction, he pointed to the dirt trail and motioned to the small parking area, but never spoke.

“Listen, Sam I am sorry for snapping but we almost drove off the road,” Hannah uttered to Sam as she parked in the dirt. “You guys are cleaning my car when we get home.”

“It’s fine. I thought you might say that,” Sam chuckled.

We all shuffled out of the car and grabbed our bags and boards. Hannah is not a surfer so she brought along a speaker, some suntan lotion and of course her phone to occupy herself while we surfed. I grab my beach bag and my towel and my swim suit.

“Good thing I changed into my swimsuit at the house. There is no place to change here” Hannah muttered under her breath.

Sam spoke, “It’s the nature and hardly anyone knows about this place, of course there is no changing room.”

Once we had everything we needed we headed down the trail. It was about three feet wide and surrounded by trees as tall as skyscrapers, it was quite a parade getting down there with all that we had.  Sam had pointed out that it might not be the easiest hike down there but after we were down there we would have a blast. As we arrived at the trailhead, Hannah and I gave each other a look of Sam’s insanity. The trail was basically straight down, and there wasn't even steps. Sam started down the trail and Hannah went after him, I went on carefully after her, not wanting to drop my board or my brand new board wax.

It took us a couple minutes to get down the trail, but like Sam said it was beautiful down there. A beautiful beach surrounded with a hillside covered in lilies and chrysanthemums that left me breathless and the utmost gorgeous palm trees on the beach. I take in the scent of salt water in the summer and I am in heaven. I live for these kind of beaches. The instant we are all on the beautiful white sand of Tutle Cove we lay our towels flat and start to wax the boards.

Hannah sets up her wireless speaker and starts to blare her music. She lathers herself in suntan lotion and starts to lay down but says, “Have fun but don’t get hurt a month before your competition.”

“Sounds good to me,” Sam yelled as he took off for the water.

“I might come and join you after a while, my leg has been hurting lately. I am not sure why.” I inform Hannah.

“Alright, take it easy,” Hannah began, “ Like I said before I don’t want you guys getting hurt. Don’t hesitate to come over here and chill for a while if it starts to get worse.”

As I ran to the water trying to catch up to Sam, the sun glaring down on us, my leg hurt so bad I felt like it was broken, and the running wasn’t helping. When I made it out to Sam who was already paddling out past the shore, the water was completely calm.

“So much for big great waves today.” I muttered.

“You just aren’t patient enough,” Sam spoke harshly.

“Hey I was told there would be good waves and right now I don't see any.” Just as I said that the water slowly started to ripple and sure enough there were waves  coming I could tell by the way that the water was moving.

Sam took the first wave he saw without even asking if I wanted it, which he normally does. I watch as he paddles out to it and as soon as it started to curl he grasps on the side of the board and stands up. He always does that just before he rides any wave.

I turn on my back, drifting in the water as I wait for another wave. I trail my fingers in the water as I float. It is rather warm water for being a pacific cove. I look up to the hill side that we climbed down about a half an hour ago and I am in paradise. Warm water surrounded by beautiful white sand and amazingly photogenic palm trees and lovely flowers spotted along the hillside. We could be in Hawaii. I am jerked back to reality when I hear Sam calling my name.

“Hailey, Hailey. You have to come out here and catch some waves with me, I have never seen them this big in such a little cove before.” Sam exclaimed as he waded toward me.

“Alright, okay. I will be right there,” I say flipping back over to my stomach.

As I make my way out to Sam, my leg starts to feel better now that I was relaxing. I couldn't wait to ride some waves. As Sam and I wade in the water waiting for another wave to form, I saw one in the distance and I start to paddle out ther.

“You’ll never make it in time, that wave it going to curl as soon as you get out there and then you would have missed it. I better take it for you.” Sam points out as he races past me.

“You want to bet?” I ask Sam as I blaze past him on my board. I could get there in time if you would stop bothering me about it.”

Racing to get to that wave first my arms are starting to feel like jello. I make it to the wave first and Sam slaps the water in defeat. I approach the wave just as it starts to curl and I can not believe I am getting to surf this wave it is at least twenty feet and my biggest wave out of any competition was only thirteen feet. I grab the side of my board and stand up just in time. I hear Hannah cheering on the shore as I ride the wave and I also hear Sam cheering too. I take a moment to pose for a picture for Hannah. A split second later my entire world changes. I feel my feet slip off my board and the water engulfs me. My leash on my ankle falls off and at that moment I know I am entirely screwed.

I feel myself get caught in the undertow, which is the most dangerous part about surfing. As I get swirled around and tossed in the water, screaming in pain as I smash my knee on some long growing coral, now I definitely think my leg is broken. I am under water for only a short while yet it feels like an eternity. Finally I surfaced. I faintly hear Sam calling me but as the water above my crashes it is too loud to hear above clearly.

Everything's a blur, there is water in my ears and in my eyes and it is very hard to see. I can see a blur that sort of looks like my surfboard, I slowly swim toward it. After I climb onto my board I rub the water out of my eyes. I look at my leg and it is already black and blue. Sam paddles toward me and holds onto my board. I can faintly hear him say something, but my ears are still filled with water. I shake my head to get the water out and finally I can hear better. I hear Hannah shrieking on the shore and I can hear what Sam is saying.

“Are you okay?” He asks looking at my leg. “Oh my goodness we have to get you to the hospital immed-” he starts, “Oh crap, wave!!” he yells pulling me onto his board. he paddled as fast as he can to the shore to get us away from that wave.

Crack! I hear this noise behind us and I know without looking back it is my board.

Whoosh. The waves fell behind us.

“Sorry about your surfboard, I just wanted to get us out of there before that wave crashed on top of us.” I lay limply off his board to exhausted to move.

“It’s fine..” I manage to reply.

I wake up in a hospital bed with a cast completely covering my left leg. I have no idea on how I got here, after I heard my board crack I blacked out and I don’t remember a thing.

“Hello Hailey, you had quite a crash in the ocean there.” I look over, a doctor is walking in my room. “I am glad to see that you are awake.”

I am too, I think to myself. “Do you think I will be able to compete in my surfing competition next month?” I immediately ask.

“I don’t think you will,” the Doctor starts, “You are very hurt and you need to rest. Well I guess curiosity killed the cat.”

“Surfing and resting same difference right?”

When he says they all I can think about is how my surfing career is over. This is the biggest competition of my life and I just ruined it all, because I was stupid enough to pose for a picture while I was surfing a wave.

On the wave that was supposed to be mine, I watch him grabs the side of his board and stands up in the biggest wave I have ever seen. Even though I couldn't compete in the Junior Billabong Surfing Championships all of my sponsors and my coaches thought it would be a good idea to go and watch. I am here being jealous as ever as I watch Sam fill in my spot. My leg is in its third cast which is supposed to be my last. I cannot wait until I get this thing off and I can get back in the water. I sit here on the sand thinking what it would be like if it was me on that wave instead of Sam.

Grouse Hunt Gone WIld

After a long day of helpless deer hunting I sat my gun down slowly shrugging away, without losing hope that it wouldn’t be long before that gold trigger was pulled with nothing but the intentions to kill.

        We were up and down hills, over logs, and threw trees. Hours of trampling through the forest to not see a single deer. It was bringing our spirits down and becoming very frustrating.

        After countless minutes of contemplating what to do, an idea came to my uncle. “How about we take a trip down to the river and see if we can’t kick the fish’s ass, because the deer sure are kicking ours,” he suggested slightly giggling in a sarcastic tone. My aunt and I chuckled, agreeing to hit the road to the river.   

        My aunt Carla and I ended up catching a ton of fish! Kevin, my uncle had to cut us off because he was tired of cleaning crappie after crappie. “Glad you guys are down there enjoying yourself while I’m up here slaving away!” he yelled down to us while throwing a fish carcass down to the water intending to splash us. We hinted that this meant he was ready to go. Each of us took one last cast and then packed up and headed out.

        As we were heading back from fishing another brilliant idea struck upon my uncle. I had mentioned I was desperate to kill an animal, so he suggested we try and kill a grouse on the way back to camp. The plan was to drive down the bumpy old 39 road that had hundreds of trails forking off of it. We would pick one and hike to the end looking for grouse.

        The plan followed through nicely. I picked the trail to hike down that looked like it had the most purple bushes that grouse live in. I grabbed my shotgun and began to walk off.

        “You’re not going to grab your rifle?” Kevin questioned me while standing at the truck holding the door open.

        “Umm, I wasn’t going too,” I replied thoroughly confused.

        “You do know we are still deer hunting, right?”

        I ran back to the truck feeling a little stupid and grabbed my riffle. We headed off down the wide trail. I had the left, Carla had the right, and Kevin had the middle to look for grouse. We were about five minutes in and all we had seen was cattle.

        As we were approaching the end of the trail, it split. The left side opened up into a big orchard and the right side opened up into a bright green meadow. Both full of beautiful sights of nature, but no grouse and no deer.

        When all hope had been lost, the unexpected happened.

        “Bear! Bear!” Kevin whispered as quietly as he could with how excited he was.

        “W-w-where?” I asked stuttering, not sure I heard him right.

        I looked up in the distance toward the orchard and saw the bear. I couldn’t believe my eyes! His fur moved up and down every step he took. He was oblivious to the fact we were near at the moment.

        Kevin and I rushed over to a stump from a fallen down tree located on the side of the trail as quietly as possible. I needed to use it as a rest, the rifle felt like a thousand pounds in the heat of the moment and I knew I wasn’t going to be able to take a steady shot free-hand. As we were creeping up to the stump my body changed.

        My heart was pounding faster than it ever had before. Adrenaline was rushing through my body and had completely taken over. All of my emotions were mixed. I was happy and excited, but could still feel the nervousness inside of me.

        “Make sure it’s a bear, not a cow before shoot,” Carla managed to say quickly before I took my shot. Those ten words felt like my worst nightmare and that moment. My stress level went up a whole notch higher.

        The bear was in the middle of my crosshairs starting to walk away. It was now or never. I took my deep breath in, an exhaled half out holding steady then squeezed. “Bang!”

        The bear ran two short steps after the shot and then dropped at the base of the hill leading to the orchard. I hit him directly in the back completely busting it. He laid there with less than an inch of his life remaining.

        Kevin and I slowly approached the bear knowing he was still alive, but not able to go anywhere. It was time to finish him off. My body was shaken and my mind was freaking out. I couldn’t quite process the fact I was walking up to an alive bear.

        I calmed myself down one deep breathe at a time. Raised my rifle to my shoulder and put him out of his misery shooting him directly in the neck. Blood poured out of the bear dripping from his fur.

“Shh, shh,” my aunt whispered stopping on a dime. “I heard movement back toward the field,” she pointed in the direction of the noise.

We all stopped and watched for a moment. What could it be? When I saw the deer with little horns sticking up, standing about 100 yards away, I was in shock. This wasn't happening. I was not standing by a dead bear about to kill a deer.

While my heart was beating 100 miles per hour I walked over to get a rest. The closest thing to us was a big grey boulder. I got down in a crouched position and set myself up to take a shot but I knew I wasn't ready. My hands were shaking to bad and my breathing was out of control.

Several deep breaths later I told myself I was ready. I squeezed the trigger and froze. The deer dropped. The look on my face was priceless. My jaw dropped and my eyes looked like bug eyes!

I had to do a reality. Was this really happening? I felt like the luckiest girl alive. There was so much adrenaline running through my body, it felt as if I was having a heart attack.

When everything was over and settled I still didn't believe that I had killed a bear and a deer within three minutes of each other. I knew it would hit me sooner or later. All night long I think it would have been impossible to wipe the smile off my face. This was an experience of a lifetime.

The memories made on this day will never be forgotten. Still to this day just talking about it brings a smile to my face.