Wolf Song (work in progress)

Alyssa decided that she’d have to follow him there. Her announcement at the lodge where she was staying was met with incredulity and derision by the locals, and her requests for a guide were denied repeatedly.

“In winter? With a storm brewing?” one man demanded.

“Besides, you’re green as spring grass! What do you know of the Arctic, much less in winter? Takin’ ya would be as much a danger to the guide as yourself.”

Alyssa refused to be swayed. If no one would come with her, she would go alone. She was able to buy gear and food to last a couple weeks, and secured a team of dogs as well. Green the girl might be, but she had been camping before, at least, and liked dogs; she’d manage.

But here, alone on the tundra, Alyssa was less sure. She was in the area David had set out to do fieldwork, she knew that much, but the ice looked the same in every direction. How had she expected to find anything? Even if David was out here, he could be covered- Alyssa stopped herself. He was alive. She must believe that.

Still, one thing that Alyssa had not expected was the intense cold. She hadn't known the cold could be like this. Though she was layered and snug in a parka, the wind tore fingers over her bare face and managed to sneak cool fingers through her many layers of clothing. The temperature rarely made it above 0, and daylight hours were few.

Alyssa shivered and closed the tent flap, sealing it securely. Content that her dog teamwould be fine for the night (though “night” was subjective, since the dawn wouldn’t be marked by daylight), she peeled off a couple of layers and snuggled into her sleeping bag. She was still stiff from clinging to the dog sled, and exhausted. But she could sleep now. Sleep…

David was laughing. Alyssa didn’t think the joke had been that funny, but she laughed too, happy simply to be hearing the sound of David’s laughter. It seemed so long since she’d heard the sound. They were heading home, for which Alyssa was grateful; she was tired. Absentmindedly, she began to hum to the radio. David grinned over from the driver’s seat and reached over to turn up the volume, then leaned forward to look up at the sky.

“Looks like it might be storming tonight,” he observed. “Let’s hope we can get home before it starts. Don’t want to get caught in that.”

“Mm,” acknowledged Alyssa, continuing to hum along to the radio.

David smiled at her, starting to sing along. His voice was strong and clear, and the sound was pleasant. But now Alyssa listened more to the song; the melody was pretty, but sounded lonely somehow. For some reason, the melody put her on edge; it seemed to suggest things to come. But what was it saying? The lyrics seemed muddled, Alyssa couldn’t understand. Why couldn’t she understand?

Alyssa woke to the sound of a howl. The sound was strong and clear, rising and falling with melodic grace. At first, she thought it must be one of the dogs, then realized the sound came from too far away. Wolves? She was in wolf territory; they were what David had come to study, after all.

Another howl joined the first, falling into a harmony. More voices took up the song, an eerie chorus that Alyssa lay listening to from the security of her sleeping bag. She wondered what the wolves were saying; the wolf song seemed to be communicating something, but the meaning was lost to Alyssa. She wondered if the dogs outside her tent heard as well, and listened, and understood. If they did, they made no reply, and gradually the howls became silent. The last voice to fade had been the first to rise; it sent a last bittersweet note, strong and clear, across the tundra, and then silence resumed.

It was hours later that Alyssa woke again, once again to howling, but not of wolves. This howl did not rise and fall, but was a persistent, shrill shriek that tore through the walls of the tent as if to scream at the girl that she didn’t belong. The storm had finally broken.