“Some say he was killed by wolves and others say he was abducted before he even entered. But no one truly knows how little Jake Dickerson disappeared into the woods,” Brad said as his face features became bolder in the flashlight’s shine. The sound of him flicking the switch off made me jump, I was already shaking but at least Jamie, my best friend, was right there beside me.

“You brats aren’t scared are you? After all, you do want to become one of the big kids tonight, don’t you?” Sarah, Brad’s girlfriend teased.

“N-n-no way, I’m n-n-not scared at all,” I tried to say bravely but my chattering teeth prevented that.

“Well that’s great,” Alex, Brad’s friend said, “Because tonight is your big initiation! All you have to go is go find Jake Dickerson in the woods!” A wolf’s howl came from within the wood which made Jamie squeeze me with fear.
“Unless you want to chicken out but you may never get another chance,” Brad said with a nasty grin. “Come on little bro, if you’re not afraid to be with the cool older kids then prove it,”
“Okay you guys, that’s enough.” Sarah interrupted. “If Jamie goes in the woods, my mom will kill me and if Tommy goes into the woods your dad will kill you,” She said it with the stern face she always has when Brad tries to me do something dangerous. I felt Jaime’s cobra grip on eased as her sister nagged my brother.
“Chill out baby, they weren’t even going to do it,” Brad said defensively. I hate when my brother looks down on me. So I stood up as tall and brave as I possibly could.
“I accept your challenge Brad because we are big kids and we’ll prove it.” I stated.
“The challenge has been accepted. Now there’s no turning back.” He said. We exchanged a spit handshake and Sarah moaned knowing she couldn’t stop me. So I hoisted Jamie up and we ran off into the woods. As we got deeper, it was much darker with only pieces of moonlight guiding our way. Jamie was shaking as if she was we were in Antarctica without jackets.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said trying to comfort her, “Brad was only trying to freak us out. I don’t think they can see us from here so we’ll just hang out for a few minutes then go back and say we couldn’t find that Jake guy,” Her face relaxed. I sat down and she copied that is until we heard soft wining coming from inside the forest. Jamie stood up.
“Do you hear that? Come on!” she yelled as she dragged me along towards the crying noise. We finally reached it and it was…a baby cub?
“Aw,” Jamie sighed as she picked up the cub. “Its little leg is hurt. I think we should try to find the mom.”
“Well I think we should turn back before the mom finds us and rips us apart!” I urged as I tried tugging her away.
“I refuse to leave a poor little defenseless baby animal alone!” she said with a stern voice. I sighed. Out of every girl in my class, I had to be best friends with the animal lover.
“Okay fine, we’ll go a little deeper but not all the way into the woods.” I stated with my hands crossed. She looked down at the baby cub and rocked it back and forth like a baby. It’s wining eased as she mummed to it. I rolled my eyes and walked slowly onwards.
“What do you kids think you’re doing?” a voice said behind us. I spun around only to see an old homeless guy with a huge bear pelt wrapped around him. Jamie and I screamed and ran as fast as we could, stirring the baby bear’s emotions causing it to start to cry again. I could hear the man’s footsteps chasing after us.
“Come back!” the man yelled but Jamie and I kept running. I ran behind a fat tree and swung Jamie along before she ran right passed me. We watched as the old man ran ahead of us. Jamie quieted the cub again while we caught our breath. I grabbed her arm.
“Come on,” I whispered and started pulling her back towards where we came from. As we approached the spot where we discovered the cub, we heard something that sounded like growling stomachs but much loader and scarier. I looked around and angry yellow eyes stared back.
“Tommy? Do you see what I’m seeing?” Jamie asked as she pressed her back up against mine.
“Do you mean the angry yellow eyes staring at us from these bushes?” I replied quaviering.
“N-n-no, I mean the angry mama bear slowly walking towards us.” She responded. I would have turned to look what she was talking about but I was completely wrapped in fear to move.
“Put the cub down slowly.” I demanded softly.
“I already did.” My throat clogged up as she said those words. I felt like I was going to pee my pants when all of a sudden, we heard a familiar voice, but talking much stranger know. I willed myself to turn around and saw the old man talking to the bear. The bear seemed to be accepting the conversation and replying to him. Then the man pushed the baby cub toward the mama and pointed away from us. The mama bear picked up the cub with her teeth, turned away, and started walking. Then the man turned towards us. Chills went up and down my spine like rain falling upside down. He hopped extraordinarily high right over us and right in front of me.
“Wow,” Jamie said as she tried to turn towards him. All of a sudden, wolves the size of my couch hopped out of the bushes and growled at the man. The man pulled a deer’s carcass from underneath his bear pelt and bartered with the wolves in their langue. They looked skeptical at first but agreed with the trade by howling up in the air. The man howled up in the air as well. Jamie lifted her noise and mimicked them. I nudged her and she pushed her behind me. The man threw the carcass into to the woods and the wolves followed.
“Are you kids alright?” the man asked as he walked towards us.
“Keep your dis…” I tried to say until Jamie pushed me out of the way and ran up to the man.
“Whoa, how’d did you talk to those animals? You were all like growl and they were like raw!” Jamie asked. The man chuckled.
“I’m sorry I frightened you. So what are you kids doing in my forest late at night anyway, picking up bear cubs? Don’t you know the mothers are very over protective?” he asked with a much friendlier voice than before. I looked over at Jamie and she blushed and looked down.
“Well that’s alright, you kids were probably looking for me in the first place,” he said with an ashamed voice. I looked at him. I’ve been scared so badly tonight I forgot how we even got into these woods. He must have seen my confused face because he started to talk again.
“Let me introduced myself. I am Jake Dickerson.” Jake said boldly. My eyes widen as all my memory began to flow back into my brain.
“So…you’re really real?” I asked. Jamie hit me on my arm with a shut your face look. Jake laughed.
“It’s quiet alright. So tell me, what are you names?” Jake asked with a smile. I was too flabbergasted to even talk so Jamie spoke for me.
“My name is Jamie and my impolite friend here is Tommy. So Jake, no one really knows how you got lost in these woods. Would you mind sheading some light?” Jamie said.
“Well you see, I was a young boy like you and was brought out here by a strange cat who abandoned me deep in the woods. I was taken in by wolves and I just never came out. It’s a much peaceful life out here than the bustle of the outside world,” He said as he led us back to the path we stepped off of to look for the winning. “This is as far as I go guys. Your friends should be looking for you but remember, you could come back whenever you want just never expose me. If people found out I was more than a myth, I’d have to save everyone.” We said our goodbyes but not forever and headed back towards Brad and Sarah.
“There you brats are!” Brad yelled. “Where have you been?” Jamie and I smiled at each other.
“On a search for Jake Dickerson.” I told him.