Snipet #5

The noises continued throughout the night as the wind howled and moaned. Sara thought that the Wolf was especially hungry this particular night and hoped he would stay far away from her front door. The strange sounds were adding to her fears and her mind began to wander to a time when she wasn't so alone in the world, but then the Wolf had taken her man away. The wind was always taking something. The hunger was a greedy glutton and he would take what he could, when the opportunity arose.

Evelyn never knew her father since the wind had taken him away long before she was born. It began a few nights after her mother had told her father about her impending arrival. Everything had seemed fine and Sara was glowing with the anticipation of motherhood. Perhaps it was the glow that had clouded her vision, for she didn't see any darkness or unhappiness coming. She saw rainbows and sunshine where ever she went. She was so busy looking inward that she failed to see the father of her baby slipping away.

The first she noticed anything peculiar was how he seemed to be unable to sleep. He would sit up in bed, as if he had heard someone call his name. He would look around, seemingly confused. He would walk over to the window and peek out the lace curtains and a frown would cross over his brow. This happened sporadically at first, then it was night after night. She finally asked him if something was wrong and he would mumble things about how quickly time flies by and how he didn't know how he had ended up where he was. She thought that was strange, as he was where he was because he was born there, his family was there, his job was there...his life. Where else should he be, she wondered.

Then came the night the wind blew in quickly, taking a few sapling trees in the back yard and sending them far away. It was that night that Evelyn's father went far away, too. He hadn't spoken much at dinner that night, saying he didn't feel well. He went to bed early. Sara followed him there just to be close to him, to feel his warmth as the wind rattled the windows. When Sara woke up in the morning, he was gone. He left a note:

It's late. I'm hungry. I have to go. Forgive me.