Luke checked his cell phone and sure enough, there wasn't enough signal here. But who cares who had contacted the police among all the people trapped in this warehouse, surely it had saved them from the terror of the wolves too much.
Even though they call it the police, to get rid of this wolf pack it takes about an hour with the summoning of additional wild animal specialists. Nobody wanted to hurt any of these wolves so while waiting for the game experts to arrive, Luke heard a gunshot being fired into the sky. Several police officers, Luke peeking from the window, also tried to drive away the wolves by making a fire out of wood and swinging them in all directions. They were actually quite a distance from the warehouse that was being surrounded by the wolves and only two or three wolves were bothered by their presence. Meanwhile, Patricia and the other four were still screaming, trying to tell the police that we were all in here.
Half an hour passed and Rei sounded desperate. Apparently, all the officers got back into the car and made a U-turn as if wanting to leave the teenagers behind. Luckily, the officer had time to give a message so they weren't worried.
"Attention! We will retreat briefly! We repeat! We will retreat briefly! To make room for the game experts to subdue the wolves. Stay inside and hide your heads! We repeat! Stay inside and hide your heads."
Obedient to the ultimatum, once again, Luke protected Valentina's head and Rei's head which was in his arms. Bowed so low that they all heard strange yelps followed by the screeching of some of the wolves in agony.
One… two… five… seven… God knows how many. Until finally the sound of the paws of the wolves moving away. Go further into the forest. Five minutes later, there was a bang on the barn door and Valentina ran to slide the iron latch. Sobbing, all of them came out and hugged the police officer who was standing guard at the door. They immediately examined the trapped teenagers and gave them water and tissues before finally taking them to the police station first.
Luke just realized that the sky was already dark. Car headlights highlight the trees that stand irregularly in front and to the sides. All the way out of the forest, Luke was in awe of the officer who was driving this car which was now going down the uneven dirt road. Imagine how they had to drive up a steep incline to get here.
As Luke was being amazed like that, out of the corner of his eye, Luke noticed that Rei was constantly looking outside the glass window. Luke thought that Rei's face was against the window. So, Luke intended to admonish and console Rei so he wouldn't get too carried away with what happened today. But when Luke was about to open his mouth, all words stuck at the corners of his lips because he saw what Rei seemed to see.
In the dark of the night which is only lit by the bias of car headlights, there is a red fur fox that runs as fast as a cheetah. Luke himself didn't know if a fox could run that fast. As if trying to keep pace with the speed of the police car they were riding in. Another strange thing, Luke saw two jet black dogs twice.
Twice!
First, they are seen through the trees on the second descent after the empty barn. Then the second, and Luke was absolutely sure it was the same dog, was when he crossed the forest line. Both dogs appear to be sitting on two hind legs and one is standing wagging its tail. Stared at the police car intently, and Luke was willing to bet that the two dogs were the same dogs that had looked at him outside the house the other day. Luke even had time to prank Valentina and ask her.
"Did you see those two dogs?"
"Dog? What dog?"
Late. They had already missed them and Valentina seemed too lazy to turn her neck back just to see where the dogs she was referring to were. Even so, Luke had heard Rei whispering in his ear.
"I saw it too, Luke."
Yes, thank goodness. At least Luke is convinced that it is the brain and eyesight that are the problem. The problem is now in the police station. Ben and Ulfa were there with the other parents.
Seen Mr. and Mrs. The Bowleans immediately embraced their daughter as if they would never see her again. Same with Mr. and Mrs. Jane. Hugging Anne so tightly I saw her almost out of breath. In contrast to their two best friends, Laura Dunhall , Chairine Falls , and Rose Anee received less favorable responses . The three of them were scolded and cursed by their parents. So, perhaps feeling embarrassed or something, both Chairine, Rose Anne and Laura snapped back at their parents to the point that a female officer had to intervene.
Luckily, that didn't happen to Luke and Valentina Miller. Mr. and Mrs. Miller just patted Valentina's shoulder lightly and heard the officer's warning asking parents to pay more attention to their children. Ulfa and Ben didn't give too much of a reaction either. Even though both of them looked worried, neither of them scolded Luke.
What was different were Rei's parents. It's true that Luke suspected that they weren't Rei's biological parents. The couple Herr and Frau Hoffmann— Herr and Frau is another name for Mr and Mrs in German and, of course, how can a couple of German blood, be able to give birth to a daughter with an oriental face and a very distinctive name. Of course, none other than; Rei Suzurao is an adopted child. I don't know if Luke should be sad or happy to hear that. At least, from what Luke knew, even though Herr and Frau Hoffmann were known to be quite quiet, they were really nice to everyone.
Then, after two hours at the police station with lots of explanations, statements and refutations—Luke almost forgot to turn in the videotape—the teenagers were allowed to go home. In fact, Patricia Bowleans and her gang did too. They were released after paying a fine and required to do twenty-four hour volunteer work over the next week. Yeah, even though it wasn't worth it, but Luke was glad they got punished.
Herr and Frau Hoffmann said goodbye to Ben and Ulfa. While Luke got a smile from Rei that seemed to confirm the thought of him being the adopted son of the Hoffmann couple.
Along the way, Ben was just silent. Usually he would have grumbled or angrily blamed Luke. Ulfa didn't say much either. He simply asked Ben to stop at a drive thru restaurant to order a slice of pizza for dinner and then drive home. Even when he got home, Benjamin went straight to his room while Ulfa prepared pizza and a glass of warm milk for Luke, then he said goodbye to sleep.
"Finish the milk, then take a shower and sleep. Please, tonight don't go anywhere else."
Her kisses on Luke's forehead hinted at the many anxieties she had been carrying the past few days. Honestly, Luke was getting a bit regretful. It turns out that Luke prefers Ben to be angry to the point of outburst or Ulfa nagging in a smooth way, rather than being silent like this. I couldn't even swallow my pizza and threw half a glass of milk down the sink.
All the lights in the house had been turned off by Ulfa so Luke was too lazy to watch television. So, Luke went upstairs. Wearily climbed the stairs. It seemed, even to take a bath Luke felt not excited. Instead, all he did was sit on the edge of the bed, gazing out the window trying to digest what happened today. Until Luke realized something.
It looks like a head. No. This is not something horror. But, it looks like there's someone down there. On the front page of the house. Slowly, the owner of the head walked up to the pedestrian so Luke could see most of his body.
Luke rubbed his eyes and moved toward the window. It was the mysterious girl in the black jacket. What else does he want now? She seemed to be looking out the window in Luke's bedroom and swore that we made eye contact—yes, even though most of her face was hidden by her black hoodie and mask. Then, the girl in the black jacket waved once showing a piece of paper, turned around to bend down to the ground like she was picking up something and then she crumpled the paper she was waving earlier. The girl took two or three steps backwards while taking a swing with her right hand and at that moment Luke was sure that he was going to throw it at the bedroom window.
Sure enough. The crazy mysterious girl actually threw a rock at Luke's bedroom window until a loud crack was heard. Luckily, Luke had taken cover under the study table so he didn't get hit by a single splinter. A stone covered with paper was seen rolling not far from the door and had been thrown back when the door to Luke's room was suddenly opened by old Ben.
"Luke! Luke!"
"I… I'm here," Luke answered as he climbed out from under the table.
Before long, Ulfa also followed. She screamed seeing Luke's bedroom window broken and pieces scattered. Ben looked agitated and angry. He also tried to look out the window but found no one. While Ulfa immediately reached out her hand to Luke.
"Oh, come here honey. Are you all right? You didn't catch any splinters? Luckily your windows are shuttered. Oh, honey. You can sleep in our room tonight, let Ben sleep on the television couch."
While being careful, Luke walked among the broken glass and silently picked up the paper-covered rock that the impudent boy had thrown. Down the stairs with Ulfa who frantically says about them they should have called 911, but Ben says tomorrow he'll take care of it himself. So now Luke sleeps alone with Ulfa.
Inside the camphor smelling room, Luke waited until Ulfa fell asleep then he turned on the flashlight on his cell phone. He opened the layer of paper and, as he expected, there was writing on the piece of paper. The sentence goes like this;
' Luke, we need to talk. Meet me at aisle 3 of the subway station tomorrow at 2pm. You must come alone.'
***