Once in the forest things seemed a little less complicated. The forest was straight forward, it owned its omnious nature with the trees creeking and branch cracks. It was easy to explain away every sound, everything had a job and a roll in the ecosystem. At least that’s how Sasha felt about it. Sasha grew up here, she played in these woods as a child and knew what sounds meant what. Her friends on the other hand, came from many other places. Alaska is far away from most places in the United States but these particular students came from other countries. Exchange programs. Which is why Sasha wanted to show them the forest in the first place. They agreed on a hike down an easier path than where Sasha would usually go. She often spends perhaps too much time in the woods didn’t want her new friends to think of her as strange so she dialed back how much she actually knew and loved about the forest.

There were four of them aside from Sasha, making them a group of five trudging along the leveled man-groomed trail. It was complete with informational plaques along the way, which the other students were most intrigued by. This came as an annoyance to Sasha but she hid it well. She truly wanted these new friends to like her. Before starting college, she struggled to keep friends. Most kids, and adults, people in general really couldn’t look passed her tragic past to appreciate her for who she was. Which is why she reclused in the nearby forests. Becoming friends with the trees, speaking to the wind and tracking animals.

One of the boys in the group, Sven, pointed at an animal track pressed into some mud. Sasha lit up and ran over with her backpack already partially open. Pulling out her sketchbook just as she knelt down she noticed how unfamiliar it was before she could even open the book. As she flipped through the pages, looking back and fourth from the impression and her pages flipping, an enormous smile broke across her face. Thinking she knew what it could be she stopped on a page with dozens of hand drawn tracks. She was still for a moment, still looking back and fourth from the ground to her hands. “This doesn’t make sense” she said. Amelia, the girl from France that spoke the best English spoke back. “What? What is it?”

As Sasha explained that the track resembled a fox track but bigger the other students seemed lost. She took the time to show them the differences between a wolf and a fox, and the compared them to coyote tracks as well. Everyone agreed it was most likely a fox track. The only difference being it was twice the size of a coyote track. “A fox the size of a wolf made these impressions” Sasha said. “And what’s even weirder, is I’ve never seen a fox in this area ever”. The other students just looked at one another, seemingly missing the danger or possibly just not believing it could be true. As Sasha stood shaking her head, she put her sketchbook back into her backpack. It wasn’t until she was done zipping her back that she noticed how quiet everyone was. She looked at her new friends and realized they were ghostly white, all fixated on the trees behind her. As she turned Amelia gasped. On the ridge, just below the tree line, right where the tracks led, was enormous eye peering from behind a large tree trunk. Watching them as they investigated the tracks. Sasha could barely make out the shape of an ear above the huge golden eye, recognizing it to resemble a black fox. A huge one.

The students were all frozen with fear, not sure what to do. They stared at the creature as it stared at them. Sasha could hear her heart beat in her ears. After what felt like an eternity, the teens heard a branch snap under its feet. They jumped and gasped and the fox froze again. It observed them a bit longer before stepping out from behind the tree. Showing them its impressive size and glorious black and silver coat. It sniffed the air, blinked at them a few times, yawned then turned away into the woods. Sasha took a step forward and all four of the other students reached for her with panic. She wanted to follow this rare creature more than anything but these students, her potentially new group of friends, were terrified. She knew she couldn’t leave them there or expect them to go back to the dorms without her and still want to be her friend. She took a step backwards, joining the others as they sighed with relief. They all took a deep breath and began laughing together in shock and awe of what they just saw.

The next few days Sasha could not stop thinking about the enormous fox in the forest. There was no proof and she doubted anyone would believe just how big it really was. The more she thought about it the more she needed to see it again, the more questions she had. Almost like the more she thought about the fox the more desire she had to be near it. It was consuming her. Sasha tried to pay attention to her professors during their lectures, but she’s snap out of a daze catching herself sketching the fox. She tried to sleep but would wake up from dreams about the fox. She wished more than anything she had followed it that day. Now she’ll likely never see it again and be stuck with all of these longing questions.

About a week after the sighting of the fox she couldn’t take it any longer and asked the same students if they’d like to come with her to try and find the fox. Sasha was taken back by their responses. None of the other students knew what she was talking about. As she spoke about the fox she could see their faces change, in a way someone would look at you when they don’t know why you’re talking to them. She felt judged and confused. When she looked at them quietly they’d just apologize and walk around her. Each one of the potential friends, her fellow witnesses, seemed to not only forget about the enormous black fox that stocked them but they seemed to have forgotten Sasha all together.