By Reggie Rideout
Senior, CHS
It was another somber winter night in the untouched territory of the Allagash Wilderness of Maine. Temperatures were indescribably cold. The snow blew into drifts taller than two men combined. Few sounds were loud enough to pierce the tremendous howl of the wind. The faint sound of a woman’s cry still manages to flow through the wilderness. The first evidence of the birth of Storm, the birth of a tale still told on stormy winter nights in Maine.
Storm’s parents were aged mountain men. The cabin they resided in was handmade by the blood, sweat and determination of Storm’s father. The Allagash Wilderness had been their home their entire lives. They believed they could survive the weather just as they had always done before. In the nights following Storm’s birth though, the weather conditions were to the extreme. Temperatures dropped lower and lower. They became so extremely cold that even the experienced, well-adapted parent of Storm began to doubt their future. They took advantage of every piece of fur in their cabin in a desperate attempt to keep their son from freezing to death. Their attempt was successful, but the parents were so unselfish that they threw away their lives in the process. Without any car or parents Storm surely would have perished within the next few days.
Luckily a curious wolf came wandering into the silent cabin of Storm. It looked extremely lonesome and very hungry. The mother wolf wandered into the cabin and devoured what was left of a small food ration in the cabin. The wolf then picked up a peculiar smell coming from a bundle of furs. Most say the wolf’s instinct would’ve been to attack the newborn and deceased parents for all the food they were worth. Instead though, the wolf used her nose to nudge open the furs to reveal the newborn. Immediately the baby let out a cry causing the wolf to step back, pondering what to do next. The wolf slowly approached Storm and wrapped itself around him, shielding Storm from the piercing cold. After that is history, the mother wolf took care of Storm as though he were her own cub. Eventually mother taught Storm how to hunt, eat and survive like a wolf.
After close to eight years living in the cabin alone with mother wolf, Storm was granted a companion. Mother wolf gave birth to a cub. This cub looked a lot like his mother but he had a playful look in his eye. Storm and the cub developed a very admirable friendship. Eventually, they even hunted together. Storm would fool their prey into thinking he was an easy meal by lying in the snow. When the prey made its move for Storm the younger wolf sprang into action, turning the attacker into their meal.
One day after a usual hunt, they returned to the wooden cabin only to see a huge trail of dark red blood leading from the door and proceeding through the snow into the woods. Storm, who was now fifteen years old was completely stunned. “Who could have done this?” he wondered. He had never seen another person near the cabin, let alone another animal capable of dragging his mother through the snow. Suddenly the young wolf sprang into action running to a far corner outside the cabin. When Storm followed he could see what his companion was noticing. In the distance Storm could see a faint image of a man wearing a wolf fur jacket, carrying the deceased mother wolf on his back. At that moment Storm vowed to kill the man who killed his mother.
Storm and his companion set out to seek vengeance. After numerous days of selective stalking, they finally thought they had the killer figured out. They know he spent most of his time near a cave that house many wolves. To approach the cave, Storm and his companion cautiously followed a river being extremely careful not to fall into the freezing waters beneath. Storm had little protection from the subzero temperatures, and struggled through the rough terrain that sucked him into the deepest snow like quicksand. As they were walking the wind began to pick up seemingly out of nowhere bending the trees like catapults. The blowing snow engulfed Storm and the wolf, causing them to become disoriented. White waves of snow turned visibility to zero. Unable to see or hear each other Storm and the wolf wandered further and further apart, never to see each other again. Whether or not the wolf or Storm lived past that night is unknown. Some say the spirits of the wolf and Storm are still desperately wandering around the unknown regions of the Allagash Wilderness in search for their mother’s murderer and each other.
