Page 44 of Entangled in the Woods
Standing up, the wolf followed my lead, standing on four giant paws. I took a couple of steps forward, and the wolf did too, looking at me to take the lead.
I started off in a jog, keeping my eyes on the wolf jogging with me. He didn’t get closer and kept my pace, running alongside me. It was like going for a run with a dog.
When I turned around after another mile, the wolf turned with me and began running alongside me back the way I’d come. He kept his distance, seeming to enjoy himself as his tongue hung out the side of his mouth in a steady pant.
At about a mile to my cabin, he let out a short bark, startling me. I stopped running and watched the wolf stop and stare at me with those gold eyes. He stared for a few seconds and then turned and ran back into the woods, leaving me to complete my run.
It was finally Thursday,and I was looking forward to meeting with Professor Robinson. I was hoping he would have some results from the rotted plant samples I had given him last week. Especially since I hadn’t had a chance to talk more about it with Leo yet. Jenny was right. He’d been gone a lot the past two days, only coming home late at night to sleep. Maybe she could corner him when he was required to show up for Robinson’s meeting.
It was raining outside, and I made the call to postpone my morning run to the afternoon. The clicking of my computer keys mimicked the rain out my window, and the sounds put me in a daze.
I only woke from the meditative sounds when there was a knock on our front door. I looked at the clock on my computerand was stunned that the morning had gone by so quickly. Scrolling through my document, I saw that I had written a lot. Apparently all I’d needed was some rain pattering against my window to get work done.
I heard voices coming from the living room, ones I must’ve previously tuned out while I’d been working. Professor Robinson was here.
I quickly walked toward the living room, seeing Jenny and Leo with paperwork already in their hands.
“So nice of you to join us, Ms. Wilson,” Professor Robinson said. “Jenny and Leo, you are dismissed.” Robinson ran his fingers through his mustache, slightly curling the ends. Jenny and Leo scurried to their rooms, leaving me with the professor.
“Letter for you, Elise, and a package.” Professor Robinson handed me a letter and a brown cardboard box that were addressed to me in my mother’s handwriting. I set them on the table next to me to look at later.
Robinson handed me yet another envelope. “Your results from the samples you sent with me last week.”
I snatched them from him and opened the manila envelope that contained them. I skimmed over the findings, and a heaviness came over me.
Robinson narrated the findings out loud: “We found nothing. I had my undergraduates run the samples, and then I ran them myself. It’s common dust. A mixture of plant matter, human matter, and animal matter.”
My stomach dropped. This didn’t make sense. A plant that had once been alive had turned into nothing more than what someone would find in dust that collected on a shelf. “I don’t even know what to say…”
“Have you been distracted, Elise? Focused on things other than your work?” I looked up at Professor Robinson,dumbstruck. “There have been rumors of you disappearing for days at a time.”
A high-pitched gasp from the hallway caught my attention, I looked over to see a flash of blonde hair disappear into Jenny’s room.
“This isn’t some vacation for you out here. You don’t have time to be going out drinking, or whatever you young people do.” Robinson looked at me with his eyebrows raised, waiting for an explanation.
I didn’t have one. I had been absent from the cabin for days at a time, but not for the reasons he assumed. How did he know I wasn’t always sleeping at the cabin? There wasn’t any excuse that I could give him that would be remotely truthful.
“You’ll want to check in with your supervising professor. I sent her an email once we found the results,” he said. “She hasn’t heard from you. You missed the second check-in call last week.” My heart stopped beating and my ears rang. I’d been with the shiftersagainwhen I was supposed to be making my check-in call. “We’re both disappointed that you wasted our time running samples that you apparently collected from a bookshelf here in the cabin. We expected more from you.”
My body went numb with shock. How could they not believe that I had found these plants in the forest? I would never lie about something like this, wasting everyone’s time.
“I truly found this in the forest, about five miles from the cabin,” I said. But I had no proof of where I’d taken the sample, no witnesses…other than Everett, and I wasn’t about to mention him.
Robinson still had a look of disappointment and disbelief on his face. “Nothing more than household dust, Elise. The data doesn’t lie,” he said. “We could decide to put you on academic probation for this.”
I froze as the wordprobationechoed loudly in my head.
“We don’t take forged data lightly. One published paper with inaccurate or false information can stain an entire university.” Professor Robinson gave me a glare that cut to my core.
The sound of shuffling feet came from the hallway that housed our bedrooms, and I knew Jenny and Leo were listening.
I turned back to the sheet of results. Something had to be wrong. A miscalculation or an uncalibrated instrument. I had misrepresented nothing. I stood there, dumbstruck. What the hell was going on?
The professor zipped up his bag. “Make good choices, Elise. I wouldn’t want someone with promise like you to be tarnished for one misstep for the rest of their career.”
I couldn’t say anything to him. He had clearly already decided that I was a cheat and a drunk, spending my time here partying instead of researching. I stood with my hands crossed over my chest as he walked out the door. I was fuming. Hot bubbles popped in my chest, boiling.
“I know you’re both listening!” I yelled into the quiet cabin after the front door slammed shut.
