Montefioralle Village was indeed beautiful. A main road ran along the edge of the mountain, but fallen rocks often blocked the path. Fabio’s team was there to help clear the debris. Fabio directed his men, giving orders calmly and confidently.
Many other police officers’ families had also come along. I saw our neighbor, Monica Castellano and her brother, Leonardo Castellano, who was a police officer. We gathered in the village square, listening to the locals describe the mountain’s dangers.
Later, I wandered to the small village school. Inside, a few children were writing quietly, but there was no teacher. An old villager explained that the teacher had left and wasn’t coming back.
I picked up their worn books and began reading stories aloud. Slowly, the children gathered around me, their eyes bright with excitement. By afternoon, I didn’t want to leave. Their eager faces made my heart warm.
‘So this is what it feels like to be a teacher,’ I thought.
After the police officers finished setting up camp that evening, someone called us over for dinner.
We were still cooking when a villager ran up, shouting breathlessly, “Wolves! Wolves are in the village!”
The police officers immediately grabbed their weapons and followed the man into the dark. As for us, the police officers’ families, we stood frozen in fear. Why had wolves come into the village at this hour?
Serena walked over and looked at me with disdain.
“Hey, don’t think you’re so special just because you’re married to Fabio. If I wanted to, you’d be divorced in a second.”
I hadn’t expected her to be so shameless.
I gave a short, cold laugh as I told her, “Oh, really? Weren’t you the one who once called him useless?”
Serena’s face turned red as she tried to defend herself, responding, “I didn’t say that! Don’t twist my words.”
“You know very well what you said.”
“Bitch! Our parents are on my side! Fabio treats me well. You have nothing, so what can you fight me with?”
“Fight you? Please. Anything that can be taken away isn’t worth having.”
“You-”
“Ah! Wolves are coming!”
A terrified voice suddenly screamed. Everyone froze. Then, I saw it. There were several pairs of glowing green eyes staring at us from the darkness.
Panic broke out. The night was pitch black, so we could hardly see a thing. The campfires had gone out for some reason and the wolves’ howls grew louder. There were so many of them this time.