Dogmeat

Lonely sad and alone

Olivia sat at home that night thinking about how weird lunch was. She had managed to hang out with the only two hot people in the entire school, so that was good. But they just ditched her for literally no reason. It was after they saw that wolf pack, but it's not like they were going to go fight the wolves. Maybe they just didn't like her that much?

No, that obviously couldn't be the case. Olivia was hot, smart, and perfect in every way. She didn't feel like being herself though, not at this moment. Her mom was out of the house, so it was the perfect moment to shift into a dog. 

She had always been able to shift into a dog. It was kind of cute, as a kid she shifted into a puppy. Nowadays she was a full-grown dog. There was never an explanation for it, but her dad always told her to hide it from her mom. At the time, Olivia actually had a closer relationship to her dad and so she listened without questioning it. But now that he was gone, she wondered what the reason could be. She also didn't know how to bring up the topic and in a way, she didn't want to. So, it was her secret to keep. 

The dog version of Olivia took off into the night. She sniffed the air for Dogfred, but couldn't find him. Maybe his owners found out how he was getting out. There was another smell in the air though. It smelled like a dog, but slightly off. Olivia followed it. 

Up ahead there was a huge husky mix with very long legs. Olivia barked at her. The husky ran up to Olivia. 

"Hello! Who are you? Are you new here? I'm Nosewise. Hello! I'm so excited to meet you!" the husky did a play bow and ran back and forth. 

"Hi Nosewise, I'm Olivia. I am new here. Why do you smell weird?" Olivia asked. 

"I'm a wolfdog," replied Nosewise. Olivia's mind flashed back to the beautiful pack of wolves she saw at lunch. To think that she was talking to someone similar was shocking. 

"My grandpa was a pure wolf and the rest in my family are dogs," said Nosewise. "I'm following in my ancestors footsteps though. No dog life for me!"

Olivia cocked her head. 

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I live in the woods with the other wolves. Have you heard them howling?" 

"I did! I saw them!" Olivia barked. "I can't believe you know them, could you introduce me? I felt a connection in some way." 

Nosewise barked in agreement and put up her head to howl.  It took around 30 minutes for a wolf to show up. In the meantime, Olivia scratched her ear.

"Nosewise? What is it?" the wolf asked. "Anything wrong?" 

"Nothing! Look who I met!" Nosewise bounced around. Olivia couldn't believe it, she was hearing a real wolf talk! She had never been close enough to one to tell if she could speak to them or not. 

"I'm Olivia!" Olivia proudly proclaimed and raced up to the wolf. The wolf was friendly! He jumped around with her and all three of them ran into the woods. Running as a dog was so different than running as a person. It wasn't tiring, it was exhilarating. All food tasted better. Though her sight was far worse, an entire new world was available through smell. 

To her surprise, the wolf took a turn into a house. Memories of the story of little red robinhood came into Olivia's mind. She thought that wolves were afraid of humans?

Inside the house, there was a whole pack of wolves just hanging around humans like it was normal. This was an extremely unusual sight. Were they pet wolves?

"What is this place?" Olivia asked Nosewise. 

"My home!" Nosewise replied. 

A girl turned to the wolf that had lead them there. 

"Did you check for humans following you guys home? You know what happened last time! I barely managed to convince them..." 

"Chill out, I checked real well. Nosewise just came with another dog," the wolf replied in perfect English. What? And right before Olivia's eyes, the wolf transformed into Ian! Or, it was Ian all along! She gasped.

"Did that dog just gasp?" the girl asked, confused. 

Ian started laughing. "I guess she was just surprised. I didn't know that dogs could gasp... Who's a good girl? Who's a good doggy!" 

Ian petted Olivia on the head. 

"Can we keep her? I think she's a stray?" he asked.

"I'll have to ask the alpha, but probably. She could be good company for Nosewise," the girl replied giving Nosewise a few pets. Olivia didn't know what to do, so she took off running out the door. 

"Or not..." Ian laughed.