Don't Push Me

~ Chapter One ~

Twelve Years Earlier

"Happy birthday Chrissy." My mother coos in my ear softly. My eyes fly open in excitement, throwing off my blanket.

Last night I went to bed extra early, so that the night went faster and I could be older sooner.

I smile the biggest I have smiled in like, forever! Every year for my birthday my mum bakes me a huge cake so everyone in the pack can have some, and she always makes sure that there is nothing that the pack is allergic to is in the cake.

Then she gives me one big piece, and after that instead of starting with the higher ranks, mum always starts with the omegas and moves up.

My mother is amazing, and she loves painting too. She has painted a portrait of every family then hangs it up in the halls, and if a new pup is born into that family, she will repaint the portrait happily. She only has about ten more families I think.

Mum's eyes glaze over slightly for a minute as I get dressed into a pretty blue dress, all the other girls coming to my party said that they would wear pink. I'm always different to the other girls, I don't like pink or barbie dolls so I never get invited to play around at their houses because I like to jump in the mud when they don't.

Mum runs over to me and pushes me in the closet quickly, I giggle, not really comprehending the concerned look on her face.

"Shh, shh Chrissy. Now I need you to stay in here and don't make a noise. Do not come out until it's dark alright? Or until mummy or daddy come to get you, okay?" She says rapidly, hiding me behind all my toys.

"Why? Are we playing a game?" I ask, her mouth curls down into a frown as she pauses.

"Yes, there is a game. But you can't come out or make a noise, or else the game won't work alright?" She asks, and I nod excitedly. She presses her lips to my forehead before abruptly standing up and running out of my room.

When she comes back in I see a backpack in one of her hands and a bottle of perfume in the other.

"Now, you are my strong little seven year old girl. All grown up now, see? Now we might not see each other for a very long time, but you must remember to stay strong." How long? Is she coming back this afternoon, because when I am waiting for my friends to come it seems like forever.

Mum sprays the perfume on me.

"What is that for?" I ask, scrunching up my nose.

"Outside there are some people playing baddies, and everyone is hiding for them. Like a big game of hide and seek. There are also some people playing the good guys who are fighting the baddies. You are a hider, and this perfume covers your scent so you can win. But if a baddie finds you, spray this in their face and run, got it?" She smiles slightly before stuffing the back pack in with me.

"When it is dark, I want you to come out and get as far away from the pack as possible. Don't look back and take this bag with you." I nod, wondering why I have to run away to win the game but listening to mum anyway because she is just helping me win.

"Mummy, daddy and Fern will love you forever." She pulls me into a bear hug one last time before closing the closet door, the only sign that it is day time is the light that creeps under the door.

I hear screams and growls, causing me to huddle further into the closet, deciding that I don't like this game. But I want to win, because mummy to me to.

The game continues for hours and I start to think that this really isn't a fun game, that mum told me this to make me stay. I think this is the invasion game I heard daddy and the other werewolves talking about the other day. They said that it was Downfall Moon pack.

I didn't know what they meant by invasion, I thought that aliens or something were coming but now I know that the pack came in and made our pack play a horrible game.

When I can't see the sunlight anymore I put the backpack on and very slowly open the door, the growls and footsteps stopped about an hour ago. At one point someone came in the room and opened everything, but mum's good hiding skills kept me safe from being in too.

I open the door and find my room trashed, all my clothes are everywhere and my secret chocolate stash has been scattered all over the ground. I feel my blood boil, who ever did this to my room is not nice and isn't allowed at my birthday party anymore!

I open my bedroom door and a really yucky smell fills my nose, I pinch it and scrunch up my face.

"What is that?" I whisper in disgust.

I wander through the house, and the further I get to the front door the more yuck it smells.

When I open the front door of the pack house I nearly scream, tears well up in my eyes as I see hundreds of dead bodies scattered across the grounds. My breathing becomes heavy and fast, I can't tear my eyes away from the sight.

Ever so slowly I take a step forward, and another, and another until I am walking through the dead bodies quickly, looking out for my parents and my older sister. I hope they are alright.

Tears are streaming down my face.

"Mum! Dad? Fern!" I wail. "Please, I don't like this game. I don't want to play anymore. PLEASE!" I scream.

In the distance I see a figure hovered over another. I run over to it, hoping for it to be someone I know.

When I come closer I find that it is my best friend Sylvia, she is hugging her mum.

"Sylvia?" I ask, she turns her face to me and like mine, tears have attacked hers.

"Chrissy!" She yells and runs up to me, we hug each other. "What happened? Why are they all like this?"

"I don't know, mum hid me and told me tha-that it was a game. A-ad  could come out w-when it was dark and I d-did and I can't find them Sylvia!" I pull away and start to look around again.

"I know where they are Chrissy, I found them earlier." She whispers to me and I nod, asking her to show me where. She pulls me by the arm as we run away from her mother.

When I see them I run faster. My mother is pressed up against the wall, holding my sixteen year old sister in a defensive position. My father is laying on the ground a few metres away from the girls.

"Mummy, daddy, Fern!" I scream sprinting towards them.

And that's the last thing I remember of that day. The first birthday of a chain. Once, every year on that date something bad happens, something worse than the year before.