My Book of Short Stories

Free as a Wolf

The night was pitch black with only the full moon lighting my way. The cold air licking my skin. I have no idea where I'm going . I just know it's somewhere in the woods. There's something calling to me, beckoning me to God knows where.

I hear a twig snap somewhere to my right. I immediately turn in that direction and see a beautiful grey wolf. It trots up beside me and sniffs my hand. I smile. It's so beautiful, I think. It licks my hand and walks away. "Wait!" I call after it and try to catch up but then it starts to run and I know I won't catch it. The moon dims, then disappears all together and I'm left alone in the darkness...

I wake up, gasping, in a cold sweat. I look over to the clock on the nightstand, 4:30. I graon and get out of bed. I take a shower and get dressed. I decide to wear my hair down, my dark waves spilling past my shoulders. I head downstairs to hunt for food and settle for cereal. I hear my parents getting up just I'm putting my bowl in the sink. " Are you going to wash that bowl?" My mother asks politely but with an edge to her tone.

"Yes, ma'am." I reply sweetly.

"Don't forget to fix your bed before you head to school."

"I won't." I promised.

I've never had a very good relationship with my mom. She's just so controlling, she has every single aspect of my life planned out for me. I can't go anywhere without her calling me every five minutes. I head upstairs to do as she said after I finish cleaning my bowl.

After I finished smoothing out every wrinkle in the fabric, I grab my phone off the nightstand, grab my bag and head to school. On the way there, I stop at a gas station to grab a soda to fully wake me up. I would grab coffee but I can't stand the stuff.

When I finally get to school I'm greeted by my group of friends. "Good morning, Angela!" My best friend, Monica, says as she sits beside me.

"Morning." I reply.

"How come you never say good morning?"

Because its never a good morning? "I dunno" I lied.

"Really? You don't know?" She said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Yep." I said lamely.

She laughed. Monica had a habit of asking a lot of questions, which annoyed the heck out of me, but still I couldn't help but love her. Monica has white-blond hair and the bluest eyes you've ever seen. Lots of guys tried to get with her. So I wasn't surprised when a fairly cute guy came to talk to her. The bell that told us to go to our first class rang and I went on my merry way.

I could wait until school was over. I always head into the woods behind my house to watch the wolf pack there while I do my homework. I absolutely and totally love wolves. I love how they're so free. How fast and strong and beautiful they are.

Finally, the last bell rings and I run into the woods. I wonder around at first, looking up at the tall trees. I finally come to the spot where I usually do my homework and close to the place where the wolf pack lives. It had rained the night before, so I sat on my backpack. I spot a wolf paw print in the ground. Weirdly the wolf paw had hardened but there was rain in the paw print. I stood up and walked over to it to get a better look.

I read in stories that if you drink rain from the paw print of a wolf you'll become a werewolf. But those are just stories. Right? Lets find out. I bend down in front of the paw print and lap up the rainwater. I know what you're thinking. Who would be crazy enough to drink rainwater from a wolf's paw print? But if you were as controlled as I was, you would have done the same thing. After I drunk the rain water, I passed out.

I woke up two hours later in my bed. "What happened?" I wince at how loud my voice sounds. I can hear someone breathing, can hear their heartbeat. By how fast it is I can tell they're either angry or scared. I sit up slowly. I can smell chicken cooking downstairs. I realize that I'm at my house but have no memory of coming here. I go downstair, not making a sound and sneak out the front door. Its like my senses are on overdrive. I can smell everything and hear so many things, like a person walking their dog a mile away.

I head towards the woods and soon I'm running. I feel an ache in my arm then it slowly spreads until my whole body is on fire. I collapse and whimper in pain. Then hair starts to grow on my arms and I feel my bones break. Soon I'm a wolf, running through the forest. Wild and free. Finally and totally free. Or as free as a wolf can be...