Pure Animal

ᏟhᎪᏢᏆᎬᏒ ᏆᎳᎾ

Stepping out into the light, two bright red ruby eyes looked around the mysterious animal. Seeing that no one was around, the mysterious animal stepped out into the light and stretched its feathered wings as high as they could go.

"Ah! That felt good" she sighed.

    Pumping them hard and slow she gradually got up into the air, cruising over the land she knew. The tall pines reaching up into the sky. Birds squawked and moved out of her way when she flew by. The wolf didn't have to worry about being spotted. No on ever looks up. She glided for a while scouting for any wolves that were trespassing on her territory. Once she was satisfied that there weren't any intruders she landed. The sun was in the middle of the sky by the time she got home, the heat beating down on her.  She felt the soft grass brush the bottom of her paws when she landed. Time for a midday nap if you ask me. She chuckled to herself. She took a deep breath. The sweet sappy pine smell dominated all others. She followed the ritual of circling before she laid down. The moment her eyes closed a horrible memory made its presence known.

    Her pack. The roughest, toughest pack in the forest, but just because they were really strong didn't mean they weren't caring. Her mother was a mom to five spastic pups. Quintuplets. You would say. Freezing Rain wrestle with her three brothers- Wet Sky, Tree Leaf, and Bark Stream– as much as any pup. Her one sister– River Rock– was more laid back than the boys.  Life was good until when she reached two thousand five hundred fifty-five suns. "Freak! Monster!" That's what her pack said when they saw her open her wings for the first time.

She was very hurt. She didn't know that wolves weren't supposed to have wings. She ran to her family, who recoiled in disgust. "Mama! What happened to me? Why do I have wings?" She cried. Her mother shook her head. "I don't know, but you can't stay here. The pack won't take you seriously anymore."

    Freezing Rain felt her heart break into a million pieces. She ran, ran as far as she could on her legs. Eventually, she collapsed into a pile and sobbed her broken heart out. "Why me? Why did I have to be the freak of the family?" She asked herself between sobs. A little while later she decided that this was her life and she has to deal with it.

That night, while out in the woods, she practiced her flying. Jumping and flapping she tried to get an arch. Freezing Rain tried to do that more and more. Getting a little higher every time, she decided that this was the first step on flying.

    She felt hopeless. If she couldn't fly how would she escape her pack? She had to learn how to fly since no one could teach her she knew nature was her mentor. What animals have wings? She creased her eyebrows. Trying to bring back memories of the animals that her pack and brought back for food. Birds! Birds have wings!

    She looked around for some birds. Spotting some she looked at them as teachers, not food. Focusing on their wings, she saw them make circles. Not good circles, but their wings made a "slide" that went down, straight at the top of the circle, made a "slide" that went up, then straight at the bottom. This cycle continued.

She decided to try what the birds were doing. Though she knew that she was weak. Freezing Rain needed a hill or a mountain. She started looking for a really big hill. There! There's a hill!

🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾

"Finally! I made it to the top!" Looking over the edge her stomach did a flip-flop. "Why? Why this high up?" She sat down.   

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, stretched out wings...and walked off the edge. She fell. Her heart started pounding in her chest. Adrenaline coursed through her body.