Red Riding Hood

Chapter Eight

Colors.

Noises.

Smells.

It's all too much; so very overwhelming.

I noticed it right when Lily had pounced on me as her way of waking me up. She was shaking me by the shoulders and giggling.

"Alex, wake up. Dad's making breakfast!"

Dad never makes breakfast. My eyes pop open in excitement and as soon as they do, I regret it. Everything I set my eyes on is in bright, vivid colors. Lily, who is usually pale, is now a tan-ish color. The sun is a painfully bright yellow as it shines through my window.

My vision is very intense and sharp, forget 20-20 vision, I could see everything. I could see the dust particles floating in the corner of my room. I looked out the window and could see the color pattern on a blue jay in the horizon.

Lily said Dad was cooking breakfast and I could smell it too; along with the trees and dirt outside. And the hair oil Lily had put in her hair a week ago.

My senses were so enhanced, I nearly had a migraine that caused me to cry. Lily obviously thought I lost my mind.

"Why are you crying, Alex," she asks. "I just said Daddy was making breakfast."

"Can't you hear that," I grunt.

"Hear what?"

"All of it," I screech. "The sounds and the noises! You can't hear it?"

Chirp, chirp.

Whoosh.

Bang, bang.

Squish.

Crumple.

Ha, ha, ha!

Sizzle.

All of it, in and out. I could feel, see, and hear everything. Why? It's very painful and I want it to stop.

"Oh no," Lily mutters. "It's happening."

I look up from my hands and at my sister. "What are you talking about?"

Lily twiddles with her fingers and clears her throat. "You know that wound on your shoulder that you got from Viker?"

"Yeah why," I answer nervously.

Lily scratches the back of her head and looks at the floorboards.

I stand and walk towards her slowly. the creaks in the floorboards ring in my ears. "Lily," I demand. "What about it?" I glare down at her.

Lily squirms and finally gives in. "It was a bite. Viker bit you. Now... now you're changing into a Wolf."

I take a step back from her in disbelief. "What?"

Lily leans against the wall and crosses her arms. My little sister now seems about 60 years old. How is it that she has matured so quickly?

"Well," Lily starts. "During the first month of the transformation, you begin to view the world differently. Literally. You hear, see, and feel things normal people don't see, hear, or feel. And it isn't just the 5 senses, either. You're behavior also changes. You will become very aggressive. You'll become faster, stronger," she puases. "And then on the full moon... you're the Wolf."

"How do you know this," I ask.

"I pay attention in school."

My breathing becomes shaky and rapid while tears well in my eyes. I'm the Wolf now. Me, the person that despised the Wolf with every fiber of her being. Me, the person that was in love with him when he was the Wolf.