Becoming

Chapter #3: Kari "To Embrace The Future, You Must, First, Remember The Past"

I awake to a whining sound, maybe a small dog, I open my eyes to find a forest, covered in snow, maybe two inches deep. The trees around me have either traded their leaves for snow on their branches or have needles. It's actually quite beautiful, I would stay here forever if I could, but I realize that the whining sound was coming from a wolf cub with white fur and yellow eyes. Its mother waits beside me, ready to pounce at any moment, vicious snarl, mouth dripping with spit, pink gums showing, if I don't play my cards right, this could be the end, even though I just got here. I want to talk to her, treat her nicely. If I show her my fear, she will attack, and I'm pretty sure that I don't want that.

"Hey, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt your cub," I say gently, putting a hand out in front of me. Now realizing that this is not the best idea, I don't want to lose my hand, nor do I want to lose my life. The wolf keeps on growling at me. Then, I hear yelling, two men have entered the forest, they both have hats that seem to be made out of raccoon fur, and a tail is hanging out from the back. They have guns in their hands, hunting guns. They're yelling at each other, I can't hear what they're saying, I'm so scared that I can't hear anything right now. I get up and run, all the way through the forest. The men are closer now, I can hear them and see them, picking up a run towards me and the wolves.

"Get the albino! He's going to be worth a lot more than the mother, we'll worry about the girl afterward" They're gaining on me, I don't know why they said they wanted the albino, not me. I look behind me, still running, although I just notice that the little albino wolf cub has followed me. The first hunter raises his gun, about to shoot. I can't do anything now, I can't stop my legs from moving. The mother wolf jumps in front of her cub, taking the full force of that bullet. She lets out a howl. She looks at me, her pleading eyes tell me to run and take her cub, she knows she's going to die. I scoop the cub up into my arms, he's howling too, for his mother. The little cub looks at me, and I see the same pleading look that his mother gave me. He wants me to go back, but I can't, it's too late. It's then when I realize that I've called upon the north wind to take me somewhere safe, just by simply using the words 'help me' I can command the wind, that was only one of the surprises yet to come. I'd like to see when the hunters find out that they shot the mother, and not the cub. I'm glad we got away but, the hunters didn't get what they wanted, and the cub's mother died, both sides lost. Once we get a safe enough distance away from the hunters, I lay the cub down on the ground. I think about a name for him since I'm his new mother. I try and remember every name I can, even though I don't remember much. Suddenly, I hear a cold whisper pierce my thoughts, Vexx, it says. I must have heard it somewhere because my brain seems to know it, it's strange, but I decide on the name Vexx, it's fitting for this cub.

"Alright little buddy, your name is Vexx," I say to the young wolf. He smiles up at me, showing little pointed teeth.

***Three Years Later***

I run along the forest, adding extra layers of frost here and there. Just by running my fingers up against tree bark, or brushing my palm over a leaf, I can turn something into solid ice, or coat it in snow. After three years since waking up in the forest, I still can't believe that I have these incredible powers. I don't remember my childhood at all, I only remember things that happened after I met Vexx. I walk, accompanied by Vexx, to my house, I take a while, looking for signs of disturbance that might warn me of an intruder. There's never anybody in the forest but I have to be careful, just to be positive. I'm not really sure if there's a town out there or not, but, I know one thing, nobody comes in this forest. As the tip of my shed comes into view I start looking for my garden, on most days the blizzards I create cover the garden in snow, but I have to eat, so I look for green patches poking out from the snow. Today should be harvest day, but I'm not so sure, any day now I'll be able to pick them. Something underneath my foot crunches, the stem of a radish, I quickly hop off my garden and begin to wipe away the snow from the vegetables. Just as I thought, they are ready to pick and I'm glad they are, I've had to eat tree bark for dinner the past few months, while waiting for the food to grow. I only pick a few of each vegetable because I need to save some for tomorrow, a couple carrots, three turnips and a few heads of cabbage. I walk back into my house, arms full of vegetables. I look at the pot in the center of the room guiltily. I'll make a soup tomorrow instead of today, it's hard enough lighting a fire. I trudge over to the small bucket in the corner of the room, where I've left multiple cups of snow to melt, I look inside, there's still one big clump of ice lying inside the bucket. I sigh and dump the vegetables onto the table next to my bucket. I just realize how small my house really is. There are two dusty moth-eaten brooms to the left of the door, and a small coat rack barely big enough to accommodate my cloak. I look in the small mirror, my purple eyes stare back at me, I'm not quite sure why I have purple eyes, I just do, it makes me who I am. I turn my attention back to the house, afraid I'll have a flashback. I can't believe that I found this place.