Wolves

Ch 2

I struggled in a pitch black void, I couldn’t breath. I felt a tug on the back of my shirt, I had no sense of direction in this place and hoped that Chat was here. If only I hadn’t left Tikki behind, I wouldn’t be in this situation. I felt myself being dragged through space and above water? I opened my mouth to receive a large lung full of air. I finally was able to assess my surroundings.

Why was I back at Pont des Arts? Was being saved and brought to the hospital the flash of life you see when you're about to die? Did I watch what could have happened as a way of my mind tricking me that I wasn’t about to die? Am I dead?

Everything was the same as when I was attacked but something felt off. It was quieter than before. Scratch that, it was like the streets were as dead as I might be. I saw no one around nor even heard the sound of pedestrians mulling around as some late comers are just barely getting to their shift on time.

The sky however, was decorated in stars and littered in colours of the galaxy. Constellations literally danced through the night sky, pisces swimming around the others, leo leaping about, practicing their roar.

I push my thoughts aside and focus on swimming to the edge. I pull myself out, my arm no longer in pain or injured. My hand moves to my head to ring out my hair to find that being in that water, I was left unsoaked. Shrugging it off, I start wandering onto the bridge, coming to face the wolf. For some reason, I was no longer scared, they looked comforting and familiar.

“Who are you?” I ask though I felt like I already knew the answer, I just needed confirmation.

“I’m you of course.” The wolf replied, not opening their mouth. It was hard to pinpoint what their voice sounded like, it was ever changing.

“How?”

“When he bit you earlier, I was transferred into you, our souls are connected now. Each day of the full moon, we will become one, you will be a wolf all day. One of the side effects is that the days before and after, you're going to feel a bit ill and for that I apologize.”

“Why doesn't my arm hurt anymore.”

“I’m suppressing your pain receptors and trying to quickly heal you, it should still feel a bit sore though.”

“Hmm,” I ponder their words. “Thank you. How do I reach you if I have more questions?”

“I’m always with you and in your head, figure it out. I must send you back to your body now, that cat boy is trying to wake you.” I had no chance to reply before I was shoved over the rail and plunged back into the hospital.

I sat up fast, my skull almost colliding with Chat’s if he didn’t move out of the way in time.

“Um, so it’s time to go, I convinced them to discharge you early but they said that you should come back in a couple weeks so they can remove the stitches. Oh, also, if there's any extra pain or swelling, to come back, just, if something feels off.”

“Okay.” I responded as Chat lifted me from the bed and jumped out the open window. It was still dark out so my parents shouldn’t notice me missing. It might be getting close to the time my dad wakes up to start baking, but we agreed that today I work with my mom behind the counter. We switch days, one day I bake, the other I work behind the counter.

I listened to the sounds of the city. Transferring from a place of no sound back to this one was almost deafening. I heard people rushing to make an early morning shift. I fight to clamp my hands over my ears, I’m starting to get access to a whole bunch of upgrades to senses I didn’t know I could get. The people were significantly louder and I could smell someone heating up a pizza for a two am breakfast just around a block away. The saddest part however was it was harder to see different colours. I could still see all the colours of the rainbow thanks to me being human, but the look faded and old because of the wolf. I want to be a designer, but it’s going to be hard to differentiate the colours. I can see reds, but they all look the same unless I study them hard enough. Good news is that I can see in the dark now.