unknown.

chapter seven

I stood there staring at him, not understanding what he just said. “What? Sorry I didn’t catch what you said...” he looked at me puzzled and just laughed to himself. “I said I’m going to teach you how to change into your spirit animal. Now this will probably be tricky, but I want you to just close your eyes and trust me ok?” After thinking it through for a minute I figured I had nothing to lose, so I closed my eyes and nodded. “Okay, now I need you to picture something for me. You are in the woods, running, you look up and see an owl. What type of owl it is is all up to you. You continue running, feeling free like the owl flying above. As you approach a stream bank, you pause, looking into the water. Stare at the water, and the animal that you see; I want you to hold it in your mind. Every detail, line, and shadow, picture it standing in front of you, once you see that animal and have it memorized in your mind, open your eyes.” I had listened to his words carefully, I could picture everything clearly. I saw the trees surrounding me, blurring as I passed them quickly, a snowy owl hovering only feet above me. But when I got to the stream, and looked into the water, I saw nothing. It was just black, but suddenly the water changed, turning to a light blue then darkening to a darker gray. What I saw in that water blew my mind away though, because staring back at me was a snow white wolf with dark blue eyes. I tried to memorize it, but when I looked closer it started to change. The white of the fur faded away, turning into a darker color. Suddenly instead of a wolf before me, there stood a jet black panther, but the only thing that had remained the same was the eyes. I started to shake my head and open my eyes, but I found I couldn’t. I stood there shaking in fear, something wasn’t right…

Before I think twice about what was happening my whole body was in pain. I felt myself fall, and I felt like I was falling into oblivion, that no one could save me. My back twisted in pain, I could hear cracking, I knew my bones were breaking from the pain I was feeling. As I felt myself start to black out, I could hear my name being called, but by whom I didn’t know. The voice sounded so familiar but I just couldn’t place it. As I felt myself hit the ground, I tried opening my eyes, managing to only open them a sliver, before I whispered “help.”

***

Somebody was shaking me, screaming for me to wake up. I struggled to open my eyes, to open my mouth but I was still frozen. I tried moving my hands, to feel what I was laying on, but I couldn’t feel anything, I couldn’t register anything… I didn’t know what was happening to me, but for once in the months following my parent’s death, I was scared.