Becoming the Luna

I get out of the thin shirt I have on, it was still warm during the day so I dressed accordingly but it's getting cooler at nights so I wear the clothes in my cupboard that don't belong to me.

It's a little weird that I liked to wear the clothes of people close to me but I get what I get, my mom's sweaters are out of the question if I didn't want to die of heatstroke at night but Virgil's shirts were the perfect options.

Vaguely, as I get ready to take a quick shower, I wonder if he didn't notice all of his clothes that keep disappearing or he was just being nice and pretending to not notice.

I'm too lazy to wash my hair and I'm not about to have wet tips brushing my neck during dinner so I wrap a shower cap over my head, might as well go all the way if I wanted to keep it from getting wet.

I wipe off the condensation on the mirror, my towel held up high around my middle, I resist the urge to lift it higher and lean forward into the mirror.

Puberty must have jumped over me, I'm almost eighteen and my voice still hasn't broken, I wasn't a big fan of pimples but at least having one was a symptom of puberty but nada, not even one.

My face still had the baby fat of childhood and I wondered when it was going to go, I hope it's soon, maybe then I'd stop getting confused for a girl.

I skip out, in a better mood now that I had cleaned up, I slip into Virgil's shirt and loose comfortable shorts.

My hair is comfortably dry when I take the cap off and I just leave it down, hurrying down the stairs before we would have to take a compulsory drive because my mom got the smoke detector started again.

"Mom?" I call when silence greets me. "Mom?" I call again, hurrying to the kitchen.

"Oh." I sigh, pressing a hand to my chest.

She had earphones on and was dancing gently as she set up the table.

"Oh, Hayden?" She calls to me in surprise, taking out an earbud. "I was just about to come get you."

We settled down to eat, talking about everything and nothing at once.

"Your Grammy wants us to come back to the city." She finally says and my eyes go wide in shock.

My mom is among the slew of people who keeps things like these hidden from me because they wanted to protect me and I am grateful she finally decided to let me in, it made me feel like she didn't see me as a child anymore.

"She knows about the wolves?" I ask even though I already know she does.

"Yes." My mom says tightly, gripping her fork.

"The city is just as dangerous as Pine Creek, after all there could also be a wave of wild wolves in the forest reserve in the city so it's basically the same thing."

My mom's eyes go wide at this, shocked surprise painting her face. "Oh, wow, that's just… wow." She shakes her head in wonder. "I've never thought about it that way."

I give her a reassuring smile. "You could always talk to me if you need to."

The rest of the meal goes smoothly and I can see my mom's shoulder straighten a bit, like a weight has been taken off her shoulders.

I bound up the stairs when the meal is over, happy to be of help to my mom even though she hadn't started to talk to me about important things until I had nearly been eaten by a wolf.

I jump on my bed, ready to finish up the novel so I could get started on a new one the next day.

My mom passes by my room to tell me goodnight a couple hours later and I've already gone really far in the book, I'd taken a nap all afternoon so I wasn't feeling sleepy at all.

I'm so engrossed in the beautiful ending of the book that ends with a wedding that it's a surprise I even notice the flash of white, something catches my attention.

Slowly I put down my book and roll off my bed, I hadn't imagined the flash of white, had I?

I move slowly to the window, the moon is almost full in the sky and I clearly see it in between the trees.

I peek down and a gasp leaves me at what I see, there's a big white form, lying on the lawn.

The moon reflects off it, making it seem like it's giving off light.

It wasn't moving and my curiosity spikes, I open the window for a better view, I really wanted to go down to check what it was but it's night and there's a literal forest filled with wolves just beside my house. I wasn't about to act a horror movie.

But the big, white thingy lying lifeless on my lawn calls to me and before I can overthink it I'm slipping my slippers on and darting quietly down the stairs.

I have to be careful to not wake my mom up or I would get an earful but I've already started the journey, I couldn't go back now.

Quietly, I unlock the door, making sure to close it carefully behind me and another quiet gasp leaves me.

It was huge, like a small car.

It had looked much smaller from my room's window but now that I'm a couple steps away the size hits me but the animal? Is still not moving.

Was it hurt?

Or even dead?

My feet stay frozen on the front porch, the gravity of what I was playing at hitting me.

What if it was a wild animal?

I would just get myself hurt simply because I was curious.

As I stay there debating, Mae's weirdly spoken words float into my head.

'...you should walk towards the light…'

I shake my head, the pure white coat of the animal lying on my lawn does look like light but Mae hadn't even remembered she had said those words, what if I was just making them up to give myself a reason to go closer?

My feet are already moving with assured steps even though my mind is in a turmoil, bringing me closer to the giant ball of white light.

I stop when I get to it, slapping a hand over my mouth to hide the surprised sounds that are about to escape, my eyes blown wide.

It's a wolf….

A fucking huge wolf!

It's like three or four times my size and the white fur is so pretty… wait! I shake my head… it's a fucking wolf!!!

I remind myself, ready to turn around and make my way back into my room and on my bed.

The wolf's eyes are closed and it's lying on its stomach, it's head resting on its gigantic paws.

It's still motionless and I wasn't about to wait for it to wake up, the wolf I had seen in the woods yesterday looks like a stuffed toy in comparison to the wolf in front of me.

I take a step back and the wolf moves a bit and a horrified gasps leaves me.

It's hurt…

Oh my God! It's bleeding really bad, what could have hurt it?

My eyes remain fixed on the large smear of bright red blood, my legs freezing in place, without realizing it I'm crouching slowly, a hand stretched out to touch it's pure white fur.

As soon as my hand makes contact, the wolf's eyes fly open, it's eyes settling on me.

I stare back, captivated by the deep blue of the wolf's eyes, nostalgia slams through me as my brain scrambles around to place where I had seen those exact shade of blue.

Virgil…

His name floats around in my head but I push it away, it was ridiculous and I just realize that I have my hand on a wolf who is wide awake and staring at me.

I gulp…

I'm dead….

I'm expecting a lot of things to happen next like the wolf attacking and biting my head off but what does happen doesn't even come close, a bright light flashes, temporarily blinding me.

It's a miracle I don't scream or scramble back, it wasn't like I could even move, I was frozen with shock.

The light dies down and a strangled sound escapes me, the wolf in front of me had shrunk and lost all it's hair, smooth bare skin under my palm.

"V-Virgil?"