Awakening

Story by comidacomida on SoFurry

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#11 of Writing Practice

This is another writing prompt from the furry writing group in which I take part on Telegram.

(Interested in joining us? You can find it here: https://t.me/joinchat/CPoeZhclggenrOEh0yYwvg )

The focus of this prompt is to do a short story of "about 1000 words" with the prompt : "Snow is falling, but it's not white... it's red."

I had a number of ways I could have presented this prompt and ended up having the writing group choose a number at random; the number was 3, so the approach I took was 'artsy'. In this case, snow is a metaphor for pristine, virgin, and youth as an expression of white-- red, as you will read, is a disruption of the innocence, even if it is not the defilement. In this story a young girl realizes she is becoming a woman, but what that entails is hidden by her overbearing parents.


Awakening copyright comidacomida 2019

Daisy slowly opened her eyes. The sun was already streaming through her curtains, calling out to her with the promise of a new day. Summer vacation was always a wonderful time for the young Collie and she was left feeling alive and invigorated with the thought of everything she had to look forward to. She rotated her head, noticing that it was just after 7am; the sun always rose early in June.

She'd just had her thirteenth birthday before the end of the school year and she was still riding high off of the joy brought to her the celebration. As a particularly outgoing young Dog, Daisy had many friends, and had added in another three thanks to some new students joining her class. Jennifer, Kari, Sally, and Lisa were some of her closest friends, but she had at least a dozen more besides-- there was Lindsey, Amy, Loren, Rachelle, Kim, Julie.... they were all the girls everyone knew, but Daisy could call them her besties.

That wasn't to say she had anything against boys-- not really, but they just weren't the same as girls. She'd kinda made friends an exchange-student Cape Dog after her teacher asked her to show him around the school, but her parents didn't approve of her being too close to Arno because he was a boy. According to her mom and dad, boys and girls didn't make good friends. That was also what started the discussion of summer camp.

Her parents though that the all girl summer camp would help make sure she didn't lose her academic edge during summer break, but she didn't mind though, since it was just another opportunity to make even more friends. That, and she really liked the idea of spending a lot of time outdoors; she was energetic, athletic, and loved to explore. Still, even if that did happen, it wasn't for a few weeks anyway.

Her mind continued to run along numerous channels of ways for her to spend her day.... the week-- heck-- An entire month! She wanted to visit her friends... maybe take a trip and spend a few days with her grandma. Sure, even if her mom and dad wanted her to go to camp, that wouldn't take up ALL summer! With so much time to figure out she was elated to look forward to the time off of school.

Laying her head back to the pillow, the teenage dog stretched in her bed, smiling as she looked up at the little constellation of glow-in-the-dark star stickers her parents had stuck to her ceiling more than a decade ago. It was bright enough that they weren't glowing, but she couldn't help but think of how they mirrored events in her own life: the most amazing things weren't seen so easily until you could look at nothing else. That idea inspired her, and she thought that starting the day by writing in her thoughts journal would be a good way to go.

All of that slowed to a trickle when, upon sitting up, Daisy felt.... something. The 'something' was damn, and it didn't feel right. She was a perfect little girl who never gave her parents any trouble. They had taught her puppy sign so she could communicate before she could talk; she had apparently been bottle trained early too; the work her parents put forth into potty training her had been worthwhile as she hadn't peed the bed more than once or twice. Why then, were her sheets all wet?

She was officially a teenager, and much to old to wet the bed and yet, as she squirmed against the mattress she couldn't deny that her panties were soaked and her nightgown clung to her in an uncomfortable way; she was embarrassed immediately. Daisy pulled her covers back, and her heart nearly stopped... was that.... blood? She screamed.

There was a loud bang somewhere from within the house, followed by the sound of two larger dogs racing down the hall. Daisy's door flew open; her mom had made it first, but her dad was just a step behind. It only took a split second for her mother to take in the scene and Daisy wasn't sure whether she was relieved or more concerned at the stoic expression that creased her mom's muzzle... or the way she put her paw on her dad's chest and shoved him back into the hallway before closing the door.

Tears were streaming down Daisy's furred cheeks at that point as she held one of her paws up, dainty little pink pads stained by her own blood. "Mama? I-- I'm--"

Her mother was at her side immediately, both arms wrapped around Daisy's shoulders. "Shhh... it's alright, my Lamb... not so loud."

Daisy sniffled, leaning against her mother. She was still embarrassed, but her mother's calm demeanor helped ease the worst of her fears. "I... I'm bleeding..."

Kissing her on her head, Daisy's mother reached out and took hold of the chair from her desk before pulling it over to the side of the bed. "It's perfectly normal, Daisy... but lower your voice; your father is right outside the door."

Daisy felt her face and ears grow warm from blushing. "I-if it's... if it's normal then why haven't I heard about it before?"

Her mother's smile was gentle, but condescending. "This is a private matter, Daisy... a 'girl only' thing. We don't talk about it in polite company, and it's not something you should be troubling your father with. Do you understand?"

Looking down at her bloody paw and the mess she made of her sheets, Daisy let out a sigh. "Yeah... okay... but... but I made such a mess..."

Still smiling patiently, her mother leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "It's nothing that a little bit of laundry won't solve, right?"

Daisy's tail slowly started to wag, reassured by her mother's calm demeanor. "Yeah..."

Her mother stood. "Good... then get your linens together. If you are going to be marking them then you should know how to wash them."

Daisy busied herself with stripping her bed as her mother left her room. Just before the door closed she heard her mom tell her dad "She's going through the change."

Her father's deep voice was just as matter of fact. "I'll ring the camp and get her enrolled. You can write a letter to the school and make certain that next year they don't let any foreigners near her like last year... you know how they can be."

Daisy added all of her linens to the hamper, carefully rolling them up so her shameful marks wouldn't be visible. After all, like her mom had said, she shouldn't be troubling her father.