The Wolf
Here's a little thing!
"Mom! I'm going to take Kody out!" I shout to her as I leave the house with our husky. Now that I'm having my vacation, I help to take Kody out during the evenings for walks in the woods. During my school term, however, Mom usually walks Kody in the mornings. But since I go to a boarding school, Mom's a lot less busy during the school term.
"Okay Jack!" Mom calls back from the kitchen. "Stay safe!"
I yell a quick goodbye to her before leaving through our back door. Our house is right next to the woods, which makes it really good for taking Kody out to play. I like to think that the woods are more natural and better for Kody than the neighbourhood streets.
As usual, I walk Kody out towards the center of the forest. Just like always, I walk for ten minutes, play with Kody for a while, then walk back in the same direction. There is a lot more space to mess around with Kody in the forest than if I took him to the dog park right outside our neighbourhood. And the last time I was there with him, he was nipped at by one of the larger dogs. So now, we just go to the forest together.
I have always liked the forest. Being so close to nature makes me calmer and recharges me during school breaks. Now that I'm in high school, it's always super hectic since I'm revising almost every hour of the day. If I let my grades fall, my scholarship may be retracted, and no way am I going to let Mom work extra hours just for my studies.
After walking for a few more minutes, I reach the clearing in the middle of the forest. I unclip the leash from Kody's collar and he immediately starts chasing his tail. I laugh at the sight. I always look forward to seeing Kody during my school breaks - he never fails to cheer me up.
"C'mon Kody." I hang my backpack onto a branch and take out a frisbee. As I'm getting ready to throw it, Kody suddenly barks at me and sprints off in the direction we came from. "Hey!" I yell after him.
"Strange." I think to myself. He never ever does that.
I stuff the frisbee back into my backpack and swing it back over my shoulders. I start walking back home.
"BOOM!" A sudden noise behind me sends a jolt of shock down my spine. I whip around, only to see that the clearing has gone up in a cloud of dust. I squint my eyes to see what has caused it, but it's way too dense.
"What in the world-" I mutter as the dust finally clears. The ground of the clearing has been replaced by a crater the size of my house. A rock the size of my head lies at the bottom of the clearing. It takes me a few seconds before I figure out what it is.
A meteorite! The first thought I have is: If I can find someone to sell this to, Mom and I will never have to worry about money again! Excited by the idea, I make my way down the crater to closer inspect the rock from space.
When I reach the bottom, I reach out and pick up the rock. I brace myself for the heavy weight, but instead it is lighter than I expected and I almost fall backwards. "Thought meteorites would be heavier." I mutter under my breath. The meteorite is so light it feels as if it's almost hollow. My heart sinks a bit. Surely it will still sell for a high price even if it's not solid? I mean, it is a rock from space after all.
A sudden gust of wind blows through the clearing. The wind is so strong that as it blows through the trees, it sounds like it's howling. Cradling the meteorite in my right arm, I quickly get my backpack and start running back home. There may be a storm coming soon.
"Shit!" I shout as I trip on a root. Time seemed to slow down as I fell. The meteorite pressed against my gut before it suddenly shattered. I immediately get up to examine the damage.
"No no no no..." I mutter.
The meteorite is completely destroyed. All that's left is gray powder all over my shirt and my hands. I guess that's the end of my dreams then. I sigh in dismay. Nothing I can do about it.
I try to brush the powder off my arms. It seems to be working. But when I take a closer look, my skin appears to be absorbing the powder.
"What the hell?" I yell out in shock.
A sudden itch comes over my whole body. All of a sudden, gray fur starts sprouting out from both of my arms. I scream at the sight of my furry arms. No way this is real! "Wake up now, Jack!" I scream to myself.
The changes don't seem to stop, though. When both of my arms have been entirely covered in fur, the soft fur continues to make its way over my whole body, as if each strand of hair has a life of its own. My mouth hangs gaping in shock as the fur relentlessly spreads over my body. As the last strands of my hair fall out, the fur covers my scalp. Soon, I'm covered by gray fur from head to toe.
Just as I think that it's all over, my hands and feet begin to itch like crazy. I kick off my shoes, watching in horror as my pinkies fuse with my fourth fingers and toes. Next, my nails fall out, only to be replaced by black claws. Another intense itch on my palms and the base of my feet overwhelms me as I watch in tears of fear as a hard pad forms over them. Despite all that's happening to me, I curiously inspect my hands and feet. Are they even still human? They look more like an animal's...
"I'm turning into an animal!" I think, horrified at the thought.
Before I have time to wonder what species of animal I'm even turning into, I feel a pressure build up at the base of my spine. I turn behind me, only to see a tail covered in fluffy gray fur erupt from my tailbone, bursting through my jeans.
Suddenly, a terrible itch overcomes my entire face. As I claw desperately at it, I feel my face being pushed out to form an animal's muzzle. My human nose flattens into my face as a black, wet nose forms at the tip of my new muzzle.
My human teeth are the next to go as I feel them grinding against each other. I tear up as the soreness in my mouth intensifies. As the pain finally leaves my maw, I prod around with my new tongue to find that my teeth have all become razor sharp.
My human ears disappear in the process, only to be quickly replaced by two animal-like ears on the top of my head that point toward the sky. Just as the itch starts to become unbearable, everything stops.
I lay down on the forest floor. "What just happened?" I thought.
I look at my right hand. No. My right paw. My heart beats impossibly fast as the edges of my vision turn black.
"This can't be..."
And the world fades away into the darkness.
* * *
A lick on my face causes me to open my eyes. Even under the trees, the sunlight seems too bright. Squinting, I sit up and gingerly force myself to widen my eyes. I turn to my side to see Kody with his tongue out and his tail wagging behind him.
"Hey Kody." I reach out to pat him, only to freeze in shock as I see my furry paw.
I guess it wasn't just a dream after all.
I stand up groggily to observe myself. I grab my bag from the forest ground and fumble with the zips using my paws. I finally manage to grab a hold on it and unzip my bag. I dig into it and find my phone. I try to unlock it to access the camera, but my paws are too clumsy and they keep pressing the wrong digits. Eventually, I'm locked out of my own phone.
Growling in frustration, I switch off my phone and look into the reflection of the screen instead. My appearance almost makes me drop my phone.
"I'm... a wolf..." I say under my breath.
What am I going to do now? I can't go back to my normal life like this! Mom won't even recognise me...
I whimper in sadness. I still had so much to do with my life! I can't let it go to waste like this!
"I have to at least try to go home." I think to myself.
"Come on, let's go back." I say to Kody. At least he still follows me around, even though I look completely different. I wonder if I smell the same as I did before. I pick up my shoes from the ground and stuff them into my backpack, knowing full well that they will no longer fit me.
The walk back home takes around the same time. Soon enough, Kody and I reach the back door. I thought about going to the front door, but if the neighbours were to see me, that would be the end of me.
"How should I do this?" I think to myself. If I were to go straight in, Mom would freak out for sure!
Kody suddenly barks. "No Kody!" I growl harshly at him, who immediately whimpers and sticks his tail in between his legs.
"Kody, is that you?" I suddenly hear a voice from inside the house. "You're back so soon, Jack?" The voice has gotten louder. Mom must be coming to open the door! Shit!
"No... wait!" I shout, slamming myself against the door to stop her from opening it. I feel the push of the door against my side as Mom tries to open it.
"Jack?" Mom asks with a concerned voice, "What's going on?"
How am I supposed to do this? How am I supposed to not scare Mom?
"Listen, before I let you see me, I have to tell you something." I say through the door.
"Jack. You know you can talk to me." Mom says encouragingly. But I know there is nothing that will help me make this any easier.
"When I was out with Kody, something happened to me. A meteorite of some kind crashed near us.
"After I picked it up, I accidentally dropped it. It turned me into... an animal."
Mom is dead silent for a few seconds. "An animal?" She says softly, but my wolf ears pick it up anyway.
"Yeah. A wolf. It's hard to believe, but when I let you open this door, you have to be prepared that you aren't gonna see human Jack anymore. You're gonna be looking into the eyes of a monster." I tell her, trying my best not to cry. My life is completely ruined. All because of that meteorite!
"Will you... let me see you now?" Mom says through the door. "It's okay. I won't scream."
Slowly, I release my weight from the door. The door creaks open. I hadn't realised yet, but before I turned into an anthropomorphic wolf, I was only a few centimetres taller than Mom. Now, I stand at least a head taller.
As I look down at Mom, I watch as the expression on Mom's face immediately turns from fear to surprise to sadness.
"Would you look at yourself?" Mom says quietly. Her voice is laced with sorrow. I know she must be thinking the same thing as me. How am I going to have a normal life from now on?
"I'm sorry Mom." I whimper, feeling my ears droop. "I shouldn't have touched that meteorite."
Mom suddenly pulls me into a hug. "No. Don't be sorry." I feel her tears wet my fur, "I'm just glad you're still yourself. No matter what happens, you will always be the same Jack to me. I will always love you."
I hesitate before hugging her back. A surge of emotions overwhelms me. My tail starts to wag uncontrollably. "I love you too, Mom." I manage to whimper out.
"Let's go in before we scare the neighbours, shall we?" Mom releases me from her bear hug. I choke out a laugh and nod. She leads Kody and I into the house and closes the door behind us.
"What are we gonna do now?" I ask her anxiously. "How am I gonna go to school like this?"
"Why don't we figure that out together tomorrow?" Mom smiles at me, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Let's look on the bright side of things today?"
"I would like that." I reply. Mom never fails to make me feel better when I'm sad.
"Want dinner?" Mom asks me. "I made steak tonight."
"Yep! I smelt it just now!" My tail starts wagging again. Kody barks happily. His tail is wagging too. I wonder if Kody and I will understand each other more from now on, since we are the same species now.
I sit down at the dinner table, carefully making sure that I don't crush my tail. Mom brings out our food. A steak, mashed potatoes and some peas and carrots. My nose wrinkles as the vegetables, but I force myself to eat them anyway, just to make Mom less worried. For some reason, the steak seemed a lot less tasteless than usual. I wonder if it's because my body has changed so much.
Soon, we both finished eating. "How was the food?" Mom asks me as I help her wash the dishes. "Taste any different because of your new tastebuds or something?"
"Hmm nah." I tell her. To be honest, I don't think vegetables are suitable for me anymore. And my body tells me that I should be eating raw meat instead of cooked ones. But I don't want to make Mom worry even more.
I wash the dishes and leave them on the rack. As I turn to leave the kitchen, Mom suddenly stops me. "You might want to cut your nails... or claws." She holds up a plate I washed and I see a long scratch mark on it.
"Oh crap." I look down at my paws, only to see long, sharp claws sticking out of each of my eight fingers. "I'm sorry." My ears droop in embarrassment.
"It's alright." Mom chuckles lightly, "Just be sure to cut them, okay?" I smile sheepishly and give Mom the "OK" sign, although it looks off since I'm missing one finger.
I retreat into my room and close the door softly behind me. I know Mom's trying to act like everything is okay, but deep down, I know that she's as worried and sad than I am. Maybe even more.
Sighing, I draw my blinds down and switch on the lights. My room faces the forest, which is great, but I still don't want someone to see me accidentally.
Suddenly, I hear a bump on my door, followed by a playful bark. I open the door to see Kody. He barks playfully again and wags his tail before squeezing through my legs and going into my room.
"You need some company too huh?" I close the door behind me again. A sudden wave of fatigue overwhelms me as I recall the many events that have happened in the last few hours. I was going to do some homework, but I'm no longer in the mood for it.
I collapse onto my bed and pull the blinds up slightly to see the night sky. Kody jumps up onto my bed and curls up beside me. Normally, I don't let him climb onto my bed, but now that I'm a wolf, I don't think it really matters anymore.
"We've got a lot to figure out tomorrow." I think before curling up beside Kody and letting my mind drift into nothingness.