Howl Your Appellations

After the Storm

BOEN OPEOR

I told Beige that we were the same. Was that a little too insensitive? I’ve only been one leg for a few days, and he’s been mute since forever; or maybe I’m just overthinking again, the follies of being conscious is, I have to think now. I wait for him to reply. The scratches of his pen make a familiar sound, like the sound of a high school quiz in the afternoon. I wait for him to finish his reply and eyeing the delicious looking soup he brought me. He looks up from his notepad and notices that I was looking. He acts worried and apologetic and tries to feed me a whole wooden spoon full of mystery-flavored forest soup. I stop him and say, “Ah, I can scoop myself don’t worry. Actually, I want to move my arms a bit. That okay?”

He nods and starts to write in his notepad again, a bit annoyed and a bit frantic. He finally finishes and lets me read, “It’s nice to have someone who finally understands the feeling of ‘lacking’. I know it’s going to be hard to adjust, but you’ll be able to and everyone here will support you. We’re a good pack. This world is about being tough, but this pack is about acceptance. You and me, we’re both lucky we found it.” I read on, with a mouth full of delicious soup with mysterious ingredients and little dots of tears forming on the sides of my eyes, “Miller and Nikki made that “special” hare soup. I don’t know the ingredients sorry, but most of the spices are from the inner market. It’s something you can’t find out there where u’re from.”

I try to finish the remains of the soup in my mouth, it tastes incredibly delicious, the meat and the soup is savory, and the mystery ingredients adds a bit of sweetness to the dish. The soup feels like it cleans the walls of the throat, leaving only compliments and satisfaction. I really want to know what they put in it and maybe experiment with it, maybe even enhance lasagna with it? Oh, how big and arrogant my dreams get. I decided to ask my questions after I finish the soup entirely. I must look like a starving sad child, but that’s because I am. It feels different when someone cooks for you; it’s also different when buying something from the store or buying delicious fast food; it’s definitely different from cooking something for yourself. When someone cooks for you after a long exhausting week, and it’s something soft and warm like soup, it feels as if you’re consuming love, the feeling nothing and no one can outshine.

I finish the soup with one big gulp. The last swallow was the saddest goodbye I’ve ever had to go through. I feel refreshed, and warmed. I smile at Beige who watched me eat like seven starving kittens, and he laughs. He writes calmly this time, “You know, this is supposed to be a surprise, but I think Mei is preparing something for u.”

“Wha? For me? Mei ? Who?” I ask. There are still a lot of Were people I have not met yet. Miller, Nikki, Mei, and Nike? Those are only four names out of twelve, and I’ve only met Reese, Imus, Beige and ….Lissana? Huh. My memories are still a bit hazy, but something tells me that I’d met their Alpha before… but why can’t I remember the details? Sigh. It’s okay Boen, you don’t need to remember right away. You just woke up and this is probably normal.

Beige taps my shoulder and holds up his notepad again, “I guess you haven’t met him yet. Well, when you’ve recovered enough and meet most of us, we’ll give you a tour. Reese told me you can see Appellations?”

“Ah! The word halos? Appellations! Yes I see them!” I exclaim. I kinda feel bad for making Beige write so much for me. It’s probably irking him a bit. He finishes writing, “People who can see Appellations are either Weres or some sort of “Elemental”. Which one are you?”

I don’t know how to respond. How does one turn into a Were? And how does one know they’re an Elemental? I gaze at him in confusion and finally say, “I’m not sure. I don’t know how this happened.”

He writes something in his notepad, stops, and writes again. He shows me what he wrote: “Do you have any s̶c̶a̶  make deals with anyone?” Is he asking if I made any deals with anyone? I vaguely remember making a deal concerning my…my moon ring!!

“Um! I don’t know if this is related or not but do you guys have my backpack? I had my moon ring there. It’s really important to me and I think someone made a deal with it with me. Do you know where it is!??” I frantically asked. I don’t see my backpack anywhere, and I remember it being ripped off from me. Beige looks at me worriedly and hurriedly wrote on his notepad while also side glancing at the hallway to see if there was anyone close that could help him explain things. He writes in a very hurried and messy manner. “Your backpack was ripped to shreds and the remnants we scattered everywhere. I’m sorry about your moon ring. We might be able to find it if given the time.”

I want to look for my ring myself, but I can’t. I guess I lost more things than I thought. I have to get better. I can’t depend on these people for everything. I need to strengthen my resolve and focus. My memories will eventually come back, and I’ll have enough energy to leave this bed.  

Beige holds up his notepad to me, it says, “Are you okay?”. I nod and reply, “Sorry. Yeah. I want to heal up as fast I can. Maybe learn to walk with just one leg? Haha, too soon?” Beige smiles and writes excitedly, “Don’t worry, we’ll help you as much as we can!”

I smile and hope that I’ve finally gotten out of a long storm. I pray to the moon that all of my misfortunes end here.