Selene: The Moon's Reincarnation

Father's palm swished through the air like a bullet and landed painfully on her face. Selene could taste blood in her mouth but didn't dare utter a word unless she wanted a harsher punishment. "You insolent little swine!" he said, spit flying from his mouth and his eyes shining with disgust, "I should have sent you away when I had the chance." Selene remained silent, her eyes trained on the floor. This was like every other day at home. Mother would flood her with chores and errands, leaving her with no time for anything else but still expect her to prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner. Ashley was not at home as usual, probably somewhere off with her friends partying in the woods and having fun like a teenager should. Not like Selene who slaved away at home because if she didn't she may not have a roof over her head anymore. But Selene wasn't complaining, far from it. She preferred staying indoors, at least to avoid the pack members that would swarm her like sharks if she ever strayed far from home or tried to socialize. "Get out of my sight," Father said, slumping back into his armchair with a bottle of beer, "Better get started on making dinner or you're dead meat." As Selene scrambled to leave the room, her Father said something that made her stop dead in her tracks, "And one more thing, I better not see you at the festival tomorrow. The Dead Moon is a once in a lifetime event and I won't have you ruin our pack's good fortune with your bad luck. Understood?" She nodded quickly, not wanting to make him more angry then went to the kitchen. The reason for her Father's anger? Well, she had dared to go to the market as Mother asked her to and couldn't find her favorite type of fruit. That was a different brand of trouble Selene didn't want to think about right now as she hastily made dinner; some potato salad and braised pork. She sang as she worked, it made time fly by and lightened her spirits a bit. Outside, the sun was setting fast so she doubled her speed to set the table before her Mother and Ashley came home. Sure enough, the front door opened and Ashley's obnoxious voice filled the house. "...and Steve was there, crazy right? Good thing I'd gotten rid of Rachel, if not she could've whored him right out of my arms." Selene could hear Mother's annoyed sigh and didn't blame her one bit. Ashley was exhausting to listen to and she loved to talk a lot. "Oh look, the table is barely ready for dinner and it's just standing there." It took a moment for Selene to realise Ashley and her Mother were standing there, their hateful eyes glaring at her. It was tough to come to terms with Mother's gradual disdain for her at first because it was her Father that had practically disowned her when she failed to transform to her wolf at the ripe age. Mother had tried to hold on to hope, as Selene could remember from those few years of joy and childhood bliss, as she and Father often had hushed discussions at the table while glancing over at her. As time went on, however, her worried gaze turned hateful. She started to hate her own daughter as her husband did. Only Ashley stuck by her, her childish innocence untouched by their hate. As the entire pack learned of Selene's 'disability', their distrust and hate grew and Father absolutely hated the bad attention it was bringing upon his family name. He'd tried to convince Mother to get rid of her but she couldn't, her Wolf's motherly instincts too strong to do so. When Ashley transformed to her beautiful grey wolf at the age of 13, it all came crashing down. Like her parents, she became convinced that Selene being wolfless was bad luck on the entire pack. Now at 20 years old, it was only a matter of time before Selene is driven into the woods, doomed to roam the wilderness forever as a lonely rogue. So she swallowed every abuse, every hateful stare almost greedily. As long as she was under the safety of her pack, no matter how distrusting they were of her, Selene was content. Everyone sat down to eat and Selene retreated back to the kitchen, her food hidden in a pot in the oven. "Where are you going, Selene? Did Dad ask you to leave?" Ashley said, her high-pitched voice deliberately taunting, "Stand beside the table at least, what if I need some water? Or what if I dropped my spoon?" So Selene just stood there silently as everyone else ate their dinner. Her limbs trembled with exhaustion and her tummy hurt with hunger but she had no choice if she wanted to live here. Soon they finished their dinner and Mother cleared her throat, signaling her to clear the dinner table. Nowadays, she never said more than three hate-filled words to her a day, it was as if she was disgusted even sharing the same space as a wolfless wolf. Selene hurried to do so, balancing on dish above another, not knowing that Ashley had stuck out her foot to trip her. Crash! Selene let out a short cry as she fell, the ceramic plates toppling down with her. s**t, she was dead for sure this time. Her palms were bleeding from the glass plates cutting into it and her knees throbbed in pain. "You stupid creature, look at what you've done!" Mother yelled, reaching for a large stick by the corner, her favorite mode of punishment, "Ruined all my fine china because you can't do anything right!" The stick was painful the first time Selene felt it but now it was just a dull feeling. Again and again and again until she couldn't feel it anymore. What was painful was seeing her Mother's eyes glaring at her like a stranger so she shut hers tightly. "Get out of my sight." she said and Selene scrambled to obey, running upstairs to the attic with Ashley's devilish cackle echoing behind her and Father's piercing frown. Selene shut the door as tightly as she could, using a small stool to secure it to make up for the lack of a door knob. As she crawled to hide in a dark corner beside her moth-ridden mattress, the tears spilled and she cried, her tiny body shaking. She cried even harder when her tummy growled and she remembered her only food for the day still downstairs hidden in the oven. Outside, the moon peaked brilliantly behind gray clouds, pale and true. Am I truly a curse, an abomination to my pack? Selene asked in her heart. Everyone has a wolf, so why don't I have one? The moon was ever bright, mocking her with its silence. There has never been a wolfless wolf in their community and no record of it had ever been heard in the history of their existence. Maybe a couple of late bloomers here and there but everyone always felt their wolf sometimes even heard their thoughts and surely transformed as Alphas, Betas or Omegas when the time was right, usually around the age of 12. Everyone except her. She had no choice but to accept the status of a wolfless Omega, the lowest of the low, the rut and shame of her pack. Selene dried her tears, curling up on the bare mattress. She had always expected to close her eyes, die on this very bed and never wake up to this cruel world again. Hopefully one day I would, Selene thought as she drifted off to sleep. She wasn't awake to hear the lilting, ethereal voice spiriting throughout the small attic like a cool mist. "...You are destined for great things, my Selene. I will make you untouchable..."