Lessons with The Alpha

It was twelve in the afternoon when the Kanes’ started to drive down the new neighborhood on Oaklyn Road, Florida. As they drove down the road, all three occupants of the car observed the identical rows of houses, plastic Halloween decorations and perfectly manicured front lawns. Francis and Amelia had taken the decision to move from their tiny house in Montreal, Canada to a larger one. The decision had not been made easily as both Amelia and Francis had lived all of their lives in Canada. Leaving meant leaving behind friends, memories and their pack members. But they wanted to expand their family and there was no way they could do so comfortably in a house that had only two bedrooms. Five year old Diana pressed her face against the window of the rental car and sighed heavily. “Are we there yet? I’m already getting bored.” “We’re almost there Diana. Our house is that one over there.” Francis said, pointing at the last house on the row to the right. Surely, within two minutes, they pulled up in front of the house. Even from outside, they could all tell that it was a lot bigger than their old house. For starters, it had two floors with a large ‘Welcome Home’ banner hanging from the first floor. The white picket fence that framed the property, separating that house from the one beside it, was wide open. “This is our house? It’s so beautiful.” Diana squealed excitedly. “Yes, sweetie.” Amelia said, smiling back at her daughter. “I call dibs on the biggest room.” Diana announced. She threw the car’s door open and sprinted toward the house, ignoring the warning from her parents to slow down. She got to the front door and sprinted in, her childish brain not putting too much thought as to why the front door had been unlocked. She had barely gotten far when she suddenly bumped into a strange woman. Upon impact, the woman shrieked and dropped the tin of cookies she had been carrying to the ground. She spun around in annoyance. “Claudia! What have I told you about running in the house?! Oh, you’re not Claudia.” She said, eyeing Diana. After less than a minute had past, a light bulb suddenly went off in her head. “Diana! Is that you? Look at how big you’ve grown.” She squealed. She tried to scoop Diana up in her arms but settled on patting her head when she realized that Diana was just as heavy as she looked. “Now, where are your parents?” All of a sudden, Diana burst into tears. “Mommy!” She shouted and ran toward the front door. Amelia stepped into the house, scooped her daughter up without any strain and cooed into her ear. “It’s okay, doll. Mommy’s here.” She said, rubbing small circles on Diana’s back. “I’m sorry.” The woman apologized, bending down to pick up the tin of cookies. “I didn’t mean to scare her.” “It’s alright. Diana’s not just used to strangers.” She explained with a small smile. She set her daughter down. “Diana, this is Eleanor. She and your dad grew up together. You don’t remember her, but she was at your second birthday. She lives in one of the houses here. We’re all going to be neighbors. Doesn’t that sound good?” “So, she’s daddy’s friend?” Diana said between sniffs. “Her hair is pretty.” She patted her fiery locks and smiled. “Thank you. You can call me Elle. Where’s Francis?” She asked. “Right here.” He answered, ducking at the front door so he could step into the room without slamming his head into the door frame. “I can see you still haven’t been able to grow your hair past your ears.” He teased. “And I see you’re still dressing like a character from a shitty 70s movies.” She shot back. “Where’s your daughter? Did she finally decide that she was tired of your terrible cooking and run away?” Elle rolled her eyes and huffed. “First of, I’ve been taking some online classes, so my cooking is significantly better. And Claudia loves me. She’s somewhere around here. She’s probably just in your backyard trying to catch a butterfly.” Francis nudged his daughter toward the door. “How about you go outside and look for Claudia? She’s Elle’s daughter; they have the same hair. Maybe you can show her your new trick.” Diana looked up at her dad in confusion. “I thought you said that I couldn’t show that to humans.” She said in a stage whisper. “Yes.” Francis said ruffling her hair. “But the Cains’ are different.” Diana nodded and shot out the front door. She liked this new house. It was a lot bigger and nicer than their old one. She hoped she would be able to make friends here. Maybe Claudia would even want to be her friend. Once she got to the backyard, she found a red haired girl in front of a patch of flowers. Her hair was the same color as Elle’s but it was a lot longer; going down to her shoulder blades. She was kneeling so silently in front of the flowers that Diana, usually a shy and quiet child, walked up to her in curiosity. “Hi. Are you looking for something?” “I’m waiting for a butterfly to come so I can catch it and keep it as my pet.” She explained. “How many have you seen?” “None. I thought I saw one before but it was just a small bird.” Then she turned to Diana. “My name is Claudia. What’s yours?” “Diana.” “Oh. You’re Diana. My mum has been talking about you and your parents for ages. She said you guys live here now. That’s cool. We can be friends.” Diana perked up at the sound of that. She decided that she like Claudia. “I want to show you something but you have to promise not to tell anyone about it.” Claudia nodded earnestly. Diana closed her eyes, held up her arms, and took deep breaths until she felt her fingernails grow and extend into claws. When she opened her eyes, Claudia was staring at her in amazement. “Wow. How did you do that?” “I’m a werewolf. Like my mum and dad. But remember, you can’t tell anyone about it.” Diana reiterated. “I won’t, I promise.” Claudia said, butterfly hunt long forgotten. “That was really cool.” “Not really.” Diana admitted, watching as her claws slowly turned back into regular nails. “The other kids can turn into their wolf forms but that’s all I can do now.” “There’s more of you?!” “Yeah. An entire pack in Canada but we had to leave when we moved. My mum and dad are hoping that the pack here would accept us.” “I still think that what you did was really cool. It takes an entire week for my nails to grow but you did it in less than a minute.” Diana smiled at her. She decided that she really liked Claudia. * * * * * Diana woke up confused. Something was definitely wrong; she just didn’t know what exactly. Her eyes stung and she felt like crying but she didn’t know why. The air around her felt hot and stuffy. Her room was so hot that a large patch of sweat had formed on her bed sheet. She remembered her parents telling her that Florida would be a lot hotter than Montreal but she still hadn’t expected it to be that hot. She coughed into the sleeve of her pajamas. Maybe if she opened the window, she would be less sweaty. She sat up in bed and almost screamed when she saw a face at the window but calmed down once she realized that it was a fireman. Firemen, doctors and police officers were among the group of adults that Diana had been taught to turn to if she were ever in trouble. But she wasn’t in trouble, so why was a fireman here? Before she could think too much about it, the fireman cranked open her window and beckoned to her. “Hey, come on outside.” He instructed with a slight edge to his voice. Diana coughed into her sleeve again. She was told she could trust firemen but she was also told never to go anywhere with strangers. “My mommy and daddy said I shouldn’t go anywhere with strangers.” “You’re safe with me, I promise. Just come on. We have to get out of here now!” Unlike Diana, he noticed the thick smoke that had begun to snake its way into the room through the door. He tried to push himself through the window but he couldn’t even fit his shoulder through the gap. Diana stared at him uncertainly. “Okay. But I want to go downstairs first. I didn’t finish my chocolate milk and I want to…” “No!” The fireman said as she made to turn back. “Don’t go downstairs. I have chocolate milk with me.” “Really?” “Yeah. And cookies too. Just come over here.” He pleaded with her. Diana didn’t need any more convincing. If she went to him, she would get not only chocolate milk, but cookies too. That sounded like a win to her. Coughing even more violently, she made her way toward the window and let herself be carried through the window and down a ladder. Once her feet touched solid ground, she found that the area outside her house was in complete chaos. Neighbors were staring and taking pictures. Lights from fire trucks and ambulances blinked in the background. Firemen and EMTs discussed among themselves. One entire side of her house was up in flames. “Where are my parents?” She asked the fireman that brought her down. He ignored her and continued marching determinedly towards an ambulance. “No! Let me go!” She yelled, squirming in his arms until she was able to get out. She dropped to the floor and ran toward the house. She had almost made it there when someone tackled her to the ground and held her down. She kicked and writhed around but she was unable to escape. “Let me go! I want my mummy and daddy.” She cried as she watched the flames increase in size, black smoke rising up to the sky.