My Mates Kingdom

A Birthday Party

When he said lift rocks he was not joking. These rocks are huge and heavy. He keeps yelling at me. Pushing me to move faster and to keep going. I have never been annoyed with Dom before but my hands are sore and I am exhausted. We make it back to the cabin and I collapse onto the couch. Casper is in the kitchen with Audrey. They are making chicken with rice. The baby is asleep on a pile of blankets on the floor. A makeshift bed. 

The next day Dom wakes me up at dawn. My body is still recovering from him pushing me yesterday. Today we ran, went swimming and climbed trees. The day after that we added some combat training. It became a routine. Dom always wins any hand to hand combat but I am still improving. We have been here for a few months now. Time seemed to move so fast.. 

I walk outside to meet Dom for training. My body feels very uncomfortable. My skin is itching like a bunch of tiny bugs are crawling on me. I don’t really want to train but I never miss a day. We finish our run and we start to do comat. Dom attacks and hits me on the side. Something in me feels agitated. Without realizing it I let out a growl. Dom comes to a dead stop and scans me up and down. I hear cursing under his breath. 

“Danny! You should have told me!” He snapped out. 

“Told you what?” I feel confused. I stop and think about what just happened. It was at that moment that I heard her for the first time. ‘We are going to shift today,'' my wolf said. I looked at Dom in a panic. 

“What do I do?” My parents had told me everything about the process. I just never thought I would do it without them. I always thought my dad would be here. The thought of my dad causes an overwhelming sorrow to engulf me. I fell to my knees and the tears I refused to cry finally fell. Dom kneels down next to me and wraps me in a tight hug. We just sit here for a while on the ground while I cry.

I can sense Casper behind me. He must be standing on the porch. I am so focused on the emotions that I forgot what my body felt like. The sudden snap of a bone echoed through the trees around us. I scream out in pain. I can hear Dom trying to talk me through this. “Remember what your dad taught you. He prepared you for this. Take a deep breath and push your body towards the pain. The more you push the faster the change will happen. Just push forward. It will be over soon.”

I close my eyes and picture my dad. I try to remember his voice. The snapping of my bones starts to increase. I push hard and try to ignore the pain. My skin feels like it is tearing apart. Needles are punching through my skin. My skin is stretched to accommodate my newly remodeled bones. I continue to focus on my dad. Giving my brain something else to focus on. 

The pain completely stops. I open my eyes and see paws. They are a caramel color with hints of red that shine in the sun. I look up and see Dom. He looks proud. “Congratulations Danny. You are now a shifted wolf. Try to stand but do it slowly. It will take a few minutes to be able to walk. Don’t take a step. Just stand first.” 

I follow his instructions. He walks me through standing. I look over and Dom has already shifted. He has dark chocolate brown fur. He talks me through walking and eventually running. He then decides we need to train in wolf form. So he has me run a few laps before returning home.

We are sitting on the couch. Audrey is snuggled next to Caspher. She never leaves him alone. Casper is feeding Lulu. “Audrey, I think you should take a shower now. I am tired and want to sleep soon.” She gives me a look of annoyance before getting up to go shower. I turn to Casper and Dom “her birthday is next week. I strongly suggest getting a pink cake and having a little party.” 

Casper smiles “I can bake but it has been a while. I don’t know if any of you can get her away from me long enough to cook it.” 

“Yeah I guess I should go find her a present. Another bear?” Dom asked while shuffling his feet. Dom is not good at shopping for anything.

“Maybe we can go together. She would like clothes, stuffed animals, dolls, maybe some stuff to help Casper cook.” I shrug my shoulders.

We went shopping the next day and got Audrey a few presents. To get her out of the house I asked her to come and collect wood with me. Dom is left to help Casper bake which is hilarious.  Dom cannot cook. We had some streamers and a banner. We all really just wanted to give her back some kind of normal. Having a normal birthday party even if it is just us will be good for her. We walk inside and we all scream happy birthday. She squeals at the sight of the pink glitter everywhere. We sing her happy birthday and she blows out her candles. It was a very nice night. She opened gifts and had the best smile. It is hard to believe she is already eight years old.