Twenty Years?!

The first signs that I felt her was when I stepped out of the front gates. As soon as my foot hit the other side, something within me stirred and the flash of the light grey wolf came to my mind. As quickly as it came, it was gone.

Placing my hand over my heart it was like two hearts were beating. I thought there was supposed to be a change throughout my body and a whole amount of pain as the first shift was supposed to happen as soon as the wolf appeared. But nothing like that happened to me.

Instead, she resided there deep inside of me, as if waiting for something drastic to happen. But one thing was for sure. I didn’t feel alone anymore. I could feel her sudden emotion of sorrow and yet that same joy that we were finally as one.

I was sure the sorrow was from the death of our pack. As soon as she awakened within me she would have complete access of all my memories and everything that I went through from the moment I was born.

The other times that I felt her was when I was walking down the long road, surrounded by nothing but the forest, and I replayed certain memories of my family and Myron. She sensed my pain, and a strong sense of comfort overcame me. I think I’m going a bit insane as she appears next to me on the road, her body not fully visible.

She trots happily, staying by my side, looking around for any signs of danger. Walking along, I couldn’t help but stare at her beauty. She was quite large for a female wolf, reaching just past my waist. The only time I’ve seen a wolf that big was my father’s wolf. As an Alpha it was too be expected to be the largest one out of the pack.

So, was it really a surprise that she was just as big?

Her light grey color was slightly lighter than my mother’s wolf. But unlike my mother’s wolf she had a pure white undercoat that reached from the bottom of her chin all the way to the back of her tail.

She doesn’t seem to be curious about me as much as I was about her. She just kept trotting along with me, but it made me happy, nevertheless.

It took us, or well more like me since she actually wasn’t really there, almost three hours to finally come across the big wooden sign that stated I was about to enter the town of Canyon Rocks. I was both relieved and nervous.

As I continue to just stand there in my nervous state, she nudges her nose against my hand, indicating to get a move on. Smiling down at her, I graze my fingers through her fur watching as her ears turn down in comfort, while her eyes close for a brief moment.

Taking a deep breath, I close the rest of the distance between me and the first signs of buildings of the town. It really was little. Not much to it at all. When I was walking down the road not a single car drove by, but as soon as I pass the first tall wooden building, that seemed to be a warehouse of some sort, dozens of cars drove by, some honking as they pass people they knew.

When I start to get into the thicker part of the town, my wolf finally disappears from my sight all together, but I knew she wasn’t gone. I could still feel her inside me, just as curious as I was with everything that was before me.

I finally hit a sidewalk and houses. On the other side was what looked to be like a school. Kids of all ages ran around laughing, screaming while they were being chased by others. I start to slow down when it finally hits me that this town was were humans resided.

I never seen a human up close before. I’ve read about them and even heard stories. They weren’t really that much different than us when it came to looks. They just didn’t have the gift of the moon goddess to acquire their own wolves.

I also realize I might not be able to get the answers I’m looking for here. With that knowledge I became a little depressed and even more tired.

I keep walking until I finally find a grocery store. As soon as I step through and see fresh food it made me realize I was starving. When was the last time I ate? Also, I needed a good shower to get all this lake muck off me.

I walk up to a fruit stand and see a price. Ah, crap. I didn’t have any money with me. How was I able to afford food and a place to stay? Night Stone was completely ransacked, with no stone left unturned.

Feeling dejected, I leave the store. I see a few people give me a few stares, but other than that, they didn’t pay me any attention. I was hungry, tired, and felt completely gross the longer I stayed in these clothes.

I mindlessly walk the sidewalk of the small-town stores until I came across one that held newspapers, different magazines and various articles. Curious, I stop to pick up a newspaper. We never really got them at the pack, the outside world not much interest to us. But I always wanted to look one over just to see what was written in them.

I check the headline; The Spring Festival 2022 is finally here!

I stop and reread that headline again. Wait, what? 2022? I check the date of the newspaper. April 19th, 2022. No, that can’t be right. Slamming down the paper, I pick up a new one to check the date. It stated the same thing.

Beginning to freak out, I then check the magazines for them to show me the exact same date. There might be a chance for all these articles to have a mistype of the date…right? In a frenzy now a man steps out of his store staring at me oddly.

“You alright there miss?” He asks with a look of concern on his old, withered face.

“Oh I…um…sir, could you tell me what today is?”

“It’s the 19th, Wednesday.”

Feeling like an idiot I then ask him, “A-And the year?”

A white bushy eyebrow raises nearly to his forehead. “Two thousand and twenty-two.” He slowly says, looking at me as if I was going crazy or something. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Placing the newspaper down I give him a halfhearted smile. “Y-Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Before I completely lost my shit in front of this old man I quickly dash across the street and don’t stop walking.

2022?! How the hell was it 2022?! There was no way in hell it’s been twenty years! 2002, that is the year we were in. Are they seriously telling me twenty years has passed since my pack was attacked? Since I was shoved off that cliff and nearly drowned to my death?

I slowly come to a stop. Why not? It makes perfect sense now. The reason why my hometown was completely abandoned now, of all the overgrown weeds, the dust that covered everything, the bodies no longer being there. I look down at myself, the body I was now in.

Finding a bench at a nearby park I plop myself down with a thud. I didn’t know what to think. Twenty years was a long time. I would be thirty-seven years old by now if I was able to live out my life normally. Maybe a life with my mate and children of my own.

“Holy shit, I really did die, didn’t I?” I whisper aloud to no one.

Why twenty years? Why not after everything that had happened? Why now? Was my uncle even alive at this point? Was I even able to find him at all?

Laying my head into the palm of my hands I feel the despair hit me once more. I felt hopeless with no plan and no idea what to do next. Anything could have happened in the last twenty years.

“Hazel?"

I don’t look up at the sound of some unknown lady’s voice, thinking she was talking to someone else.

“Hazel, is that really you?”

When I don’t hear someone responding to her, I chance to look up just to see her looking straight at me. I turn around but find nobody else there. Was she talking to me? But why was she calling me Hazel?

“Oh, my lord! It is you! Is this where you have been all this time? Everyone has been looking all over for you! The whole pack has been searching for you for three days now! What on earth made you run away like that?”

The woman was a bit short, with short wavy hair just down to her shoulders. She was a bit thin but looked neat and clean. She walks up and sits right down next to me. When I don’t answer any of her questions and just simply stare at her with wide eyes, she sighs.

“I guess that was a dumb question. I’m so sorry sweetheart, everyone’s heard. I understand completely why you ran away. But be as it may, we can’t let something like this put us down. It’ll hurt for a few weeks, but the pain will fade. Personally, I was glad to hear it happen only because you deserve so much better and so much more.”

She reaches up a hand and slightly tucks a strand of my blonde hair behind my ear. She gives me a sad smile. “You poor dear. I know life hasn’t been the best for you and it feels like the world is against you and falling apart, but you’ll get another chance, you just wait and see.”

She then looks at her watch. “Oh my! Look at the time! We need to get you back right away; your mother has been worried sick about you. I’m so glad your unhurt and safe.”

She stands up and tags me along with her. She held onto my hand tightly, as if she was afraid that if she let go I would run away from her. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I could tell she was a werewolf, just like me. And whoever this Hazel girl was must be the girl I was now in the body of. Her words still confused me, but it had to be something that happened to Hazel before I became her.

Even though I didn’t know this woman or where she was taking me, I was certain I was going to at least get my answers about my uncle and the man who murdered my family from whatever pack they’re from.

A little hope once again lit within my soul.