Fox and the Hound

Stories get Twisted

People love labels. As a society we use them every day, you can't escape them. We use them to categorize and generalize. Sure, you come across ones that don't fully match our premade expectations, but we just write them off and make a new label. Freaks. Outcasts. Losers.

My name is Hope Brooks and I am a freak among freaks. The outlier in a group of outliers. Did I mention how much I hate labels?

I've lived my whole life in La Push, Washington. I've never known anything else, but I can't say that I have ever wanted to. I love my home. I love my culture, my family, and my history. That's why it never made sense to me when my brother would say he didn't want to come with us to the bonfires. Bonfires meant stories. I've practically memorized every one and, yet I attended every bonfire we had.

It started out like every other Friday night. The sky was dark and clouds loomed overhead, but no rain had fallen. I had just left First Beach, one of the last people to leave the late night bonfire. My mind was still in a cloudy haze that always came with hearing our tribal stories. I must have walked down the wrong road or taken a wrong turn, because, when my head finally cleared, I didn't know where I was.

I knew my reservation like the back of my hand but, the sun had set too far for me to see the small landmarks and familiar signals that would tell me where I was. Signing, I continued walking down the long, barren dirt road.
As I walked, I couldn't help that feeling when you walk alone at night. All girls know what I mean. When you're walking home and it's just a little too dark for comfort. That feeling when you watched a scary movie for the first time and now have to walk around your halls at three in the morning to use the bathroom. The feeling that sends you running despite the fact that you know nothing is there.

Signing, I shook my head. The reserve is safe. Nothing has ever happened here before. Nothing is behind me. I'm fine. I kept telling myself that as I walked just a little faster. This went on until, somewhere around me, a twig snapped, and without meaning to, I broke out into a sprint. My emotions fell out of control and I felt like I was running for my life. My legs moved under me so fast I felt like I was about to trip.

The farther I ran, the more my body begged for a rest. I was never the most athletic and now more than ever I wished that wasn't the case. My lungs burned and my heart was pounding so hard I could hear the blood rushing past my ears.

The aches quickly turned into agonizing pain. My heart was beating so hard I thought it would give out, my body so curled in on itself in pain I felt as if my spine had broken. I was screaming, tears streaming down my face as my body shook with uncontrollable spasms and collapsed on the road. Eventually, the pain grew too much, and I passed out.

When I came to, it had gotten darker and the pain had greatly subsided. I tried to push myself off the ground but, I couldn't gather the energy to move. I knew I couldn't just lay there. No one would find me until the morning, and I was almost sure I had just had a seizure.

I looked around, hoping to see anything I could use to help balance my weight once I finally had the strength to push myself up off the ground. Close to my face, I could see some sort of animal, it's deep red fur brushing against my nose. Worried it could be a wild animal rather than a household pet, I tried lifting my arms to push myself away as far as possible without disturbing it. When I lifted my arm, the animal moved along with it. Shocked, I moved farther and it moved along with me yet again. It was then that I realize that the fur didn't belong to an animal… It belonged to me.

It took me a solid hour to calm down enough to relax. Once I was calmer, I pulled my body, which I now knew was much smaller than it should have been, into the woods just far enough to hide from any early morning joggers and passed out in the nearby bushes, praying that when I awoke all of this would be a dream; nothing more than a sugar-induced nightmare. A dream based on tribal stories that got twisted and turned around by my mind.

Hours later, I was woken up by something pushing me. "Hope… Hope Brooks, you better get the hell up. I know that is you," someone said, continuing to shove me back and forth. Eventually, I got the energy to open my eyes and saw my mother staring back at me, her face a mix of emotions.

"Hope if that is you, listen to me. Get up and shake your head," she ordered, moving her hands away from my body and allowing me to do as she told me.

"Hope!" She sighed, her eyes gaining a compassionate look. "Oh baby, I was so worried. You have to change back. Think human." I gave her a head tilt, hoping to convey my internal thought of 'How the hell do you 'think human'?'.

"Right, um… think about what you look like. Imagine your looking in a mirror and think about everything you see," she explained. Sighing, I did as she asked and though it took me another hour of frustration and confusion, I finally got it. One minute I was a tiny unknown creature, and the next I was me. Only naked.

My mom, already two steps ahead, hands me one my oversized school t-shirts and some shorts that, I was assuming, she got from her purse and turns around to let me get dressed. My mind was running a thousand miles a minute, and full of questions.

"What the hell Mom!" I whispered, still freaking out. "This isn't real. This shit belongs in a movie!"

"Baby, I promise this is real." Her voice was soft, but her demeanour was full of worry. "We need to go. Once we get home, I can explain but we can't be out here right now." Her eyes were shifting around, looking for any possible threat along the completely empty road.

Seeing that there was no way to get any answers out of her here, I sighed and simply agreed.

So I think this is already better than the original version I wrote a while ago. What do you guys think? Hopefully, you will learn to love Hope. I want to make her someone who cares about her tribe more than most her age. Make sure to leave your thoughts and ideas in a review.

Question: If you could shift into anything, what would it be?

My Answer: A fish maybe... something aquatic. I just love the ocean, but I don't wanna even think of the things living in it - too scary!

~DeathRiders