Life is Always Changing,
_I felt it. The feelings of being watched. It permeated the air around me, suffocatingly thick. I knew that I couldn't escape whatever was coming, but I started running anyway. I ran and I ran for what must have been hours before I heard that horrible sound. A howling that could only belong to the dead or dying. I ran harder but the howls kept getting closer and louder, filling my ears.to the point where they started to bleed. I stumbled and fell then, my face plowing into the ground. Now I knew for sure that they would catch me, I could hear the frenzied cries getting closer. I scurried backwards until my back hit a wall. I could see them all now, the demon dog pack, slowly closing in on me. One, I assumed their leader, made the first move, lunging for my neck. But then, out of nowhere, a fist came and smashed the demon's head in and it fell to the ground lifeless. Seeing their leader fall, the other demon hounds fled. I looked up to face my rescuer, to find myself looking into the face of my guardian and friend Jim, a golden retriever dog-morph. I instantly gave way to tears as he wrapped his strong arms around me. _
"I'll always protect you Tristyn," he said.
_I froze. I knew Jim's voice, especially when he talked to me. And that wasn't his. _
I slowly tried to back away but Jim wouldn't let go. I looked to his face but what I saw horrified me. His normally blue eyes were a dark, blood red. I couldn't take my gaze off of him as his skin turned and pulled. I blinked and when my eyes opened, I was no longer looking at a friend, but another hell hound.
"I'll always protect you," it said in a dead voice. That's when it lunged and I felt canine teeth tearing out my throat.
"Nooooo!!!," I cried out, throwing off my blanket, my body covered in a sheen of sweat. My heart was racing a mile a minute as I tried to calm down. "Not again!" I groaned before taking a deep breath. I could still hear the howls. Smell the cursed breath. See the horrible red eyes and the glint of teeth as they chomped dow-. I slapped myself hard. "Get a hold of yourself!"
"Calm.... Peace.... Serenity," I repeated the soothing words I had learned from Elsa. "It was just a dream." I told myself, breathing deep, slow breaths to calm down.
A knock on my room door startled me, and it was opened to reveal the source of my anxiety. Jim was looking at me, concern written all over his face. He asked, "Are you okay Tristyn? I thought I heard a shout."
That voice. I couldn't help but smile. That was the voice I had come to know, one full of kindness and compassion, not the dead one from the nightmare. I said, "I'm fine, I just..."
"Had another nightmare?" he said, walking over to the side of my room and sitting down next to me.
When I nodded, he put an arm around my shoulders. "Do you want to talk about it?"
I shook my head, "It was just a dream. Not real. I shouldn't have even screamed. I'm sorry."
His arm around me tightened. "You have nothing to be sorry about. Nightmares are part of life, you can't blame yourself for them."
"Yeah.... I know," I sighed.
Jim nuzzled the top of my head. "Good. Now get up and get dressed. Reg is already up and ready to start, and you don't want him to come in here and find you're still asleep, do you?"
I shook my head again but this time with a little laugh, the dark remnants of the dream passing away.
________
If someone would have told me that 5 months ago I would be living with a bunch of animal morphs in a city that I had rarely been to, I would have called them crazy. Now that all that has actually happened, I would start to think I'm the one that's crazy. But I wouldn't have traded it for the world.
While I still mourned the loss of my family and friends to the disaster, those deep scars had longed since healed, patched up from the support of three loving and kind individuals; Jim, a golden retriever dog-morph, one of the first I had ever met, who was also my legal guardian and close friend; Elsa, a white furred fox-morph, with a warm heart that could melt even the iciest of us, and also Jim's girlfriend of 2 years; and Reggie 'Reg' a very buff bull-morph that I looked to as an uncle, who was a childhood friend of Jim and Elsa. He often boasted that it was because of him that Jim and Elsa met, a statement that made both roll their eyes.
In the months that followed, I found myself adapting to the various changes that the world had thrown at me. One of the first was adapting to the fact that human's were no longer the dominant species on the planet, and instead were a minority, the rest a variety of animal morphs. While at first I thought there would be riots from this event, there was surprisingly little bloodshed. While the government had been shaken, I was amazed at the way it quickly changed to accommodate the different species now present (I mean, can you believe it? Smart people in government!).
The second challenge was getting used to living used to living with a group of them. I'm not going to say that the first few days were not difficult; in fact, it was basically one disaster after another. But thankfully I managed to adjust to their presence. I just wonder if they had trouble adjusting to my presence. And it wasn't just them, but the campgrounds full of other animal morph's too. While it was only supposed to be for new arrivals until proper accommodations could be found, the sheer number meant there was always people in the camp, and the showers and cafeteria were on the other side from the dormitory where we were staying meant that I had to cross the camp regularly. It had its perks and drawbacks. Perks being that I often got to see various morphs that now inhabited the planet. Drawbacks included being stared at by the new arrivals, as I was one of few human's who stayed around the area. I also happened to have the bad habit of staring when I saw an interesting looking morph, which usually led to embarrassing introductions.
I wasn't just some idle kid either; my friends saw to that. I helped Jim with errands he didn't have time for. Since Elsa was one of the head chefs for the camp, I often helped her in there. I'm proud to say that some of Elsa's cooking talent rubbed off on me; soon I was helping making dinners. And Reg imposed on me a strict workout timetable.
"Look at you," he said once, "Your all skin and bones. Do you want to be pushed around? I'll turn you from a twig to a solid branch kid."
Now I wasn't what one could call lazy but I really wan't active either. The first few times I did this, all under the watchful eye of Reg, who made sure I didn't skip anything, I often found myself having a shower then going straight to bed afterwards, only to wake up and start all over again. It was so exhausting! But I'm happy I stuck with it. Over time I found myself getting stronger, my muscles getting bigger, running faster and longer. It was great, but I didn't feel like growing too much. While Reg looked friggen' awesome looking, hugging him was akin to hugging a wall, and I wasn't too keen on being the same. Reg respected my decision, but still kept me at it, though from a more relaxed view.
In the small chance I found some time to myself I worked on sketching drawings of my friends, the campgrounds, the people in the camp, or worked on my card deck, just in the off chance, you know, if I found someone who did the same card game I could challenge them. But I never did. But working on my deck brought back happy memories of my old friends from before the disaster. A card game... who knew it could make me happy. My looks changed too, as I let my blonde hair grow long enough so my bangs covered one of my eyes and I could make a short, manly ponytail in the back. I'm happy to say that I managed to pull the look off.
The only downside were the nightmares. They started about the third week I started living with Jim, Elsa and Reg. They were always the same; I would be chased by some hellish demons, saved at the last moment by one of the three, before having my throat torn out by them. Sometimes it was Reg, other times it was Elsa, but in most it was always Jim. I never talked to them about it, as I was so ashamed to have myself thinking of them like that. I knew that they would never do anything of the sort, that it was nothing more than a twisted image made up by my brain, but as the weeks passed the dreams grew more intense. But that was the only problem thankfully.
So for the months I lived in that camp, and despite the efforts of the nightmares, I gradually turned back into my old happy self. While the circumstances that started this all were non I'd wish on anyone, I cannot complain about the results. Though orphaned, I had found a family of sorts, who I cared for deeply, and they for me. However, what I thought was a stable life was soon shattered when the problem of being an orphan came back into the picture. And it hit hard.
_______
It started out like any other day. I had just finished up my evening workout routine and was heading back to the dormitory to grab fresh clothes when I saw Elsa and Jim talking over by the small picnic area outside. I was about to say Hi when I noticed that they seemed to be having a very heated discussion. I hid around the corner strained to hear what they were saying.
"Hell Jim, are you serious?!" said Elsa in disbelief.
"Damn right I am! Got a problem with it?" Jim snapped. I was shocked by the tone. Jim never talked like that.
"No I don't, but have you thought this through?"
"Of course I have! You think I would do something this serious without considering all the angles?!" he shouted angrily.
"But, what if he doesn't want this. He's just got settled in with the way things are. Any change to that could upset him again."
I began to wonder just who they were talking about.
Jim calmed down at that. "Look, its obvious that he likes us all, and while he may still have a few issues, I would willingly help him get through them."
"Okay then," Elsa said, "I will support you in this, and don't worry about Reg. He views Tristyn like a smaller brother so I'm sure he would be okay with it as well."
"Thanks Elsa," I peeked around the corner, they were nuzzling each other, "I plan on asking him tonight if he would accept being adopted by us. Then I'm going to Okami's tent to work out the details."
"I think Tristyn will be thrilled by this news."
"Adoption. Tristyn. Wait my name is... HOLY SHIT!!!" I thought, Jim was wanting to adopt me!! I was so surprised that my hand slipped causing a bit out the siding the crumble and a sharp bit cut me hand. While it was a small cut, it began bleeding badly dripping on the wall. But worst of all when I heard Jim say, "Did you hear that?"
"Stupid canine hearing," I cursed and immediately began running away, going through the back door of the building, and throwing myself into the dorm, before rushing past a confused Reggie, and ducking into my room. Quickly pulling from my own stash of bandages, I wrapped my hand up to stop the bleeding, praying that they didn't see me. I was almost giddy, despite the pain from my hand. Jim wanted to adopt me! ME! That's when the cursed side of my negative brain told me that I was imagining things, that there was surely other Tristyns out there that Jim could be talking about. While I refused to believe it, the thought did calm me down enough that I was no longer on the verge of hyperventilating.
That's when I heard Reg knock on the door. "Tris, you okay?"
Trying to sound as neutral as possible, which was quite the struggle, I said, "Yeah Reg, I'm good. What's up?"
"Well, there are a couple people here to see you." he said, nervously.
"What, that's odd," I thought before saying "K, be right out."
Walking out of my room down to the living room, I was surprised to see Commander Okami and her mouse (literally) of a secretary Russel standing by the edge of the room. Giving them a wave hello, I went to the kitchen and got myself a cup of water, before going back out.
"So I assume that you're here to see me?" I asked.
"You guess correctly Mr. Kieas. I am bringing you some very good news." said the commander, her voice razor sharp as ever, which gave me pause. The commander never gave good news, as well she never did it herself. So her being here in person bode an ill wind. I felt the knot in my stomach tighten.
"Really," I said, trying to stay neutral, "What kind of news?"
"Do you remember when you first arrived, I told you about how you had been entered in the foster care adoption yes?"
The knot went tighter. I nodded slowly before saying, "Is this about the papers? Look I'm sorry I left some of the spaces blank bu-" She held up he hand to stop me from talking.
"No Mr. Kieas, your papers were fine and were accepted," then her voice did the final cut, "And they have been confirmed."
Confused I asked, "Pardon?"
Continuing to give me a scary look her voice deadened and then I heard the same voice from my nightmares speak, "It means you have been adopted."
I turned pale and she continued, "After giving your file a thorough examination a family has decided to accept you as one of their own. Your guardianship under Jim Elias is now terminated and you will be transferred by train to your new location effective immediately. There you will be put into the protection of your new family" Standing abruptly, she turned and began walking to the door, mouse following.
"Wait," I called out. Okami paused, which I took as a good sign and asked, "Where? Where am I going?"
Not even bothering to turn around she said, "Vancouver, British Columbia."
Before she could take another step I asked, "When do I go?"
"You leave tomorrow morning," she stated, like she had done nothing wrong. So soon!! I nearly cried out. But then I noticed that she glanced at me, an evil gleam in her eye. In that moment I knew. She had already known about Jim's plan to adopt me, and using her power she effectively stopped that plan in its tracks. She looked as though she was a perfect person and had done nothing worth any crying about. And with a flip of her hair she shut the door.
Before the door was even shut I felt a rage build inside me, and before I knew what was happening, I threw my glass at the door. Somehow the sound of shattering glass made me feel better, but did nothing to stop me from shouting with anger, "YOU SADISTIC BITCH!!!"
Reg, who had stayed silent for the whole ordeal, tried to calm me down, but I couldn't bear to be near anyone as my rage turned to heavy grief. So I tore out from his grasp and ran to my room slamming the door, and throwing myself onto the bed and let my tears guide my way to sleep.
I wasn't sure how long I had been asleep, before I awoke to the sound of someone knocking on my door.on my door,
"Tristyn honey, are you alright," I heard Elsa call through the door.
"No I'm not," I said, harsher than I meant to be.
I heard my door open and glanced towards it, seeing Elsa looking at me, concern in her eyes. The moment I saw her face I gave way to a fresh set tears. She was immediately at my side and took me in her arms. I felt so safe, safer than I had ever been since I was last held by my long-dead mother. I told her everything, how I had heard Jim and hers conversation, to feeling so happy about it, to my encounter with Commander and my rage attack.
She just listened and held me. My story ended and she looked to me, but no words were exchanged. We could read the expressions on each others face. I lay back on my bed, and she tucked me in, just like I was 6 years old. But I didn't care. I was my last night here and I would put up with anything. Elsa looked teary and walked out of my room, and I fell asleep to await the morning I dreaded.
_______
The morning couldn't have been more dreary. It was grey with clouds and looked like rain, which did little to help my mood. Since I had bought little during my time in Saskatoon, my old bag suited my needs just fine. Reg helped me pack all my things, which I was happy for, though I could have done it myself. But I knew why he was doing this, so I didn't bother objecting. Elsa made me a lunch to eat on the train, and even slipped a few hundreds into my bag. Now this I did protest, but she refused to take it back, claiming it to be decoration money for my new home. We went on like this for minutes before we stopped, laughing at the ridiculousness of the argument, when we remembered what was coming and quietened down. Jim seemed to be the most upset about this, but he gave me a gift, a new leather jacket that was made specially tailored for me. I instantly put it on and noticed that it had writing on the chest, my name in stylized print! When I asked him about it he said it was to make sure that I had a reminder that no one could take away. We both cried when he said that.
Finally the time came for me to leave. Commander Okami, that bitch, in her 'generosity' was allowing the three to accompany me to the train station. That made me feel slightly better. But the trip to the station passed by in quiet, everyone too bummed out to try conversation. Too soon we arrived, and I feared I would start crying again as we walked up to the platform where my train was. That's when I received another surprise. Another set of gifts!
Reg gave me a workout sheet, and said I was to do it 4 times a week, every week, in order for me to keep the muscle I gained while working with him. I gave him a look that said, "Really?" before giving him a tight hug which he returned full force. He patted my back, "You're gonna need that muscle to get all the girls right?" I laughed. Same old Reggie. Eventually we separated, though I could have stayed there forever.
Elsa gave me a recipe book. "To impress your new folks," she said. I wrapped her up in a hug too. And she kissed me on the top of my head. I felt warm and fuzzy.
"I'll make sure to blow their minds with these recipes," I promised.
Next it was Jim, who gave me a small box. Nodding to say it was okay to open it, I opened to find several trial decks and booster packs of my favorite card game inside. I checked them all. There must have been over a hundred dollars worth of cards in that box! Looking to him in curiosity he just smiled and said, "I remember you telling me how much you enjoyed this game. So one day I managed to find all these and I bought them for you."
I carefully put the contents of the box back, and rose to give Jim a hug. This time I didn't hold back the tears, and soon small rivers were going down both our faces. I looked at him, staring into those blue eyes of his for the last time.
I said in near whisper, "I would have been honored to be your son, Dad."
Jim's ears perked at the sound of the word Dad, and pulled me closer so that my head lay on his chest. There I could hear his heartbeat and feel his chest rise and fall with each breath. Then I felt the rumble of air as I heard Jim- no, my Dad say quietly, "And I would have been proud to have called you my Son, Tristyn."
Tears rose anew, but we were forced to break apart as the conductor began calling for boarding. I gathered my things and made for the nearest train car. As I stepped up into the doorway, I took one last look back, back to the ones who almost became my 2nd family.
"No," I corrected myself, "They are my family. And always will be."
I found myself a window seat where I could see the three of them, and breathing a few breaths onto it and wrote "I Love You" on the window. As the train began to move, I waved at them, and they waved back to me, and we continued to wave until at last they passed from my view.
I sat back on my seat as the first drops of rain began to fall across the window. I curled onto my chair, watching the bleak scenery go by, as I felt old wounds tearing through my heart once more. I had now lost not one, but two families to the cold, cruel hand of injustice. But this time it was better. I grinned as I looked at my jacket, my name visible for all to see. Yes... it was much better than it could have been. Soon the warmth of the train and my emotions overtook me and I drifted off to the sound of the train going clickety-clack over the rails.