-7- Screams (D)

I wake up to the sound of screams. Immediately I’m fully awake. I look around, trying to find out what’s happening. Fear strikes me. Did the humans get here? I stand up and try to locate the sound, for it’s not in the camp. I can’t, because the whole pack is now screaming and shouting. The only one who’s calm is Letas, and he’s just standing there, not even opening his eyes.
‘Letas, what’s happening?’ I run towards him. He opens his eyes.
‘Something important.’
‘Can’t you be a little bit more accurate? I’m staring to get annoyed, really annoyed.
‘Just listen closely… don’t you recognize it?’ I listen… and hear Kynabi’s voice in the scream.
‘It’s Kynabi?! What’s happening to her?! Are the humans attacking us?!
‘No no, Kynabi is changing. Her Moon is full.’ He smiles at me. I can just stare at him. Then it starts to sink in.
‘She- She’s changing?! Yes! Finally! Where is she?’
‘She’s just outside the camp, around there. Dynn, Iwori and Zeet are already there, helping her.’ He points at the north of the camp.
‘Thanks!’ I run off, not caring about my brothers and sisters, who are staring at me.
‘Kynabi! Where are you? I’m coming!’ I shout into the woods.
‘We’re here, hurry up! It’s almost done!’ I hear Zeet’s voice. Zeet is kinda Kynabi’s boyfriend. I think they’re a nice couple. Then my thinking gets interrupted once again.
‘Come quick, you’re gonna miss it!’ This time it is Dynn’s voice I hear.
‘Yeah, I’m almost there!’ I scream back. I just keep following the sound of the screams of my best friend. Then I reach a little open space. In the middle of it lies Kynabi, with her head on Zeet’s lap, and Dynn and Iwori sitting around her. Her skin is bubbling, her hair is growing longer, and her body is contorting. It all looks really painful. I run towards the little group.
‘Are you alright, Kynabi? I was so worried when I heard you! But it’s fantastic that you’re changing! You’re moon is finally full! Soon you’ll be able to change whenever you want, without the pain! Isn’t that great? You’ll finally be able to run on four paws, instead of two feet! That’s fantastic, right?’ I keep on talking to her like that, trying to comfort her, to distract her from the pain of changing for the first time. Though I don’t know the intensity of the pain myself, I’ve seen enough people go through the change to know that it’s horrible.
‘Da… Dawn… The pain… It hurts so much… Help… Please…’ Kynabi keeps screaming for help, but I can’t give it to her. I can only keep talking to her, comfort her, hoping it’ll be over soon.
‘It’s alright… It’ll be over before you know it, and then you’ll be happy it happened.’ I pat her growing hair. Then a shock goes through her body. I feel the skin moving under my hand, and her whole body changes. Her nose grows, until it is a wolf’s muzzle. Her hair suddenly shortens and covers her whole body, in a dark orange colour, the colour of her hair. Her body is twisting in really unnatural shapes, and her bones are changing and rearranging. After a few minutes of this weird and even a little bit frightening change, it stops. Kynabi starts to breathe slowly through her new nose, and twitching her paws, trying to get up. But it takes some time to get accustomed to a new body, and she doesn’t get up. She gives up and closes her eyes. It is very tiresome to change for the first time. That’s something everyone who’s Moon is full agrees on. After two minutes a light wolfish snore comes from Kynabi’s sleeping body. I continue to sit with her, waiting till she turns back. It takes two more hours, and I almost fall asleep, before she wakes up, in her human form. Her eyelids flutter open and it takes a while for her eyes to focus again. When she is fully awake, she sits up with a groan.
‘Aww, everything, outside and inside, hurts like hell…’ Are the first words she speaks. I chuckle while helping her up.
‘Aren’t you happy? You finally changed!’ I hug her.
‘Yeah, I’m happy, but it still hurts…’ she groans again.
‘Then it’s alright, as long as you’re happy.’
‘Where are the others? Zeet and Dynn and Iwori? They helped me too, right?’ She looks around, but the little open space is empty except for us.
‘They went to bed when they saw you came through the change safely. And someone had to go back to tell the pack everything was alright. Everyone thought the humans were attacking us! It was kinda hard to find out what was going on, but Letas told me. I’ll have to thank him for that.’ I smile.
‘What time is it?’ She looks really disoriented. I look at the sky.
‘It’s getting lighter, it’s almost dawn. Must be around six o’clock…’
‘Let’s get back to the camp then, shall we?’ She gets up, groans once more and starts walking towards the camp, back to our family.