Changing

Chapter 15

The days passed without much significance. Everyday we would wake up and then run for hours until we stopped to eat. Sometimes we talked a little, but it seemed wrong to talk in the woods. Our voices stood out strikingly against the soothing sounds of birds calling and the wind rushing through the leaves. 

So mostly we just kept quiet. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Bonnie was more comfortable not talking, and slowly I became used to it also. 

Bonnie was getting stronger at an incredible rate. And she was growing. To weaker eyes the difference would be almost impossible to see, but I could see it. Her hair had gotten impossibly longer, and fuller. It fell below her waist now, and was rich and golden in the sun. It almost seemed to have a life of its own the way it would twist and turn with each shift of wind. Like her hair itself was delighted to be free. Sometimes I could almost hear it laugh out loud while it danced down the length of her back. 

Bonnie’s thin legs appeared to get longer each passing day. Her body was filling out also, loosing the starved look. Her ribs were almost hidden now. But she also grew leaner. You could see the subtle shape of her muscles as they rippled beneath her skin. And her skin grew darker too. Tan. From spending so much time in the sun. 

She moved so graceful through the forest. Lithely, she never took a wrong step, never stumbled. 

Though I knew I was also much better suited to the woods then before, I still was not at reconciled with it as she seemed to be. She never made one noise. Sometimes I would have to look at her, just to make sure she was still there. 

Bonnie used this to her advantage. She had never been with kids before and so had never really played. Except with her Mother. 

But she had a dark sense of humor, and her mission in life was to scare me any chance she got. She loved to just melt into her surroundings playing a sort of hid-and-seek. And then jumping out at the worst possible moment…

I didn’t like this game so much. It made me nervous not knowing where she was. And it brought up the old worries, of her getting lost, or hurt…or killed. I knew I was being ludicrous, I knew she could take care of herself, but even this knowledge did little to calm my fears. 

“Bonnie!” I called trying to keep the shaking out of my voice and failing miserably. “Come out, come out wherever you are…” 

I heard a twig snap in the distance. “Bonnie?” 

I walked toward the noise, but knowing Bonnie, most likely it was just another rabbit or some other small woodland animal. Bonnie never made any sound. 

I heard a soft giggle behind me and pivoted immediately. 

Well she never made a sound when she moved, her mouth was another matter. 

I tried to pinpoint where the laugh had come from but, she had quieted as soon as I turned. I sighed resigned. 

“Come on Bonnie, this is not fun anymore…” it really never was fun for me in the first place. 

I couldn’t hear anything. I strained my ears as far as they could go. I heard the shuffle as a fox darted across the bracken. I heard the whisper of the wind in the trees. I heard hundreds of small birds calling to one another, but nothing that could be identified as Bonnie.

I tried to catch her sent--not for the first time--but she was still downwind from me. 

I sighed again. At least I had a direction but I had no idea where she was. If she was far or close. 

Well she can’t be that far I decided since I had heard her laugh a moment ago. 

I ambled in that direction, searching for any hint of Bonnie. 

Maybe I should search from the air. She can’t avoid me there… I smiled, yes I would find her quickly then, but she wouldn’t be too happy.

I was thinking about this not really watching my surroundings when she dropped from the air and landed on my back with a snarl. 

I crashed to the ground with a Humph. 

Ugh! I should have been paying better attention. 

A weird deep coughing was coming up Bonnie’s throat. 

I spit the dirt back out of my mouth. Wait more like mud--the earth was still moist from yesterdays rain. I hope there was nothing else in that small piece of dirt I just happened to get my face smashed in. 

“Get off!” I growled at Bonnie in my most threatening voice. But the coughing just got worse. 

I grumbled incoherently to myself as I pushed off from the ground sending Bonnie tumbling from my back. 

Gah! Sometimes I just couldn’t stand her!

I whipped the dirt from my face, with my arm glaring at Bonnie the whole time. Her lips were pulled back from her teeth, in a huge wolfy grin. 

Her face twisted a little to the side, then purposely she licked me across the face. 

“Ewww!” I pushed her away from me which just got her laughing again. 

She shimmered and changed back into a human. 

“Aw, you know I was only playing Tay, you don’t have to get all upset about it.”

I just continued to glower at her. 

“I’m sorry I just couldn’t help myself…you should have seen your face!” she squealed. 

“Do you promise not to do it again?” I asked in the angriest voice I could manage. It wasn’t easy. It was almost impossible for me to stay mad at her for long. 

“No way!” she laughed harder at my shocked expression, her laugh echoing through the woods.  

 I shook my head scowling, “I don’t see what’s so funny about it, its not funny at all to me…” I grumbled. 

She just smiled that annoying teasing smile and glided into the forest.

With a sigh I followed after her.