Ashley's Short Stories

The Moon Goddess

“They’d both get us some money.” Said the wrinkly face.

“Dad, we aren’t going to kill them…right?” the boy questioned

“We gotta Ben. They’re too unsafe alive.” Wrinkly face said.

“Dad. You didn’t tell me.”

You gotta do it now Calla. Kill them. Do it. I pushed off my back feet and ran to wrinkly face. He yelled, trying to run backwards, and fumble for his gun at the same time. The boy took a step back, surprised. I ran past him, heading straight for the man. His eyes were clouded with fear as he tripped. And fell. I stopped at his feet, growling. The man tried to reach for his gun. I growled louder. He froze. I jumped onto his stomach, and stared down onto his face.

Alright Calla. On the count of three. 1…2...

“Don’t do anything.” A voice broke my train of thought. I turned my head a bit, making sure to keep the man in the corner of my eye. And what I saw made me want to transform to my normal self and scream.

Mr. Orange Hat had his gun trained on my Emerie. My little sister. I stopped growling.

“get away from Paul.” Orange Hate commanded. I stepped off Paul, my eyes still on my little sister. Her eyes were frightened. Scared to death, as she gaped at the gun.

Paul got up, and hurried to grab his gun. As he walked behind me, I could feel the gun trained on me.

“Stop.”

I stopped. I was about eight feet from Emerie.

“Now look. We know you aint real wolves. We’ve seen your kind before. You’re some kinda hybrid. Now change. Or I’ll kill the little one.”

I bit my lip. If I changed, I’d risk humans knowing of our lives. If I didn’t, I’d lose my little sis. I glanced up at the moon. Legend has it there’s a moon goddess. Whenever one of our kind is in trouble, we always ask for luck. Luck to save our kind. Luck to hurt those who have hurt us. And luck to represent some kind of love for each other. We’ve lost loved ones before. Its hard. So some wish for love. But it never comes.

“Oh Luna, Moon goddess of the night. Please give me your spirit. Please help me save my sister. I can’t lose her. Please give me strength.” I squeezed my eyes shut. Silence. And nothing.

It was worth a shot. I glanced up at the man, and nodded. Then I changed. I could feel my snout changing, morphing, into a human nose. The bone structure of my arms and legs rearranging. Fur replaced with skin. Black hair cascaded down my black. The familiar feel of my jeans and T-shirt.

Finally, I glanced up at them. “Happy now?” I asked.

“Very.” Paul said. Mr. Orange Hat took his eyes away from Emerie for a second. I glared at her, and with a swift movement of my head nodded towards the bushes. She stared at me with frightened eyes. I glared. She started to walk backwards before twisting around and lunging for the bushes

“It’s getting away!” Paul yelled. He cursed under his breath, as Emerie disappeared behind the bushes. I grinned.

“Wipe that dàmn grin off your face, wont ya?” He snarled. Paul took a step towards me, and slapped his hand across my face. A stinging spread across my face.

“Thanks for the slap.” I said.

“Dad? Are you sure this is right? I mean-“ Ben was cut off.

“Dämn it Ben! Just do as you’re told for one second! You need to learn the family trade if you’re gonna survive.” Paul yelled.  Ben flinched.

I took a step backwards. Twisting around, I tried to sprint towards the bushes. “Oh no you don’t!” Mr. orange Hat lunged for me, grabbing my ankle. I screamed.

“Dad! Stop!” Ben shouted.

“Stay out of this Ben” Paul roared. He took a step towards me. “I’m not going to hurt you girl. Only put you to sleep. Your too precious to waste.” He aimed the gun at me.

“I’m not going to let you do this!” Ben said, and he leaped towards the gun. Grasping it with his hands, he gave it a yank. I knew this was the moment that I had to move. I turned, now on my stomach, and was just about to take off running. Something hard, and smelling of leather pushed me down on the ground. The cold barrel of a gun pressed against my back.

“Don’t you dare move.” It sounded like Mr. Orange Hat. “Or else you’re dead.” My eyes squeezed shut. Was this supposed to be the end?

“How dare you mess with my pack of wolves.”  Female voice said.

A felt some of the boots pressure give away. “What the? Who are you?”

“Luna.” My eyes shot open.

"Oh my god-" Mr. Orange hat was cut off. And then the weight of my boot was gone. The sound of a gun being shot.

"Stay away from me!" Paul screamed. Then silence. I turned around to see a big black wolf stalking Ben.

"Don't hurt him!" I screamed. The wolf-bigger than any of my kind- froze and looked at me with it's black eyes. It nodded. Then started to back away.

"W-Why would you save me?" Ben asked, his voice quavering.

"Because you saved mine." I smiled. Standing up, I brushed the dirt off me and went to stand next to him.

"He saved you?" A voice questioned. I turned to see Luna walking towards me. Her white dress fluttered around her, and her black curly flowed down her back. She was more beautiful than I ever imagined. The stories were true. Her blue eyes ran up and down Ben. “Well if he saved you then I won’t do anything to him.”

“What happened to my father and Marvin?” Ben’s voice cracked.

“They’re dead. Both threatened the alpha of my pack.”

I ran a hand through my hair. “Thanks…Luna. I don’t know what to say.”

She held up a finger. “Ah. But we have a problem.”

“What?”

She pointed at Ben. “Him.”

“Oh...”

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“If you go back to town, people will question what happened to your father and his friend. They will think you killed them. Then they will hunt you down and put you in prison.”

He cussed under his breath. “What the hell am I supposed to do then?”

“Can he become one of us?”

Luna glanced at me. “Perhaps. But not here. You must leave and go home.”

“What about you? Won’t you come with us?” I asked.

She stepped closer to me, putting a hand on my shoulder. “No. I must leave. But don’t worry Calla. I’ll be around.” She smiled.

I nodded. “Ben, come over here.”

He jogged over to me. “What is it?”

 I just pointed to Luna. “I want you to watch this.”

Luna went to stand in the moonlight. She lifted her head to the moon and smiled. Dark black fur began to cover her body. She fell to the ground, groaning a bit. Ben took a step to her, but I grabbed his arm. “No.” He nodded and continued to watch. Her hands became smaller changing to paws. Her legs strained to rearrange.  Finally her face changed, forming a long snout. Blue eyes changed to black ones. She trotted up a hill, and turned to us one more time. Turning to look at us one more time, she lifted her head to the sky and let out a long howl.

I smiled. “Goodbye Luna.”

~End~