Her Journey
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•You left and forgot to tell my heart how to live without you.•
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2005 - Present
For the next two years of Enania's and Jude's life, they spent in foster homes. The humans that found them sent them to the system, where Nia was evaluated over and over again to see what exactly had happened and how they found themselves in the woods.
For three months they got nothing but, "Lunch. Attack. Death" out of her. Her once innocent eyes, were haunted by horrors no one could see. But those horrors fed on her fear, coming to life in her dreams. Night terrors plagued the young Nia, as she tried to fit in and go to school. She was mute most of the time, only talking when spoken too.
As she left kindergarten and into the first grade kids started picking on her, and going solely off of her wolf instinct she started fighting them. Her foster parents, fearing that they had a child that they couldn't deal with, sent her and Jude off.
In this new home, Nia was abused, and told that if she said anything they'd hurt Jude. Out of fear for her little brother, 6 year old Nia kept her mouth shut, that is until she turned seven and was going into second grade. The students started to make fun of how clumsy she was, for she had to constantly lie and say she fell, to hide away the fact that she was being hit at home. One recess when a boy was tugging on her hair trying to get her to fall she yelled angrily that she "didn't fall! Mr. Robby hits me!" A nearby teacher hearing this immediately grabs Nia to ask her what she said. Panicking, Nia tries to lie to save Jude, seeing through it the teacher promises she won't say anything. Nia spills everything, and luckily enough her and Jude were out of that house that night.
At Nia and Jude's new foster house, home life was fine. However, 8 year old Nia discovers how rude third graders can be. Her instincts were kicking back into gear, she called her family her 'pack' and told her class how her mom and dad were killed by wolves; this freaked out the other kids making them pick on the strange girl with no mom and dad. In order to defend herself, she started throwing punches again, and much like last time, was kicked out of her foster home, taking Jude with her.
Their next foster home was really nice; parents treated them like their own kids which made Nia and Jude happy. Jude was starting school and Nia was starting her fourth year in elementary. Things went by smoothly, as the year passed and soon the second year mark approached. July 7, Nia's tenth birthday showed up; the foster parents threw a party for the lucky girl and had her class mates come over. Jude was ecstatic, this being his first ever birthday party he'd experience.
What they weren't expecting was for that night, as the siblings star gazed on the upstairs patio, was for Nia to shift into her wolf. That night was filled with magic energy as the pair pranced around, Nia's small dark brown wolf giving her a whole new view. All her senses were sharper, she felt stronger, faster, and she felt complete.
Exactly a month passed, bringing forth Jude's sixth birthday. The parents also threw him a party with his class mates. And just as they did a month ago, they sat on the porch excitedly waiting for Jude to turn. When he didn't he was disappointed until Nia comforted him telling him it wasn't his tenth birthday yet. With this in mind they decided they should tell their foster parents, so that next morning during breakfast that is exactly what they did.
Reasonably, the parents were slightly alarmed but chalked it off as a joke. That is, until later that evening when she sat both them down and seriously explained to them that her and Jude come from a family of werewolves. This conversation led to arguments on what to do with Nia; when September rolled around they sent her away seriously concerned with her mental health.
The doctors at Lucky Shores Rehabilitation Center told the foster parents, Nia, and Jude that what was happening was Nia and Jude's minds were trying to cope and understand what happened the day with the wolves. This all made perfect sense to the Keller's, so they made sure to tell Jude every night the 'truth' about what was really going on with Nia.
For two years Nia swore up and down that what she was saying was the truth. That she wasn't crazy, that her family really were werewolves. For two years Jude visited, never saying anything to Nia about the night she shifted even as she rambled on about how amazing it was and how amazing it would for him to shift when he turned ten.
On her 13 birthday Jude showed up, his visits becoming less frequent than Nia wished, but when she tried to say how excited she was for him to shift, he snapped.
"We aren't werewolves Enania!" The eight, almost nine year old shouted at her. His face was flushed pink, eyes looking around embarrassed by his sister. "Stop being crazy, just-" His voice had cracked, as Nia's eyes filled with tears. "You're only making it worse on yourself so do us both a favor and just stop."
Those were his last words to his older sister; those words were what finally broke her into playing along with the doctors. She admitted to lying, to being overwhelmed by the upcoming anniversary of her and Jude being found. So for almost a year, Nia lies through her teeth, her goal to get out and reconnect with her brother. Protect him like their mother wanted her to, be his family, his friend.
Finally, on her birthday, the doctors decided that approving her for release would be an ample birthday gift. She went back to Jude and the Keller's her spirit broken, but body plastered with a fake happiness.
For the next month Jude avoided his sister as she tried to tell him to be careful, that his tenth birthday was coming up and he needed to be ready. The Friday of his birthday weekend, his birthday being Sunday, he, his friend, and his friend's family all went camping. Out of fear, Nia tried to get her brother to stay with her so she could help him. Over the past few years she's been learning and growing, looking up and studying about werewolves; trying to figure out what was real and what was fake.
What she decided was real, was that the shift was easier and more bearable around another wolf, as her own shift hadn't been painful all that much. However, despite his older sisters desperate pleas, he went on with the trip. He made her promise that she wouldn't show up, so, she kept her promise, that is until word was sent back that Jude had been killed by a wolf.
She knew he was alive, otherwise she would've felt the pain she did when her father and mother died. Nia, proclaiming she needed time to mourn, went after Jude. She kept what his friend's parents said to heart; they woke up in the middle of the night, went out and saw a wolf with blood and Jude's shredded clothes.
He obviously shifted, got a little bloody, and had his clothes shredded due to the shift. Nia followed his sent, searching for him. She could feel his fear, pain, worry, and regret. All that mattered to her was finding him, and she would find him.
After about two weeks Nia was getting closer, she could practically feel him. Her four legs pounded against the forrest ground, head low, ears tucked against her head as she jumps over and evades logs.
It was in the early morning, the fog low on the ground, even then she could see her own breath as she panted. As the sun started to rise she heard him, heard his scared growls and two others. Humans by the sound of it, but with guns. Nia felt her heart stop before she really began to sprint. Seconds tick by and she sees a clearing, in the middle is her brother. He looked just as her mother did when she was a wolf. Blonde and lethal, but he was only a pup, and Nia herself hardly older.
Right as she reached the edge of the clearing Jude let out a painful cry as a gunshot rings out into the cold forrest air. Nia skids to a stop, the world going in slow motion as she watches her brothers blonde wolf, crumble to the ground, red soaking into the earth.
Nia lets out an angry snarl as she jumps out, no longer frozen in shock. The hunters looked on in fear as Nia stalked her way towards them positioning herself in front of her brother. Her haunches raised, lips pulled back revealing the sharp teeth she possessed while a wolf. Her snarls turned viscous, as the hunters scrambled up from their spot and ran. They obviously weren't expecting a second wolf to be here, so she used this to her advantage, tilting her head back and howling as if to call her pack. For three minutes she waits in silence until she's satisfied that they are far enough away. She turns around quickly trotting over to her brother.
She hears his whimpers and tried to comfort him nuzzling his nose, neck, and finally stomach. Being in wolf form for so long makes it difficult for her to shift back into her human form so Nia is forced I sit and watch her brother bleed out. The next hour or so, she paces around him whining, desperate for help. That's when slowly his panicked eyes find her, stark blue and wider than the sun, roll into the back of his head. His chest raises and falls one last time before settling. Nia no longer sees his breath exhale through his small wolf nose. Nia cries out, her chest filling with that same pain from so many years ago.
She lowers herself onto her belly, crawling to him whimpering. Her chest burns, being shredded into nothing. Running out of strength she curls around Jude letting out huffs of air that turn to whines.
The pair laid there for two days before Nia was finally able to dig a grave and gently as possible place her dead brother in the grave. She then covered him, placing wild flowers all around the grave and a final bouquet on top. Slowly, she made her way back, heart torn to shreds.
Over the next two years Nia purposefully got expelled and moved from foster homes all around to look for others like her. Over 134 schools and yet she had no luck. Now, she's just turned 17 and is moving to a small town in the forests of Oregon.
She's set on moving on, set on living her life without constantly thinking about the ones she's lost.
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•My journey isn't perfect, but it's mine, so I'll stick with it.•
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