My Second Life

• Bethany Zammit, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2013

I was running. I didn’t know why I was, or where I was going, but I was running. The wind felt cold on my face and the ground felt crisp on my feet. All four of them. I stopped, so confused. What was happening? Why was I out here running while it was still dark? And why was I on all fours? A man ran out of his house and yelled at me. I couldn’t figure out what he was saying. It was like he was speaking another language! What happened next was weird. He held a gun, pointed it straight at me, and shot. He missed. I ran as fast as I could. When I got to the edge of the forest I slowed down, and eventually stopped. Why did he shoot at me? What... Was... I? Exhausted, I laid down for a minute. And saw my… tail. I had a tail. What. the.. hell. It was like I was an animal. I was an animal. I was tired, but I couldn’t sleep. Contemplating what I should do, I decided to walk. Walk until I found something that would help me figure out what was going on.
It took me what felt like hours to get to the other side of the forest, but it was probably only half that. And then it happened. I saw the blue and red lights were bright as the sun in my eyes. There had been a car crash. It was the same type of car as mine, piled up into the base of a tree. Then I saw it. There was a body on a stretcher. A female body. My body.
I was shocked. I slowly crept closer to get a better look. It was horrifying. My own corpse was lying in front of me. My old face looking down at me dripping with blood. Trying to cry, I let out a short strange noise. It sounded like a… howl. That’s when the policeman saw me.
“Wolf!” he cried. As soon as he said that everyone panicked. I decided I didn’t want to get shot at again so I ran away, back into the forest.
I was upset, but I couldn’t cry. I wanted to scream, but it would turn out as a howl. I didn’t know what to do. The unfamiliar noises of the woods scared me. But if I really was a wolf, I wouldn’t have to worry about them. I was bigger and stronger than most of the animals. My stomach rumbled. Food sounded good right about now. I found myself walking again. Even though I was tired, I needed to find food. I needed to eat.
After I walked a while I heard a loud bang. A sharp pain entered my side. My breathing was heavy, and my heart was in pain. Everything went red. Somewhere, I could hear the faint cries of a newborn baby. I looked up at my new mother.