Slipping

• Ceairah-Jayne Grainger, Grade 8, Caboolture State High School
• Short Story
• 2014

Excellence Award in the 'The Text Generation 2014' competition

Whispers. Shouts. All is the same to her virgin ears. An outcast, constantly surrounded by hate. She trots through the turned bodies of her pack, heading towards a glistening lake. As she does, wolves swish their tails away and tuck their heads closer into their dense fur. She reaches the waters’ edge and flops down on the bank, disturbing both smooth pebbles and drowsy wolves. This is her last night of safety. Tomorrow she will officially be cast-out, sent to roam the plains alone. A small whimper escapes from deep within her chest. The water swirls silently before her, longing for her to slip away from this life and into another. Lapping ripples beckon, aching to seize another body. The young she-wolf stares at her shimmering black fur speckled with silver. She is surrounded by creamy-white coats, all mingling with each other. All of them but hers. She heaves herself up. She knows she can’t survive anymore. Her paw dips into the cool water, quickly followed by another. Soon only twinkling golden eyes remain above the water. Then, nothing. She is drifting, cloaked in cold, deeper and deeper. Fear takes over and she panics, trying to escape the waters’ deadly grasp. But she is too deep, with no going back. Life is slowly slipping away but a blurred figure draws closer. When she finally hits the bottom she is no longer wolf. She is at one with the lake, the latest victim. But she is not alone. The figure dances closer and in a moment of clarity, she finally knows, It is him. He is here. She twirls herself around him, revelling in the coolness of his touch. Alive at last, yet not at all. Her love found her in the ripples of a reflection, Happiness that best describes it. Happiness given by her love. At last.