The Winter Wolf.

Winter:  That time of year when snow starts falling.  To the people of our time, it likely conjures up images of skiers, children sledding and engaging in snowball fights, and snowmen watching with envy as families share cups of hot coco and gifts around the Christmas tree.  

Yet, cozy in our homes, we often forget that not two hundred years ago, our predecessors didn't have things quite so easy.  I'd be lying if I said that there was no enjoyment at all in the winter, but their lives were far more difficult then ours.  

Food and firewood needed to be carefully rationed, and game was scarce.  Even though houses offered protection from wind and snow, they did little to keep the occupants warm if no fire was burning.  It's not surprising, then, that winter split many more families then than it does now.  Many parents were left childless; many children had their parents torn from them.  Those who couldn't be cared for by neighbors, relatives and orphanages almost always joined their parents.  

The story I'm about to tell is about one of these orphans, searching desperately for a family in the frigid winter.  

Eric Clayton was his name.  In an attempt to escape the rising tension between the colonists and the British, his family had started a journey for a more secluded land with several other families.  Unfortunately, winter had struck sooner than anyone could have anticipated, and his parent's desire to escape from civilization had turned on them.  Having to constantly stay on the move, without a doctor or a shelter beyond their cobbled-together carriage, his parents, along with several other members of their party, quickly fell ill, and died.  

There wasn't much time to hold a funeral, and Eric, and the other families were forced to keep moving.  The rest of the group's tents and cabins rarely had room for him, leaving him unable to adjust to a new family, no matter how much he longed for one.  

After one of the party's rest stops, Eric, tired and worn from the journey, took a nap under an old oak tree.  As he slept, he began to dream.

"Another poor, lost soul."  He heard a masculine voice say.  

"Why must mother nature be so cruel as to tear this pup from his parents?"  A feminine voice said.

"Maybe we can help him."  The first voice said.  

"Make him part of our pack."  The second suggested.

"Do you want to?"  The first asked.

"Of course!"  The second said.  "I can't bear to see him so alone."

"Well then, he will join us."  

Eric felt something warm on his chest as his dream ended, and he woke up.  He promptly forgot about the whole thing when he noticed that it had started to snow again while he was asleep.  He quickly got up and headed back to where the caravan had last been.

"Where is everyone?"  He was sure the caravan had been here when he took his nap.  "Is somebody there?"  Eric yelled.  

He realized that he was truly alone.

Panicking, he almost missed the tracks the travelers had made in the snow.  He quickly and desperately followed them.  As he did, his clothes felt hot and uncomfortable, in spite of the freezing weather.  However, he just chalked it up to his constant running keeping his blood warm.  But after thirty minutes of running, Eric found himself sweating profusely, and, in childish frustration, he quickly threw his coat and gloves off.

He was quite confused when he saw his hands were covered in thick, white hair.  Reaching his hand down the inside of his shirt, he felt the same hair growing on his chest, and judging by the uncomfortable way his clothes were rubbing him, he guessed that more of the hair had covered his arms and legs.  He hesitantly pulled a hair off his head with a little yelp, and found it had turned white too.

When Eric rubbed his fingers against this white hair, he started to realize that it felt less like human hair, and more like the kind of fur his old pet dog used to have.  Eric wasn't really frightened as much as he was confused by the strange situation.  However, the fur did keep him fairly warm, so he decided to make the best of it for now and ask the adults about it when he caught up with the caravan.

Even though his coat and gloves were being tucked under his arm as he pressed on, he felt quite warm thanks to his fur.  He didn't even really take notice as it covered most of his face, save for his now-wet nose.

However, after an hour of travel, Eric soon began to get hungry.  He remembered his father teaching him how to catch, kill, and cook rabbits.  Unfortunately, Eric didn't have any of the tools his father had, but, feeling that he was a smart kid, he decided he could hunt without them.  

Smelling a rabbit, he quietly tiptoed toward it.  He was not quiet enough, however, as the rabbit heard him and quickly ran as fast as its legs could carry it.  Reflexively, Eric dashed after the rabbit.  He followed it under trees, through brush, and over a frozen lake, before finally diving for the rodent and catching it in his teeth.

He felt so happy that his tail was starting to wag.  Then he realized that he shouldn't have a tail.  Or a mouth capable of grabbing and killing a rabbit.  And that the rabbit seemed a bit bigger than it had when the chase had started.  

Eric looked at his hands.   His now-shorter fingers had sharp claws, with black, leathery, pads, like a dogs, growing on his palms.  Eric panicked, pulling his loose boots off of his feet, to see that his toes had grown similar claws, and soles similar pads.  Eric realized that somehow, he was being turned into a white wolf.

In denial, he dropped the rabbit, feeling his new muzzle, triangular ears, and tail with his paws.

There was no denying it: he was a wolf now.

Eric was so horrified he couldn't speak.  Chasing the rabbit had caused him to lose the trail of the caravan.  He would never find a new family, and even if he had, he would never find someone that would take in a wolf.

He laid down in the snow, crying as his arms and legs made their last changes, making sure that Eric would never walk upright again.

As he cried, Eric caught the scent if something traveling closer to him.  Frightened out of his life, he tried his best to shake off his loose clothes so he could blend into the snow better.  But try as he might, his stubborn shirt just wouldn't come off, and ended up tangling him further.  When he saw what he smelled were white wolves, he curled up with fear.

"Please don't hurt me!"  He begged.

The lead wolf laughed and slowly approached Eric.

"I wouldn't dream of it."  The wolf smiled as he gently pulled off Eric's shirt.  "We don't hurt our own pack mates."

A female wolf spoke next.  "I'm sorry that we changed you without warning."  She sighed.  "But you had lost your parents and been abandoned by your pack.  We couldn't just leave you to die out there."  She nuzzled Eric.

"If you don't hate us for changing you," the male wolf said, lying down next to Eric, "we want to let you join our pack."

"We will love you and care for you, and help you lean how to survive in this world."  The female said.

"But first, you should sleep."  The male wolf nuzzled Eric.  "That change might have taken a lot of your strength."

As Eric closed his eyes, he no longer felt scared.  He had a family now, and would be with them as long as they lived.

The End.