Crucial Desires

—2005—

All of them were there. I couldn’t know, realize, or have any recollection of why everyone was gathered there. All I knew was that there was a woman in a red and black gown, and she had one of her hands on a boy’s shoulder who was standing right in front of her.

My pack, the Moonshade Pack, was here. I could see fairies, witches, and all the other creatures that ever existed in our world, in attendance.

My mother picked me up and held me in her arms. I was only 5 back then.

“Mommy, this hurts,” I say while I show her the wound on my arm. She smiles weakly, shushes me, and turns her attention towards the others.

Finally, I see my father and an older man signing a piece of paper. The paper was given by an old lady, who was accompanied by a younger lady and another one between them.

“Mommy, what is happening here?” I ask my mother. She looked down at me, smiled once again, and finally spoke.

“It’s for your protection, little one. Don’t you worry… Daddy, Mommy, and your pack will always protect you no matter what. I promise, okay?”

I nodded as she tilted my head so that I could see my clan behind us and not where my father was.

“The treaty is concluded.” I hear the voice of a woman.

“Any clan that breaks this treaty shall be given penalties, fatal or a lifetime imprisonment in the ‘Galaxy’.”

“Any clan who tries to mislead the other, or cause harm to the other one, shall receive the deadliest sentence.”

“Any clan who decides to break the treaty, and enter the other one’s boundaries, shall be executed on the spot.”

“Hailey…” I hear my mother calling me. I face her as I see a teardrop forming in one of her eyes.

“What's wrong, Mommy? Why are you sad?”

“I’m not sad, Hailey.”  She takes a pause and tries to calm herself. Finally, she set me down slowly and guided me into the circle where my father and the older man were standing.

“I need you to stay strong for me, okay sweetie?” She says as I watch that little boy and the lady with him, walking towards us.

“Promise me you will stay strong, Hailey?” My mother asks again.

“I promise, mommy. But where are we going?”

We met with the others and now that it was clear to me, they were standing inside a circle which had something written on it at the corners. I was a child, so I couldn’t understand what it said.

My father and my mother both walked out of the circle...leaving me and the boy with red eyes.

“Hey there, sweet creatures.” We both stare at each other, then we look up. It was one of the three women who passed the piece of paper to my father.

“I need you both to face each other and hold hands.”

I watched the boy and saw something which was a bit weird. He had a deep cut across his cheek. All I could think about was how he got this injury, but when I looked into his eyes, I was scared to my bitter core.

They were deep red.

“Please, children. Do what we say.”

At first, we were hesitant because I couldn’t realize who this boy was. And as far as I know, our werewolves aren’t allowed to make contact with those whom we don’t know.

One single touch could be fatal.

I stare at my mom, who softly nods and whispers, “It’s okay,” and I do what the old lady says. The boy does the same. As soon as we made skin contact, and I felt how cold his skin was, both our arms started to form fire.

“Mommy?” I almost screamed as I was scared now.

“Hush now, love. It’ll only take a second.” The old lady said as she placed her hands on our heads. As the fire began to grow aggressively, she tilted her face back and closed her eyes.

It was so weird because I could feel the cause of the fire was our contact, but the heat never burned our skin. The old lady faces us one last time and smiles once again.

“It’ll only hurt a little. But soon, this will all be gone.”

And in that moment, her eyes turn light grey as they glow.

“Mommy!” I called out to my mother and before I tried to make a run for it, my body froze. I couldn’t move a single muscle. I couldn’t control my hands, my feet, or my eyes. I couldn’t even speak anymore.

The pain caused shall soon be gone.

The trouble caused, shall soon be free.

For those who want to live every beat,

Shall be granted the wish to forget what went misdeed.

Mine and the boy’s reactions were the same. When the old lady finished her chant, we started to float in the air. Not too high, but we did.

Our eyes started to glow heavily as well when I felt a sharp pain in my head. The boy and I started to scream in pain, but not from our mouths, only our minds.

It was like our souls were connected, but something happened.

I started to feel I was alone, in a bright but isolated place. I was there all alone. My mind was going empty. I no longer felt someone’s hands grabbing mine. My eyes were open, yet all I could see was the color white.

I felt as if someone trapped me inside a cube, wanting me to be tortured by this heavenly light.

“No, make this stop!” I screamed as I started to gain consciousness.

“Mommy? MOM, PLEASE HELP ME! MOM!”

I called out for her when suddenly, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, once again.

“Hailey, wake up!” She screamed to wake me up from this nightmare, and I did.

“W-what happened?” I sit up instantly, not wasting time as I face my mother.

“You were having a nightmare, baby.”

“Again?” I ask her, all frustrated and tired. I could see she was terrified as well because these nightmares were something I lived every single night.

They just don’t stop. They don’t. They keep on going as they want me to learn something from them. I felt like they needed me to realize that my destiny was yet to be found by me.

And only I could figure it out.

No one else, only me.

—2018—

Destiny.

Some say it’s stupid. Some say it’s valid. For me? It was both stupid and valid. But mostly, it was something that I was willing to experience in every single lifetime I had left.

Because it made me reunite with him. The one who almost killed me when we were kids. The one, who was meant to be my enemy. The one, who we were always meant to ignore or fight and move on. But again, destiny.

Destiny has its ways of bringing you all levels of sadness and a massive amount of happiness.

****

Finally, that day had arrived. The day when I’ll be getting sent off to my boarding school. Being a werewolf and not figuring out how to shift properly was something my parents didn’t appreciate. At first, they had to fight with our whole pack, as I looked like an outsider to them.

I gotta say, instead of making me go all rogue, they supported me. They fought the whole family and...her