I've Been Thinking, I Want You To Be Happier

Andy stares at the gray woman, understanding slamming into her that she had failed to bring her mother home. Ears slick back as her lips tremble and small tremors begin to course through her body. She tries to fight back the sobs that are building in her throat as her big, round eyes look up that wolf. The lady looks like she might have been a kind mother but she is still not her mom. Pain is clear in every line of her young face and, as the stranger speaks, the pup finds herself latching onto the tenderness in her voice. Somehow, in some way, the grieving girl knows that the stranger understands her pain.

The gray and black wolf walks toward the pup and Andy’s pale blue gaze follows her progress as tears slowly leaking out of the corners. As a paw with dark-tipped toes reaches up toward her face, the purple pup feels the love behind the gesture and, when it touches her tear-stained cheek, the sad pup leans into the paw. All too quickly, the loving touch is gone and Andy worries that she will never feel that motherly love again. But, the unknown wolf’s voice fills the air breaking her young heart but also offering her warmth and kindness.

She feels lost, like she is floundering in an ocean without a life vest. Emotions roll across her face as she tries to breathe, chest hitching with each inhalation. The sweet smile the woman offers her has her sniffling and when a slender foreleg reaches out, inviting her in for a hug, Andromeda hesitates. Pale blue eyes meet the mismatched blue gaze of the motherly wolf and the hurting young pup sees the love and sadness that lingers in the corners of the older woman’s eyes.

Her next words have Andy melting as her face scrunches up and she slams her eyes shut, lurching unsteadily forward into the lady’s awaiting arms.  Small body presses into the stranger as great, body shaking sobs fill the air. Purple legs snake out, seeking to wrap around the woman’s chest as the pup seeks to press her face into the fur of the other wolf’s chest. There, on the starlit plains, in the chilly autumn air, Andromeda cries. She cries for her lost mother; for the cruelty and unfairness of the whole situation; for the pain that pounds through her body with each beat of her broken heart.

Hot tears spill down her cheeks, soaking the already wet fur there and making her eyes sting even more. When the sobs die down a little, her painful eyes still squeezed shut and face pressed into the motherly wolf, Andy hiccups out, “Why do mommies have to leave? Didn’t my mom love us? I don’t want her to be out there alone! This isn’t fair!” Another, body shaking sob wracks her frame as she holds onto the stranger as if her young life depends on it.


"Andromeda Fatalis"