I know that this is our blog for everything fan fiction related... but I wanted to post this up for everyone to read. This has been my baby going on almost a year now. I'm 50,000 words into this bad boy and it's taken blood sweat and tears to do this novel. I'm almost done (much to Poochi_mama aka JenniP's pleasure) and I'm dying to share it with the world.
1. The move
I stared out of my car in amazement of how fast my trip up to the mountains of North Carolina flew by. I noticed that the closer we got, the more my ears popped. Higher altitudes will do that. I immediately removed my ear buds out and tried my best to get the pressure down. My dad had awful taste in music and my iPod was my only escape from the torturous sounds coming from the speakers. I quickly put them back in before I opened the door to escape up the mountainside.
It was the end of July and yet in the mountains it felt like spring in the afternoon – another trait of the higher altitude. We stopped off once along the way in a small town at the border of North Carolina. I refused to get out the car and sulked in the backseat while my dad filled up the Explorer. Families were standing around, mostly packed for summer vacations. This was going to be a summer vacation that would never end, at least according to my mom.
We were moving – not that it surprised me that we were. I knew something eventually had to give. My parents had very little choices on what we could do. It was either move, or we would lose everything we owned.
My parents were moving us to Cherokee, North Carolina. It is home to the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation.
I’d spent many a summers taking this same road with my family for our summer vacations. We’d spend two, maybe three weeks in our small cabin that belonged to my grandparents. We would hike small parts of the Appalachian trail, camp out by the rivers that flowed down the mountains, fished – and yet through all this, I never in my life imagined we’d move up here.
My grandmother died a month ago and she left the cabin to my parents. With the current job market my father found himself without a job and my mother, a real estate agent, found out the hard way what happens when you don’t sell a house for six months. They both decided to take a leap of faith and sell our house and move to the mountains.
Obviously, I wasn’t happy about this decision with only a year left of high school. They figured the change would do me well. Some strange part of me wanted to believe that too. My entire life was spent worrying what people thought of me. I saw things differently in the world and it didn’t exactly sit well with others.
I could tell we were really close to the cabin. As we drove up Highway 441 where the Big M met the entrance to the Cherokee Indian Reservation, we turned down this small dirt road. Our driveway was lined with beautiful trees. I could already smell the fresh mountain air as I rolled down the window to take a deep breath. This was the only thing that kept me happy and not wanting to dart out of the car and run straight back down to South Carolina.
My dad stopped the car right in front of the cabin. My grandmother picked this location out specifically for the spot. It was as close as she could get to the reservation without living on it.
It was a small cabin consisting of two bedrooms, one small bathroom, kitchen and small living room. The washer and dryer were in a small shed built off from the house. Apparently that was added after her and my granddad moved up here for their retirement.
Everything we needed we brought with us. The cabin was fully furnished and we didn’t need much to fill the rest of the house.
My parents had a huge yard sale last weekend. They sold everything single thing inside our house, including my bed. I guess there was no need lugging all that extra stuff with us, especially when money was really tight and hiring a moving van wasn’t exactly an option.
I slept on the floor for an entire week. I couldn’t understand how come we didn’t move as soon as the yard sale was over, but there was paperwork that still needed to be taken care of. A part of me resented my parents for not keeping a little more of my things. As I saw my items one by one slip away from me, I felt even more alone in this endeavor.
My dad stepped out of the car looking over the small yard we acquired.
“Nadia, come get the key to the cabin and unlock it so we can start moving items in,” my father said.
My grandmother, who had strong ties with the Cherokee people, allowed her best friend, Meli, to name me. Nadia apparently means “hope,” however I wondered sometimes if I were named correctly as never saw any hope in me.
I walked to my dad to grab the keys out of his hand. I felt awful for my dad. He looked like he aged fifteen, maybe twenty years since he lost his job.
My parents felt so much better knowing that they could relax a bit since selling the house. It gave them money to live until either one could find a job. It got so bad at home that I’d leave as much as possible. I spent more time at the library that I did in my own house. If the library wasn’t open, I was at a local park. Either way, my house felt less and less like a home.
Since the Cherokee Reservation was a tourist destination, they were banking finding a job. I even offered to find one, and my parents agreed as long as it didn’t interfere with me doing well in school. They were also in high hopes of me getting a college scholarship. I didn’t want to disappoint them. So far, I’d done excellent in school.
As I reached for the keys, my dad could sense that I was feeling a bit apprehensive about the whole move. He put an arm around my shoulders.
“Nadia, this is going to be a great experience. I hope one day you’ll realize that.”
I hated to hurt his feelings. I knew he needed this as much as they thought I did so I put on a fake smile.
“Dad, it’s not that I don’t want to be here, I’m just worried I won’t get to know anyone. Not that it matters. I’ll only have a year here anyway.”
Dad kissed the top of my forehead and I quickly ran up the wooden steps to open the door of the cabin.
I snuck my head in to see that nothing had changed in the six months since I stepped inside the cabin. We moved my grandmother back home when we found out she had cancer. I remember the day we drove up here to bring her home with us. She refused to go, saying she needed to be here.
I hated that we made her move, but she settled in fine at our house. It was awful that she was only there for six months, but I was glad I at least got to see her for that long.
The smell of the cabin was very rustic. I took a deep breath and I could smell mothballs and pine from the cabin walls.
Everything in the room instantly reminded me of my grandmother and I almost felt like I could break down into tears. I was so sad knowing that my grandmother wouldn’t be in the kitchen baking my favorite peanut butter cookies or in her recliner knitting me a scarf for the winter.
I composed myself as soon as I heard my mom fussing at my dad about squishing her bag of breakables that she kept.
“Ronald, I told you not to put anything on this bag! You’d better hope nothing was broken,” Mom yelled at my dad.
Great, we are only here for fifteen minutes and they are already arguing. It seemed to have gotten worse as our financial worries strengthened. My biggest goal in this move was to see that they would stop the fighting. This wasn’t helping matters much.
I walked slowly down the steps to help bring boxes and bags into the house. Every single bit of clothing that belonged to me filled up two suitcases. I only kept a box of personal belongings. Space was tight in our Ford Explorer.
My mother also looked worn out. She had dark circles under her eyes. On top of losing her mother, she was also under the stress of just being a mom, a wife and doing what she could to sell a house. She stayed home so much taking care of her mother that she didn’t sell a house in the past six months. She hoped a job offer would pan out in Bryson City, a small city just up the road from the Reservation.
I walked up to my mom who handed me a small box of food that we brought with us to put in the cupboards. She gave me a fake smile as she handed the box off to me. At least I wasn’t the only one pretending that everything was okay. Even though it was my mom’s idea to head up here, I could almost see the hesitation in her eyes too.
“Mom, do you think after the items are moved in and we’re unpacked, if we could just go into the Reservation and grab some dinner? I’m sure you don’t feel like cooking and I know I surely don’t feel like it either.”
She smiled sincerely for the first time in a while. You could see the gratefulness radiating from her eyes.
“Sure, Nadia, we’ll go as soon as we are done. I’m sure all this unpacking will make us hungry.”
We grabbed a couple of left over boxes out of the explorer and took them into the house. I already knew which room was mine. My grandparents kept a small extra bedroom for my family when we came to visit.
My mom was an only daughter, as was I. My dad’s family, all still in South Carolina, had more than enough children and grandchildren. I was always closer to my mom’s family anyway. And it was nice being the only grandchild on my mom’s side. I was spoiled rotten. Although, it would have been nice to have cousins to play with growing up; even a sister or brother would have been nice. But, I took what was given to me.
I watched my mom unpack some items out of a box in the living room. She was tall, very thin – most of that came from barely eating the past three months – and she had short black hair. She had dark skin and very high cheek bones. I sincerely think she could have been a model in her younger years. My heart went out to her that she’s gone through so much.
“Elaine,” I heard my dad shout to my mom, “could you come here a minute. I need you to show me where this is supposed to go.”
She ran to the back where my grandmother’s bedroom was located.
I grabbed my box of personal items and headed back to my room. Even though my room was small, it had all I needed including full sized bed with a really nice wooden headboard. Across from the foot of the bed sat a dresser drawer and a small TV on top of that. The walls were made out of logs. I really loved the homey appeal that the entire cabin held.
I pulled out several pictures. Most of them were my mom, dad and grandmother. I barely remember my grandfather. I know as a young child we spent a lot of time together. He died with I was really young and I was really close to my grandmother.
I had a couple of pictures of my two best friends, Katherine Benjamin and Jenni Howle. They were the only two people I think I would even miss from my hometown.
I finally found a good group of friends my eighth grade year after years filled with turmoil and frustration from so many mean classmates. I met them after I had a run in with one of the class idiots, Jackson Douglas. He started calling me all kinds of cruel and obnoxious names and Katherine and Jenni stuck up for me. From that point on, we were all inseparable. They are also the only two that knew me for me… and about my crazy dreams.
I sat on my bed staring at the photograph of Jenni, Katherine and I. It was taken at a birthday party for Katherine. Jenni and Katherine were wearing their normal girly clothes while I sported my infamous sweater that I could never take off.
I pulled out a couple more items, stuff I kept for the upcoming school year, such as a book bag and pencils and things. I hated the fact that my parents needed to buy me school supplies, so I tried to keep as much as needed to a minimum.
I placed everything on the crocheted comforter. I’m very sure my grandmother made this one. She loved to crochet and knit and before she got too sick to show me, she taught me as much as she could.
I went back into the living room and grabbed the suitcases that held my clothes and toiletries and I took them to my bedroom. I unpacked my clothes and realized as I was unpacking that I barely had any winter clothes – except for my favorite sweater. In South Carolina, we had decently cold winters. I’d forgotten that I was moving to the mountains and realized another financial burden to put on my parents.
As soon as I placed the last item into the closet, my mom stuck her head into the bedroom and said, “Nadia, are you hungry? I think we’re ready to go into town.”
“I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”
I reached over to my bag. I was supposed to call Jenni as soon as we got here but with all the unpacking to do I figured I’d take care of that first.
“Nadia! You were supposed to call as soon as you got there. You had me worried sick,” Jenni said harshly.
“Chill, Jen. We had a ton of unpacking to do so we did that first. I wanted to let you know that I was ok. I miss ya’ll already,” I said as I almost choked on my words.
“You’ll be ok, Nadia. Besides, we now have a place to spend our vacations.”
“I guess you are right. It’s just odd being here. I feel like we’re on an extended vacation.”
“Well that is an excellent way of looking at it. I’m glad you are being optimistic about all this. This is a good thing for you and your parents. Don’t forget they need this.” Jenni reminded me.
Jenni was always the optimist. She had the best way of looking and bad situations. I knew I could always count on her to be the one to make me feel better.
Katherine, however, could make anything look worse than what it was. I wasn’t in a mood to call her and hear about the bad things that could come of this move. I needed a positive influence, at least for now.
“Well, I’d better get going. We still don’t have our plans switched on or cell phones for up here so it’s an emergency use only situation.”
We said or goodbyes and I told her I’d call as soon as I could.
I went into the living room and found my mom and dad patiently waiting on me to join them. Since we were starving from a day of unpacking and driving, we decided to head to a fast food restaurant.
I hated to get back in the car so soon. The five hour car ride took more out of me than I thought. My dad pulled into the McDonalds just up the road from our house. This technically wasn’t the reservation, but we were going to live here, so I had no rush to get into town.
We ate pretty much in silence as we people watched. Parents were rushing their kids through their meals as the local teenager were loitering and taking up a corner of the restaurant.
“Dad, do you think there is any way I could borrow the truck for a bit tomorrow. I’d like to go into town and start looking for a job.”
My dad didn’t say anything for a moment and I was sure that meant no.
“Sure, take it. Make sure you’re back by three though. Your mom has a final meeting with the cabin sales in Bryson City at four.”
“Oh yeah, good luck with that Mom. I’m sure you will do great.”
Mom nodded and smiled. I really hoped she got the job. I was ready for burdens to finally lift from my parents.
We finished or food and walked to the door of the restaurant. The sun was setting over the Blue Ridge Mountains and even though I’d seen it tons of times before throughout my various trips here, I was still in awe at the beautiful colors that laced the sky. The blues, pinks and oranges seemed to mix together in a way only the heavens could produce.
We got home pretty quickly and I settled into my room. I grabbed my pajamas out of the dresser and went to the bathroom to freshen up and brush my teeth before bed. I stared for a bit at myself in the mirror. I was sure my eyes were forming the same dark circles my mom had. I was entirely too young to have that happen.
I got under the covers and nuzzled my head into my goose down pillow. Before I knew it I was dreaming.
I was sitting at the park where I would go to clear my head.
It was starting to turn to nightfall and I didn’t want to move. It seemed almost as if, I belonged. There, in the woods I felt like I was home. Then, all the sudden, I felt myself tremble.
I thought I was getting a cold chill, then, I did it again. I fell to the ground and started convulsing. I was aware of what was going on around me but I had no understanding at all what was happening to me. I thought I was having a seizure.
I felt myself blackout and the moment I woke up from what seemed like an eternity, my senses were heightened. It was pitch black dark but yet I could see every single detail in the leaves and the trees. Everything was in black and white and I began to freak out that I had gone completely colorblind. I could hear the passing cars and the trees rubbing against each other. In the background I heard a baby crying and people listening to music. And then I realized something even more frightening than my senses.
I went to speak and it came out as a howl instead. I looked at my hand which now was a paw. I startled myself and tried to sit up. I soon realized that I had four legs instead of two and instantly stood up. I ran as fast as I could straight to water. It was the only way I could see my reflection. The full moon stood over the top of me and as soon as I found a body of water, I saw my reflection of one that will never escape my mind.
I saw my eyes staring back at me. That was the only thing that didn’t change about me.
I was surrounded in silver fur. At first I didn’t recognize exactly what kind of animal I was.
I thought I was either a wolf or a dog, but quickly noticed the shape of my face and soon remembered our study about coyotes in my life sciences class. I had turned into a coyote. I stared for the longest time at myself.
I still felt human, but my coyote instincts were taking over. I could smell other animals and I started to hunt. I quickly slowed, scaring myself.
I stood still wondering how on earth I could bring myself back to being a human. My mom and dad would probably not like having a coyote as a daughter. I lay down on the grass in the forest of the park. I just wanted to be a normal girl. I whimpered and quickly drifted off to sleep.
“I found her, she’s right here.” I opened my eyes to see the ground at my face. I thought I’d been dreaming inside my dream the entire time. When I came to I quickly realized that I was completely naked. I remembered what happened.
The deputy placed a blanket around me as I sat in the grass. I tried as hard as I could to cover up my naked body. I sat there, while everyone around me chatted.
I heard one deputy on the phone with someone saying, “Yes ma’am. She’s right here. She’s fine. We have emergency services on the way to check her out. You might need to bring her some clothes too.”
I instantly woke up. This wasn’t the first dream I’d had like that. They started last summer right after I turned seventeen. These dreams would come in a regular rotation but this was the first time I actually phased into the coyote.
I lay in bed for a while staring out the window. I could see the moon was waning and it was as bright as I’d ever seen it before. It made me feel a little bit better and before I knew it, I was back asleep, and dreamless for the rest of the night.
Everything is copyrighted to Elicia M. Kiker. Please do not repost without written consent to the owner.
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