Chapter 5

I planned to. I asked one of my friends, Josh, to get his honest reaction. I would like to know if I can do this. I figured I would surprise him to see his honest response. 

"Hey Josh, will you go out with me? He laughed and asked me why.  "I let out a small, awkward giggle to prove I could ask a guy out." He looked at me, stunned.

"You’re a jerk, Kaysi, and that is so uncool." 

"Why? I asked him. I was just playing around." 

"Because what if I really did want to go out with you?" "Sorry, Josh, it was a test to see if I was capable of asking a guy out." "You're too young for me anyway." 

"I am just a year younger he shouted in disbelief."

I looked at Beck and shrugged my shoulders. She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him off.

"Thanks, Kaysi. You started this something." She shouted and laughed as she looked back at me. I’ll tell the coach to give him a cold shower and some extra laps for you, " she said as she dragged him to gym class. 

"No. Becky," he exclaimed; "the coach is already demanding enough of me!"

With this bit of self-improvement, things were improving—my grades were even improving! When I got home and received my report card, it showed the real impact of my improvements. 

I continued to get teased from time to time; they would call me a nerd. So I stopped showing off and raising my hand to call out loud the answers.

My teachers were nice enough to know what I was doing and stopped calling on me.

As long as my grades were still good, the teachers didn't mind, and I told myself it would be okay. At home, I started brushing my hair and taking better care of myself.

Overall, I had a better attitude about things and more confidence. Occasionally, I caught myself showing off a bit still when no one was around—I would try anything to keep kids from looking at me the way they did before.

Some people get headed. I never once turned on my friends or lost myself. I just changed “enough” to stop being a target for most people.

I moved to Plum Street in the middle of the year. We had to because our stack of bills was getting too big for my mother to handle.

My older brother moved out of the house to become more independent, so we thought it was time to downsize anyways.

I made jokes because we moved from Cherry Street to Plum Street. Our homes were always on fruity named streets.

The new neighborhood was pretty cool. I couldn't wait until we were finished moving in. We spent the last night in our old home, cleaning it up and loading the last bit of stuff.

I took my dog Baby, a small but fierce Pomeranian mix, on a walk right before leaving to drop off the last load. As we turned the corner, her fur stood straight up on end. A large red-eyed black wolf was digging in the ground of someone's backyard. There was something unnatural about it because we lived in the city.

I feared for the Baby. She had a lot of bark but no bite. I was ready to protect her, I grabbed her in mid-attack as the wolf lunged in our direction. 

The wolf barely missed both of us. Although we didn't get much injury, I still have a small scratch on his teeth. 

As fast as possible, I ran to our house with Baby in my arms.

As I ran, I looked around for the wolf; it must have left, no longer interested. 

Once I thought it was gone, I walked outside alone. I did not want to provoke another attack because of my little dog. 

Was this for real? I thought, or was it a spirit demon of some sort? I thought I was doing good for the most part, ignoring them. So why are they showing up now?

I guess curiosity was killing my rhetorical cat. I tried looking for this thing, being very cautious, of course, but it was nowhere to be found.

Just as I was about to leave and head back home, I saw this man outside standing under the street light; he had long white hair and a long black coat that went down to the ground. He had an old black leather hat. He didn’t see me as hiding behind a building. 

I decided to follow him to see what he was up to. He was moving fast, and I struggled to keep up. I tried my best to stay behind him, out of his line of sight.

He had a knife strapped on his leg that looked weird. Was he a hunter of some kind? Was he hunting that wolf thing? What was he looking for, someone? Could it be me?

No, I am just being paranoid, I thought to myself. Secretly, I thought my gifts could one day get me into trouble, but this was overthinking at its best. 

He walked far ahead of me; I could no longer see him. He was blocked by the end of an old train station and a wall with a railing. Either he disappeared into thin air, or he had to jump over the wall and fence.

I was standing there debating whether to turn back or continue to look for him. Just then, something pulled me away. It was a large dog with long, brown, flowing hair.

I thought for sure it was the wolf at first, but it wasn’t. This one was different. 

All of a sudden, It spoke; it said, it is time. "What in the world?" I exclaimed; this is a talking animal; what's going on? It's time for you to wake up.

Looking at the animal, I realized it was Baby, my dog!? She grew huge and was speaking to me!?

"I am your guardian, sent here in animal form to protect you." "You're being hunted and putting yourself in danger. You’re a fool gifted with special powers; you can see spirits, and here you are following them." "What are you thinking?" 

She sounded like my mother scolding me. As if my dog talking didn’t throw me off guard, my brain didn’t catch up to itself. 

I started to argue back at her. I did this usually when she did something sassy, as I would play with her as a regular dog.

"Now look here, I was trying to figure out what’s up with these (things) coming around here."

"You’re a target, coming into your Seer's powers. Your eyes are awaking to see the spirits. I am sure you started seeing visions as well. This proves you are growing stronger, and the following steps to opening your Waymaker powers."

"Unfortunately, you have awakened much earlier than you were supposed to. This isn’t supposed to happen for the next several years; you are only 13." There is nothing we can do now; you must take caution."You're not strong enough, so you'll likely get attacked."

"Now, could you look here? I jokingly said that I had just changed everything about myself to get targets off my back!" "I have been trying to get stronger as a backup safety precaution in case I was to get into a fight, but I didn't expect this."

"Yes, that’s just it. You are getting stronger, and that’s why waking your powers so early can kill you."

"You only feel weak because your body gets weaker as your spirit strengthens. You're going to die soon if you don't take caution." "The demons are attracted to your light, and their numbers are growing." 

"Kaysi, now that you have awakened, there is no going back; you must fully awaken your powers, or you will indeed be killed."

Everything hit me at once; I felt dizzy, and my world started to spin. I thought I was about to be sick. How could this be happening to me? Standing there outside in the street, the nights began to blur. I started to feel like my heart was beating hundreds of miles per hour. I could feel the darkness growing around to consume me. 

This is not good. I am beginning to lose consciousness. When I last looked, the unseen wolf creatures were surrounding us.

Why was their presence so powerful, and where had they come from?

My senses were being overwhelmed by them, about 5 or 6 large wolf-like animals.

What could be in store for me next? I had no idea what to do since I felt helpless. I was merely a feeble girl in my final year of middle school. I was neither armed nor possessed any unique abilities to oppose them. I was oblivious to the situation I was entering into.

Was I born like this? I felt tortured. Were these gifts given to me so that I could see this horrifying death all too soon? What a cruel fate! What could I do now to change this?

I started to pass out, falling to the ground. I could barely see the battle going on. The baby was attacking the demons that outnumbered her. As I passed out, I was fading in and out of consciousness.

I woke up the following day in my bed. My dog Baby was on her pillow, lying next to my bed. She had an injury to her leg and looked a little beat up. Not quite sure how we got here. Guessing she carried me.

I decided not to ask questions and let her rest. I didn’t want to start a conversation right now, and I wasn't ready to know what happened last night, so I went to school.

I didn’t know who I could talk to about this anyway, so it was awkward, but I wanted to get things off my chest.

I met up with Beck outside of school at our usual spot, where we hung by the bleachers, waiting for the bell to ring.

"Hey, Kaysi Beck said in a sincere voice." 

"Yeah, Beck," I said, keeping my head down, still feeling a bit weak.

"What's going on with you today? You look a little pale. Are you sick?" She said with concern as she looked at me.

"Well," I'm trying to figure out what story to tell her. Beck looked at me with worry, as if I was going to drop dead at any moment.

"Laughing out loud I joked", "it's hard to say I just got into a dog fight last night with a group of large dogs. They were trying to kill my dog, Baby." 

"Are you serious, Kaysi? Are you hurt anywhere?" 

"No… just sore, that’s all." I lied, not wanting to scare her anymore.

Just as I was talking to Beck, a sizeable red dodgeball flew from the other side of the field. My body dodged it as fast as any human possibly could.

I completely lost my balance and began to fall to the ground.