A New Life
Daniel Hawkins was a common boy: tall, dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a little distant. Well, that's what other people saw; he was very creative, his imagination was amazing, and he reflected that on his drawings, which were not bad at all. He lived in the city of His parents were divorced since Dan was seven, and actually he found it better to have his parents separate then watching them arguing at every little thing. His mother was a teacher in some elementary schools, and she was very busy most of the time. His father was a doctor, and was even busier, even going days without getting home. Even his parents weren't very understanding about his world vision, so he just got used to keeping his ideas to himself. His father often ignored Dan's opinions and forced him to do things his way, and thought that his drawings were a waste of time. One of the qualities he liked more about himself was his wit. He would talk his way out of many confusions in school. He wasn't very bad in classes either, though they were boring every single day.
Back to the present, Dan was walking back home from school, thinking about his life. Soon his mother would move to another town because of her job, and he would have to choose to go with her, or living with his father. It wouldn't make any difference at all, he didn't care. It would all be the same thing wherever he would go. Dan stopped in front of the building's entrance, got his keys and opened the door. It was a poor building. There was no elevator, and that's what the entrance was, just a door. He walked up the dusty stairs to the second floor and went into his apartment. His mother, Paula, was there serving their lunch. They had lunch on the couch, in front of the TV, because they hadn't a table big enough for both and there was no space for one. They ate their meal quietly, since they didn't have much to talk about in that moment to each other. Dan left his plate in the kitchen's sink and went into his room to get some rest. He got his MP3 player, and laid down on his bed, ready for some daydreaming. He would often think about how it would be to meet Balto and the other characters for real, but he knew it was impossible. He knew the true story about At 2:45 pm, Mr. Hawkins arrived on his black car in front of the building. Dan rushed downstairs before the traffic got full. He got in the car and greeted, though coldly, his dad, and they left.
After some minutes of travel they arrived at the farm, which was just a little away from the city's limits. Mr. Hawkins' friend, Mr. Wellington, approached, smiling.
-Hey there, buddy, how's it going? – he greeted.
-It's fine, I brought Dan too, are Gabriel and Rafael here? – Daniel (Sr.) answered, friendly, and shaking hands with his friend.
-Yes, they're playing near the pond with their sitter Rose. – Mr. Wellington said, inviting them in.
Rafael and Gabriel were The lad and the two men rushed to the pond on the other side of the house. There they saw Gabriel trying to calm down his little brother Rafael, who was seem to have tripped and fallen on a rock, hurting his knee. Mr. Wellington got angry.
- I can't believe Rose left them alone again! It's the third time this week! Oh, now she's gonna hear some. – he complained, lifting up his hurt son in his arms.
Wellington, carrying Rafael, and Mr. Hawkins, followed by Gabriel, walked back home leaving Dan alone near the pond.
- Now it's just you and me then. - the boy said to his reflection.
He crouched and just moved his hand in the water, watching the ripples, just to kill time until the others got back. He was getting back to think new ideas of drawings until suddenly he felt something pulling his hand into the water. Startled, he quickly took his hand away from the pond and watched carefully to see what had pulled him. That was a weird pull. It felt like the some force was pulling him... like… the water itself?
What happened then was too fast. The surface of the pond started to swirl and three tentacles apparently made of water stormed out of it and started to try catching Dan.
- You've gotta be kidding me! - he exclaimed, startled, trying to crawl away from the water.
One of the tentacles involved his leg, trying to pull him quickly inside the dark pond. Dan held a tree root near him, but the other two tentacles managed to get his arms, immobilizing them. Dan's last attempt to stay on land was grabbing the ground strongly with his fingers, living a mark on the soil, but he was then dragged into the darkness of the pond. He felt the coldness of the water, and kept being pulled deeper and deeper. He fought uselessly against the tentacles, which were practically invisible inside their own substance. Dan started to panic. There was no way to let go. Then, when he was thinking he was going to die, the tentacles, almost invisible mingled with the water around them, released him. Right after that, the illumination of the pond changed from dark to clear, and Dan felt his body get numb as the water got colder and colder. He got shocked. It was freezing cold! He swam as fast as he could to the surface, but he just hit his head on something hard. What was that? He touched it with his hands. It was ice! There was no time to think about that. He looked for any way through that, and finally saw a whole on the icy barrier, and just went through it, reaching the precious air. The boy took deep breaths, like he had never really breathed air good enough. He grabbed the borders of the ice whole near him, and shook the water from his hair. After he finally caught his breath, he looked at the ground near the border he was holding. It was… snow? Yes, it was. Impossible, it was summer in Olney when he was there. Unless it wasn't Olney. Dan looked around him, trying to figure out where he was. There were snow dunes around, so he couldn’t have a great view. Surely that wasn’t the farm, and surely couldn’t be Olney. He got out of the water and crawled away from the apparently frozen lake. After he got up, he got dry as he could, shaking himself like a dog, seeing there was nothing else to dry himself. When he saw there was no way to get rid of all the moisture, he gave up and looked around himself.
He saw a very familiar scenery, though he had never been there in his life, just in dreams. A plain, white because of the snow, a small village far from where he was, and closer to his position, a wrecked boat, in the middle of the snow near a beach, with the sea near it almost completely frozen. There were many mounts around the landscape, one of them pretty close. Behind where Dan was, there were pine woods. It was impossible, that couldn't be! He knew that place! He knew the boat! He knew where he was!
- I'm in Dan was too cold and confused to think clearly about what to do, so he decided to go to the boat, which was closer, to get dry, to get shelter and think better about what to do then. He found it difficult to walk on snow. He noticed he was on bare feet. His shoes probably had been lost when those liquid tentacles caught him. His feet were hurting with the cold, and now he could barely feel them. The cold was making him tremble, seeing he was still soaked. He was unused to that temperature, having been just taken from a warm place. He was still trying to get used to the cold air he was breathing, making a small mist in front of his mouth. Finally at the boat, Dan started to walk up the board that gave access to the deck, when he heard voices inside. He stopped and listened. There were two male voices there, one of them, in which he noticed a strange accent, was seem to be annoyed by something.
- I'm telling you! Those two are getting on my nerves! If they force me to play hide and seek again, things are not gonna get pretty for them! – the voice with the accent shouted, angry, sounding a little familiar to the boy.
- You know how they are, don't get so angry with them. – a calmer voice said, strangely familiar as well.
- It's easy for you to say, Balto! They don't jump on you every other minute! – the first voice exclaimed.
"Balto"? How could it be? Dan couldn't help it, he went inside the boat and looked to the two figures sat on the deck. There they were: Balto, the grayish brown wolf-dog hybrid, just like in the film, and Boris, the goose, the same way he remembered. Both were surprised with Dan's presence. Boris got closer to Balto, raising an eyebrow.
- Where did he come from? And why is he soaked and with no warm clothes? – the goose asked, probably not conscious that Dan could hear them.
- I don't know Boris, I think he's lost - Balto said, showing to be worried.
Dan just got more and more shocked at every phrase.
- Why isn't he saying anything? – Boris asked, curious.
- Because I'm still shocked because I can understand everything you're saying! - Dan said, startling both Balto and Boris.
The two animals looked each other, wide-eyed, unsure of how to react, but then, Balto stepped forward.
- Can you understand us? – he asked, confused.
- Yeah. – Dan answered, still startled himself. – Though I don't even know how, or how I got here.
- Wait, you'll freeze out here. – the hybrid said, concerned about him.
Balto was right; Dan had almost forgotten how cold he was. The canine caught the blanket he used to sleep with, and passed it to Dan. The boy involved himself with it, trying to ignore the uncomfortable dog smell on it, and sat on the wooden deck. Boris seemed to be distrustful at Dan.
- Are you going to tell us what happened? - he asked, a bit harsh.
Dan sighed.
- Yes, I guess no human around here would believe it anyway... – he answered.
Dan told them what happened since the tentacle's attack at Mr. Wellington's farm to that moment. Balto looked confused, and Boris, skeptical.
- Do you want us to believe you came from the future and gained the ability of talking to animals? Ha! – the goose said, barely holding his laughter.
Balto threw a reprehensive glance at him.
- What would he gain from lying to us? He's lost, in the middle of a place he doesn't know and he has a proof: he's talking to us.
Boris looked to be not fully convinced. Dan ignored that.
- What do I do now? – he asked, worried about himself. – I mean, I can't just go into - Well, before you do anything, we better get you decent clothes. - the canid suggested. - There's a house with a clothe washing service on the other side of Dan agreed, and got up leaving the blanket on the wooden ground. Balto leaded him out of the boat. Boris followed them, annoyed.
They walked rounding - No one's inside. - he told the other two.
Dan approached the clothesline, and selected some warm clothes of his size. Balto and Boris waited near the house while Dan changed his clothes in the middle of the trees. After some moments, he came back, wearing traditional thick clothes and a coat. They then started to walk back to the boat quietly. Suddenly, Dan heard a noise of steps on the snow besides their own. He turned back, and saw a strange white figure amongst the woods behind the house. It was hard to tell what it was, seeing it was almost the same color of the snow. The creature, whatever it was, turned back and started running inside the woods, heading to the closest mount.
- Guys! There's something in there! – the boy warned the others.
Balto looked back.
- I see it! – he said, watching carefully. - Wait, is that... - he found the figure very familiar.
- I think it wants us to follow it. – Dan said, starting running after the creature.
- Dan! Wait! – Balto called, but his warning fell on deaf ears.
Dan was running after the creature through the woods, following the trail it had left on the snow. He would stop occasionally to watch closely at the trail when it was too faint, and would restart running. It was getting dark, and the sun was already setting. He could hear Balto following him from far, but he kept running. He didn't even know why he was chasing that creature like that, but something told him that he should do it. “Now where are you?”, Dan thought. The trail leaded up the mount, when he reached its base. It wasn’t steep. He could run his way up almost normally. He kept running. He crawled some steep areas he found on his way, but none gave him much trouble. After some minutes, he started panting because of the effort. That chase was starting to feel stupid, but he had already gone that far, there was no point giving up now. The trail was gone, so he trusted on his own intuition and kept running to the top. With some more moments, he finally reached the top of the mount. It was a plain rocky ground with some boulders and stones. There was the snow white creature, staring at Dan, expressionless. It was a white wolf. Dan gasped, surprised. He was smart enough to know that wolves were dangerous in real life.
Night arrived, covering the place in darkness. Dan and the wolf stayed there, staring at each other, without making any sound or movement. The eyes of the canid were golden and piercing, making the boy feel even more uneasy. Something took his attention from the tense scene. Multi-colored waves of light were covering the sky right over them, showering them with a colored aura. The northern lights. Dan couldn't help but smiling. It was a beautiful thing to see, but Dan didn't lose his fear of the wolf. The boy, though aware of the danger of wolves, knew that they wouldn’t attack without a reason. Besides, he could talk to animals now. He approached the wolf, and recognized its golden eyes. It hit him. How didn't he recognized the creature before?
- Aniu? - he asked, unsure.
The white she-wolf kept looking at him with her golden penetrating eyes, and said nothing. Dan knew from the films that Aniu was some kind of spirit guide. Maybe she had the answers he wanted.
- Aniu, how did I get in She remained silent, still looking like she was waiting for something. Balto arrived to the scene and stopped beside Dan, panting. It took some instants for him to notice the white wolf, and he widened his eyes, surprised by his mother's presence.
They all noticed that the power of the colored lights got stronger. Dan looked up to them, and suddenly felt something inside him, something wanting to come out but that for some reason couldn't. It was hard to explain. Suddenly, without any warning, he felt his entire body getting hotter and hotter, not like burning, but painfully close to it. A beam of light coming from up involved Dan and blocked his vision of everything, all he could see was a golden light. He felt different, and not just from inside, he felt like his own body was changing. His back started to hurt badly and he couldn’t stand up, so he fell on his knees. His face felt like being pulled forward and getting longer. All his body felt things like that, confusing his mind, preventing him from thinking clearly. He threw himself on the ground, when his legs couldn’t sustain him alone anymore for some reason. His hands and feet felt like being compressed, and his palms got a bit numb. Suddenly, it all stopped. The light was getting weaker. And the northern lights were gone, along with Aniu. Dan’s vision was blurred because of the excess of light, but he could see Balto at a certain distance, seem to be shocked for some reason. The relief of getting rid of those sensations was great, but, for some reason, he was feeling better than he was before it had happened. It felt... freer.
- What happened? - Dan asked, but quickly stopped talking.
He heard it like his voice, but the sensation of it was different, like he just... growled. He looked at his hands, which were on the ground, unable of being raised. There were no hands. There were canine paws! He was covered by a coat of gray-brown fur! He was a dog! His vision, which was already blurry, got weaker and weaker, and Dan, the canid, passed out.
~~~
Dan started to recover his consciousness. He opened his eyes with some effort, and saw he was laid on the wooden deck of Balto's boat. It was still night. His head was hurting badly. He saw Balto and Boris whispering at the boat's fore. He walked closer, limping, not used to walking on four paws, his head lowered.
- For how long I blanked? – the now young canine asked, throaty.
Balto and Boris turned around to look at him. This time Boris wasn't distrustful, or angry, it looked like he just didn't know what to think, or say. Balto’s expression was confused, yet concerned. It was indeed a very confusing situation for everyone. A boy being transformed into a dog instantly, was anything but normal.
- Two hours. – the older canid said. - I dragged you part of the way, but when we were passing near the town, my son Kodi helped me carrying you to the boat.
So Kodi did existed, Dan thought. But that was not important in that moment. He was a dog, and he had no idea of how that happened or why. And even less of how he would change back. He would never come back to Olney, and his family should be more than worried about him by now. And worse, they weren't even born where he was, seeing it was on the 20's.
- What do I do now? – Dan asked, trying not to get desperate.
Balto didn't know what to say, he just looked down, confused. Boris was the one to talk this time.
- Okay, you can stay here with us until we know what is happening here. – the goose said, determined, turning his back at the canids.
Both Dan and Balto got surprised. Boris was so mistrustful at Dan earlier, and now he was offering him shelter?
- What made you change your mind, Boris? - Balto asked, smiling.
- It will be easier to have one more dog here than having a human. - the goose replied, still a bit harsh.
The two dogs laughed. Dan remembered one thing. He didn't know how he looked like as a dog. He ran down the board to the frozen beach near the boat, and looked at his reflection on some plain ice.
- Weird. - he commented.
He looked a lot like Balto. Their fur was the same color, and they had practically the same fur markings. Only their eyes were different. While Balto’s were reddish brown, Dan’s were a kind of brown very pushed to a golden tone, bringing out what his human eyes were hiding his all life. Balto approached him and looked at the ice too. Dan noticed he was just a bit smaller than the other, so maybe he was still a teenager dog, just as he was a teenager human before.
- I guess you know what this means, don't you? – the older hybrid asked, worried.
Dan realized what he meant.
- That I'm part wolf and people will see me different? – Dan replied, not really caring.
Balto looked sad again.
- Yes. – he said.
Dan was barely affected by that, he was already used to that amongst his school mates.
- Well it would be too good thinking that I'd get rid of that now. – Dan joked, and chuckled.
- What are you gonna do tomorrow? – Balto asked, relieved to see Dan was handling well with the situation.
- Dunno, I know nothing about living like a dog. – the younger canine said, looking at the dark town, away from them. - I need to get adapted until I find a way out of this. Maybe I should know the city better.
- Okay, I'll take you for a tour around - What?
- You need to learn how to walk on four paws. You can't get around Both laughed, leaving all worry behind. Dan wondered why was he handling so well with all that. Well, maybe just because he was smart enough not to get in panic, or... because he felt better in that form. Maybe, he thought, like this he felt more… himself. Dan looked at his reflection again.
- I think it couldn't be so bad to be a dog. – he said, smiling. - Can't be worse than before.
He looked at the moon in the horizon, knowing things would be very different from now on. But it was okay for him. He was with good friends.
Later that night, all of them were sleeping soundly in each one’s place. Balto had let Dan sleep with his blanket in the captain’s quarters. Dan woke up after half an hour. The questions started to bug him again, but he just kicked them away, and fell into a calm sleep, feeling home.
To be continued…