<em>Her mother was looking back at her, smiling. She was half asleep, dozing on the pile of blankets next to her. Dimly, she heard her father ask something; her mother's head turned slightly and she smiled wider, but her eyes stayed on Leiah. She knew they were saying something about her, but didn't care to wake up enough to find out what it was. Her parents were happy, she was happy, it was almost Christmas. That was all that mattered. <br/><br/>Suddenly, her father was shouting. The car made a dreadful twisting motion under her, and Leiah was thrown instantly in to full wakefulness, her eyes wide and frightened. The tires squealed, but it was no use. An immense crashing noise followed, and the hood of the car crumpled up, before the too-fast moving vehicle crashed through the low barrier on the bridge and fell in to the frozen water below. Another crash as they broke through the ice. Leiah was screaming, as she saw her parents slammed against the dash, back against the seats, then in to the dash again. She wouldn't know it, but they were already dead. She was protected by the blankets and other soft items surrounding her on all sides, absorbing the impacts as the doomed vehicle slowly began to fill with water. <br/><br/>It was icy cold, and made her almost instantly numb as the first gushes climbed up around her toes, then her ankles, then her knees, soaking her heavy denim jeans in moments. Too soon, the water was at her hands, and she could barely fumble with the seat belt buckle as she fell back on primal instinct to try to escape. It took precious moments to disentangle herself from the belt, and by then the water was already at her chest. She gulped air, fighting for her life, pounding on the window. The water was at her neck, at her mouth, over her head! She broke the water's surface just in time to swallow a lungful of air from the last pocket near the ceiling, but it didn't last long. The last thing she remembered as she started to give in to the cold and lack of oxygen was a dark shape outside the window, a shape like a wolf....</em><br/><br/>Leiah sat up gasping, reliving the nightmare of her parents' death for the first time in years. Of course, it wasn't a nightmare, it had really happened, but several years of therapy had stopped the nightmares ages ago. It was so strange that it would bother her again today, her 21st birthday. That cheerful thought helped her catch her breath, smile, and banish the terrible memory. She missed her parents, yes, but her mother's sister and her husband had taken very good care of her ever since, and never made her feel unloved, unwelcome, or unwanted, even with their horde of nine children of their own. She could let her parents rest in peace, and if their was indeed an afterlife of some kind, meet them again there.<br/><br/>The newly-able-to-legally-drink young woman slid out of bed and padded out in to the hall on the way to the kitchen. She lived in a little one-bedroom cottage that her aunt and uncle had helped her build on a couple acres of land they had given her for her 18th birthday. They knew how much she loved the outdoors, and the bit of property on the outskirts of town, shrouded by trees and giving the illusion of being cut off from the world, was perfect. Not that there was a whole lot to be cut off from in Kamas, Utah, but she still liked the privacy of her little patch of heaven, butting right up against the mountains that had been her backyard growing up.<br/><br/>Her simple morning routine followed: run, shower, coffee, bagel, goof off for a little while, then out the door to work, as a swim instructor and personal trainer at the rec center in town. She got there by way of her trusty old Subaru station wagon, and smiled at the birthday wishes and silly jokes of her colleagues once she stepped through the door. Her boss, Matt, and best friend Amanda waited with the rest of the physical training staff in the office, bearing a cake and gifts. All of them were thoughtful, and she gushed as she opened the small pile of bags and boxes. Then the cake was served, and she inhaled a slice before getting to her first meeting of the day. The long time client wished her happy birthday as well, and had another small gift waiting, a swimming head cover patterned with a moon and stars theme. Leiah put it on immediately with a grin, as they were going swimming.<br/><br/>The day was bright and cheerful, concluding with dinner with her family and those of her cousins, though she considered them more brothers and sisters, who could make it. There were more gifts and another cake, and by the time she made it home that night, she could barely keep her eyes open from drowsiness. Her aunt had asked her to stay the night, but she knew that the bed in her old room was a brick, and she would rather face the drive home to flop on to her plush pillowtop mattress.<br/><br/>The next two and a half weeks, however, seemed to go downhill. Leiah had the nightmare every night, and started to wonder about returning to therapy. She noticed an odd desire for meat, which she'd always eaten, but was more of a fruit lover normally. Her skin was itchy, her eyes and ears sensitive. It felt like the worst hay fever ever, combined with maybe a sinus headache, but she could still breathe normally. In fact, she was doing even better on her morning run every day, despite her odd physical symptoms.<br/><br/>It was the first night of the full moon when everything changed. Leiah woke in a cold sweat, her whole body aching as she gasped for air, feeling as though the walls of her bedroom were closing in on her. She stumbled out of bed and towards her front door, with the desperate irrational thought that just a little fresh air would help. In the clearing outside her house, she collapsed on to the small batch of blessedly cool grass, but it provided only minute and momentary relief. As the rays of moonlight caressed her, she felt her body ache more, until finally ripping pains like lines of fire spread across her skin. Fur sprouted from her arms, legs, and back, her ears lengthened, and her tailbone seemed to stretch and grow. After several minutes of a horror-movie worthy spectacle, a silvery grey wolf with strangely human green eyes, far bigger than a normal wolf, lay panting and whimpering in the grass. Confused and afraid, the impressive beast raised her muzzle to the sky and uttered a mournful howl, then raced off in to the trees.