The Unexplained Transformation

𝐹𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝐸𝑦𝑒𝑠

I ran up to a tree and stopped to take a breath, damn she was fast. I squinted my eyes and could see her not much further ahead of me, after a deep breath I started running again.
"Come on Mate, we're almost there" she called out. Did she just call me mate again? Have I already been thrown into the friend zone?
"I knew you couldn't keep up" she laughed as she stopped by a tree with some low hanging branches in front of a few bushes.
"How.. do you know.. which way to go?" I panted as I stopped and dropped to the ground in front of her
"And how are you not.. exhausted?!" I continued as I stood up to lean on the tree she was next too.
"You've no idea, little Luka" she winked before climbing the branches and jumping over the bushes. I took another deep breath and pulled myself up onto the branches, just as she had moments before and looked over the bushes she had disappeared behind. In front of me was a small river with a few larger rocks on either side and bushes scattered along the edges blocking most of it from view. I hopped down and walked over to the rock Alexis was now sitting on with a grin on her face.
"This is cute" I said as I sat down next to her
"I'm just letting you recover. You haven't even seen the best part" she said with a gentle nudge to my side. Even though her elbow barely touched me, I felt my skin tingle under the fabric of my shirt. She stood up and jumped from rock to rock before she started off up the stream. I got up and started walking over to her now slower pace.
"Seriously, I thought I had better stamina than that" I joked as I wiped a little sweat from my forehead.
"What, bummed that you lost to a girl?"
"Nah, bummed that you didn't even break a sweat and I'm pretty sure I was literally dying back there" I laughed
"You're fit" I added
"I love a good run. The feel of the wind through your fur is unbelievable" she gushed
"Fur?" I questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"What? Oh, hair. Sorry" she laughed as she started to run off again up the stream.
Fur? I questioned myself. I started to run again to catch up to her only for her to remain just out of reach. She's so quick.
We came to the top of the small hill and I watched as she climbed over a small rock wall, about double the height of me. I got to the bottom and looked up at her and saw her body relax as she looked out at what was in front.
I placed my foot on the rock she had and my hand up above me and started climbing.
Once I got to the top I saw Alexis stretch her sides a little then sit down on a fallen log nearby. She was right, this is gorgeous. A large lake sat in the middle of the grassy clearing, perfectly still in the night with the moon reflecting off and lighting up the area beautifully. The rocks we had climbed up were posing as a small waterfall from the lake leading to the river we had followed up and small bushes, rocks and logs sat scattered around. Alexis sat quietly watching the lake off to the side, her face lit by the moon and it's reflection.
"Wow" I said as I walked over to her slowly
"Yeah" she agreed as she moved over a little and gave me a gentle smile. I sat down next to her and she rested her head on my shoulder with a sigh. I instantly felt tingles and sparks shooting through my shoulder and she quickly sat upright
"Sorry, I didn't mean to.." she started. Had she felt that to or did I move?
"No, it's okay" I said, my voice cracking slightly. I cleared my throat awkwardly and ran my hand through my hair. I looked over to her as she was staring intently at my arm to which her gaze lowered down to my hand and my leg. She looked puzzled
"Everything okay?" I asked as she jolted her eyes back up
"Yes" she said shortly.
"I just.." she started. She hovered her hand above mine before lightly running her fingers up my forearm, sending the sparks through my skin and causing the hairs to stand up straight.
"You feel it too" she whispered with a small smile. Alexis looked up at me, her brown eyes darker than usual. I noticed her eyes scanning my face so I let my eyes travel over hers, taking in her features. I watched as her expression went from curiosity to concern
"Is everything okay?" I questioned quietly
"No" she replied as she looked out to the trees before standing up. I stood up next to her, unable to see anything that could be causing her sudden change.
"I have to go. Follow the river back down to where we jumped over, you'll see the hanging branch, from there head directly away from it" and with that she ran off in the opposite direction.

**********

I watched as Alexis had disappeared off into the trees once again before deciding I had no chance in catching her and turning and heading back, trying my best to remember the instructions she had given me. I managed to find my way home and after grabbing my things I headed upstairs into my bedroom, as quietly as possible so as not to wake my parents. That night, instead of dreaming about the attack, I dreamt of Alexis. We had been laying on the grass watching the sun setting over the lake but just as it seemed we were about to kiss, she ran off again into the trees. Only this time, the wolves came out.
I spent the morning getting myself ready and headed off to school. I'd been hopeful that I'd run into her again but even after school had finished I was still yet to see her. After a week had passed of the same thing I started to worry. Today was Thursday, which meant we had one day left then three days off as Monday was a 'pupil free day' so the teachers can prepare tests and shit. I knew Alexis lived near mine so after I got home I dropped my bag under the tree I usually sit on and headed into the forest in the direction I thought she came from. I wasn't walking for long before I started to notice a lot of large scratch marks on the trees and the dirt had been ripped up beneath my feet. I continued following the marks before finding a tree that had been knocked over. Like, the bottom of the trunk was half ripped up and the top had been snapped in half with splinters sticking out everywhere. I climbed over the tree cautiously and found a small clearing up ahead and headed towards it. With the things I've seen and heard the last few weeks I feel like it's pretty stupid of me to be heading in the same direction as the carnage but I push on, worried about Alexis. I'm heading towards the last few trees when I hear a howl followed by a large cracking sound that resembled what I'd imagine a tree snapping would sound like. The splitting wood echoed through the clearing, and as I peer around the tree I saw a large black wolf run out of the trees. I quickly pressed my back against the tree and listened closely as the padded feet came thundering towards me. My heart pounded at my chest at the thought of that thing knowing I'm here, but, before it got any closer I heard more. I slowly leant over and peered out past the tree just in time to see a smaller, light brown wolf, ram into the side of the larger black one. A howl roared out from the black wolf as it was slammed into the ground then another two slightly smaller wolves with tan coats and blue eyes came charging out of the trees. The brown one growled at them as it pushed its giant paw down over the neck of the black one beneath it, which caused the pair to stop in their tracks before slowly backing up and laying down. The brown one snapped at the black one then lifted its paw and allowed the black one to get up. The black wolf turned and limped over to the tan ones and before leaving, shot a look towards it. The glaring green eyes reminding me why the tan ones seemed so familiar.