''You know how they came up with the word Lunatic?'' he asked.
I shook my head, feeling like I probably didn't want to know the answer. His lips pulled up on one side in a mischievous, lopsided grin.
He stepped closer. ''Because all of the worst m...
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"Tucker!" A pretty blonde girl yelped playfullyas she ran from her boyfriend.
Tucker appeared from behind the jungle gym and grinned at his girlfriend. He threw the girl over his shoulder as she giggled helplessly. He swung her around a bit before placing her back on her feet. His fingers reached out and tucked a loose hair behind her ear tenderly.
She shook her head at him and tangled her arms behind his neck, reaching up on her tiptoes.
"I still don't understand how you do that. You throw me around like it's nothing!"
Tucker shifted his way out of her arms, looking uncomfortable.
"I'm just that strong."
"It's not normal," she laughed, not sensing his tone.
Had she looked closer she would've seen her boyfriend's brown eyes flash blue. He quicklyshrugged off her comments. He was a terrible liar and she must have been able to tell. Tucker turned his back on Rose so she couldn't see his face. But she didn't question it.
***
"Dad!" a young Tucker, around 15, yelled into a seemingly empty house. He slammed the front door behind him and maneuvered his way through the hallways looking for his family.
"Mom!" he called.
Nobody responded. He finally found his way into the kitchen. His eyebrows raised in surprise as he took in the gathering of people waiting for him. Their eyes were somber as he looked at them. His father stood but the words he wanted to say seemed to be stuck in his chest.
Owein rose from his chair.
"Tucker, it's your mother-" he began in the familiarly thick accent close to his mother's.
"What about her? Uncle, what happened?"
Owein's gray eyes were hard as he met Tucker's gaze.
"She's gone. My sister- your mother...she's gone."
Tucker was confused for a moment as his brain began to process exactly what 'gone' meant. He saw his younger brothers crying silently in each other's arms and he saw brokenness in his father's eye that could never be fixed. At that moment, he knew exactly what gone meant.
He turned on his heel and ran back out the front door. His feet carried him to the edge of the tree line where he could no longer control himself. He let his body phase and transform, felt the bones crack, and morph into something else.
Where Tucker once stood, there was a large gray wolf with glowing blue eyes.
