You Make it Possible-Under Re-Write

16

I was sitting outside again on the porch working on the painting I had started the other day. I was in the middle of working on one of the wolfs eyes when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Beautiful"

I jump at the touch and sudden voice. When I turned around it was Abuelita.

"Thank you" I say smiling and going back to working on the eye.

"What gave you the idea?" She asks taking a seat next to me the way my mom did the other day.

"My dreams" I say not looking away from the painting.

"The dream you were telling me about?" She asks.

I could tell she was trying to pull answers out of me that she already knew. I just wish I knew why. Ever since the mention of the dream and then introducing her to Kai she hasn't been the same. I knew her and my mother were hiding something with all of the shared looks at weird moments, but they didn't think I noticed.

"Yes it is" I say smiling at her and nodding again.

"You know our family is said to have a connection with wolves" she says.

That caught my attention.

"Really? How so?" I ask cleaning my brush and setting it down to dry.

"Well the story tells about the existence of werewolves, men and women who can shift into a wolf form" she begins.

"And with that came what they called mates"

There's that word again...

"Mates?" I ask.

"Mates are basically soulmates. Each wolf has a mate, but it's not like normal human interaction. When mates meet the wolves know it instantly. It's like love at first sight."

"So what does this have to do with our family?" I ask.

"Well many many centuries ago there was a werewolf who had a child with a human, when that child was born they weren't born like a normal wolf. Their wolf wasn't with them till they were in the presence their mate."

"I don't understand, why would a wolf have a kid with someone who wasn't a wolf? They couldn't have been mates right?" I ask.

She shrugs. "No one really knows, but our family is said to have the gene, that every now and then one of us is born with a wolf, but it lays dormant till we meet our mate."

"Has it ever happened?" I ask carefully. I know it's probably just a family legend or something but it was fascinating.

"There's rumors" she says with an unreadable expression.

"But anyway that's enough folklore for the day" she says standing to her feet.

"That really is a beautiful painting mija" she says giving me a kiss on top of my head and heading inside.

I looked back at the painting, mostly at the almost finished eye. Those bright glowing blue eyes that constantly invaded my dreams. No painting could capture the real beauty, but I'd like to think this was close. I couldn't wait to show it to Kai. I had mentioned to him on the phone that I had been working on this painting. He wanted to see a picture but I told him it was a surprise.

After working on it for about another hour I decided to put my materials away.

The story Abuelita told me played in my head constantly. I found it strange how in a span of 3 days I've heard the word mate from two different people. Maybe Kai's family has a similar story? I'll make a mental note to ask about it another time.