It was dark…really dark. You know, that kind of dark where you feel completely alone, with no one to comfort you, or to take care of you, no one by your side. These were the dysfunctional thoughts of Kyle Daegan. His friends called him Tai, but then again, he didn’t have many friends to begin with.

Tai was a wolf. He lived within a pack of other wolves far from human society. He didn’t know much about these “outsiders” but he knew that they were killing off wolves for fun. He thought the idea was really unintelligent. At least he agreed with a few others.

He was lying on his back, in the middle of a forest. He was gazing up at the moon, watching it slowly as it rotated around the Earth he despised greatly. It was now directly above him. 12:00 midnight. July 9th, 2038. Tai had just turned seventeen. And in a way, he was almost impressed.

Seventeen years before, the Daegan family, Kara and Andrew, was celebrating upon the birth of their new son. Well, at least one half of the family.

“Listen Kara, I don’t know what the hell’s come over you, but in my opinion, having our son was a repulsive idea.”

“What are you talking about, honey?” Kara said sweetly, but in a tone of small yet noticeable annoyance.

He growled loudly at her. “Don’t…ever…call me honey!”

“Andrew, come on! Don’t you want what’s best?”

“What’s best!? Are you kidding? You haven’t even named him yet and we’ve had the cretin for almost a week!”

“I have named him!” Kara replied arrogantly. “His name’s Kyle. Don’t you like it?”

“Like I give a shit,” Andrew said stupidly, and he quickly left the room.

Several years had passed, and Andrew remained the same. He still hated Tai, and he wasn’t ashamed to admit it to anyone, even to Tai himself. As Tai recalled, he was five years old when his dad started to physically abuse him. Usually, it wasn’t even Tai’s fault. His dad was just pissed off all the time. Nevertheless, there were a few times where Tai brought his own demise to himself.

There was one time when Tai didn’t want to participate in meditation because he wanted to attend his friend’s birthday party. In the Daegan family, they considered it mandatory to meditate for at least an hour at around 10:00 in the morning.

Tai started to argue with his dad, unfortunately forgetting that it was his dad he was up against. After Tai refused to listen, Andrew roared and struck him with a powerful blow right below his right eye. It bled for three hours. Tai has had a scar under his right eye ever since.

Back in the forest, Tai was still laying on his back, looking up at the stars. He wondered how long he had been lying down. He made a guess by looking up at the moon. It had rotated about 30 degrees since midnight. He thought it was around two in the morning.

Every once in a while he reflected back on his family and he would usually think of the same scenario. He wished it actually happened when he was still living with his parents, but it never did, and he knew it would never happen.

The vision was of the whole family: Tai, Kara, and Andrew, sitting on a couch at their house just hanging out, without any fighting. He had seen this many times. But now…something new was coming toward him. He hadn’t seen this part, ever in his life. Tai leaped up, and concentrated harder. Now the family was talking together…and laughing.

Tai knew deep in his heart that he would have to try to forget about the scene, but he also knew he couldn’t, and it would haunt him for a long time, maybe even the rest of his life. He lowered his head, and quietly said to himself, “…Dad…” A tear slowly ran down his cheek. He wiped it off vigorously and ran off into the distance. He was out of sight before the tear hit the ground.