Birthday Boy

Chapter 1
Prolog.

Today was supposed to be a big day for me. My thirty second birthday. A day for friends, family, presents... A day all about me. Well. I suppose that sounds a bit selfish but I mean, it's your birthday, it's supposed to be about you, right? But today I was not looking forward to getting home.

As it stood I was probably going to get a bit of needling for being late, even if it was mostly the fault of the bus being behind schedule, but that I was really dragging my feet on the way home wasn't helping the matter. The same sidewalk I'd walked as a child on my way to school, same sidewalk I'd learned to ride my bike on, red and orange and brown autumn leaves crunching under the rubber soul of my sneakers, my tail and ears drooped as a sigh escaped my lips.. I knew every bump, every crack, this is where I'd lived my entire life.

I guess I should tell you a bit about my self. I'm a 31 year old, well, 32 now, male gray wolf, my markings are a bit on the light side, but the standard gray and cream and black, My hair has kind of a salt and pepper quality to it, white and black and gray matching my markings. I'm kinda short, at just 5 feet, flat, not very strongly built. My older siblings use to call me “runt” when dad or mom wasn't around, I was kinda glad when they moved out, even if the house was a lot more quiet now. I'm also what you would call an omega. As you might think, you can become an omega through loss of status, but usually those who find them self in that situation work to regain status. I am more an omega by nature, I try to push against my nature, try to be more assertive, but it generally feels unnatural. I would never, could never be an alpha, and I'd never want to. Gods it would be exhausting.

I'm something of a home body, you could say... Or others might say a mama's or daddy's boy. Most “omega”s are. I mean, being an omega isn't a bad thing.. Maybe it is in the wild or in the distant past but.. I care about my family, sue me. And I don't want Dad to be lonely. My older siblings... by a few minutes anyway, moved out basically as soon as they could. Adal, the oldest, went into the army, don't ask me what rank, it's one of those combinations of letters and numbers that I can never keep straight. He's a good man, but a bit.... harsh, I love him, but we get along like water and sodium if you know what I mean. Kiba had gone into social services, she was a bit of a den mother and it suited her. Alu, my baby sister, was only 23, she was the only child of mom's second pregnancy. She was still in college, not decided yet if she was going to be a teacher or an art major, or both, or a writer, or something else entirely. Alu was the the only one of my siblings I really got along with. Adal made me feel judged... always. Finding new and exciting ways for me to be deficient. Kiba was... Concerned, not so much “concerned” as in “you need to take time for your self” more “concerned” in the way that makes you feel slightly like your intelligence was being insulted. Alu just sort of gets me. Like Dad sort of gets me. He maybe gets me too well, which is why I'm in the mess I'm in. Lets just say my birthday present isn't something most people would think was a very nice gift.

I felt one of my pointed ears twitch as an owl hooted off in the distance, I realized I'd just been standing here, staring at a pine cone mulling over my thoughts for... probably too long. I kicked it with a grunt and sent it tumbling away with a dry clatter. What was this feeling... Melancholy? Just a feeling like something was wrong with the world, everything kept moving on and I kept standing still.

I started walking again, picking up the pace a little as night was coming earlier and earlier. And I knew Dad was waiting for me. I pulled my hood up over my ears, which slid through the slits cut for them, and hurried on my way.