Silk Shirts and Tigers (A 500 Word Story)

The moon glows crimson.

Already I can feel the transformation taking effect. For several years I lived in anger, but now I embrace it.

It’s part of my being.

Against a blood-red sky, ice blue eyes flash. Nails grow into claws. White hair blankets my flesh. I tear at my clothes – a silk shirt, jeans – as bones crack and I shed my human form. Screams echo through the night, turning to powerful roars.

My human form is replaced by that of a white tiger.

The rest of the night is a blur, as usual, until the light of a new day crests over the horizon.

At dawn I wake, bloody and naked, under a canopy of trees near the village, a pig carcass nearby. My entire body aches straight down to my bones. Massaging my temples, I roll over in the cool grass, wet with morning dew. The pig carcass lays inches from my face, causing me to bolt upright.

Fearing the worse, but aware of my reality, I examine my hands. Both palms are painted red. I lift a hand to my face. Fingertips feel the dried substance lining the corners of my mouth, coating my lips, staining the skin. As I frantically attempt to cleanse myself, flakes chip off, sticking under the nail beds. The taste of blood lingers in my mouth.

I stand, staggering backwards, leaning against the textured bark of an old oak tree. My head is foggy, my body not yet use to regaining human form.

Transformation is tricky, and not easy, often having lingering effects the following morning. Time has taught me they will soon pass.

Shaking the haziness from my head, I push myself off the giant oak and run. My skin tingles in the cool morning air while my auburn hair, sporting a thin white streak, flows in the wind. It’s a freedom I relish. Yet, my mind remembers the silk shirt. The fabric is smooth, laying across my skin naturally, calming my primal ways.

My legs carry me swiftly toward the family cottage, as I still possess the speed and agility of a tiger. I burst through the door, racing to the bathroom. The water in the sink turns red as the blood is washed away.

I stare at my reflection. Tiger or human, no one promised life would be easy. Mistakes are made in either form. I’ve learned no matter how many silk shirts I wear or how fast I run, I’ll never be able to escape myself, to escape The Laukinis.

As a child, Grandfather told me stories of The Laukinis – The Wild. I thought it should be feared, but Grandfather corrected me. He said The Laukinis has two sides, two halves of a whole, working in harmony. I remember his ice blue eyes staring into mine as he told me there’s a wildness in everyone begging to be released.

Over time, I realized The Laukinis is more than a fierce wildness. It’s freedom – the joy and beauty which comes from being oneself.

Right Place, Right Time

I’m exactly where I’m meant to be exactly when I’m meant to be there.

No, I’m not talking about schedules or appointments. I’m not even talking about time travel. (Although, that might be fun.) I’m talking about something much bigger.

All my life I’ve been told everything happens for a reason. As a kid, I didn’t understand. Growing up, I’m still not sure I fully grasped the concept, but I started to gather my own thoughts. And now…now, I completely understand.

Everything happens for a reason, even if we don’t see those reasons at first, or even truly understand. Maybe the only thing we need to be content with knowing is that it (whatever “it” might be) had to happen for us to get to where we’re going.

I think of it as a ripple in the water – the smallest movement causes a ripple effect, much like in life – everything effects something or someone and will, eventually, put us where we’re meant to be.

A couple years ago someone asked me if I had any regrets in life, if I would go back and change things. Of course there’s things I’m not happy with, but I don’t know anyone who is 100 percent happy all the time with life. Regardless, my answer is the same now as it was then – no.

I’m not sure I believe in regrets anyway. I think that might just be another label we put on things we look back on and wish we didn’t do or say. Or maybe regrets are those things we look back on and realize they didn’t work out the way we hoped. Still, everything we said and did was done for a reason, at the time, and it all brought us to where we are today.

And I would never change anything. Even if I went back and changed the smallest things, there’s no telling how much of my life would change and where I’d end up. Besides, for better or worse, everything that happened to me had to happen.

I look at where I am now. I look at the things I’m doing with my life, the opportunities I have, the people I associate with…and I can’t even begin to explain how happy I am. It might not have been a fun or happy or pretty ride all the way, but I wouldn’t trade any of it in for the world. It all brought me here.

So…I’m exactly where I’m meant to be exactly when I’m meant to be there.

We’re all exactly where we’re meant to be exactly when we’re meant to be there.