The Gift.

She was giddy with happiness when she held to open the gift. The black ribbons came off as if made of woven air and slipped into nothingness when she pulled them. She loved these gifts from her lover. 

She sat down and put the gift on the ground. She wanted to savour the moment as long as she could. She almost cursed the dual nature of wanting to prolong this feeling and also for the climax to come. 

She quickly breathe a few and closed her eyes as if saying a prayer before opening it. She held the gift in her delicate hands and opened her eyes with it. 

It was a wolf pup.

The cutest little baby who was pink at his nose with not even the eyelids completely open yet. It made a yelp noise as it tumbled inside the box clumsily. It rubbed its snout on the inside of the box looking for milk, but none came. After a while it got silent as went to sleep. She was dizzy with happiness. It was perfect gift she could have got. She absolutely loved it. Even a few tears betrayed her eyes. 

She focused on its breaths and could feel the shallow rugged breathing of the pup. She gently lowered the box near the ground and the pup tumbled out. It was as big as her palm. She kept the box away and slept on the ground beside the pup. Looking at it with the love of a mother. The pup squirmed and she never wanted to cradle the pup more. But she knew what that would mean. Her touch was special. 

The baby ever so slightly twisted and let out a cute growl. It was more like a small grumble but she could not bear it anymore. 

She rubbed its exposed belly and the pup immediately turned towards her and held on to her fingers. She felt the warm skin of the baby as well the purring it was gently doing. The eyes opened and she could see the black gems that glowed with innocence. The pup somehow managed to stand and started sucking one of her fingers. She was ecstatic with joy watching the little wolf being so cuddly. The hair on the pup also grew as well its ears too started flopping up. She could feel the little buds in its mouth grow into proper teeth. She removed her finger from it mouth and started patting it on the head. The snout got elongated as the pup stood up straight with all its hair fully grown. It was still a pup though, but considerably older than an infant. 

It let go of her and started prancing around her. She too quickly stood up. 

It went this way then that, while constantly wagging its tail while inviting her to play. It tottered and fell clumsily but quickly recovered to give her the slow wink, as if telling her it was alright. It ran in circles around her as it barked quickly but never being threatening. She too ran with it, but would quickly stop to run in another direction. The pup would happily follow with its wagging tail and hanging tongue. 

After a while it got tired and would not run as fast when prodded. She quickly sat down and as if on cue the pup ran and sat in her lap. She rubbed the soft hair on the wolf pup, while it changed its colour to darker shades. The pup had gone to sleep, while she sang a lullaby.

By the time she finished her song, the wolf had grown into an adult, with heavy long thick hair and powerful canines. She hugged it, while it shivered and got up. It was barely fitting on her lap, but when it stood up, it was larger than her. It looked around for any trouble until its eyes fell on her. It rushed to her and pushed her on her back. Its face was inches away from hers. Then it suddenly started licking her face. She giggled while trying to push it off her. Finally she stood up, and the game was on again. 

The wolf was far faster than her, yet would run a little and then patiently wait for her to come. Whenever she caught up to it, she would pat on its head, which it would happily receive. 

The wolf would not give up in stamina, but her happiness was also not going to let her tire. 

After a while though, the wolf got a little dizzy and tumbled while running at full speed. It was almost exactly as it tumbled when it was a pup. But this time it didn't get up. When she finally caught up to it, it was laying there, still waiting for her. When its eyes saw her, his tail started to wag, but not as strongly as it once did. She saw she had reached the empty box. The wolf had led her back to the beginning. 

She sat a few feet away from it, knowing well the consequences of touching it. But the wolf didn't. It crawled and reached into her lap, but this time only its head would fit on her. She quietly caressed it and  the wolf had turned quiet too. No more yelping or growling, just the ragged breaths of a pup. She caressed it while watching its eyes the ocean of innocence, not knowing what was going to happen. 

The hair on the wolf turned greyer with every rub she gave. Eventually the breaths became shallower and shallower. The wolf licked her arm, while looking at her with its black wet eyes. She held the frail wolf closer to her and hugged it. The breathes became even more erratic. She put her head next to its, and the wolf managed to lick her tears. And then the breath stopped. 

Her gift was no more. She kept on holding it for a while longer, as if expecting it to come back and start prancing around her again. She closed her eyes as if to speak a prayer and when she opened them she was holding nothing more than a fistful of dust. 

She wiped her tears and put the dust back in the box. Her hands were shivering with memories of the friend she had just lost. She closed the box and as if out of nowhere, winds turned into white ribbons and wrapped the box and took it away with them. 

A few feet away, Life was watching her intently. He couldn't bear to see her sad in this way. He cut up another part of himself and again put it in a box, wrapped it in black ribbons and disappeared into thin air. Death quickly saw the box and was overjoyed at her gift. She ran to it and held it in her arms. 

She loved these gifts from her lover.