Family Bedtime Story

Little Kaistosinikyi, she would speak, a phrase that stirs the depths of my psyche, a reminder of the scorching flame that burns inside, a fire that illuminates the path ahead. Two wolves, I am told, reside within me, one of pristine white, the other of koko, a dichotomy that embodies the paradox of my existence. The white wolf, a sublime and ethereal being, radiates an aura of nobility, elegance, and strength. She is oblivious to the world around her, lost in the majesty of her own inner masterpiece, where the songs of triumphs and the constellations of the stars are her constant companions. Koko wolf, is a harbinger of devastation, a bringer of chaos and destruction. She lays waste to villages, her very presence a scourge upon the land. Mothers and children, innocent and pure, are consumed by her maw while the white wolf’s back is turned. The white wolf is deaf to the pleas of the dying, her ears plugged by the cacophonies of her inner sirens. Please, turn around, gaze upon the burning ground. The blood that adorns both hands, are loved ones, and yours alone to bear, sanguine with the deeds that you have done, a reminder of the consequences — that await your attempts to be number one. You are a force of nature, nothing can stop you, a being of primal fury and unbridled power. But, you are also susceptible to clumsiness, to the misstep that can exact a severe toll on those who care about you the most, because you can’t even stop yourself. Oh how right she was… as I turn around and see the monster I become. Oh how right she was… Kaistosinikyi — fitting name, grandma.