"Psst," went a whispering voice. "Mel, wake up."
"Mmmmm...." said Melissa Jenkins, otherwise sound asleep in her bed.
"Hey Mel! Wake up!" said the voice, much louder now. "We need to talk!"
"What? Huh?" asked Mel, raising her head off the pillow and looking around the dark bedroom. Then she realized, "Oh. It's you again," and got out of bed to go talk to the image in her bedroom mirror.
Whoever this girl was looked about her age with fiery red hair common to her branch of the Jenkins family, but appeared more to favor her late mother Eliza than Melissa herself.
"What do you want?" Mel asked sleepily, when she finally made her way over to the mirror.
"Didn't your mother ever tell you not to go to bed angry?" asked the mirror.
"Yeah. So?"
"Then why are you mad at Trevor Tyson? Just because you can't go 'moo' yet?"
"It's not that," replied Mel. "It's just that..."
"Just what?" asked the mirror in return.
"What does he see in me?" asked Mel in return, bending her head down to take another look at her rather plain, nightgown covered body. "I'm certainly not as attractive or built as the girls Trevor already knows."
"Maybe. Then again, maybe what Trevor sees is the girl he loves. The one with the heart, intelligence, and inner beauty unlike any of the other girls around here he's ever met."
"I—" began Melissa, and then stopped herself. "Wait. Trevor loves me?"
"Of course silly. What do you think? That you're gonna be just another notch on his barn door? Trevor Tyson doesn't know when or how yet, but he's trying his best to honor your request about making your first time, let alone your induction into were society, romantic and special for both of you. When it comes to you Melissa Jenkins, Trevor Tyson is listening to his heart more than any other body organ."
"Really?"
"Would I lie?"
"Just who are you?" Melissa demanded to know.
"A dream. A premonition? A physical manifestation of your woman's intuition? Does it matter?" asked the mirror in return. "I AM on your side Mel, and you're still in danger."
"How?"
"I know right now you have your heart set on being with Trevor and eventually becoming a werecow to his werebull, but being still a normal at the moment, you're also still vulnerable to ANY were. A bite, scratch, or sex will start your transformation, regardless of what species it is."
"Alice Decrux!" realized Mel, naming the woman everyone suspected responsible for changing her father into a weretiger, although no one could prove it.
"I wouldn't put it past that conniving were-raccoon to have something up her fur to try to get even with your dad and Virginia McCoy now that she has been cleared of any accusation of possibly violating Statute 1A* and that the two of them are engaged to be married. Once Decrux finds out, if she hasn't already..."
"So what do I do?" asked Mel.
"Stick to you heart, but keep your eyes and ears open," advised the mirror image. "Until you become the were you want to be..."
"Good advice. But how do you know so much?"
"You truly haven't figured that one out yet, have you Mel? Well, other than what I've already said, I'm afraid I can't tell you any more right now because the present is still in flux and the future remains to be determined. Just be careful and go back to bed now. There's some pleasant dreams about you and Trevor on the horizon, but standing here talking to me in your sleep is delaying their start," said the mirror image, winking at her before disappearing.
MEANWHILE/LATER...?
"You may now kiss the bride," said the preacher, as the man and woman before him moved closer together to comply.
The groom lovingly wrapped his arms around the lady as the new bride eagerly brought her lips to his to share their first kiss together as husband and wife.
"I'm so happy," she said, looking at her mate.
"I'm glad. You make me feel like the luckiest man in the world, and I want you to feel that joy too. I love you so much Melissa Tyson."
"And I you Trevor," she said, before kissing him again.
And within the darkness of his bedroom, Trevor Tyson snuggled deep in slumber, smiled in his sleep and continued his pleasant dreams.
___________________________________________________________________
*The crime of a were changing a normal into a were against their will.—tmw.