Sweet Revenge (Newly Revised!)

10. July 2011

A worn-down old mortal was making his daily trip to the river for some freshwater when something pale and blue caught his eye. He let out a quiet gasp and rushed as fast as he could to the river's edge.

Holding on with the last bit of strength she had was a young girl, her body turning purple from the freezing waters. The man pulled her out quickly, wrapping her with his coat. She was much lighter than he had anticipated, making his climb back up the riverbank easier. The poor girl was shivering uncontrollably, and the small sounds coming from her sounded like whimpering.

He hurried her back to his home, mentally preparing all the things he would need to help the girl. He barged into his home and stumbled towards the bathroom. He placed her carefully into the tub, murmuring to himself as he turned the water on.

"It's the middle of summer, but 'em waters always frigid cold, girlie." He spoke with a heavy accent but the girl responded to the sound. "Ah! A sign of life! Ya hang in there, little one. Ol' Jack will fix ya up as fast as I can."

Jack kept a close eye on her skin, ensuring it returned to his presumably pinkish hue. "Gotta get ya to stop shiverin'. Then we can work on gettin' all that gunk outta ya hair." The old mortal whispered.

Jack left her alone in the tub while he gathered towels and soap. The girl kept herself wrapped up in a tight defensive ball while Jack worked to clean her cuts.

"Girlie, it looks like ya been in the waters for days..." Jack whispered more to himself than to her. "How's ya not more broken, I ain't sure but no matter. Ya alive is what matters."

The mortal quickly finished scrubbing her clean, avoiding the more tender areas of her body. He began to work on her hair, the long black strands being held together with mud and weeds. "Ya such a pretty young child... Where is ya family?" Jack continued to fill the still silence with questions he knew would go unanswered.

The girl looked down at herself. Her skin was turning a pale brown with a few scattered scars on her legs and arms. Her hair was pitch black just like her fur had been months ago. She looked at her reflection in the water between the soap suds and saw her eyes were still the same black with glittering stars, just like the sky at night. She shook her head, ignoring Jack's cries of surprise, as she tried to remember what happened in the moments before being dragged miles downstream by the freezing river.

One moment, her body was on fire. She could hardly keep herself conscious. And the next, she was thrown into a mound of muddy snow. When she looked around, she had not recognized anything from before. Her fever was gone and now she was freezing.

Narima had never once tried to shift forms, but now that she was in her mortal one she felt exposed in the unknown forest surrounding her. She clung her bare arms to her body, shivering from the cold and fear telling her to move.

Days turned to weeks; weeks turned into months. Not once did she encounter another werebeast. She managed to hunt, clumsily getting used to her mortal feet, but still capable of catching her meals.

It was not until a few days ago that she came across a campsite full of mortal men. When their eyes fell on her naked body, every nerve in Narima's body told her to run.

She took off as fast as her two legs could carry her, with the mortals close behind, yelling at her. That was when she heard the rush of the river. In a split-second decision, she ran towards the sound. Once she saw the frothy waters she jumped in and was caught off guard by the force of the river.

The river then dragged her downstream and kept forcing her head down under, slowly drowning her. She quickly looked over at the edge of the river and saw the mortals shouting at her. She looked further downstream and saw the water falling over a cliff. Narima tried desperately to fight the current but she was weaker in her two-legged form. Her strength was fading, and she did not think she would survive the fall.