Turned

I ran through the woods, twigs snapping beneath my feet, branches breaking as I pushed them aside. I had to get away. I had to survive.

My breaths were laboured, and my legs were burning from the overexertion but I could not stop. I would not stop. I would escape.

I could hear leaves crunching as it ran to catch up to me. The large vicious beast. My pace slowed and I was running out of breath but I kept going. I thought I would escape, but that was when everything went wrong.

The root of a large oak tree was in my path. I jumped, trying to evade the root, but my foot got caught on it nevertheless. I was sent tumbling, scraping my hands and knees as I fell. The beast took that opportunity and pounced on me.

My heart was beating very fast and I closed my eyes waiting for death. Was this really the end? I still had a life left to live. I couldn't let it end like this. A single tear seeped out of my closed eye, travelling down the side of my head before it hit the ground.

The beasts face was inches from my own and I could smell its breath. The metallic scent of blood. It sniffed me and its weight lifted off of my stomach. I thought it had lost interest in me, but I waited, not opening my eyes, not moving. I could still sense its presence. It too didn't seem like it was going to move anytime soon.

I waited for what seemed like an eternity, but still nothing happened. I opened my hand and closed it, trying to loosen my stiff limbs without the beast noticing, but I was too naive to think that it wouldn't notice. It jumped onto my stomach, its weight knocking the breath out of me. My eyes shot open, but then I felt pain. So much pain, then everything went black.

***

My eyes fluttered open and I saw that the sunlight was fading of the next, or maybe following day after I had encountered the beast. I sat up and the leaves crunched under my weight as I lifted myself off the ground. I lifted up my torn t-shirt but no bite mark was visible. My clothes were in tatters, but in the place of where the bite mark should have been was skin as soft as a baby's. All of the other scrapes that I had received when running from the beast had also disappeared.

I was confused and didn't know what was happening. Maybe it was a dream, but my torn and bloodied t-shirt was too real for it to be a dream. I started to making my way to the edge of the forest, noticing that it was getting darker and darker. I looked up at the sky and saw as the last slivers of sunshine faded away, replaced by shining stars and... The Moon.

***

Once I glimpsed the moon from the corner of my eye my full focus shifted to it. It was a full moon and its beauty captivated me, not allowing me to look away from it. My heart best faster and faster, and I could hear the pounding in my ears. Beads of perspiration formed on my forehead and poured down my face, falling off my chin before hitting the ground.

I howled in pain. I could feel my bone structure changing and my muscles getting bigger. I fell to my knees and howled even more. The pain was unbearable. I sat there howling for an eternity until I felt the last bone click into place and the pain subsided.

I felt something sprouting from my skin and suddenly I felt warmer, as if I were wearing a coat. I opened my eyes and I could see everything in a sharper focus. I noticed every detail of my environment. From the leaves on the ground to the tops of trees.

I could see a little rabbit hopping out of a bush and making its way to another. I felt feral instincts take over and found myself running after the little creature. Why am I doing this? I asked myself. I couldn't stop. My body moved on its own. I caught the little rabbit and it struggled to get out of my grasp. "Let go of the rabbit. You can do this." I told myself. I fought the inner beast and finally let the little animal go. "Why are you doing this?" I asked myself again. I didn't know how to answer but I found myself not caring.

My mind felt like it was being eaten up from the inside as I slowly lost all rational thought. My ears pricked up as I heard a twig snap, and I turned around, letting the hunting instincts that I never knew I had take over. I searched for prey but found none. I found myself at the edge of the forest and ran to the cliff located a few metres away from the forest. As I ran I felt strong muscles all over my body contacting and relaxing as they stretched in order for me to go faster. I reached the edge of the cliff and saw the moon, the magnificent white sphere that filled up my entire vision. "Why did you do this to me?" I screamed, but all that came out of my mouth was a howl. It had rained recently and I looked into a puddle of water that I found next to me and saw that my eyes had turned yellow and my face was that of the monster that had attacked me two nights before. I now had the face of a wolf.

If I were to ever meet that beast again I would make it suffer, but the only thing that I could take my anger out on was the moon. The beautiful white sphere that filled up my entire vision. I howled at the moon, cursing it for my terrible fate, and I sat there howling through the night.