Astray

Found

I heard it. Long loud howls coming from the woods behind the apartment complex from which I was renting.

They were powerful. They held meaning- a message- for me.

He was here. He had found me. I wasn't suprised though it was sooner than I thought. I pulled back the curtains to look out. He was somewhere deep within, his howls only letting his presence be known. I looked up and saw the moon was waxing almost half way full. I knew I didn't have much time.

He was here. He was waiting. He was coming.

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I took care of everything quickly. Put in my resignation notice at my job. Talked to my land lord letting him know I would not be renewing my lease, that this was my last month. Told them all I had found a new decent job a few cities over. Smiled when they wished me the best of luck.

I packed all my things, trying to condense it to three bags, just clothes and personal items. I donated everything else. The sofa I had bought from the thrift store. The pots and pans found on clearance. I wouldn't need them anymore.

I didn't have much so it wasn't hard to get rid of it. I tried not to think about what it meant. Why I was giving everything away. I just did it, emotionally unattached like everything else I'd done for the past six months.

I stood in my living room the last day of the month waiting for it to get dark. My apartment was small and bare. No sign that this is where I had been living. I knew it wasn't permanent when I had started renting it. When night started to fall I left not bothering to say goodbye to it, for it was never a true home.

I walked out the apartment complex knowing I would not be able to return. I had turned in my keys earlier. Though it wasn't a home, it was a place of safety, and now I was stepping out exposed.

Instead of heading towards the road I turned and started out back into the woods. If one of my previous neighbors saw me now, I knew for sure I would look crazy. The small back lawn provided by the apartments ended quickly, and I continued into the forest just far enough where the lights from the building faded away.

I stopped and dropped my bags to the rough forest floor. I breathed in the crisp air burning my lungs and turned my head to the sky. It was the first night of the full moon.

It glowed down on me unforgiving, but bright and beautiful. It's soft light  illuminated my surroundings more than usual, but it did not matter as I was not scared. I knew and I was prepared for what was to come.

I continued to stare at the moon as its slave. It controlled the sky tonight. The stars, though twinkle as they might, could not compare. The moon called to me in a mocking fashion reminding me of who I am, who I tried to suppress. I could not escape because no matter where I ran the moon would always be there.

I felt arms wrap around me. I had been found.

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The arms were hard against mine squeezing me tight. It wasn't in a loving gesture though, more in a make sure you don't escape kind of way. I sharply inhaled suprised at the touch as I lacked human contact in months, and his was the most intense. I could feel the anger rolling off of him, though it was a strange emotion. It had sorrow and relief like he was feeling everything at once, and he was making me feel it too.

He picked me up my back still to his front, my arms still trapped by my side, and his encircling mine. His footsteps were loud as if he was throwing a tantrum. He was normally as silent as a stalking prey, like he had been coming behind me.