The Wolf of The Woods

Chapter Six: The Change

Phil stopped and stared at Dan for a moment.
'Really?' He said laughing slightly. 'You've never had a...'
'Friend. Yes I've never had a friend okay? There's no need to laugh!

'Oh no I wasn't laughing at you, it's just, well, I've never had a friend either...'
This time it was Dan who stopped and stared.

'But, what about Seamus? And Jack and Harvey?' Dan said in disbelief, how could someone that attractive... No! er, someone like Phil possibly have no friends?

'Pftt, oh come on you saw what they did to us, I hate them, I was only... I didn't... well...'
'What?' Said Dan curiously.

'I only hung around with them because my mother made me, seemed to think that Seamus would 'protect me', His parents are friends with my parents and when I joined the school my mum kind of forced us together. We both hated it but eventually Seamus noticed my weaknesses and started to use me to do his dirty work for him, I refused many times but that never ended well, it usually ended with me... well I'm sure you can imagine.'

Dan nodded slowly, feeling sorry for him. He knew what Seamus was capable of.

Phil seemed like he wanted to carry on speaking, like he had some deep secret trapped inside of him that he was about to let out, but he said nothing else.

'Well' Dan broke the silence 'I'm glad we found each other, you know maybe you should...'
Dan had been about to suggest that Phil stayed the night in his treehouse but then he looked up at the sky as a slither of light appeared in it - the moon was rising.

Shit.

How could he have forgotten?! 'Err, maybe you should go back home'
(Nice save Dan) 'it's getting late, and well, you know'
'Yeah' Phil yawned, and to Dan's surprise he agreed 'okay then, can I meet you here tomorrow? We could walk to school together'

Dan's eyes darted backwards and forwards between the sky and Phil.
'Yeah, I'd like that' Dan smiled. He lead Phil out the door and back down the ladder and bid him farewell slightly hurriedly.

'Well see you tomorrow!'
'Yeah, bye!'

Dan waited until Phil was well out of sight. Then he darted back up the ladder and started raiding the cupboards. Where were they, where were they? Aha, energy drinks!

Dan flinched as the moonlight piercing through the window blinded him. Already starting to feel a slight tingling sensation rippling through his body he grabbed a couple of cans and some spare clothes (transforming always ripped his clothes, which he'd found out whilst wearing his favourite t shirt goddamn it!)

He then began climbing down the ladder. Once he was back at the bottom he began tearing through the forest trying to find a good hiding spot. After about five minuets a little jolt of pain struck the inside of him and he flinched, whimpering slightly.

He had no more time to run, this spot would have to do. He ducked behind a tree and started downing one of the energy drinks, he felt another shock of pain causing him to spill some down himself. This was going to be a long night.

And then the real transformation began. No sooner than after Dan put down the empty can of energy drink did he feel it.

It started with his back, feeling like someone was trying to snap him in half. The bones in his spine cracked with great force, causing him to hunch forwards.

He couldn't breathe, he was panting furiously just so that the oxygen could enter his body.

Then the pain in his back began coursing through the rest of his body. It was an indescribable feeling, like breaking all the limbs in your body at the same time.

The only thing he couldn't feel was his legs, they gave way and he fell to the ground still gasping for breath.

More of his bones began to snap and he let out a scream of pure agony, a hopeless cry that was enough to haunt the dreams of anyone for years.

But then the scream began to change, it was morphing like the rest of Dan's body, until it wasn't a scream at all. It was a howl.

Dazed and disorientated, Dan opened his eyes. Had he passed out? He got back to his feet and looked around. Everything was black and white now.

This was very normal to Dan now however, (colourblindness being one of the many traits of a werewolf) though to make up for it his sense of smell had become much stronger. Alarmingly so had his hunger.

Dan wasn't exactly the aggressive type, in fact he'd never killed another creature in his life. (not all werewolves are monsters you know).

Letting out a sigh, which sounded more like a growl really, he told himself he could wait until the morning to eat.

-

It had been many hours now. The moon was high in the sky watching over Dan who was sat, still behind the same sad little tree.

A tiny baby rabbit hopped past him and Dan, due to his boredom Dan got to his feet and gave chase.

Totally innocently of course, he wasn't going to kill it. It was quite fun actually, he made sure to keep at least three steps way from the bunny (as though that was going to stop it from being terrified) and chased it for a fair amount of time before it eventually got away.

Damn it, He'd been enjoying that.

He lay back down on the ground, head in his paws and went back to relying on his own thoughts for entertainment.

He often thought about whether there were other werewolves in the forest. He'd never come across one. But surely there must be?

He couldn't be the only one. One must at least live somewhere nearby.

Though even if there was another like him, it wouldn't exactly want to be friends with Dan would he? Dan, although he had never seen another werewolf, was pretty sure they weren't supposed to be as small as him. He would probably be dead in minutes.

Letting out another sigh, he closed his eyes as he lay there, deep in his lost and lonely thoughts. He'd never been able to sleep as a werewolf. But still, he yawned, he could try.