Romancek: A Hemlock Grove Fan Fiction

Howl

Chapter 8

'The carpet on my cheek feels like a forest,
And I run through the tall trees with your hand chasing me'

It was one of those mornings. A dull grey morning where you woke up, looked at the hour on the clock, and felt like it should have been bright outside. But instead, Peter awoke not in a bed, but on the cold, wet ground. As he looked around, blinking the sleep and the lucid dreams out of my mind, there was nothing but an early, dark, dawn around him. The ground he laid on was wet with rain, and all he could smell was earth, clammy rotting earth, the smell of worms in his nostrils.

Peter lay there, cold and naked, his head pounding. He stood and looked around at the familiar forest. The fog had not yet dissipated and it lay low on the floor. The only sounds were the music of the early rising sparrows, their chirps high in the trees.

Peter's bare body was covered in dirt from a night of running through the woods. He had always hated the morning after the full moon, the soil covering his body, and the splitting migraine. His suffrage was like that of a hangover, intensified by ten. He tried hard to remember the night as the wolf, but as usual, very little came to the surface. Images of fallen trees and the forest floor zooming by the wolfs snout was all that he could recall. But last night had left him with some inkling of his pandemic, though he hoped he was wrong. Peter began walking through the trees in search of the trailer. He found a creek along the way and looked into it at his own reflection. The face that stared back was covered in dirt and blood, most likely from a rabbit or squirrel. There was always the risk of the wolf running across someone in the woods, a risk that Peter worried about every full moon. The wolf was part of Peter, but it was feral, a beast, and as a result it had no control over it's desire to consume and ravage. Peter was lucky, lucky to have never come across someone within the forests that he had roamed through, and also lucky that if he ever had, he wouldn't recall it. The thought sickened Peter, because he never intended to harm anyone, but he had long ago faced the possibility.

After cleaning himself as much as he could, Peter had followed the creek for a couple miles when he finally found the circle of trees that he had changed in. A pair of shorts laid folded on a stump, the leftovers of his previous body buried in the ground. His mother cared so deeply for him.

He quickly dressed and sat down on the stump. He enjoyed having time to think before having to go back and face his mothers questions and devout affections. His mind immediately went to Roman. He wondered how his transformation would affect their kindling friendship. Would Roman shun him? He wouldn't be surprised. But did he expect it? No, Roman may be clueless to the oddities of the world, of Hemlock Grove itself, but that does not mean he isn't accepting of them. But either way, Peter would find out in due time. He wished that there had been more time, that he had built more of a foundation of their friendship, before throwing this massive curve ball in the way. But he was out of sorts last night, something he intended to get to the bottom of, something he never wanted to suffer through again. But he felt fine now, left with only memories of pain and questions.

Peter left the stump and headed up towards the trailer. He praised every step he took, ravished in the pain free moments he was experiencing now that the wolf had cleansed him. When he had reached the back door of the trailer he could smell the fried eggs and bacon the Lynda was preparing, as she always did after a change.

Peter's stomach roared with hunger as he approached the trailer. He wanted to savor the grease of cooked meat and relish in the pungent taste of coffee washing over his tongue. He could still taste the acidic residue of blood from his wolfs hunt, a taste he wouldn't forget anytime soon.

Peter stepped inside Nicolae's former home, he missed Nic, he wanted to ask him a million questions about last night. He hoped that what he feared about last nights events were false. He feared for his mother, and Roman, and admittedly, himself. Nicolae would know what to do, he would take the actions that needed to be taken, but he was gone, and Peter was alone in his fear.