The nighttime air was a sickly sweet feeling. The lights from the villa were bright and luminous, sort of blinding to me. Everything was sort of foggy and shaky. I heard screams of fear and the sounds of crying throughout town. My pulse was racing and I could feel the adrenaline through my veins. I was running to a house, the shouts and screams of a child were heard coming from inside. I could hear him yelling, ‘Mommy! Mommy!,’
I felt taller and hunched…almost like I’m on all fours. I broke the door down and growled, more animalistic than human, but it was too late. A high pitched scream hit my ears and my heart skipped a beat. A sharp pain started in my chest, as if I was hit. I watched his blood scatter the walls and saw the perpetrator pointing a gun at me. I couldn’t see his face though. It was too blurry. He pulled the trigger and a loud ringing hit my ears.
I shot up, covered in sweat and panting hard. My breathe was shaky and my heart was pounding. The sound of people shouting and some gun fire was outside my door. ‘So that’s what was woke me up,’ I thought. I shoved my deer skinned blanket aside and swung my feet off the side of the bed. I ran my hand through my brown tangled hair, my fingers getting caught by the knots. I rubbed my eyes and swallowed hard, trying to forget the nightmare. Taking a deep breath, I stood up slowly in my sleeping gown and looked for my everyday wear.
The yelling came closer to my house, making me a bit uneasy. I ran my hands through the small wardrobe for something to put on. I grabbed a dress that had rabbit fur around the neck line and shoulders, the rest were a pail gray blue felt. Very comfortable for this cold weather that is happening now. The yelling was much closer now as I slipped on the rabbit fur dress with some rabbit boots. I approached the door, but went to the window instead to get a better view of what was going on. Looking outside, I noticed a group of people moving past my house.
They were running after something it looked like.
‘What the hell?’ I thought to myself, curious of the groups intentions. I had an uneasy feeling on what they were chasing. I swiftly grabbed my hooded fur cloak and opened the creaky door. It was loud and the sound of the splintering wood drew some unwanted attention of the crowd. “Celeste!” A man yelled. I muttered the words ‘son-of-a-bitch’ under my breathe and looked at him. It was Jean, the butcher. He is a nice man but very needy. “What are you doing up so late? It’s nearly noon!” He continued as he approached me with a brisk walk.
He smelt of raw meat. I sniffed the air and closed my eyes. I loved the smell of raw meat, especially the smell of the blood that seemed to drench him. I snapped out of my trance and I could feel my eyes turn to a golden colour, my internal instincts coming through. I adverted my gaze from him in any direction I was able to do.
“I was just-“ he cut me off.
“You were just what? Sleeping?”
“….Yes. I was. Do you have a problem with it?” I said, slightly aggravated from my instincts coming out. “I have no problem with it, but the others might! You know how they are!”
“Not really, nor do I care,”
“Well you tell that to them! They want everyone up by the crack of dawn and get to work!” He exclaimed and chuckled a bit, amused by his own words. I faked a smile and continued to look away, hoping my eyes would go back to normal. I truly did not want his attention at the moment. He wiped his hand on his bloodshed apron and patted my shoulder. “Well, best get back to the group! I’m sure they got the beast by now,”
“Jean, what is going on? Why is everyone running around with weapons? And what do you mean by ‘beast’?” I asked. He seemed taken aback a bit.
“Oh… Uh...” he looked down at his hand that held a pitch fork; it was rusty and smelt of wood rot.
“Haven’t you heard?” He looked back up. “There’s a wolf running around! And it looks to be that wolf that has been bothering us for so long! You know that big black one that killed the Blacksmiths daughters?” He said. The wolf? I thought the mother did that. She was sentenced to death in the morning for it until they found her body ripped to shreds in her stone cell a few weeks back. They still couldn’t figure out what got in there and did that. Scared the whole town. “A wolf? Are you sure you’re not chasing something else, like a bear?” I asked, trying to see if he was mistaken. Wolves don’t normally hang around a village or town and typically hunt in packs. Rarely do you ever see one by itself. “Of course I’m not mistaken! I know my animals! I am the butcher after all!” He seemed to exclaim proudly. He was too proud and full of himself, which I found quite annoying and so did his wife, bless her soul. “I’m just making sure. Last time someone yelled, ‘wolf’, the whole town went berserk and ran around the forest looking for the nonexistent animal. I don’t like seeing people throwing axes and shooting bows around, especially after last time.” I said, gesturing to the still imbedded blade on the roof on my house.
He looked over to it and smiled from embarrassment. “That was not my fault! That was the blacksmith! He’s a crazy man and you know it, gods bless him!” Jean announced to me, trying to make his point clear and divert the blame off of him. Jean’s embarrassed look faded quickly and he looked down the path to his right to see who was around. Only a couple of people were in that direction, running around with torches in their hands and yelling for whatever to come out. I looked over as well and then into the other direction. A slight fog covered that direction and it seemed to be coming in this way. This will be fun, watching everyone freak out and hide in their houses.
“Celeste.” Jean called my name and drew my attention away from the fog and to him. A widened my eyes a little to signify that he has my attention. My eyes have gone back to their normal light brown colour, so I knew it was okay to look at him.
“You know that I am always here for you if you need me to be, right?” He continued. Jean gave me a sweet look, expecting me to give one back. I wasn’t able to though. I just don’t have the heart to give that back to him. It’s not in my nature for me to give out love like this or to people who are only acquaintances. I just gave him a solemn smile and turned back to my house to go back in, putting my hand it and pushing it open slightly before he caught my arm. “Celeste,” I peeked over my right shoulder to look at him. “I’m being serious. I’m here for you.” I just nodded slightly and continued into my house, pulling my arm away from his grip and shut the door and caused a slight slamming sound. I leaned against it and slightly turned to the window, sliding over to it to peek out the window. Jean looked at the door, looking saddened by my reaction to his words. I wanted him to leave. I don’t have anything for him here and I don’t know why he is always after me. He left after a few seconds of standing there, wanting to knock on my door. I left the window and sighed, walking to table that held dirty plates and clothing that was in the process of being sewn. I took the plates and walked to the small kitchen. I went to the bucket on the floor, dropping the dishes into it and throwing a towel onto the rim, only half of it went in and the other half dangled on the other side. I just woke up and I’m already drained, just from Jean talking to me. I imagined the smell of the raw meat and blood that lingered on him. It was heavenly. I haven’t had good meat in ages. I only had it when he snuck me a good lamb’s rib cage and the hind quarters during the rough times we had, which was a lot. The animals didn’t linger around our villa very often and we would have to go hunting. But the pack of wolves would get to them first, resulting in us going farther into the forest and fields just to get one animal.
I sighed once more and left the dishes in the bucket. I wasn't in the mood to clean and I sure as hell didn't want to get wet. It was getting to cold outside and it would be a very bad to walk around wet or damp. The winters were pretty cold and can tend to become violent if they want to. I walked out of the kitchen and back into the small living room which held a small dinning table, a bed, a dresser, a few cabinets and 2 wardrobes. I sat down at the table and looked at the dress that was being made. I was creating a dress that had deer skin going around the waist and parts of the torso like a corset, parts of the shoulders and on the bottom rim of the gown. I picked up a needle that still had string attached to it and started weaving it through the fabric and fur. I continued this for a good few hour until it was finished with my work and moving onto a different dress. Doing the samething but with a snow rabbits fur instead of deer fur. I continued this for a while, going back and forth on furs.
