The Wolf (Book 1)

The Moon, The Dark, and a Man.

I sat up in bed, ugh, what was I doing up.

I reached over and picked up my phone and pressed the middle button, the screen lit up and showed me the terrible time of 2am. I sat in bed for a while thinking... what was I doing up at 2am, I have to wake up at 6am... WAIT today is Saturday I can sleep till 10ish, awesome.

I jumped out of bed and pulled on some shorts and my T-shirt. I stuffed my phone, keys, a water bottle (I don’t know why I had this in my room), and some spare clothes just in case into my backpack and slipped my shoes one. I had no idea why I was doing this, all I knew is that I was.

I crept out of my room and opened the front door very slowly. A cold gust of wind hit my face and sent tingles down my spine. I closed the door and stood in the moonlight.

I smiled and as I turned I started to run, this was the life.

It took me about twice as long to find the bunker in the dark and when I got there it was pretty soggy, so I took one of the bin bags I had kept in the corner, opened it and tore it to make a flat sheet of plastic.

I laid it on the ground and put my stuff on there. It was wind proof in here but really cold.

I took off my shirt and made sure my shorts were lose enough to slip off when I shifted.

Once again I thought I was crazy to do this, could I even shift whilst being this cold?

I found that concentration helped a lot in shifting. It took me twice as long as it did before to shift, and I guess my depressed mood wasn’t helping much.

I felt the nausea and felt my insides twist, here we go I thought, and then it hit me.

Once again I was struck with pain, my back splitting, my spine elongating, fur poking through my skin on every inch of my body.

How was I going to keep doing this?

However this time to my relief it was quicker and less painful.

When I did shift I was greeted with the warmth of my thick fur and the gift of night vision.

It was amazing. I knew I couldn’t spend long out here because of parents but still.

Last time I stayed a wolf for about half an hour, this time I would see if I could hold it a bit longer, hopefully it wouldn’t be dangerous... no idea how it could be but still.

I sprang out of the bunker and sprinted all the way to the lookout.

It was calm here, a nice place to think. I lay down and to my relief it was warm, I guess my fur was good enough for some pretty harsh winters.

I saw a deer at the bottom of the ditch or valley and I decided to chase it.

I sprang to me feet and tore down the hill, completely overwhelmed by power, and I forgot everything.

How could I be so stupid, seriously, yes I was a wolf, no I wasn’t unbeatable, invisible, or invincible. I ran straight for the deer but before I got close it ran away and I stopped.

What was I doing? I could have carried on chasing it, or I could have snuck up on it, or been faster... ugh I guess I wasn’t fully awake.

I lifted my head, looked at the moon, closed my eyes and let out a long howl. I don’t know why but you could sort of tell my emotions, and this howl was screaming, lonely, depressed, sad, and a hint of anger.

As I turned back to go to the look out something caught my eye, and there it was; on the hill was a man. Questions soon filled my head such as:

What was he doing there, on the lookout?

Had he seen me?

Was he watching me?

Who was he?

Better still what was he?

Oh gosh, I might be in trouble now. I stared at him, trying to make out who he was. I looked around desperately for an exit in case the worst should come but when I looked back up to look at him, he was gone, as if he disappeared. Weird thing was I didn’t hear him, nor did I smell him. All I could smell was... deer.

I was confused, worried and a bit scared. So I did the clever thing (in my mind) and ran back to the bunker, where I found my stuff undisturbed.

I sat down and concentrated hard on what I was going to do. Shift back. I hadn’t yet tried to shift back and I wondered if it would hurt.

I shifted back much more easily than when I had shifted into a wolf, maybe this was because I was so used to being human, and thankfully, it didn’t hurt near as badly as it did to shift into a wolf, I was glad the pain was beginning to slowly leave me.

I grabbed my stuff, changed back into my clothes, and sprinted back home, it felt like it took longer to get back home than it did to get here. As I ran the image of the “man on the hill” ran through my head over and over. I shook my head and focused on getting home.

I crept up to the front door, took out my keys and inserted the key and then turned it slowly. I opened the door and quietly shut it behind me. I walked into my room, opened my wardrobe and reach out for a bottle of Mountain Dew.

I opened it and started to drink it.

I sat on my bed wondering who the heck the man on the hill was and what I was going to do about it. I reached out and looked at the envelope filled with money, I let out a long sigh and placed it into a safe I had.

Here I was, wondering how I had got here and how I was going to get out. This seemed more than just familiar, it felt like a life pattern.

As I screwed back on the lid of my bottle of Mountain Dew I shook my head and placed the bottle on my desk.

I flopped backwards onto my bed turning off the light as I feel back, I lay there staring at the ceiling in the darkness.

In my head I came up with a plan for tomorrow as I fell asleep.

1.      Shift.

2.      Hunt.

3.      ....

Well I didn’t really have a third step, all that I could think of was shifting and then trying out my hunting skills.

I yawned and closed my eyes, thinking of the day ahead of me and the challenges I would need to face in the not so distant future.