Werewolves

Corin’s gaze is steady as he waits patiently for me to tell my tale. He had asked my how my night started and when I didn’t answer he told me to take my time. I look back at him trying to decide if I should confide in this stranger or if I should make a break for it.  Corin takes a drink of his tea seeming completely relaxed.

“Look, I know I’m a stranger and all this is a lot to deal with, but we need to talk and I need you to tell me what happened so we can figure out what to do next okay? I told you I wouldn’t hurt you and I meant it,” he says taking a lazy sip. “Plus, the faster we get this through, the faster we can both sleep. “

The word sleep catches me by surprise. I hadn’t noticed how tired I was until now. Wanting nothing more to do then to crawl into a bed and sleep I decide to talk to this man. I begin my story with Emily and I going to the party and running into Zach. I leave out a few details like our small fight because they aren’t important. When I get to the part when Emily leaves me with Zach I stop in panic realizing that was the last time I had seen her. Corin calmly watches me and pours me some more tea as thoughts of worry for my friend hit me hard.

“I’m sure she’s okay.”

Startled I ask Corin what he means. “Continue you’re story, I’ll tell you my theory when you’re done,” he states urging me to continue. Slightly suspicious of him I begin telling the rest of my story.

(3 Hours Earlier)

“Let’s go get some air,” Zach commands grabbing my arm tightly. I wince at the strength he uses and try to get out of his grasp. “If you’re worried about your friend, don’t be. I’m sure she will give us some privacy,” he grins confidently.

He hauls me outside and instead of stopping he continues toward the parking lot. I try to pry his fingers from my arm but it’s no use. “Hey, don’t you think this is far enough? I mean you just wanted to come outside right? I think I’ve had enough air let’s go back inside,” I say hoping to persuade him into letting me go.

He just glances back at me with an annoyed look and continues dragging me along. I notice we are approaching a black van and fear grips my heart and I put all my effort into getting out of his hands. He seems to have no trouble pulling me so I resort to screaming for help. That catches his attention and he finally stops.

“They won’t hear you sweet heart there’s no point in wasting your breath,” he cockily states covering my mouth with his large hand. I struggle and kick at him with my heels. “Stop that! I said STOP!” Zach yells. He transfers my arm to his left hand and I see his hand swiftly come up and he back hands me hard. I hit the ground and blurrily look up as he picks me up in his arms.

“See what you made me do? Next time, don’t annoy me and I won’t hit you,” Zach says snarling at me before I lose conciseness.

“He actually hit you? That’s kind of surprising,” Corin says interrupting me. “What happened next?”

“Well...I woke up on the floor of the van and I heard voices so I stayed lying down. Luckily the van stopped because I was able to escape,” I say moving the cup in my hand in small circles making the tea swish around.

“How’d you escape?” He asks me. I look up into his eyes and see genuine curiosity.

“I waited until whoever was driving got out and I peeked to see if I was alone. There was a guy sitting in the back with me playing on his phone and so I pretended to wake up needing to throw up. The guy who was in the back with me didn’t believe me at first but I crawled over to him and pretended to start throwing up. He got upset and practically threw me outside the van. When I landed on the ground I kept up my act until he turned his head to look around. I took my shoe off and threw it at him,” I shivered remembering his scream as my heel stuck in his eye. I tell Corin what happened and he looks at me surprise.

“You’ve got some pretty damn good aim. I wouldn’t want to piss you off when you’re wearing heels,” he says chuckling. “I’m guessing that’s when you ran for it?”

I nodded confirming his assumption. “It was hard to run because my dress though and I just had to run by a thorn bush. It snagged my dress,” I explain shivering in fear remembering what comes next.

“Damn dress! Come on!” I whisper sharply to the piece of clothing as I yank on it trying to get the thorns to let me go. A loud snarling sound stops me cold. Looking behind me I don’t see anything but I can hear something coming through the woods after me seeming to know exactly where I was. Trembling I start tearing at the dress with my shaking fingers trying desperately to get free. Another growl comes through the shrubbery closer this time. I give one last yank and the dress rips.

Stumbling back from the bush I begin to run again when I notice how quiet it is. A slight breeze blows in the darkness and I look around no longer hearing whatever it was coming toward me. My wildly thumping heart is the only sound. A low growl sounds from directly behind me and the hair stands up on the back of my neck and I quiver in fear. My heart pounds in my chest seemingly trying to escape from my chest. I run desperately stumbling through the trees away from the growling.

My feet catch on a dead branch and I crash to the ground. Cringing in pain from the stinging cuts I’m sure to have I hear something following me and a loud howl spurs me to my feet. I run faster than I ever have in my life. Adrenalin pumping through my body making my legs push faster. I hear panting to my left and see a large shape keeping up with me. Fear grips me and makes me stumble as I run harder. Sweat is falling in my eyes blurring my vision as I swerve right hoping to get away from the creature.

A shadow appears in my way and I go back left almost hitting a tree as another shape keeps up with me. These things are just playing with me I realize. My legs are hurting and I’m becoming more and more tired from sprinting for my life. Tears start to form in my eyes as I realize I’m going to die.

I’m about to give up when a loud howl breaks through the forest and the two creatures quickly disappear. Hope spurs me on and I scream for help. My voice echo’s through the trees and a howl answers me. I hear thumping feet from behind me coming closer and I chance a look back.

Two large yellow eyes stare hungrily at me. A wolf the size of giant bear is trailing behind me. Its mouth is hanging open almost like it’s grinning at me. Fear rips through me sending a new flow of adrenalin through to my legs. I run harder and the wolf lazily jogs behind me.

I scream when I feel teeth nip my thigh and I try to speed up. Tears flow freely down my face and I almost stumble again. Stopping cold I stare at the rock wall blocking me from running any further. Fear chokes my heart and I can barely breathe as I feel the wolf's presence behind me.

Its nose presses wetly into my neck pinning me to the rock wall. Whimpers come out of my mouth as I tremble. Teeth nip the back of my neck. My legs give out and I hit the ground heavily. Through my tears I see a stick between my knees. Gaining some confidence I spin around and smack the giant nose.

The wolf grunts and whips its head back toward me snarling dangerously. I shake in fear not able to close my eyes. Its jaws open wide and angrily it snaps down at me. Suddenly something smacks into the wolf making it and the wolf roll off into the trees. I hear snarling and some cracking. Soon I hear padding footsteps running away. I sob openly and shake in terror knowing how close I came to death. Someone stands in front of me and frightened I try to scoot away but they reach down and pick me up. I try to punch whoever it is but I have no strength left.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

“It’s okay, you’re safe now. That’s what I said,” Corin says interrupting the last bit of my story, “And here we are. So I guess it’s my turn now,” he sighs rubbing his face again. “But first, tell me your name. During your entire story you didn’t once mention your name.”

I hesitate but feel he should probably know. “It’s Nia.”

“Okay Nia, I’m sure you’re wondering what’s going on, why an impossibly giant wolf was chasing you through the forest. That questions easy, it was a werewolf. Zach actually, and before you start asking questions,” he says staring accusingly at me when I opened my mouth for just that reason. I glare at his slight sarcastic way of speaking as he continues, “Just let me finish okay? I don’t like repeating myself and there’s a lot of ground to cover,” Corin states watching me for any signs of interruptions. “While we are on the subject of werewolves, I’m also a werewolf.”

I bolt. As soon as the words “I’m a werewolf" come from his mouth I dive out of my chair and out the front door screaming my head off.

Author's Note

Any and all comments and feedback welcome!!!