Blood Moon

This is Thirsty, revised and remade

Here I sit, feeling the sweat dribble down my back. Feeling the call, the need to change. I try to resist but it is so strong. It won’t be long now before it will force itself upon me. Signing, I stand, stretch and hear my bones crack. I laugh harshly. I walk over to an open window and look out at the night sky. There she is the unmistakably full moon. So round and plump, seemingly ready to pluck from the night sky. I sigh, and turn around. The house is quiet and dark. There is no need for light when you can see as clear as day.

            Where the hell are they? The family needs to hurry back; they know what night it is. I can’t hold the change off much longer. My teeth grind as my bones shift beneath my skin. Please, hurry….

            After my first change, I told my family, they didn’t believe me until the second change, which they got to somewhat witness. We had to move away from the city into a cabin in the woods. We made a few moderate changes, such as adding a few guns in each room of the house. Put up of course so the boys won’t get them. We also added steel shutters that can be pulled down and locked to each window, and the front and back doors. They lock themselves in while I am locked out; it was the safest thing we could think of.

I hear a car door slam. They’ve made it back just in time. I open the door to greet them. “Dad, remember to close the steel shutters. I can’t hold on much longer, I have to go. Have to put distance. Will see you all in the morning.” A shudder reverberates through me. My dad looks at me, “I know what we must do, YOU just go. I don’t need you near enough to possibly slaughter us all.” He pushes me towards the door. “Hurry up and get out of here!” As I stumble forward, I hear the door slam shut, followed by the clatter of the window shutters being drawn. I run through the forest, as flashes of how it all began burn in my mind.

Back when we had lived in the city, I had been walking home from a party almost a year ago. I was a wee drunk and stumbling around but I was getting to where I needed to go. The moon was full and lit the way.  It was somewhat chilly and I hadn’t brought a jacket. To make the trip home a bit shorter I had decided to cut through the park.

I was walking near one of the trails when I heard this low, deep growl. I had stopped because it was such an unusual noise to hear in the park. I had waited and listened intently to hear it again but there was no sound. So I shrugged it off and kept walking. Minutes later I heard a deep thudding, like something big was running. I turned to look behind me and all I saw was this big massive animal with thick black fur before it was on me. I was thrown to the ground and all I could feel was pain everywhere. This beast was clawing and biting me wherever it could get flesh. I tried desperately to fight back. All of a sudden it stopped and I looked up to see its muzzle inches away from me, these big yellow eyes staring down at me. Its breath was putrid and if I hadn’t already been crying, it would have brought tears to my eyes. I saw awareness there, in those eyes. As if, this beast knew what it was doing, and was excited by it. It had only been for an instant but to me it had seemed like minutes. Then, it got off me and ran off. I turned just in time to see that it had been a VERY large wolf.

I don’t know how long I had lain there, thinking I was going to die. It was probably only for a few minutes but it seemed longer. Finally summed up some courage to try and move only to discover that the movement didn’t hurt. I had gotten up and looked down at myself. My clothes were shredded and flesh was sticking out everywhere, but most of it was whole. Not torn or marred or even gnarled. Blood was everywhere. It was all over the ground, on me, and especially soaked into what little was left of my clothes. I wiped away what I could on me only to see no wounds. All that was there were tons of pink scars. Shaken, I walked as fast as I could the rest of the way home.

I had changed for the first time a month after that. I was lucky no one had been home and that I hadn’t managed to get outside. At least, I had hoped I hadn’t.  It had happened suddenly and very violently. I don’t remember much, except that I was full of rage, terror, and pain. When I came to, the house was shredded. My parents hadn’t believed me until the next shift. I had chained myself up in the basement, apparently, I had nearly gotten loose. I had struggled so hard, that the chains were ripping from the wall. My father thought it would be safer if we moved to deep woods with a cabin. At least they hadn’t abandoned me, or tried to kill me…yet.

My running stopped abruptly as I feel the first of many sharp pains, it is time. I undress and curl up on the dampen ground, hoping that I was far enough away from the cabin.

                       *

The younger of the two boys sneaks out of the cabin. He wants to find his sister and give her a hug, she seemed sad, and daddy had pushed her. He is not yet fully aware that his sister is not normal, nor does he understand why she leaves one night every month. He giggles as he trips over a stick. “Sissy! Sissy, come back! No be sad.” He giggles again as he trips over another stick.

                       *

My bones begin to crack and break, reshaping themselves to fit my soon to be new form. My skin tears and splits as my body grows bigger. My nails fall off as claws take their place. I keel over in the earth as my spine snaps and lengthens to add new bone. My eyes begin to burn as they take new shape and my sight even better than before. Fur begins to sprout all over as my skin recedes. My ears lengthen to points and my hearing sharpens abruptly. I hear my youngest brother calling for me. Oh god no! Why is he outside? They shouldn’t be outside! Then another chill hits me, what if he’s alone? What if they don’t know! They will hear him, they have to hear him! I try desperately to call the change back, but it is far too late. The beast within me rages and writhes. The change quickens as my mind fills with the need to rent and tear. The need to feed and claim what is mine.

I strain against the change, trying desperately to stop it. I hear the boy fall and giggle; it fills me with rage and the need to defend my territory. My mind races, I raise my head and half shout half snarl as loud as I can, hoping the family hears it and knows it’s a warning. As the change completes, my world goes dark.

                                   *

            The boy hears a very scary noise, kind of like a shout. He starts to whimper and turns around to go back home, hoping his sister has returned. He hears his father and mother shout his name. “I here. I come!” He starts to waddle to the cabin as the back door bursts open. “Gavin!” The boy’s dad runs at him and grabs him somewhat harshly. The boy can see fear in his dad’s eyes. He tries to comfort his daddy when he hears a thudding sound. The boy turns around and sees a huge dog. “Doggy!” “NOOOO, Rachel!!!” The boy’s dad yells before the dog runs into them. It bites the boy’s dad in the throat, then turns and right before the dog bites the boy, he hears his mother scream.

                                    *

I awaken on a couch, or what’s left of one. I stretch and feel my bones crack and yawn when the smell hits me. An instant chill hits me as I realize the smell is blood. My eyes open to the horror before me. Blood and body parts are everywhere. Blood covers almost every surface. I get up slowly. The first mangled body I see is my younger brother, or what’s left of him. His back is torn to shreds and his sides eaten through. There are no organs to be seen. I bend over and vomit. Tears start to fall, I hesitate, and I don’t want to progress further to what I know to be utter destruction. I shakily get up and proceed from the living room to the back porch. My mother lies in a heap between the back door and the porch. Her stomach is torn open, pieces of flesh are everywhere. I hold up a hand to my mouth to prevent another volley of up heaving. I tentatively step over her and go outside. My father is on his side, from hear I can see his neck broken and torn. I go to him and stop cold, there in his arms is my baby brother. A huge chunk of him is missing from his midsection, face torn. I drop to the ground as I cry for my family that I tore to pieces and ate.