I felt the blood raging through my veins. I could feel every cell changing,

                                                morphing me into my other self. My vision became better, giving me night

                                             vision. I looked up to the full moon, which now appeared to be shining as bright

                                        as her brother the sun. I closed my eyes to her and felt her cold breath on my skin.

                                    The small hairs all over my body were growing longer and thicker, making my skin

ache and hurt. They grew until they were covering every inch of my body. To a stranger I must’ve looked

like a man covered in fur. 

But that would change soon. Very soon.

My fingers grew longer, thicker and stronger. They turned into claws, stronger than my human hands would

ever be. My feet were changing into big, strong paws with sharp, two inch long nails and pads to quiet my

movements. My arms and legs grew longer and stronger. My ribs broke as a result of my lungs expanding

and I felt as if my skin would crack. The ribs healed again, this time providing enough room for my bigger

lungs. My back was now curved because of the weight of my chest. Now an enormous headache came up. It

felt as if my skull would split open, as I knew it would. My skull was changing into something between a

wolf’s and a bear’s skull. I fell to the ground, panting. The torment of the transformation, though taking less

than a minute, was finally over. Once again I walked the skin of mother earth as a crossbreed between a

human and a wolf.

The morph had taken an immense amount of energy and I needed food. If I didn’t get something to eat

quick, I would not have enough energy for the transformation back into my human self and that would

mean being a werewolf until the next full moon. Many had gone mad this way and I was not planning on

doing the same.

My smaller friends called out to me. The pack of wolves nearby sent me images of a flock of deer into my

head. My wolf instincts screamed food. My human self was hesitant. But, the wolf now reigned. I followed

their energy to join them for the hunt.

As a pack we were one, like one big, beautiful creature, as if there where no such things as individuals.

Together, we separated the sick and weak deer from the strong, healthy ones. We chased them until they

could run no more and I sank my claws into a young deer’s back, pushing it to the ground and breaking its

back. It was in too much pain and didn’t have the energy to fight anymore. I bit its neck, breaking it. Blood

gushed out of the wound, draining the deer of the little life it had left.

One of the whelps wanted to start eating right away, but I snapped it to its place. There was an entire pack

to feed, so it would just have to wait. The whelp turned to watch the pack hunt and learn as much from it as

it could. When finally the hunt was done I started eating. I was the only one allowed to eat together with

the alpha male and female and only when all three of us were done the minor wolves could ease their

hunger. The leftovers were enough to feed the carrion birds that had followed us during the hunt and were

now gathered around us. The moment we had turned our backs to the corpses, they flew towards them and

started feeding.

We retreated to a spot at the base of a huge waterfall, where we drank until we’d  had enough. The little

ones played in the shallow parts of the river, practising fighting and hunting. The rest of the pack laid down

on the riverbanks. One of the more arrogant wolves wanted to show his wrestling skills to the females, but   

could find no wrestling partner. I told him I would wrestle with him, but he would have to wait a little while.

My stomach was too full to wrestle now. The wolf growled, and went to the whelps to play with them a little

while. However, due to the stamina the whelps had built up, he was exhausted by the time I was ready to

wrestle with him. He wanted to go on though, so we found ourselves a spot where we didn’t bother any

other wolves and started circling each other. I bit towards his hind, but missed intentionally. I toyed with

him. He backed away a little, but quickly regained his composure and did the same with me. He obviously

expected me to back away too, but I fell out toward his neck, which startled him. I had his neck between

my teeth, and I put a little pressure on it. He whined and I let go. The score was now 1-0 for me. He tried

jumping on me, but could only reach my tail. He knew werewolves were faster and stronger than normal

wolves, but he always kept trying to beat me. He never succeeded though.

Suddenly the alpha male stood up. He had heard something. We stopped our fighting and listened for any

signs of hostility... a twig snapping, leaves rustling in the wind created by a creature stalking by. I tried

talking to it; it was another wolf. I told the rest of the pack, and they all growled. Their neck hairs were up

and they took a threatening position. I sniffed the air. The other was coming closer, unimpressed by our

pack. Now it emerged out of the woods, and the resemblance startled me. It was like looking into a mirror .   

This was the first time I saw someone like me. The first time I could see how threatening, filthy and

grotesque I really was. Of course I had known all along, but I had chosen to ignore it and follow my

instincts, and the pack.

They didn’t know what to do. They asked me, but I was too startled by the sudden appearance of someone

like myself. The werewolf hadn’t noticed me yet.

The alpha female communicated with it. She told it I was here, and that I would probably want to meet it. It

asked where I was, and she told it. It looked at me, it’s eyes yellow with a red hue. Slowly, we walked

toward each other. When we stood face to face, we reached out with our noses to sniff each other. It had a

scent of wolf, mixed with a faint human scent. I didn’t smell any blood, so I knew it hadn’t eaten yet. It

needed food, and quick. I signalled the pack. It was all right, this wolf was no threat. They eased a little.

I took the wolf to the remains of the deer. There wasn’t much left, but it would be enough to provide the

energy needed to survive and transform back into it’s human self. I told it to start eating. The wolf

hesitated, but started anyway. The birds flew away angrily and landed in the trees surrounding the dead

deer.

While the werewolf was eating, I caught some rabbits. I ate a few myself and left the rest for the other wolf.

It accepted them thankfully.

When we were both done we returned to the pack. They welcomed me and were still a little bit wary of the

other wolf, but they didn’t attack it. It drank from the river and laid down away from the pack. I joined it. I

asked it to tell me about itself but it didn’t respond. I asked again, and this time it said something: “Please,

I don’t want to talk about myself right now. I’m still weak. Why don’t you tell me about yourself while I

regain my strength.”

I was startled. It was a woman’s voice.

“All right, I will tell about myself.” I was very curious about her, but realised this was probably the only way

to get to know her. I told her my story:

“I had just turned twenty-one when I got bitten. I had been taking a walk in the park to look at the full

moon when suddenly I saw a figure standing in my way. It didn’t move, but I just walked on. Just when I

was passing it, it grabbed my throat and dragged me into the bushes along the path. What happened then

is all a big blur, but I remember lots of pain. I think I struggled, but of course that would have been useless.

The next thing I remember is waking up in hospital, surrounded by beeping and humming machines, tubes

inserted into my arm. I waited a long time for a doctor to come and tell me what was wrong with me. When

finally one came, all he said was that I had been bitten by a big dog in several places. They had given me

shots against rabies and would keep me here for observation for a few days, but then I would be free to go.

The days passed and I left the hospital. At that point I still believed I really had been bitten by a dog. I

didn’t pay any more attention to it, until the full moon.

“I was just sitting on my couch, watching the late news. I had a strange feeling in my stomach, as if I was

nervous for something. I was restless. I was flipping the channels, passing all kinds of interesting programs,

but I couldn’t watch any of them for more than a minute. I put it out and stood up. I went to the toilet, ate

something, even tried to sleep. But I couldn’t. In the end, when I had cleaned the house, sorted out all the

drawers and chests and had done everything I could think of, I decided to take a walk again.

    UNFINISHED

Written by Nathalie van Basten Batenburg