Moonlight

I don’t know how long I’ve been running, nor do I care. I just know I have to get away, escape from the creature and its rancid, hot breath. I can almost hear its heavy paws giving chase, snapping the slender branches on the ground as it covers the distance between us. The hair on the back of my neck rises and I have to force my fear down or else I’ll stop, my legs will give in and I won’t be able to go on.

I must not stop.

I must not turn back.

Suddenly, my foot gets caught in a raised root. I fall hard, scrapping my hands and knees with a few sharp rocks. I scramble back to my feet, cutting my right cheek with a nearby branch. The smell of blood registers first and I cover my nose and mouth with a trembling hand as I resume my desperate escape.

Nausea rises in me, along with another urge. I can feel it running through my veins, slowly poisoning my very soul with each ragged breath. But I’m still in range, I have to get away.

Pain hits me like a truck, demanding my immediate attention to what I know is unavoidable. It has finally reached me. I can’t go any further now. Oh, God, I tried! You know I tried! I close my eyes and let the images engulf me, the memories of the fatal night that changed my life forever. Sharp fangs covered in my blood flash before my terrified gaze before they resume their feast. I hear a gunshot, a painful whine and the voice of my rescurer in my mind, an echo of a time long past.

The creature was destroyed years ago, but I always recall the doomed chase in nights like this. It forces me to run faster, to place enough distance between us for the sake of those around me.

But it always catches up with me in the end.

Bones snap and rearrange themselves, wrapping me in pure agony. Thankfully, the process is quick and soon only my rough panting disrupts the otherwise silent park. Shaking the thick, black coat of fur covering this distorted version of what once was my human body, I feel my rationale slowly give in to the primal instincts that drive my hunger now.

It’s time for another chase, but this time, I’m the hunter.

I’m the creature.