Chasing The Moon - Paris-Amy'Louise Hastings (ready to read books txt) 📗

Running, running like a small stream breaking free from the mouth racing toward the foot. The solitude of the trees that stand tall above the slow moving river, blocking the insistent rays of the blistering sun. Thundering through the undergrowth's thick with brambles, roots and small creatures that scamper away into hiding.
Panting, panting like the taunting whispering of the wind stirring the newly green leaves. Four padded paws claw at the soil kicking up dirt, upsetting the stillness of the ground. Twisting this way and that way, avoiding the tree trunks that obscure the pathway ahead.
Resting, resting please no more running. Far enough, far away from the enemy.


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The young antelope stooped low sniffing at the ground, the air. Safe. She took a few silent, tentative steps careful not to upset the fallen leaves and reached the edge of the stream. She bowed her beautiful head and with a delicate pink tongue, lapped at the cool, clear, refreshing water. Even water such as this, however, did not rid her of her anxiety, she was a long way from the safety of her herd. The strange rustling of branches unsettled her more as she watched her surroundings with curious amber eyes. The female was vulnerable. A victim to the now deafening silence that zoned in on her. A silence with yellow gleaming eyes and sharp snapping teeth that tore her throat apart. Savoring her warm blood and shredding the meat from her bones. The silence licked it's lips with a large rough tongue and slunk back into the shadows, tired still from running, it laid down to rest again.

As a young child I was always left on my own. Alone. I learnt to fend for myself, teaching myself how to hunt, find water and make a basic shelter. The necessities for human survival. I found myself often wandering about aimlessly, wondering if anyone noticed if I never came home; Probably not. No one really cared about what I did. As long as I was out of their way I was fine. As I sat upon a hill, I said goodbye to the sun as it set on the horizon. The clouds that surrounded it had turned a slight shade of pink, why? I never knew. I was never taught the fundamentals of this world and how it worked or why it worked in the way that it did. All I knew is that if I didn’t eat I’d die, if I didn’t drink I’d dehydrate and die. My life just seemed to revolve around death. But yet on this hill I'm as free as can be. Peace and tranquility is my plan. Was I Good? Evil? Most definitely, probably both but yet not quite either of them. All these years of trying to be at peace had become a great pain and an almost constant fight. How did I come to know these words, these places? Who taught me things that I knew already, my mother? Father? Or just myself? Why were we born, why did we die? What were we put here for? The purpose of life? These questions I knew would stay with me until the end of time, yet I still tried to answer them everyday. Sometimes I almost think that they may be the purpose of life; trying to answer all these seemingly impossible questions.
I surveyed my surroundings and looked at as far as my eyes could see. In the distant I saw mist covered mountains, reaching toward the skies, the last rays of the sun shining through the clouds opening the gateways to heaven. Was there a heaven? A hell? All I knew that this was life, and I was living it. The valleys that lay below the mountains were becoming darker now with the ending of daylight. I could barely see the streams that ran through them just every now and then when the water caught the rays, and glittered like a myriad of thousands of diamonds. The gossamer clouds obscured my vision to see any further than the cathedral like mountains. I let out an aspirated sigh and flopped backwards, wincing as a small stick snapped between my shoulder blades. Adjusting my body so that I was in a more comfortable position I gazed up at the sky and watched the clouds lazily float by, thinking about what could have been, the here, the next and the now.

I woke with a start to the sound of distant howling. Wait… I was asleep? I thought back to when I was watching the clouds and figured that I must’ve fallen asleep. Damn. I hated falling asleep during the day, it always made me lose track of time, and now as I scrambled to my feet, I looked around for some sort of clue to tell me what the time was. Looking up I consulted the stars that were now shining high above, moving my eyes to the right they settled on the moon. Horror clamped at my heart and I dropped to my knee’s. No! Please, please no! Before my chapped lips could even form the word ‘help’ I was lost in a darkness that I had feared all my life. When I finally could see the pain seared through me. The corners of my eyes view shadows taking form, swift visions of light flash violently tearing apart reality. Sounds of laughter accompany movements seen in my peripheral vision. Then came the violent headaches, numb limbs, uncontrollable shakes. The numb limbs were the only thing I was grateful for as my body morphed, bathed in the glow of the full moon.

My skin stretched and became taut over my bones, as memories of that day flashed through my mind. The stars seemed to fall from their resting place and rocket down to earth landing on my back burning into my flesh. I tried to scream to see if that would release some pain but the noise caught in my throat and I choked. I gripped the grass below me as I was thrown forward onto all fours, my backed arched as I felt my spine crack in four different places, my legs bent into an awkward angle and snapped into place. My arms grew longer and again I tried to scream as all the tendons strained, a few snapping. The muscles all over my body convulsed as I twitched uncontrollably. A low guttural growl rose through my stomach un-blocking my throat, I clenched my teeth as I finally found the strength to stare at the moon and in my last few seconds of a human form I forced my voice box to work for a few vital seconds and cursed out loud to the shining, placid moon. I was still on the hill. My body full of fur, a new shadow, new vision, new strength. I was renewed. I threw my head back and let the full force of my new form known by letting out a loud howl. Twice, three times. He was back.

There was no controlling it. My body succumbed to the darkness, it was taking over. The light in my eyes was being quenched. The full transformation finally took control as the large wolf slinked into the forest, flicking its tail as it went. A hunger in its belly dominating all senses.Bright yellow eyes scanned around looking for its prey. Although very large the werewolf blended in nicely next to a large rock, its fur almost the same color as the darkness that surrounded it. Finally his eyes locked onto movement between the trees. It was a woman. Her tawny brown hair plaited into a neat bun, bright green eyes glowing with curiosity. She held in her hand a finely crafted bow, with a sack full of arrows slung around her shoulder. She carefully stepped over branches, almost silently. The female’s ears were sharp and listened out for every noise. The hidden wolf knew better than to move if he didn’t want an arrow through his head. Instead he whipped his tail, and stopped dead when it collided with a fallen tree behind him. Crouching lower he saw the female halt and turn slowly towards his hiding place amongst the trunks. He almost cursed to himself when a few upset birds flew up out of the forest, giving away his position more. Pulling himself into an attack position he let a small warning growl escape his lips, baring his teeth. Somehow he didn’t care if that arrow hurt. He was hungry and female human or not, she was food.

The female took a step backwards and almost gasped as she saw the full shape of the animal in the trees. She had never seen anything like it before and knew full well that these arrows were not going to save her life right now. Soon she was flying through the forest back the way she came, using the next survival thing she knew, speed. A barrage of noise alerted her that the creature wasn’t that far behind her. Weaving through the trunks and leaping over fallen branches, she pressed on faster, relying on her ears to tell her how far she was in front. Suddenly a ludicrous idea ran across her mind and she turned sharply to her left, raising her arm to catch a tree branch above her she swung up and over landing gracefully on her feet up on the arm of the tree, high above ground and watched as the large fur covered creature streaked below her and further into the forest. The female sat there for a while making sure it didn’t return then scaled carefully, quietly down to the ground and proceeded to flee back through the forest where she came from.The werewolf howled in defeat as he dropped to the floor, panting as fatigue took over his body. He was beaten, by a woman no less. But alas, tiredness drifted into his senses. Hunger gripping at his stomach, he rolled over and fell into a restless sleep.