Volkodlak - The Beginning

1. The Begining

Some see snow as a burden, too much work: You have to shovel it, driving a carriage is often impossible, ice is slippery, and not to mention the bone-chilling freezing out! But not for her, to her, it was a beauty, a rarity. She enjoyed the snow for she could see herself in the snow. She loved the glistening crystals, the warm glow of holiday lights reflecting off it, the way it looks like a marshmallow on rooftops. She had always been aloof as she was different. She wanted to play with those kids around her. She wanted acceptance of the people from her village. She wanted to have friends. Her parents always told her she was special but was she really? 

Azberg, a small village on the foothills Mt. Coopermote. The beauty of the village was ineffable.  It has just a few houses situated remotely from one another. Overlooking a beautiful dell through which a silver rivulet flows like a silver thread. On either side of the rivulet was

terraced fields in which grew flowers and plants of attractive and bright hues. The climate surrounding the village is always pleasant. It is a perfect paradise of beautiful things and quietness. There is no din of city life. The sky is always pure azure, and the clouds are as white and appear as if huge pure white cotton bales are flitting merrily. Beyond the valley are the undulating mountains covered with pristine forests.

"April, the food is ready," The girl heard her mom calling which broke her out of her reverie. She dusted her clothes and ran towards her house, she could feel cold cutting her cheeks making it look like red apples.

"Hello, Mother," April chirped as she stepped inside the house. The warmth of the house already seeping in her bones. She looked at her mother. The warm glow on her face always calmed her down. She stepped in the kitchen to help her mom and started humming the song.

"You know you need to take medicine today.  Your attacks get worst around this time," Her mom reminded her. April nodded her head got back to cutting meat. She knew about her attacks, she would blackout for hours once in a month. Her family took her to the best healer known in the country and yet no one knew the cause of her attacks.

She was given a concoction that would make her fall asleep for an entire day. She always missed the village fair and always wanted to see. Shaking her head to dismiss all the negative thoughts she busied herself in the chores. 

Night came faster and so did the terror. She closed her eyes just to hear someone scream so loudly that she got up from the bed. Blood started pulsating in the back of her head, she could feel the attack coming in, her heart racing, if someone touched her back they would feel her heart beating. She started gasping, breathing had become a task. Veins in her eyes started pumping blood, she was scared as even if a fraction of pressure in her veins increased blood would splatter in her eyes. The panic started as thin cellophane, something her fingers can pierce breathing holes in. In another minute the panic is a deluge of ice water surrounding every limb, creeping higher until it passes her mouth and nose. That's when the attack becomes absolute, shutting her body down.

An invisible hand clasps over her mouth; an equally ghostly hypodermic of adrenaline pierces her heart, unloading in an instant. She felt her ribs heaving as if bound by ropes, straining to inflate her lungs. Her head is a carousel of fears spinning out of control, each one pushing her mind into blackness. She wanted to run; needed to freeze. Sounds that were near felt far away, like she's no longer in the body that lies paralyzed on the bed drenched in sweat.

She was rushed outside into cold air. She could not breathe. Everything was spinning and it felt as if the ground is melting under her feet. She collapses onto her hands and knees, her breathing shallow and quick.

She heard Jay murmur something, but his voice was distant and muffled. Her stomach flips as she hears about a whisper.

Time has come!

 The words haunted her and she could see things and feel things which no one could. She needed her brother, who knew how to calm her down. He knows her truth. 

Aaron! Where are you?

"Don't worry, I'm sure they are taking great care of your brother. Wherever he is."

April gagged at the thought of his calloused hand tugging on her chin. Her body is shaking uncontrollably. She felt  Jay's hands gently rest on her shoulders but she shrugs him off.

It is like she is howling alone, on the verge of something to happen! Things are creeping into her body. Her mind is on fire, thoughts are burning.  She can hear the rustling and smell the ashes. Her shoulders are tremendously heavy, weighing her down, leaving her paralyzed. What an agony she has become to.

 No! No! she has survived, being alone again!

That feeling of solitude has dominated her heart, clinging every thread, catching them. The betrayal of the people she loved the most or she thought, left her heart abandoned, but live there the cobwebs billow like curtains inside her heart. Sadness is hovering over the heart and the mind!

In her dreams, everything has changed! Devouring over memories, slithering back, drinking the venom, thinking it's the remedy for her pain. Ambivalent she is!! Vigilant all she can be, loneliness what she has!

Her hearing is the first to return, then her eyesight followed the suit. She's still shaking as she's push back onto her knees. Jay is quietly squatting next to her, his breath forming white clouds in the freezing air.

"Better?" He asks all she could do was nod. She despised him. She knew who he was behind the garb of niceness. He was somehow related to her brother's disappearance. Today the man in front of him was her childhood friend and today he's the man she hates the most. 

Hate colours the soul. It spreads throughout the entire system, shutting down all other feelings, and becoming central to the life and the intent of the person. The object of the hatred may or may not be present, but the said words and hostile actions against the hated one can dominate at times. One turns his/her attention to other matters, and may for a time be driven in other directions, but then the wave of ill thoughts return with a vengeance. Once again the soul is coloured completely, and all the negative energy that one can muster is thrown into the imagined ill will racing wildly around the mind. Hatred becomes a sickness of the mind and the heart. For where hatred has claimed possession, there is no room for love. Left unchecked, hate can completely poison the soul.

And, she absolutely hated Jay! 

She had one thing in her mind to find her brother and for that, she could go to any lengths. 

I will find you, Aaron. 

She promised herself and started walking to her house, as she stepped on the threshold of the house, she heard a blood-curdling howl that froze her feet. She refused to go inside. It was like every square inch of her body was telling her that she should not step in the house. 

"What is it, Ap?" Jay asks. She turned to answer him and her gaze fell on the moon that shone unusually bright and was red. Her breath hitched and it fell like the moon was calling her. So today was the blood moon, how silly of her to forget that she gets an attack on the full moon. 

She shook her head and turned her back on him and closed the door. 

Tomorrow she shall visit Red Creek. Where it all started.