Under a Bad Moon

Under a Bad Moon~*~ Preface

Preface

            “Is she dead?” he asked, delivering another kick to my ribs.

            “Of course she’s not dead, idiot!” his friend spat. I heard the sound of skin hitting skin. “She’s breathing!”

            “Well sorry! For a minute there it’d looked like she’d stopped!”

            “That’s because you kicked her!”

            There was a sigh in the background. “Listen, guys, we’ve got to hide this. Look, she’s already bruising.” Nimble fingers probed my tender skin.

            “What do you expect us to do?” my brother grumbled.

            “She’s still considered unstable, right?” his friend asked.

            “Yeah,” he said, “she just started going to therapy.”

            “Good.” This person scooped me up in his arms. “Let’s go then.” He tossed me over his shoulder. “Let’s make this look like an accident.”

            The world started moving under me. My body swayed with his every step. Going down the stairs hurt, since his shoulder dug into my belly. Hurt rippled through me, not from the pain though, from memories.

            “Dad, Mom, we’re escorting Veronica to the dungeon!” Adrian said loudly as we passed the kitchen.

            “Have fun!”

            “Uh huh.” The door slammed behind them (us?) on their (our?) way out. “So what exactly is your plan?” There was the sound of a lighter sparking, followed by the scent of smoke. I took the chance of opening my eyes and peering up at my brother. He had a cigarette hanging between his lips.

            “We’re just going to leave her out here. Say she escaped and got a little banged up. That’s all.”

            Adrian scoffed. “This is a stupid plan. She’ll only get in trouble and get us in trouble.”

            “Might be stupid, but it’ll work. They’ll believe it.”

            “Fine, whatever.”

            So that’s what they did. They took me out into the woods, walking deep in, way beyond the pack house. I managed to slip into a state of half consciousness on the trip, which helped me block out the pain from the injuries I had sustained. They just dropped me on the ground. They stripped me of most of my clothes and they left me lying in the woods.

            I was appalled. I had expected them to do something stupid exactly like this to say I had just gotten hurt accidently, but this? It was just wrong. They had essentially dumped my body and left me there to the wolves.

            Luckily, they had walked so long and so far that it was dark and the moon was high in the sky. I tilted back my head and breathed out sharply. The shift took over. A shiver ran down my spine, making me arch my back. I groaned in pain and got on all fours. I didn’t fight to stay human. There was no point. I gave in to the shift. I had never done it before, but it was the best thing I had ever done. It wasn’t that the pain had disappeared, it was just that giving in made it so much easier. I wasn’t tensed at all, so my skin stretched more easily.

            In no time at all, less time than usual really, I was standing on all fours in wolf form. I didn’t hesitate when instinct kicked in. I tipped my head back and howled to the full moon that shined down on me from above. Moments later, I heard howls in the distance following my lead.

            I stopped howling soon, dropping my head back and I got into position. My claws dug into the ground under me as I pushed off. I shot through the woods.

            I was leaving. Soon I was gone. They wouldn’t miss me. They wouldn’t care for me. Even the ones than were supposed to always be there for me. They weren’t there, they never had been. It time for me to care for me, myself, and I, the only one that seemed to care about him.

            I ran. I ran from the tainted memories and the empty promises. I didn’t need them anymore.

 *updated version of Prologue :P*