Honourable Mention for Aim to Engage 2022 WattpadShortStory prompt: Written by _KittyCruz_
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The night is deep and the moon is full. I run as fast as I can. Through empty streets. Through dirty alleyways. Through corner after corner of dark, eerie paths. Around me are only abandoned buildings and houses, the strong scent of chemicals, and piercing silence.
Then, the puppy I'm cradling barks. I hold it closer. "It's alright. You're fine now." My gosh. I still can't believe what I'm doing. But I just can't leave him.
I bump into a dead end.
Shit.
"You've got nowhere else to run." A middle-aged man in a suit blocks my way back to the main street.
"Gee, thanks for stating the obvious." I pretend to be brave even though I'm trembling in fright. Here I thought I was looking forward to dying.
He says, "Just give me back that thing and tell me who sent you then I might spare your life."
"No way! And, I already told you, I was... just passing by." Actually, I went to this ghost town to dramatically set myself on fire in my mother's old house. But as I entered the town, this cute gray puppy ran toward me and hid behind my feet.
"That hound is a killing machine. An ordinary human cannot tame it," says the man.
Well, he wouldn't believe me even if I say the truth that animals have been strangely attracted to me ever since I was a kid. My 'friends' even called me "Disney Princess." Deep inside, they and my family all think I'm a cursed vegetarian weirdo or a witch. I've been bullied by everyone around me. It was only my mysterious, dead mother who actually cared about me so I was thinking of perishing along with her memory.
But this puppy appeared.
The man clicks his tongue. "Very well. I don't care who you work for anyway. You will die now!" He grabs the whistle hanging on his neck and blows it hard. Immediately, five very muscular men jump from the top of the buildings around us. "Kill her!" The middle-aged man commands and the men obey.
They bare their teeth before me and then look at the moon above. Running in my direction, they start to transform. They grow fur... and fangs... and turn into wolves!
They're werewolves!
I-is this true?
I scream.
But, as we look into each other's eyes, I feel the energy I feel whenever I attract animals flow from me to them.
They stop. Eyes suddenly clear, they blink at me. Then, they bow.
"What are you doing? I told you. Kill her! You're under my magic. You should be obeying my every command!"
One of the werewolves looks at the man. "Not anymore." Soon, the man runs away as he is chased by two of the werewolves.
The remaining werewolves turn to me. "Finally," they say, "we've been waiting for you, daughter of Artemis."
Mother is Artemis?
My heart stirs.
Could this be... the beginning of my story?