He was glad that he could go home at 3. He wished he could go home earlier but that was life. Especially, since Kristen had joined, he definitely wanted to leave. Anything to get away from her scent was good for him. It was starting to become a common smell to him and he knew that that was probably a bad sign. He could smell her in every room she was in now, no matter how many people were around, because he’d been close to her in a few lessons and his nose had adjusted to the constant tinge of raspberries in the air.
In time, if she walked into a room full people he would realise straight away even if he was on the other side of the room. He couldn’t get raspberries out of his nose and it was annoying him. It had only been a day and already his body was adjusting to her. His body wasn't supposed to adjust to anything but him. The frustrating fact was that he'd only just realised this.
“What do you mean it’s not your future?” She asked and looked into his avoided eyes.
He had to open his eyes fully to figure out where exactly he was. Too lost in thought, Kristen had snuck up on him again. He sighed quietly in annoyance at her presence. “Nothing.”
“Matt…”
“I said nothing.” He growled and picked up a pencil from the desk, fiddling with it in his fingers. A few minutes to go, that was all, just a few minutes. He could stand her for a few more moments. He was strong enough. He twisted the pencil literally around his fingers and the lead snapped in several places, the wood splintering when the pencil couldn't bend the way he wanted it to.
“You’ll hurt your finger.” She said and he curled his lip slightly, wishing she would shut up and go away. So what if he hurt himself? He could heal if he wanted to. He’d be perfect by tomorrow if he even scratched himself.
“No I wont.” He straightened the pencil out again and it broke into pieces, shattering on the table. He glanced around (though he was on the back row as usual) to check if anyone was watching and of course no one was except Kristen next to him. No one liked to risk turning round in case he saw them looking at him and attacked them or something ridiculous. Who knew what went through people's heads.
He picked up the pencil and engulfed it with his hands, squashing it to pieces. She was watching with expectation and he smirked, wondering how strong she thought he was. Though he didn't like showing off, sometimes he liked to make sure that people realised that he was strong underneath all of his layers. He wasn't just tall and made of bones.
He felt the pencil splinter and snap completely in his hands, felt the lead snap in several places and shrivel into tiny pieces. He squeezed only slightly harder and felt all of it turn to dust. His hands tingled with splinter marks but already they were falling out of him. He looked into Kristen’s eyes and wondered if he should blow it into her face and blind her. Maybe it would teach her a lesson not to talk to people who don’t want to be talked to.
No, he held his hands to his lips and blew gently. The dust wafted and drifted through the air in little particles and the more he blew, the more he opened his hands to let the dust escape. She watched with wide eyes and followed her gaze up his arm to his face, searching his eyes for signs of something. Once the dust disappeared into the air, he dropped his hands and raised his eyebrows at Kristen’s expression. She smiled and breathed out.
“Nice trick.”
He shrugged in response.
Realising that she wasn't going to get much else out of him, she continued, “Can you show me how you do it? Where’s the pencil gone?” She glanced around him to his sleeves for any sign of the pencil. Of course she wouldn’t believe that he’d actually destroyed it and turned it to dust. He tapped his nose and his eyes darted to the clock.
3...2...1...
The bell went and he was first out of his seat. Kristen jumped at his sudden reaction and her face fell. He didn’t care though. He had to go, now. He pushed his chair under the table and flung his bag onto his back, shrugging on his jacket and iPod.
“Well, see you tomorrow.” Kristen murmured as he flipped up his hood and stalked out of the door without even a goodbye. He exited the building before any other student and quickly turned on his music to a low volume. He loved the outside with no one about. There were cars, sure, but they wouldn’t believe what they saw.
His bounced on the balls of his feet and let his strength soar. Holding it back all day was very tiring and made his muscles ache with tension. Now he relaxed as much as he could ever do in a human form and let the animal inside him attack his muscles like a fire. He dug his toes into the ground and made his bag comfortable.
He wasn’t going to take long to get home. He loved running freely but he couldn’t run far unless he was seen by accident and it was more suitable for him to go to a local college than to go somewhere far away where he'd look silly walking home from. He hated public transport and he didn't see the point in driving when he could get somewhere quicker through a casual jog.
He wished he could move further away but if he did he wouldn’t be able to go to his college anymore and he didn’t want to bother with meeting even more new people. Anyway, he still felt kind of - not really - normal when he was at the college, as if all the madness hadn’t happened to him and his little sister was still excited to join him after the day had ended.
He stopped dawdling and closed his eyes before pushing off on the ground and speeding away faster than a car. His feet blurred and probably so did he, though he couldn’t exactly see himself running. He turned three times and already he was at home. He sighed and glanced at the clock on his wall as he came in, switching off the alarm. One minute, a new record he thought.
He closed his eyes and dumped his bag on the side. It was getting dark already and he kind of liked that fact in a way. He hated what he was but he couldn’t help but love the freedom when he changed, able to run anywhere he liked and have fresh food to eat.
He took off his jacket; he wasn’t cold anyway. He was never cold nowadays, not since he became what he was. It was a good thing but also a bad thing. Everything else seemed cold and dead to him, even people. He didn't purposely touch others but when someone bumped into him and their skin pressed against him he always felt a shiver from the lack of body heat they possessed. It was another reason why he hated physical contact.
His iPod was switched off and his TV on as he moved about the living room. There was nothing on that he was interested to watch, after he checked most of his usual channels. He left it blurring away anyway and went up his stairs that he hadn’t improved since his parents had died, his feet thumping against each stair as it took on his weight.
He moved towards his bedroom and then stopped, turning automatically to look at Aimee’s bedroom. It was a response he always had when he passed the room after he’d just come back from college. Every night he’d go in there and see Aimee lying on her bed playing with her barbies. He’d sit down and tell her about his day and then listen to her talk about her day, never forgetting the one boy she’d loved since she turned five but he’d never realised.
He never would now, Matt sighed as he took the doorknob in his hands. He twisted it and slowly pushed the door open. The usual pink had faded because Matt had left the window open for the past year, the curtains wide open too. The fun had disappeared and it felt like a dead room for a dead girl, which it was. He had never moved any of her stuff since she had gone. Her barbies were still sprawled all over the bed, her teddies around her bedside table, her clothes still brewing out of the cupboard.
He closed his eyes and thought about poor Aimee, how he loved her so much and wished she was back. How he hated himself for ending her life, for ending his whole family’s life. He hated what he had become because of what he had done. It had been a difficult time but it had been no excuse. They hadn’t done anything wrong; it had been a bad day, the day he attacked a teacher, the day he destroyed his family, the day he isolated himself from the world and vowed himself never to get involved with humans again where they could be in danger.
He didn’t realise how long he spent in there. He only noticed when his gut suddenly twisted and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He shook himself out of his trance and stared outside. The sky had gone dark, the moon up and shining, clouds hanging in the air above trees. He winced and growled, backing out of the room. Not in Aimee’s room. He couldn’t in Aimee’s room.
He closed the door and staggered down the stairs. He could control it if he wanted to but really he just wanted the time to fly by. The more he waited, the worse he’d feel until he could no longer control himself, the slower the night went. He was glad his neighbours were deaf, glad that no one cared about the noise coming from the house. It was grief, they thought, grief for his family. He was in pain emotionally, not physically.
That wasn’t the case. He was pained emotionally and physically, and it wasn’t for grief.
His body shivered and he winced again, scrunching his eyes up. Why did it have to be so painful? Didn’t he go through enough pain? He trembled as he shrugged out of his clothes. He’d long since realised that he didn’t have enough money to buy so many clothes in a week.
His voice croaked and growled, turning lower and lower with every twist. He bent over and breathed deeply. There was always a painful change, no matter which ways he tried. He’d tried in water and it had made it worse. He had to get on with it and feel the pain numb and ache his whole body.
“Argh!” He groaned and coughed, his voice changing even lower and scratchier. His skin prickled with the sudden coldness, making the process happen even quicker. He screamed as his muscles stretched and bent in awkward places, his bones bending into an animal stance.
He shook his head as he changed, his hair growing. He screamed and shouted out as his skin stretched to its limit and it ripped off, blood covering his whole body. He continued to scream and sob as he sprouted very dark brown hairs all over his skin. His jaw clicked and stayed locked, stretching and widening into a snout and mouth. His eyes widened and changed into dog shaped eyes, his pupils covering the usual icy blue so that his whole eye was black. He changed onto all fours and growled as the last change took place and then a howl escaped his mouth, rippling from the pit of his stomach.
His wolf body shivered and shook and his ears pricked from side to side. His strength bubbled from inside and he stretched his legs out. He was massive, 7 foot, definitely not the normal size of a wolf, but that was because he was only half wolf.
His human mother had seen to that. She'd chosen to have a child, realising full well that they could possibly have this curse. His dad’s side of the family had made him this way but he couldn’t blame them for everything. There was no certainty that made them believe that Matt could have inherited the illness. Matt knew nothing of what he was. Those who could have told him were all dead by now.
Matt howled loudly and opened his mouth, licking his sharp canine teeth. He clicked his spine and panted as his hairy body insulated himself completely from the cold. He was out of the door before he even noticed that his nails had grown longer since the day before. The cool night breeze whistled through his fur and he shook himself before glancing around, his eyes flashing as he searched for a heat source. It was stronger when he was a wolf, more concentrated in a way. He could smell everything and see everything, every detail and every scent filled his mind.
People sat around the TV in all of the houses beside him, all looking either completely bored or completely interested, no in between. They had no idea that an animal was roaming the streets. It wasn't even that late either. No one ever looked out of their windows anymore. It was probably for the best, Matt thought.
He sniffed the air and caught scent of an animal close by in the next field down the road. It was a good thing to live near cows and sheep and foxes and chickens. There were so many animals to eat. He wondered whether his father had thought about this when they'd moved to this town almost two decades ago. Had he made precautions about whether his children were going to have the gene?
If he had, they hadn't worked too well.
No one noticed if an animal disappeared from a field. All animals disappeared at times when they weren't being watched. Some could come loose from their pen or just get killed by another animal in the next field. There was never much suspicion. Just in case, he visited several farms around the area and occasionally in the next town to stop there being a visible difference. He was a big animal and needed a lot of meat to stay strong and healthy.
There was no point just standing around. Matt twitched his ears to check no one was around and then bounded off into the night towards the new field where a large cow was grazing in the corner. It was very fat, obviously a greedy cow. Matt laughed at that in his mind. He blinked and concentrated at the job in hand.
Slowly, he crouched down to the floor and shuffled forward, pawing at the grass. He waited for the right moment and then pounced, dragging the startled cow through the field and over the fence with a flick of his jaw. The cow landed and mooed with fright as Matt pounced on it again and dragged it into the trees.
The animal continued to make a distress call until Matt clamped his mouth over the neck and pierced the skin, stopping the cow from moving. Blood dripped down his throat and he swallowed, hungry for more. Slowly, he ate the cow and drank it clean, eating every last muscle and chewing on the bones, careful not to leave anything. It was tasty and his eyes turned wild with the smell and flavour.
Once done, he shook himself and kicked the carcass, scattering the leftovers for the other animals to eat. He licked his bloodied lips and curled them, wanting more of that delicious cow. His radar saw hundreds more cows but he knew he couldn’t go for another one from this farm. He backed away and turned, searching the other fields. They wouldn’t mind if he took one of theirs too.
His paws bounced on the pavement as he walked, careful not to be seen by anyone. They were all busy inside and he was happy about that. He hated when humans walked the pavement at night so he had to hide behind trees. It was better when they were all together in one room all watching the TV. He didn’t have to worry so much then; it was less trouble. It wasn't exactly easy hiding a massive wolf in a small bush or tree which hardly covered it's middle.
The next cow wasn’t as big but still looked wonderful. The smell of it's hot blood was like the best smell in the world. He loved the smell of his prey. It wasn’t as if people didn’t smell nice, they did, but the thought of killing someone put Matt right off. At least killing animals made him feel more human, after all they ate animals too.
The animal was just as easy to kill and he did exactly the same to it as he did to all the other animals he killed. The death was instant and so he knew the animal wasn’t in too much pain before it died.
Suddenly something caught the corner of his eye and Matt dropped the animal, ignoring the blood around his mouth. He whipped around and growled, curling his lip in a defensive way.
Matt didn’t expect the snap of smoke that swayed his hair. It was like a cloud of mist hovering beside him. It was alien. He didn’t have a clue what it was. He’d certainly never seen it before in his life. He growled louder, forcing it to stay where it was. It was too far away and he couldn’t smell anything, yet he knew it was alive in some sense. There was a yellow glow threaded around the twirling smoke to show that it radiated heat in some way even if it wasn’t solid.
It hovered around the space and Matt snarled more as it spread further. He didn’t know what it was so he certainly wasn’t going to trust it. He stepped forward with a paw and it suddenly became thicker with air that was practically not breathable to him. He curled his lip and showed his canines, growling louder, his teeth dripping with the animal’s blood.
The smoke instantly sped off into the trees, whipping the wind behind it like a whirlwind. Matt snarled ferociously, his wild instinct kicking in as he followed the glow with his eyes and left the half eaten animal to rot on the ground before speeding off to where the smoke disappeared. Other animals would take his meal. Though he was annoyed about it, he was too preoccupied with his new mystery to consider it further.
He tried to follow the smoke but it was long gone by the time he passed three trees. Matt stopped in his tracks and growled in his throat as he searched his surroundings.
Nothing.
Whatever it was it was very fast, faster than him maybe…How annoying. How come it had only just appeared? It was as if it was trying to show that he wasn’t the strongest and fastest thing ever. He wasn’t the only non-human.
Non human…was he non human? He kind of considered himself as one. If he was one and he was only half then this thing, whatever it was, was probably only half too. Matt was definitely not stupid and it had only turned up now. He was certain it had never come before. If that was true then the only person or non-human that it could be would be Kristen.
It made sense. She had only just moved here and now suddenly this strange smoky stuff was around, watching him hunt and eat. Wait a minute, did that mean that she knew about him? She couldn’t do! Matt staggered back on his paws. No! She couldn’t! She wouldn’t have realised it was him as a wolf. She would only see a very large animal with black eyes, no resemblance to Matt in any physical way. He was being paranoid. Kristen probably wasn’t the smoky thing at all and it was just a coincidence.
What was it anyway? It wasn’t human, but it wasn’t a solid animal. It didn’t even have a body. Yes, of course werewolves had been written about, probably from someone who had had an encounter of one, but people had been writing about them for years and things were probably mixed around. He knew that people slightly bent the truth about his kind but it was only to protect them and everyone else around them. He was better off not being known about. Those who called him a freak now would probably go after him with pitch forks.
People were writing stories from books they had read. There were no books about smoky things that were very fast. If there was, Matt would know, considering as last year he went through almost every mythical book he could find to try and find out more information about what his illness was. It hadn't helped him very much and he'd had to learn on his own, but that was besides the point.
No longer in the mood for hunting and having the rest of his dinner, he shook his shaggy head and flicked his ears. His last catch would probably be found by some kind of other animal like a fox and would be eaten probably before he got back to it so there was no point even thinking about it now. Anyway, he didn’t want to eat any more; he wasn’t hungry. The fat cow from before was big enough for him to go home satisfied. Why he went looking for something else, Matt wasn't sure. He was just being greedy, probably.
Now, Matt was more confused than anything else.
He slowly made his way back home and shook himself free of the smell of his food. Before he’d come out of the house that morning, he’d poured a small cool bath for this moment. He hated being all bloody while he walked around his house, dripping everywhere. He already had to clean the kitchen every morning.
He stepped into the bath that only covered his paws and shivered before dunking his snout into the water and swilling out his mouth. Sneezing, he shook his head before stepping onto the rugged towel that was torn to pieces on the floor. He scratched at it and rubbed his nose all over it, drying himself and ripping the towel even more.
Yawning, Matt shivered again and flicked the towel into the wash basket, flicking the plug out of the bath with his nail so the bloody water would disappear. Eating made him tired but seeing as he hadn’t eaten as much as usual, he still had some energy. Nudging his clothes that lay on the floor, he shuffled them to one side and then slowly slid down onto the floor, bending his legs and lying down on his stomach.
He could have put the TV on but he decided against it. He wanted to figure out what he was going to do. If the smoky thing was Kristen then he wasn’t sure if he should point it out to her. Maybe she didn’t want everyone to find out about her secret change. He could understand that. He, after all, didn’t want anyone knowing that he was a werewolf.
He was curious to know what it was that she changed into if it was her. Was there a name for it? There must be because everything had a name. When she’d touched his hand she felt solid enough. It wasn’t as if he noticed anything different about her when she’d met his skin. In fact, it seemed as if she wanted to touch him. Mind you, he wasn't really focussing much on her, more on her actions. He hadn't wanted to be near her and so maybe that was why he hadn't picked up on anything strange.
Matt whined as he yawned again and stretched out his leg. He needed a massage badly. The muscles were wearing thin even if he was a wolf. All this changing lark had his body contracting at sore places. He was so tense all the time and he hadn’t treated himself in a while. He supposed it was because he felt too guilty and he wanted to punish himself by making himself ache.
He glanced at the time with his strange wolfish black pupils. Only an hour or so until he changed back. He felt like he was in some kind of movie when he changed back, like Cinderella, because he returned at midnight, the most obvious time of the night.
Why did everything always happen at midnight? There was nothing special about that time of night. It lasted for one minute every 24 hours and everyone chose that one minute for something to happen. What a pain. He felt like he was a common fairytale monster. He supposed he wanted to be like everyone else and this time was perfect to be like everyone else, yet he wished he could at least be a minute out; he was different already, why not be different for everything else?
Not wanting to wait for the lack of boredom, Matt decided he should go to sleep. Of course he would wake in screaming pain as he changed back but it would at least add an hour to his usual 4 hours of sleep. The good thing about being a wolf was that you fell asleep almost instantly once you’d decided to and it was incredibly comfortable.
His eyes fluttered closed and his tongue fell slack as he leaned to the side so that he lay on the floor. His legs kicked as he got comfortable and he twitched his nose as he blocked off his mind from his surroundings. There he lay for an hour, dreaming and waiting for the moment where he arched his back and ripped back into his skin.
-------------------------
So did you guess correctly? There were plenty of clues!
What do you think of the grey smoke? Is it Kristen or is it something completely different? Matt is quite smart for a guy so maybe it is what he thinks it is...who knows?
You'll just have to find out ;)