The Quiet Changes
My hands shook as I looked at them in the weak sunlight.
They looked normal. Human.
But something felt different.
My fingers felt a little longer, my nails a bit thicker, almost hard.
I moved them, and I felt a strange, new strength under my skin.
It was small, a quiet change after the big change.
I touched my face, feeling my jaw and nose.
They felt the same too.
But maybe not exactly.
My cheekbones felt sharper.
My eyebrows felt heavier.
It was like my bones had changed a little.
When I looked at my face in the frozen water, it was still me, but somehow… different.
The world around me seemed clearer.
I could hear a squirrel talking far away and the soft sound of snow falling from a high branch.
I heard them really well, better than before.
The air had lots of smells, and I could tell each one apart.
It was like my senses were turned up all the time now.
I closed my eyes tight, trying to remember changing into the beast.
The full moon, the bad pain, losing control.
But it was hard to remember, like trying to grab smoke.
I saw quick pictures in my head – a weird face in the moonlight, my clothes ripping, a loud animal sound that wasn't my voice.
It felt like a bad dream that was still a little bit real.
What was happening to me?
This couldn't just be one time, a bad dream that was over.
The small changes in my body, the stronger senses… they meant it was something more, something that would happen again.
I really needed answers.
My mind tried to think of anything.
Old stories, things people used to say. Werewolves.
That word made me feel cold and scared.
It was like a scary story.
But the changes in me… they were like those stories.
It was terrifying.
Could it be true?
Was I… becoming one of them? That thought was horrible.
It meant my life would be scary, and I would be dangerous to everyone I cared about. Especially Elara.
I sat down in the snow.
The cold went through my skin.
My mind raced, trying to find a way to stop this.
But the quiet forest didn't tell me anything, only my own fear came back to me.
I had to understand.
I had to know what I was, what I was becoming.
The blurry memories of changing didn't help.
They just showed me a strong, animal power I couldn't control.
Days went by. I looked for food.
My stronger senses made it easier to find small animals, but I remembered the rabbits and didn't hurt them.
Feeling bad about what happened stayed with me all the time.
I looked at myself a lot, trying to find more changes.
My teeth felt a little sharper, the pointy ones a bit longer.
I felt stronger, even when I wasn't trying.
It was a slow change that was happening even when I looked like a human.
Then I knew. This wasn't over.
The beast wasn't gone.
It was still part of me, hiding inside, slowly changing me, getting ready for the next full moon.
It would happen again.
I felt so sad. How could I live like this? A monster waiting to come out is dangerous to everyone.
Thinking about Elara, her fear, and her tears… always reminded me of what I had become.
One night, when the sky was getting dark, I sat under a big tree.
I started to feel that bad feeling again like I was going to change.
My arms and legs felt restless, my chest felt tight.
I closed my eyes, getting ready for the pain.
Then, I heard it. A long, sad howl in the quiet forest. It sounded like a wolf.
But it wasn't my howl.
It was deeper, and it sounded old and wild.
I felt really cold. I wasn't alone.
There was something else out there.
Another one like me?
Another person with this scary problem? That thought made me even more scared than changing myself.
If there was another one… what did that mean? Were they dangerous?
Were they like the scary beast I became? I thought I would be alone, trying to keep the monster inside.
But that howl changed everything.
I stood up, listening carefully, looking into the dark woods.
The howl came again, closer this time.
Was it answering something?
Was it a warning? Or something else?
Knowing I might not be the only one who changed was a surprise, and it made things feel much more dangerous and complicated.
The quiet changes inside me weren't the only sounds in the forest anymore.
There was another voice, wild and unknown, and it was calling.