unexpected change

Leila held her bag closer to her ample bosom as she walked faster towards her destination, her fifth interview. As she walked, she thought back to how hard it had been since that fateful night, on her sixteenth birthday which had coincidentally been a full moon night. She had been walking back home alone, having branched off to leave her friends at the junction. The trail home had always been scary and deserted though both sides of the trail were covered in large trees. Since the time she could recognize things, she had known her home had been in the rural area. Her parents were local farmers who majorly survived on selling farm products.

So, on this particular day, having come home late from school, she passed by that road, singing as she skipped towards her home. Then it started happening. All of a sudden, her skin started itching and excruciating pain paralyzed her as she slowly started changing. First, it had been her hands, immense pain, almost like labor pains passed through her fingers. Her nails grew at a visible rate and then sharpened into what looked like claws. Then had come her back.

It felt like a million ants were biting her spinal cord, her skin bursting, while taking its time. Every bone realigning itself in a particular model. That was not just it. When she raised her face to look at the moon, she felt an involuntary urge to make noise. She opened her mouth but what came out was not her human voice, rather it was a howl. Heart thumping, her mind a cluster of thoughts, she rushed off into the woods, while the pain made her body feel like molten lead.

As she rushed to hide in the forest, she realized that she could see way beyond where she was. At this time, it had already started darkening, the only light being from the full moon and a few stars. Things appeared in detail, she could even see details on the leaves, seeing the stomata and even tiny insects on the tress. All this made her feel horrified. Trying to come into her senses and figure out what had been happening to her, at the same time the pain almost becoming unbearable, she fell splash on the ground.

Almost as if her skin was being peeled off inch by inch, she felt her skin get torn and then the world come crashing to a certain point. Looking down, she could only see paws and then legs that had fur. What the hell was going on, she was an animal? Panicking, she thought of hiding, but at that time she felt a voice from within her mind, thin, childlike, and raspy talking to her. Shaking her head in a bid to make sure she was not going crazy or even dreaming, the voice became clearer.

‘Hey, I am lyra, your inner wolf. I am finally out now, why did you take so long to shift, you should have shifted earlier when you were fourteen years.’ Feeling like she was living in a dream world, everything surreal, Leila started feeling a strange feeling from within her guts. Amplified a million times, she could feel her taste buds begin to whet. The smell of prey, there was prey nearby, she had to fill her stomach. Feeling startled, Leila did not even have time to think about where that thought had come from before she sprinted off towards that particular smell.

Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion and replacing her first feeling of fear was an unexplainable excitement. In a jiffy, she was standing before an antelope, where it had come from, she had no idea. As she came to a standstill before it, she could see the blood pulsating on her neck, the tempo increasing as she kept circling her prey. The tail waggled even faster as the panicked animal looked for a way out. Excitement and feel of thrill-filled her muscles and as the blood kept pulsating, the next thing she knew was that she was standing on top of an antelope.

The neck strangled; her teeth sank deep on her neck. As she drank and had her feel, she felt warm and stronger. Everything felt so easy and by the time she came back to herself, a full antelope lay well nestled in her tummy. Horror-stricken at what she had done, eating a raw antelope and not just that, leaving nothing on the ground to show evidence of an antelope. She had finished everything. Trying to grasp the changes within her, she learned to listen to the voice within her head as she learned how to change back into human form. Following the instructions, she stilled and thought of how she looked as a human so as to change. The first time had been so painful that she had stopped picturing herself before she could even turn back. Taking deeper breaths, she relaxed as that inner voice kept talking to her. So, she was a werewolf, and apparently, she had not been aware.

She had always thought that werewolves were only tales told out of the mind. There was no way they could just exist in the now world. It was too supernatural to accept but here she was. She was a different creature, everything felt new. This change made her feel horrified, how would she cope with all that change. Pushing everything towards the back of her mind, she had tried with everything she had to picture herself human, and with some difficulty, she eventually did turn back.

That night, everything changed. Her perspective toward the world. Was she real and what the hell was happening to her? Were her parents not Mr. and Mrs. Walter. Was all her life a lie, and if so, where had she come from. Why was she an animal among other human beings? She felt trouble trying to come to terms that she might be one of those mythical figures. If a werewolf existed, then did that mean that there was truth in the existence of other mythical creatures. Maybe vampires and mermaids existed.

She did not know how to live with the fact that there was another her within her mind. Her wolf powers became very strong as she stayed that night that by the time she went home, she was a different person.

Coming back from her thoughts, she strode and hurried into the parking lot. The Black. Com company stood tall and lofty in the sunlight. Taking a deep breath, Leila moved on to get to the reception. The interview for a position of a writer had been announced and there were several people who had attended the interview. Looking around, she felt out of place. The place felt spooky and constricting. She could hear all the whispers going all around the place. Nerves flying around everywhere, she sat down and shut off every disturbance.