*7*

I lean on the wall with an over dramatic sigh but I don’t think Kristen can hear me through her giddy excitement as she ogles all the men leaving before Zeke. She doesn’t have to wait long. As soon as the door starts to open she puts on her “Look at me” pose. I have to give her credit. She looks natural in the pose and if you didn’t know her, you wouldn’t know it was a pose. Me, on the other hand, I don’t do poses. I would rather be natural. My natural right now is arms crossed, and trying not to appear as bored as I feel.

On cue, the first guy comes out, looks right at Kristen like metal to a magnet. He gives her a flirty smile, she returns it, and then he goes on his way. She wags her eyebrows at me when his back is turned, obviously enjoying herself. Several more guys come out the same succession of smiles and obscure flirting. Some of the guys look at me as if expecting the same song and dance.

I give them a tight smile with not an ounce of flirting in it. I give them a nod that says ‘yeah, I see you, dude.” Some seem surprised by my response while others seem to find it amusing. Though I will never admit it ever to Kristen, they were all fine specimens of the male species. I kind of did have fun watching them walk by. Soon enough Zeke came out with some other guy. Tall, dark, and handsome fit him pretty well. Girls must fall over themselves for when they see him coming.

“Hey Olivia,” Zeke says, sounding as surprised to see me as his expression shows.

“Michelle had to work,” I tell him and he chuckles, already knowing my love for sports, and gives Kristen a quick kiss.

“Matt, this is Kristen, my girl, and her friend Olivia. Girls this is Matt. He just joined the team,” Zeke tells us.

Kristen gives him a flirty wave, “You were really amazing out there today,” she tells them then appropriately adds, “Almost as good as Zeke here.” Zeke grins, clearly satisfied with her ego fluffing.

“I guess I’ll have to try harder next time,” Matt jokes earning the expected laughs from Kristen and Zeke. “So are you girls going to the party,” he askes

I notice him looking in my direction. “No,” I say at the same time Kristen says yes.

Hearing my no, Kristen pouts at me. “Aww come with us Ollie,” Kristen begs 

I shake my head side to side. “No thanks.”

“It’ll be fun,” Matt says and Zeke shrugs when I catch his attention.

“Sorry, but finals are next week and I hardly touched a book this week,” I explain then for good measure add, “Also I promised my boyfriend I’d call him tonight.”

Kristen huffs with disappointment. Could it be that even Matt looks disappointed? Zeke, however, knows me all too well. “No worries, Olivia, maybe next time. Good luck with the finals,” he tells me.

“Thanks,” I reply. “You guys go have fun. I’m sure Michelle will join when she gets off work.” I wave good-bye to all of them and head home.

Sitting on the couch, I call Kirk. “Hey, how’s your day,” I say as soon as he connects.

“Good. I was just getting into my economics work. How about you?”

“Oh, you know, Kristen dragged me to one of Zeke’s games.”

“She still dating that guy? I thought she would be on to someone new,” he replies, though he sounds a bit distracted.

No doubt he is trying to study while talking to me. Not wanting to keep him from studying I say, “Yeah, but not for long. I’m gonna let you go. I have advanced psychology to get into. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yeah, great. See ya,” he says and hangs up.

I look at my phone, feeling a little upset that he hung up just like that. It seemed cold, but then Kirk was never really a romantic guy. “He has just got his mind in his books,” I tell myself. I should have my head there too. With a shake of my head and a sigh, I pick up the heavy textbook sitting on my coffee table and start to study.

After a half-hour, I couldn’t focus. My mind kept wandering and I swore I could still smell the sweat from the basketball game. With a disgusted gag, I get up and take a shower. Under the hot water, I think about my delusions and hallucinations again. Why was I hallucinating being able to smell or hear things I shouldn’t? It made me start thinking of that night that started all this.

Maybe if I tried to understand the delusions and such, find their meaning I could identify the underlying psychological reasons I was having them. So what did I know? A monster beast attacked me and it bit me but it was gone the next day- as it healed in a few hours. Now it seems I was going through some changes. Could it be that it had infected me? Like how viruses can take over cells and turn them into viruses as well maybe my delusions were drawing from that.

I step out of the shower, feeling determined. I dry myself off and dress quickly into an old t-shirt and boy shorts. I give my hair a quick towel dry and go to the computer. I type in google “monsters that can infect with a bite.” It is kind of a long shot but who knows what I’ll find, maybe what I need. I look through the results with a disappointed breath. There was some article on zombies, some about some games I’ve never heard of, and a T.V. show about parasites.

I did find a page that mentioned shapeshifters. There is some type of shapeshifter monsters that can infect humans. I got my notebook, to write down the information I found on the page.

—Thursday, 7th

Possible creatures the thing that bit me could be. The Wendigo, a Native American myth. These monsters were supposed to be something like evil spirits. They are said to be half-beasts that could look humanistic or more monstrously. These creatures were believed to have been born from those who’d practiced cannibalism.  It’s also said that these creatures crave for human flesh. It’s said to be tall, thin, and sunken in eyes.

No mention of fur or hair. The beast of my delusion had hair or fur covering its body. Next is the Cynocephali, creatures that had the bodies of men but the head of a dog.  These weren’t your typical monsters as they didn’t seem to be portrayed as evil beings, savage and vicious yes, but not evil. They were huge beasts and some of the pages quoted them to be very wolf-like with similar senses and covered in fur.

These beasts were intelligent and could understand speech but couldn’t produce it, instead would simply bark, howl, and growl. Some say they used tools and weapons which would make sense. These Cynocephali are supposed to be impressive warriors and apparently, there are several historical documents all over the world mentioning armies of these “dog-faced men.” It’s said that these creatures would eat the fallen soldiers on a battlefield.

This could explain why I was attacked despite them being stated as highly intelligent. I had interrupted the beast’s dinner and it saw me as a defeated foe and decided that I would take the deer’s place. Their intelligence would also explain how despite being so beastly they’d be able to hide from humanity. There is little on how the Cynocephali came to be or their breeding habits but if one could apply logic cross-breeding does seem possible.

There are some mentions of Cynocephali taking women captive for marital reasons and from what I read the Greek translation “Dog-head” seems to refer more to dog-like features as a condition. If it’s a condition then one could logically assume it’s some type of illness. Last, is a creature called lycanthropes. They too are wolf-like monsters that live as humans except during a full moon when they change into the monster. They have a sensitivity to silver too.

My symptoms: I’ve come to crave more protein-filled foods, meat specifically. My aversions to eating meat are less than cooked through and though has vanished as well. I find I crave that hint of juicy rawness now, though I'm disgusted to admit it. My hearing and smell seemed to have improved greatly since that night. I have yet to test my vision to see if it has experienced the same.

It’s said that these creatures have incredible strength as well but like vision, I haven’t tested it yet to see if that’s applicable as well. I checked and my attack happened on the night of the full moon. I don’t know if this is a coincidence or not.

I look at what I wrote with a nod of satisfaction. These creatures of myth I’m sure I heard of, at some point or another and could be what fueled my psychosis. I close the notebook, pushing it to the back of the desk. Now I needed to try to do some studying. Since Monday I haven’t even gotten close to studying.