II. RUNAWAY

Twenty years had passed since I lost my memory of him. No one could tell me what happened that night or where he was now. My childhood memories, including those of him, were erased. Yet, he still appeared in my dreams, leaving me gasping for breath with a strange feeling in my chest.

I tried to visit the place from my dreams, and to my surprise, it was real. "This place exists, so maybe the man in my dreams has something to do with my lost memory," I thought. I was determined to find answers.

I returned to the old house, but it was abandoned. I fixed it up, hoping it would bring back my memories. After ten years, I still had no signs or visitors. The forest seemed sorrowful, like something was missing.

One day, I left to gather firewood and returned to find someone inside the house. The door was open, and it was bright inside. I rushed towards it, hoping to finally find the person I had been searching for. But instead, I found a man rummaging through my belongings.

"Who are you?" I demanded. He stopped, alarmed, and I noticed him hiding something in his pocket.

I approached him cautiously, folding my hands. But before I could get close, he threw a dagger at me. I dodged it, but it hit my cheek, and I got a cut. The dagger pierced the wall, and I grinned as I wiped the blood away. My cut healed instantly.

"I'm trying to talk to you properly, but you seem to prefer this kind of negotiation," I said, my eyes locked on his. He didn't respond, his face covered with a black mask.

"Tell me who you are and what's hidden in your pocket," I demanded, my eyes locked intensely on his. He didn't respond, his face concealed behind a black mask, revealing only his eyes. I sensed he wasn't an ordinary person, but a dangerous creature.

"If you want to leave here alive, return what you've taken," I warned, placing my hand on him. However, he simply stared at my hand and swiftly escaped through the window. Unbeknownst to him, he had chosen to confront the wrong person.

I chased after him, blocking his path, and he froze in surprise. "If you want to escape this place, you'll have to go through me first," I declared, simultaneously grasping his neck and lifting him effortlessly. I must admit that I took pleasure in tormenting him as he struggled.

But I didn't anticipate his next move. He swiftly pulled out a dagger hidden in his other arm and stabbed it into my hand, causing it to pierce my palm. I felt a searing pain and screamed, falling to my knees.

Unexpectedly, he produced another dagger and slashed it across my left cheek. My anger surged, and I screamed again as lightning flashed in the sky and heavy rain poured down.

The day I dreaded had arrived – the day someone discovered my true form. I lost control, and my immortality emerged as he witnessed my transformation from human to a ferocious creature, a werewolf. He was shocked and terrified, hastily retreating from the ferocious werewolf.

But it was too late; I had resolved to eliminate him, especially since he knew my true form. I chased him, and he continued to shout for help. However, he was unfortunate, as no one visited this place except him. His cries for help were futile.

"You should have listened when I begged you properly, but you abused me, leaving me no choice but to finish you off," I exclaimed, leaping towards him and landing in front of him.

Fearful, he sat on the ground, repeatedly begging me to spare his life. Although I wanted to forgive him, I had to protect myself, as a creature like him posed a danger to an immortal like me.

The worst-case scenario was that my family might be destroyed because of me. I would never allow that to happen, so before anyone else discovered my secret, I had to eliminate the evidence.

As I slowly approached him, I growled loudly, ready to pounce. However, I was interrupted by a loud shotgun blast from a distance. The sound caught my attention, and I saw a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, his face covered, pointing a shotgun at me.

"Stay away from him, or I won't think twice about shooting you," he threatened. I clenched my teeth in anger, staring intensely at him. I didn't feel fear, so I took another step closer to the man in front of me.

However, he fired his gun without hesitation, striking my left arm and causing a deep wound. "You take another step closer, and the next bullet will hit your head," he warned.

I felt outraged and wanted to destroy him, but I knew that if I didn't back down, it would be the end of me. So I retreated and sprinted away from them.

I thought they would let me go, but I noticed that he was chasing me, accompanied by others armed with guns. Who were these people, and what did they need from me?

As I continued to run, I realized that my wound wasn't healing, making it difficult for me to run fast. Every step I took resulted in blood loss and intense pain. My vision began to blur, and I felt weak.

"Kill the monster!" they shouted, firing their guns simultaneously. I was hit in the right leg, causing me to fall down the cliff and roll on the ground.

My human form quickly returned as my entire body was wounded. I was almost fainting, but when I heard their voices, I forced myself to get up again and hid.

Not far away, I saw a light – a way out of the darkness. Although I would encounter many people, I had no choice but to head into the human world. Yes, for the first time, I set foot in the city of mortals.

There were many people around me, staring at me with astonishment in their eyes. Maybe they couldn't believe the deep wounds I had on my body, or the torn and mud-stained clothes.

"That's him!" a man shouted, pointing at me. My eyes widened in shock, realizing they had followed me this far.

I accelerated my pace, but a black retro classic car suddenly stopped in front of me. I was stunned, unsure of what to do.

"Get in, hurry!" the man inside the car shouted abruptly. I was perplexed by his urgency, and I didn't intend to trust him, but with my pursuers closing in, I had no choice but to enter the car, despite being unaware of his true intentions.

As we sped away from the chaos, I caught my breath and turned to face him. "Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes locked on mine. We stared at each other, and I felt a sense of unease, unable to read his thoughts. Despite his rescue, I still couldn't bring myself to trust him.

"What do you need from me, and where are you taking me?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me. He turned to gaze at the driver, his expression serene.

"Don't be scared; we're not bad people. I just want to help you," he said, his tone innocent and reassuring. However, I knew better than to trust his words. As an immortal, I shouldn't be mingling with mortals. I had to escape before things got complicated.

I attempted to open the door, but a sudden wave of dizziness washed over me, blurring my vision. "What's wrong? Are you okay?" he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I struggled to respond, my body weakening, and my hearing fading into the sound of my own labored breathing. "What... what did you do to me?" I whispered, my head falling onto his shoulder. Everything went dark, and I lost consciousness.

As I slipped into darkness, I felt myself being pulled into a dream. I was standing in a familiar place, the old house in the forest. But it wasn't abandoned and worn out like it was in reality. Instead, it was beautifully restored, with vibrant flowers blooming in the garden.

I saw a figure standing in the distance, his back turned to me. As I approached him, he slowly turned around, revealing the mystery man from my dreams. He looked at me with an intense gaze, his eyes piercing through mine.

"Who are you?" I asked him, my voice barely above a whisper.

He didn't respond, instead, he took a step closer to me. I felt a shiver run down my spine as he reached out and gently brushed a strand of hair behind my ear.

His touch sent a wave of emotions through me, and I felt myself getting lost in his eyes. Suddenly, the scene shifted, and we were standing in a dense forest, surrounded by tall trees that seemed to stretch up to the sky.

The mystery man took my hand, and we started walking through the forest. The trees seemed to close in around us, casting deep shadows that made it difficult to see. But the mystery man seemed to know the way, leading me through the darkness with ease.

As we walked, the trees grew taller, and the shadows grew darker. I felt a sense of unease creeping over me, but the mystery man's grip on my hand remained firm.

Suddenly, we emerged into a clearing, and I saw a figure standing in the center. It was the man who had attacked me in my house, the one who had revealed my true nature to the world.

The mystery man let go of my hand and stepped forward, his eyes fixed intently on the other man. "You shouldn't have done that," he said, his voice low and menacing.

The other man sneered, but the mystery man didn't flinch. Instead, he raised his hand, and the other man flew backward, crashing into a tree.

I watched in shock as the mystery man turned to me, his eyes burning with intensity. "You're safe now," he said, his voice softening.

But as I looked into his eyes, I realized that I wasn't sure if I was safe or not. There was something about the mystery man that seemed... off. Something that made me wonder if I could really trust him.

As I stood there, frozen in uncertainty, the mystery man's face began to fade away. I reached out to grab his arm, but my hand closed on empty air.

I spun around, frantically searching for him, but he was nowhere to be found. The clearing was empty, the trees looming above me like sentinels.

Suddenly, I heard a rustling in the bushes. I turned to see a pair of glowing eyes staring back at me. Then, another pair appeared, and another.

I realized that I was surrounded by werewolves, their eyes fixed on me with hunger. I tried to run, but my legs were frozen in fear.

As the werewolves closed in, their jaws snapping wildly, I screamed. But my scream was drowned out by the sound of my own heartbeat.

The werewolves began to circle around me, their eyes fixed on me with an unnerving intensity. I tried to defend myself, but my arms felt heavy and unresponsive.

Suddenly, a figure emerged from the shadows. It was a woman with long, flowing hair and piercing green eyes. She walked towards me with a calm and deliberate pace, as if she knew a secret that I didn't.

As she reached out to touch me, I felt a jolt of recognition. There was something familiar about her, something that made me feel like I was staring into a mirror.

And then, I saw it. The woman's body began to shift and contort, her limbs stretching and morphing into something new. Her skin itched and rippled, and her face elongated into a snout.

I stumbled backward, horrified, as I realized that the woman was a werewolf. But as I looked into her eyes, I saw something that made my blood run cold.

I saw myself.

The werewolf's eyes were my own, staring back at me with a fierce and primal intensity. I felt a surge of understanding, a realization that made my mind reel.

The werewolf was me.

I was the monster, the creature that I had been running from. The woman's transformation was my own, a manifestation of the darkness that lurked within me.

As the truth dawned on me, the world around me began to dissolve. The werewolves, the forest, the woman - everything faded away, leaving only the sound of my own heartbeat.

And the whispers. The whispers that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"The hunt is coming," they whispered. "And you're the prey."