I stood impatiently by the front door, jogging on the spot. The back of my hands were beginning to tingle and my fingers were aching. I knew it was only a matter of time before this feeling spread to the rest of my body.
"Dad, come on, hurry up!" I called. We needed to leave quickly. I needed my Dad to drive me to the forest; if I walked, I'd transform on some random street corner.
"Okay, okay, calm down," my Dad muttered, walking into the hallway. He pushed his white-blonde hair out if his icy blue eyes and smiled at me. "Ready?"
"Yes! Come on!"
I yanked open the front door to our house and bounded down the three steps beneath it. I skipped down the garden path, leaving my Dad to manually lock the door, and launched myself over the stupidly small garden gate.
The tingling sensation I'd experienced earlier in my hands had crept up my arms, and had now turned into an annoying itch. I wouldn't last much longer. Fifteen minutes at the most…
My Dad unlocked the jeep and we both jumped in. He seemed perfectly calm and completely comfortable, even though I knew he was feeling exactly the same as I was. The full moon was never a nice time for us.
We pulled off from the curb outside our house and drove down a quiet road. It was close to midnight, 'witching hour', and every street was deserted. Mind you, it was always quiet here. Wilmette wasn't the most exciting place in the world.
We drove past numerous streets, all of which looked identical to one another. Moderately sized, red-brick houses lined each street. Only their front gardens made them look slightly different. Some houses had small lawns, decorated lavishly with flowers, whereas others had had their garden converted into a driveway to house their cars. Our house still had its little garden, adorned with plenty of flowers, but only because my Mom had insisted upon it.
It was now ten past midnight, and by now my entire body was itching. Just as I was about to complain, Dad made a sharp right turn. We were now on a narrow dirt path, which, to be honest, was most likely meant for walking, rather than parking a large jeep. Dad parked the jeep where the trees thinned out slightly and the dirt path widened.
I undid my seatbelt as quickly as I could and jumped out of the jeep. I heard Dad calling after me, telling me to not go too far. I jumped over thick tree trunks, large clumps of leaves and numerous bramble bushes. Fifty metres or so into the forest, I stopped tackling nature's obstacle course and discarded my clothes at the bottom of a large pine tree. Once I was naked, I stood on all-fours and prepared myself for my transformation.
Changing from a human to a wolf certainly wasn't easy. It was painful, sometimes agonising, but I knew that this transformation would go smoothly, seeing as my body was begging for the change.
My fingers were shortening and my nails were lengthening, turning themselves into claws. Thick black fur was sprouting from my skin, and I could feel my limbs shortening and my face changing shape…
An agonising ten minutes later, my transformation was complete. I stretched, lowering my front end to the ground and wiggling my rear end in the air. Then, I stood up straight again and shook my head; I felt my ears flap from side to side slightly on my head. Sniffing the air, I located my Dad and trotted off in a northwards direction.
I could hear numerous animals scurrying around, and I caught a whiff of a rabbit nearby. Temptation gripped me for a moment, but I continued on my journey to find my Dad. My hunger wasn't severe enough to warrant a chase just yet.
Ducking repeatedly, I dodged branch after branch. I had no colour in my vision anymore; everything was black, white, or grey. Reaching the dirt path again, I paused and sniffed, deciding to turn left. I trotted along the side of the dirt path, following Dad's scent.
Two hundred metres in, I came into a large clearing. I could still see no sign of my Dad, but I wasn't particularly worried; as long as I knew where the jeep was, I'd be fine.
I grew tired of looking for Dad quickly, and decided to go and find something to eat. I circled the clearing once or twice, attempting to locate an animal that I felt was worth chowing down on. I could detect many mice, but I needed something like a hare, or a rabbit, to keep my stomach happy. I'd have appreciated a deer to eat, but I wouldn't have been able to take a deer down by myself; I'd need Dad to help me.
On my third lap of the clearing, I caught the scent of the rabbit that I'd noticed earlier. It was around twenty metres away from me, bouncing around in between tufts of brambles in the centre of the clearing. The rabbit was completely unaware of my presence, luckily for me.
I crouched low to the ground, slinking in between small bushes as quietly as I could. I'd have liked to have chased the rabbit, the chase always added to the pleasure of eating the poor little bunny afterwards, but tonight I was far too hungry to bother with games.
I was now five metres away from the rabbit. Its white, fluffy tail was in the air; the totally oblivious creature had its back to me. This would be too easy.
I raised my rear in the air and wiggled, preparing to pounce. I flattened my ears against my head, narrowed my eyes, and sprung up from my hiding place. I sailed through the air, easily covering the five metres between myself and the rabbit. I landed with a slight thud, startling the skittish creature, but it wasn't quick enough to get away. I swatted it with my paw, my claws extended, and I successfully punctured its side. With a terrified squeal, I pinned it to the ground and ripped out its throat, killing it immediately. Blood spurted into my mouth, metallic and tangy. I was in heaven.
Twenty minutes passed, and by then I had completely devoured the rabbit. There was no flesh left on its body, and my stomach was comfortably full. I stood up and stretched, wagging my tail, before sniffing the air and attempting to locate my Dad. However, rather than catching Dad's scent on the wind, I caught someone else's. It was unfamiliar to me, but I immediately knew that it was the scent of another werewolf. Werewolves always had an underlying, musky scent; it made it easy for us to recognise each other.
Pausing in the middle of the clearing, I inhaled again. The scent was strongest when I faced north-west. I faced the bushes, where I thought the smell was coming from, and narrowed my eyes. I tried to detect the smallest sign of movement, but there wasn't really any point; my eyesight as a wolf wasn't the best. I'd need to get much closer before I could see if there was anyone hiding in the trees.
I followed the scent for a few yards before veering left slightly, acting like I was completely oblivious to the presence of another werewolf. I reached the edge of the trees, slunk behind a particularly large pine tree, and crouched as low to the ground as possible. Pricking my ears up and inhaling deeply, I attempted to locate the wolf. Within minutes I had deduced that it was male. I assumed that he was around ten feet away. That was rather close. Far too close, actually.
I quickly grew tired of guessing where wolf-boy was, so I decided to use my limited vision. Poking my head out from around the tree, I scanned the area. My eyes roamed over numerous bushes, and they suddenly landed on a clump directly opposite me. The bush quivered slightly. I narrowed my eyes, trying to catch a glance of my stalker. A muzzle suddenly poked out of the bush and sniffed; he was trying to locate me.
Instead of bolting and giving him the urge to chase me, I stood my ground. I didn't intend to make a move, but I'd attack if he threatened me. Realising he'd see me if he smelt me, I wriggled back behind the tree, keeping in sight as much of his hiding place as possible.
I heard rustling in front of me. I poked my head around the tree again. A large wolf, with dark fur, stood in the space between the bush and my tree. He wasn't looking at me, or even in my general direction, but he was inhaling deeply. Surely, he must have caught my scent; I was too close for him to not smell me.
After a minute or so, he started to creep towards me. He seemed to have no sense of direction; he couldn't walk in a straight line. I was bored of waiting for him to find me, so I decided to take matters into my own hands. Paws if you will.
I bounded out from behind the tree and landed in front of the wolf. My lip curled upwards and I snarled at him, growling at him at the same time. If he was a smart little wolf, he'd realised that I was saying, 'I don't know who you are, or why you're here, but you'd better piss off before I kick your ass.' Yes, a growl could say all that.
Wolf-boy just looked shocked. His eyes were slightly wider than usual and he'd jumped when I'd bounded out at him. His eyes held no fear, or, for that matter, aggression. Here merely snorted at me through his nose, before turning away from me and loping off. Okay, now I was confused.
I tilted my head to the side and watched the wolf trot away. Deciding it was safer for me to wait for my Dad in the jeep, I made my way back to my clothing and transformed. I then dressed and carefully picked my way out of the forest. I jumped into the jeep as quickly as I could, and locked the doors as soon as I was inside. Dad wasn't back yet. I looked at the digital clock; it was nearly half-past two. My eyes fluttered to a close and I slipped into a doze as my head rested against the car seat.