Running... th-through the trees
...All the smells and sounds, the feelings...
The dirt under my...
I jolt awake in a bed that's not my own. I feel comfortable only for a moment before soreness slowly seeps back into my body. I frantically look around the dark room for any clue as to why I'm in this strange place but it's all unfamiliar. The only furniture is the bed, a single dresser, a floor length mirror against the wall, and two large bookcases bookcases almost filled to capacity. There's a giant window on the wall thats covered by a thick curtain and a single door opposite the bed. And if that weren't enough, the whole place looks like it hadn't been changed since the 70s. Where am I?
I pull back the sheets on the bed to get off when I see that I am completely naked: no shirt, no pants, not even underwear. And stranger still, my body is different. It's bigger than I remember. And hairier. My legs and chest look much bigger than before, more muscular. Even my dick is much larger than before by at least four inches. I raise my arm up and flex and a definitely larger bicep pumps up. "Jesus, what happened to me?" I wrap my lower half in one of the blankets and step onto the thick carpet. As soon my heel lands, shivers get sent up my body as my legs turn into jelly and I collapse onto the carpet with a quiet but hard thud. Suddenly I remember. The last delivery of the night, the strange older lady, the pain, the full moon, that bright white light... did I never leave? Did she drug me or something?
I pull my sore body up off the floor and walk over to the mirror. Even though the curtain is blocking alot of light, I can still see my big hairy self in the mirror. I get a closer look at my face and see the foundation of a thick beard coming in. My hair has grown thicker? down to my shoulders and my bald spot grew back in. And then my eyes. They're the most striking part of my transformation. They used to be just brown, well, they still are, kind of; they're almost glowing gold with how bright they've become and only a few brown speckles remain. I hardly look like my old self anymore.
"This is too trippy. I got to get out of here." I scurry over to the dresser to get dressed so I can get out of here. Surprisingly there are a ton of different clothes in here in different sizes and even girl's clothes. I end up with a pair of denim bellbottoms and a navy t shirt. They're both the biggest I could find in the dresser but they still feel too snug. I quietly close the drawer to leave when I notice a couple of yellow papers bound together with a paper clip on top that has a note saying 'read me' in big red letters. Every instinct should be telling me to forget about it and get out of this crazy house as fast as I can run, but they don't. I pick up the curling pages and blow off some of the dust coating it. I open it to the first page and and it's a journal. I sit on the end of the bed and start reading.
"April 15th, 1978
Hey my name is George and you're in my old room. I know this is all pretty strange so try not to flip out, I'll do my best to explain everything. By the time you'll read this I'll be long gone, I don't know by how many years. I don't who you'll be so I tried to leave enough clothes that'll probably fit you. But the transformation affects everyone differently. I went through it back in 1968. I was 21 and someone left me a letter much like this one. And now I'm leaving too. I met a girl and I'm going to go live with her up in Washington to be with her pack. Yeah I said pack.
We're werewolves, kid."
I stop reading and toss the stack aside. Werewolves? It can't be serious. Really George? There's no such thing as werewolves! What game are you trying to play here? But no matter how hard I try to deny it, it doesn't feel like the book is lying. I mean how weird was last night? And with the full moon? That was definitely creepy. And then this morning, with the muscles and the body hair... well it couldn't hurt to keep reading.
"Part of you probably wants to deny it."
...yeah.
"But you know it's true. The change is always the same: you come in the house, the door locks you in, you pass out, your head and body start to throb, you go upstairs and go in the room with the giant window, the moonlight covers your body while it feels like it's burning your skin off, the white light, and then next thing you now, you wake up in this room. It's happened the same way for hundreds of years.
If you couldn't tell already, this house is magic. From what I can tell from the journals throughout the different rooms, it was crafted ages ago to be a sort of haven for the supernatural. It can safely board one of every kind of creature there is and still be hidden from regular humans. You are the next werewolf to be brought here.
Now there are werewolves out there in world, well there should be, I don't know, I'm dead. But you were born the moment I died to take my place here. And I was born the moment the werewolf before me passed and so on and so on until the creation of this house. This way, no matter what happens out there, there will always be one of us safe. You were born to be a werewolf, but you had to come in the house to turn. From now on, you are a werewolf: there's no going back. I hope you stay but no one's forcing you to. This house is your right, not your prison. But I hope you at least stay to learn some more about your new powers and how to control them. Don't want you hurting anybody. These bookshelves have more journals from previous werewolves and they're a pretty good read. I even got a few stories in there. Even if you are the only werewolf alive, enough of us have passed through this place to learn a thing or two. Just give it a shot alright?
Remember, this house is here for you and others like you. Use it. Cause you're a werewolf now, kid. No going back now.
- George"
I put the letter back on the dresser and slide my back down against it to the floor. "So this is it, then. I'm some sort of Avatar for werewolves. Werewolves exist. Aw man, what am I supposed to do?" I don't have any family to go back to: my parents were older when they had me so they both passed away a few years ago. I haven't seen my older sister in ages, but she's almost twelve years older than me so we were never really close. I'm just a 23 year old guy with nothing to go back to. But I'm not sure if I want to stay here in this madhouse.