Free Riley's Curse, A Moon's Glow Prequel by Christina Smith Page B

someone pouring water on
me? As I slowly regained
consciousness, I felt the hard ground under me. I opened my tired
eyes and glanced around. I was lying in the middle of a thicket of
thorn bushes, and it was sprinkling. The sky was a dull grey and
clouds hovered above. How did I get here ? I asked myself as I slowly sat up, digging a
thorn into my scalp. I yelped and ducked down on all fours crawling
out into the open.
    My body was covered in fresh scratches,
but I also noticed new scars that must have happened when I crawled
into the thicket in the first place. How did I get here and why am I naked and
covered in blood ? The
answer came right away, the full moon. And with that thought, I
remembered how the wolf had overtaken me, but that was where my
memory failed. I couldn't recall what I did last night or how I
came to be lying in the middle of the forest.
    I didn’t know where I was, but with my
heightened sense of smell I was able to find my way back to the
cabin. Walking barefoot through the thick brush left scratches on
my already dirty and bloodied body.
    After I washed up and dressed, I made myself
the last of the eggs for breakfast, realizing that my lack of
nutrition was surely the cause of the wolf taking over last night.
The only thing I had to go on was the last full moon, and since I
was lucid then, it had to mean I needed to eat. That was the only
difference between the two days. I wasn't hungry the first time,
and I remembered everything. I couldn’t recall what happened last
night, and the thought that I had no control over my own body
frightened me immensely.
    I went to town that afternoon to mail some
letters to my family and pick up more supplies. My father had sent
more funds, and with them I was able to get all the food I needed.
I was standing in line to pay for my goods when I overheard a few
people talking.
    “Can you believe it? He was killed by an
animal. The sheriff says it was most likely a wolf.” I tensed,
clenching my hands into fists, shattering the glass jar in my hand,
blood dripped onto the wooden floor. Thankfully everyone was too
interested in the gossip to notice.
    As I bent down to clean up my mess, I
listened carefully to the rest of the conversation. “Yes, Thomas
said he left the tavern and could barely stand. The last anyone saw
of him, he was lying under a pine tree just outside of
town.”
    I gulped, my mouth suddenly went dry. As
soon as I heard the words, the events of last night played out in
my mind. The
wolf that killed that man…was me.
    I paid for my things quickly, rushing out of
the store. People gaped at me as I bumped into them, not caring who
I brushed up against as I made my escape. The prominent thought in
my mind as I made my journey back to the cabin was that I had
become a monster--exactly like my maker.
    When I arrived home, I was upset and
disgusted with myself. I couldn’t believe what I had done. To take
another life was what I had feared would happen. How could I do
such a thing? Was I turning into Charlotte? I had been sure that
living in isolation would have prevented this.
    Something had to change. I knew that if I
continued to kill, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. The
thought of taking my own life entered my mind again, but the memory
of what happened last time quickly erased the idea. I was a monster
and I would just have to live with it.
    I dumped the supplies onto the table before
heading back outside to split wood. It was a good way to clear my
head. My mind started to wander as I chopped, throwing the pieces
of oak in a pile close to the cabin. I contemplated my options.
Option one: give into the monster, become like Charlotte. It seemed
inevitable anyway. If I let the wolf take over I could just excuse
my behavior. I was a werewolf, I couldn’t help myself. I tried to
picture myself killing someone on purpose and I almost vomited at
the thought. My parents had taught me to treat others well, respect
my fellow man. It was engrained in