Animal Heart(26)

Chapter 5

The air was cool and fresh as she hurtled through the trees. She was running so fast. As fast as she'd ever run in her life and it felt so good. She could hear every sound in the forest as clear as a bell. From the soft rustle of a rabbit moving through the bracken as she passed by, to the squawking symphony of Canadian Geese as they flew over the lake miles away. But even stronger than that was her sense of smell. It was overpowering to a degree she couldn't have imagined. She stopped and sniffed at the ground before her, catching the scent of so many creatures it overwhelmed her momentarily, sending her head into a whirling spin. And then she caught sight of it. Her paw. Not a foot or a hand, but a furry paw, on the end of a furry limb. She turned her head and looked down her back at her deep brown coat in horror. She had a tail too.

Jesus... No... Oh no! No... No... No!

She awoke drenched with sweat.

After a quick look around her room, to ascertain where she was, she examined her hand, and finally satisfied that she wasn't really a wolf at all, but merely dreaming, she stood up and stretched, reaching up high with her arms, until her ribs creaked. She felt shaky and unnerved. That dream was obviously brought on by suggestion. Or maybe she'd dreamed everything? Going out on Storm, the fall, breaking her neck?

Ah, yes! That was what it was. She had fallen asleep after the alarm had gone off, and dreamed the whole damn thing. She stroked the skin of her shoulder. There was nothing there. No bite marks, nothing. Not even a hint of an ache in her body anywhere. She breathed a deep sigh of relief. The bathroom and a hot shower beckoned. She padded into the bathroom and turned it on, staring into the mirror while she waited for it to heat up. Her eyes were completely normal, not a trace of bruising anywhere. She smiled at herself for a moment. Then she stripped off, and stood under the steaming jet of water. She washed her body thoroughly with her shower gel which she squirted generously on her bath lily, squeezing out handfuls of foam all over herself.

She suddenly felt so much better. This was normality. Getting clean and smelling good. Feeling the water rushing over her head and body. She scrubbed at her scalp and hair with her nails, smothering it with her favorite coconut shampoo and then loaded on a silky handful of conditioner. She stood for a moment under the water, rinsing it away. Then she felt something strange happen. Her ears started to hurt, pulling at the sides of her head in a weird way. They grew hot and began tingling. She hesitantly lifted her hands to touch them. They seemed to be much longer than usual. Long and pointed and hairy. Her stomach churned and her mind roiled in horror. She turned off the shower and stepped out into the bathroom, dripping all over the floor in her haste to see. Rubbing a large circle into the steam covered mirror, she leant forward and took a wary look. She jumped back in acute shock. Her eyes were glowing with an amber hue, and her ears were black and most definitely very wolf-like as they rose up vertically a good four inches or so through her dripping wet hair. Her heart was pounding like crazy and she felt sick. A surge of bile rose inside her suddenly, and she turned and threw up uncontrollably on the floor before she could get to the toilet.

Shit, now I'm hallucinating! Perhaps I'm just sick, ill somehow, coming down with something?

She sank to her knees in disgust trying to clean up the mess she had made, grabbing handfuls of toilet tissue to soak up the green tinted vomit. Her eyes darted to her right hand and she gasped in distress and disbelief. Tears stung at her eyes. Thick, curved, claw-like talons protruded from two of her fingers. A patch of coarse dark hair covered the back of it.

She couldn't take any more, no matter what the reason was for all of this horror.

No, no... God help me, please... please...

She started to scream. Loudly and wildly, but it didn't come out as a scream. It was more of a howl. Soon afterwards the bathroom door flung open and Aden stood in the doorway. She desperately tried to cover her nakedness by crouching low and hid her deformed hairy hand beneath her.

“Go away,” she rasped, terrified and confused, in a deep voice that wasn't her own.

“So it's started, has it?” he stated, very calmly and matter of factly. He stepped inside the bathroom and covered her with a large towel, helping her up to her feet.

“I'm completely mad. I'm imagining things. Or maybe you've drugged me. Have you?” she growled at him hoarsely. She could hardly get the words out. Her tongue felt strange, as if it was too big for her mouth.

“Maddy. Accept it. It's real and it's happening. Look, I'm sending Sammy to sit with you. You shouldn't be alone right now and I don't think I should be the one in here with you.” He hugged her close and nuzzled her cheek, but she pushed him away, growling and snarling in disgust at the person responsible for this horrific torment.