| Well, I suppose then, that the best place to start would be when I was little. I must admit that I've had a pretty unusual childhood. But then again, I was a pretty hyperactive little kid who did a lot of strange things. I think the whole thing began when I was about five years old. For some reason I had always loved dogs and even at that young age I portrayed a lot of animalistic characteristics. When I say �animalistic characteristics,� I mean that I�d do odd little things on occasion, unconsciously, such as eating my chicken right down to the bone, curling up in a ball while I slept, or remembering all the names of the dogs around my neighborhood, but none of the owners�. Even now, I still do little things every so often like making a high-pitched whining sound whenever I yawn, or growling at my dogs whenever they get too close to my food. I can actually remember crawling on the ground in junior kindergarten, and barking like some sort of wild dog. This was before I even really knew what a wolf was. I mean, I�d heard stories, most of them bad, and while visions of the Big Bad Wolf would scare other little kids to death, it never bothered me. The odd thing about my behavior, however, was the fact that I was never influenced by anything to act the way I did. I didn�t get my first dog until I was thirteen. I grew up in a household filled with cats, and yet I still turned out very lupine. I guess it was just something that came naturally to me. Eventually, though, I started looking into just exactly what a wolf was. Of course, the more I learned about the animal, the more excited I got, until pretty soon my whole life practically revolved around wolves. I collected everything and anything I could find that had to do with them, and still have quite a large collection of items laying around my room. I got chosen as a finalist for Speech Arts in grade four to do my presentation on wolves. I even had my own little play wolf pack for a brief period of time. Then things got a little quiet for a while. At around grade five and I stopped acting so weird for a period of time, because all it really got me was strange looks and mean jokes. Kids can be so cruel. I decided to lay low for a little bit, but my love for wolves came out in other ways, such as my writing and my drawings. Even now, you�ll still catch me drawing wolves or other furry creatures on a regular basis. Okay, so we�ve gone through all of this so far, keeping in mind that my parents were all the while hoping that this was just a phase I was going through, and that I would eventually grow out of it. Somehow, though, I got the feeling that it wasn�t going to be as simple as that. I had somehow developed lupine characteristics from the time I was small, and it wasn�t going to go away anytime soon. In fact, as the years went by, my wolfish behavior only got stronger. By the time I turned thirteen, I began to realize that there had to be a reason behind why I acted the way I did. Obviously, any normal person wouldn�t have these same habits, so I began to do a bit of research. Now, since I�d loved wolves so much, I happened to grow a very strong fondness for werewolves as well. I�d heard all of the old folklore, watched the monster movies, and read every book I could find on them. I remembered stumbling upon a section in a book on the topic of Lycanthropy, and read what Science had to say about it. What I found out was actually quite interesting, and is one of the reasons why I�ve developed an interest in psychology. Basically, a lycanthropy patient suffers from delusions of being a wolf. They actually physically think that they have become wolves, and often have to be restrained and put on medication. Thing is, there are usually other psychological reasons behind why these people act the way they do. Usually these patients are schizophrenic, or have just experienced the bad side of hallucinogenic drugs. There are all kinds of reasons, but most of them are pretty negative. So here I am thinking to myself, well maybe I�m a lycanthrope. Then quickly shaking my head and thinking again, but these people are insane! I�ve never taken any drugs in my life, except for prescription medication, and I�m certainly not schizophrenic. I�m a very sensible person, I know right from wrong, and I�d never hurt a living being. I may act a little eccentric sometimes, but I�m not insane. Every single thing the books had to say were very discouraging, and so naturally I got a bit depressed. I was different, didn�t quite fit in, and while trying to figure out just exactly who and what I was, the only answers I could find left me doubting my own sanity. It�s not a nice thing to go through, and believe me, I couldn�t stand waking up in the morning to face a world that I thought would never understand me. Then one day, my life made a drastic change... |