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| One Dark and Stormy Night by � chibilunacat She sat in the little living room reading a book by the end table light, inside the house was quiet, save for her own breathing, outside the house the rain pelted down in large rapid drops. Occasionally blue flashes of lightening would draw crooked lines in the sky, then the thunder would applaud from the heavens, while the rain only continued to fall, non-judgementaly. She could see all this going on as she occasionally glanced up from her reading, she hated storms like this, when the night sky was so black and clouded you couldn't see the moon, let alone the stars, she especially hated when these storms came up while she was alone. A sudden clap of thunder caused her to jump in her chair, her heart stopping for just a moment, her eyes widening, her book nearly tumbled from her hands, the lamp beside her flickered, threatening to throw her into the darkness, and the rain smacked the large window of the small living room. She quickly calmed herself and cussed herself in the same breath, readjusted herself in the light green wing back chair, cast a momentary glance outside her window, noticing the nearly bare tree branches swinging back and forth, and then turned back to the paperback romance she held. Just as she fell back to her reading she heard a distinct howling in the wind, and yet apart from the wind, she shook her head and ignored it. Her house was down a country road, a little ways off from town, with no neighbors for a few miles one way or the other, she and her husband liked their privacy. She put her book down and looked outside again, sighing, the storm was just too distracting, that and something she had read in the news. She put her bookmark in the book, closed it and set it on the end table, and looked out at the storm, reflecting. In the last couple of months, when the moon was full, someone had murdered a couple people, people in out of the way places like hers. Truthfully butchered would be a better word, but she didn't like to think about it, it seemed to dirty and terrible. A shiver ran down her spine and she watched the clouds shift in the dark sky, showing just a peep of the moon, like exposing a bare shoulder for a tease. Though you couldn't see it for the storm, the moon was full tonight, she remembered, not really being able to help it. Another howl out in the storm caught her ears, and it was much closer now, and definitely not the wind. The howl was right outside her house right out there in the rain and thunder, and she just knew that it was coming closer. She rushed for the blinds, to pull them down, it was almost like pulling the covers over your head to make the boogie man go away, but the boogie man had never really been there before. Just as she reached the window the clouds parted long enough to expose the entire moon, it glistened the rain and lit up the droplets falling all around, at the same instant lightening sped across the sky, illuminating the dark world long enough to show her the source of the howl, and her body tingled from head to toe. A large wolf, walking like a man put its paws on her window, it's yellowed teeth showing in a twisted grin, it's shaggy hair weighed down by the rain, it made as though to talk to her and she yanked down the blinds and backed up, quickly surveying herself for damages. Her heart pounded in her chest, her hair stood on end as though charged with electricity, her knees felt weak, she was shaking all over, her breathing was rapid, and the tingly sensation continued. The she tried to collect herself, tried to focus, to think but her head swirled and the moment constantly replayed itself in her mind. The kitchen door was unlocked, she suddenly remembered, and a moment later her feet began to move her in that direction, it was as though she couldn't stop herself. She went through the doorway into the hall and jumped, suddenly seeing her reflection in the hall mirror, her heart was still racing, but she moved on, dismissing the mirror. She paused once in the doorway to the kitchen, the light was on in there, as she had left it, everything was as she had left it. She took a few steps into the kitchen when she saw the wolf-man through the little window on the kitchen door, the door opened; the rain as though looking for shelter, began to pour in onto the mat and black and white checkered tiles, it began to pool up nearly immediately, and all she could do was stand there. The door pushed all the way open, the beast stepped inside as though coming from work, and even wiped his split shoes on the mat, leaving caked mud in skids. She could see his tattered clothes clinging to him in scraps, busted apart here and there, a hat was still on it head, a darker shade of grey from the wet, she looked into his canine brown eyes and saw him studying her. Her knees buckled and she went on all fours, heaving in great breaths, the tingling increased, but he didn't come closer The moon, still visible, shown in the sky from the glassed in breakfast nook, she looked out at it, then stood, the tingling left her. She took two careful steps forward, finally accepting her fate. The beast wrapped his arms around her, she felt first his hot breath, then his long tongue on her neck, his wet fur stank a bit and she shut her eyes........... .............. and giggled. "I didn't think you'd ever make it home in this storm!" she told him, in a strange voice, a mix between a bark and human speech. "Let's go get dinner now shall we?" she turned off the kitchen light, shut the door behind them and stepped out into the night, the rain began to taper off, and they looked up. Both howled a salute to the crisp full moon shining brightly down upon them, and the two lycanthropes moved off to go get a bite to eat. Terra Mae 6/14/2002 |