Cursed

“Whoa! We’re half way there.

Whoa! Living on a prayer.

Take my hand. We’ll make it I swear.

Whoa! Living on a Prayer.”

Bon Jovi’s ‘Living’ on a Prayer’ rang through my headphones as I walked down the aisle at the grocery store. I’m just here to pick up some stuff, such as bread, eggs, milk, orange juice; etc.

I hate the grocery store with a passion. It’s so boring here. Normally I would be like, “Oh hey, who doesn’t love shopping for food?!” But who knew shopping for food could be so boring?

Unfortunately, this is my job. My brother and I made a deal. He does all the housework, like cleaning and mowing the lawn, and I do the grocery shopping. There’s only one thing I hate more than grocery shopping, and that’s cleaning. I mean, you should see my room. I can’t remember the last time I cleaned, or even dusted. There has to be a whole country of dust bunnies under my bed.

Needless to say, I’ll gladly take grocery shopping over cleaning any day.

Once the song was over, it switched to ‘Do What You Do’ by Cute is What We Aim For.

I found the can of guava jelly (which is better than any jelly ever made in the entire world, let me tell you) and put it in my basket along with the eggs, milk, and orange juice. Now for the bread…

I went two aisles over to where all the bread and bagels were at. As I was walking down, I noticed this weird figure clinging to a little boy out of the corner of my eye. I immediately stopped in my tracks and pretended to be looking at the English muffins in front of me so I could get a better look at that thing.

It was a demon, obviously, but luckily it wasn’t one of the ‘special’ ones. It was just a normal one. Well, if you classify normal as having floppy, pointy ears that stick up weird, two small holes in the center of your face that are supposed to classify as a nose, a hunched back, webbed hands and feet, red eyes, and scaly skin, then yes, it is normal. It would be classified as ‘abnormal’ if it had wings and was a little bit taller.

The demon was clinging on to the little boy, who only had to be five years old at the most, as if he were freshly cut meat, which, in the demons case, he practically is. The little boy looked pale and tired, as if the demon were sucking the life out of him. The mother was completely oblivious to the whole thing, especially when she told her son to hurry up when he started lagging behind. The poor thing lifted his legs as if they had fifty pound weights attached to his ankles and trudged over to his mother.

I moved forward slightly, taking careful steps to keep up with the little boy but also to stay out of the demons vision. He could easily sense that I knew he was there, but if I stay out of his sight, it’s harder for him to tell.

I took the headphones out of my ears just as the little boy and his mother turned down another aisle. I quickly pocketed my iPod and jogged over to the aisle they went down.
I waited a few seconds before I rounded the corner… And came face to face with the demon himself. Damn. And I thought I was doing a pretty good job at hiding myself.

It snarled in my face and blew some spit my way. I knew better than to just lash at it right then and there. First of all because I can’t touch it when I’m in human form, and second because I don’t want to make a scene in front of everyone and look like an idiot. Remember, they can’t see the demon, so to them I would basically be fighting air.

Yeah, that’s real normal. Ha! One of them would probably call the psyche ward and have me taken away.

“Let’s take this outside” I whispered to it, “unless you’re too scared that I might beat your ass while I’m in my wolf form.” I raised an eyebrow at it and smirked, knowing it wouldn’t let up that invitation.

And just as I thought, it snarled at me again, spitting more mucus in my face, and ran off at lightning speed to the outside. I quickly put my basket on the ground and fast-walked down the aisle and out the doors of the store. Once outside, I ran to the back of the place before quickly transforming into a wolf, shredding my pants and shirt in the process.

Man, I just bought that shirt…

Just as I was looking around for the demon, it pounced on me from a stack of boxes up against the wall. As it lay on top of me, it started scratching at my neck. I quickly rolled over, trying to ignore the burning sensation, and pinned it down while I dug my back leg nails into its thighs.

It screamed out in pain and threw me off of it.

I landed on my feet and ran back over to it, biting its neck and tearing pieces of skin off. It tried scratching at my face, cutting my nose in the process, but I ignored the pain. These things are fast. If you let your guard down for one second, they can quickly pin you down and start tearing you apart.

I finally managed to break its neck bone, causing it to pause and let out a terrifying scream. I backed away from it, hoping that that was its breaking point, and would burst into black dust.

Oh, but I was very wrong. It lunged at me, with a dangling head, and landed on my back again. I tried rolling and trashing around, but its grip on me was too strong. Its nails were digging into my front legs and I could feel blood gushing from the wounds.

An idea suddenly popped into my head. As fast and with as much force as I could, I rammed my back into the block wall of the store. I heard the demon’s bones crack under me. I kept hitting my back up against the wall as it let out another terrifying screech. This time, it burst into black dust just as I hit it against the wall for the last time.

I fell to the floor, breathing deeply.

I can’t even describe how much pain I’m in right now… It’s excruciating. My nose is stinging badly, my neck is still burning but I’m not exactly sure if I’m bleeding there, and the wounds on my front legs are looking really bad. Blood poured all down the front of me, covering most of the front of me.

I lay there, trying to figure out a way to get out of here without anyone noticing. Even if I transformed back into a human, the blood and wounds would still be present. There was no way I could get out of here without anyone noticing.

I thought about just going through the trees back here. They were pretty thick, so no one would notice me, even if I stayed as a wolf, but I don’t know where it leads. Maybe it could lead to my house?

Ugh, I sure hope so…

I got up slowly, trying not to irritate the wounds, and trudged over to the thick woods that were located behind the grocery store.

The farther I walked through the woods, the more tired and frustrated I got.

I’m lost. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I want to go home. UGH!

I tripped over a fallen tree and landed on my left side, irritating the wound even more. I yelped in pain and cringed there on the earth’s floor.

I silently prayed to God to send someone to save me, because there’s no way I can find my house on my own. These woods are foreign to me and I’ve got these huge gashes in my sides that make it extremely hard to walk.

You see, unlike the normal werewolves you guys probably know and read about, I can’t heal quickly. In fact, for a special creature like me, I heal pretty damn slow. Another thing I don’t understand about God. First, He makes me extremely short, and then He makes me heal like any normal human being. He couldn’t have just used that extra magic power of His that He saved by making me short to have me heal amazingly fast? Yeah, thanks God. I feel really loved right now.

I mentally slapped myself for blaming God on something so stupid. This is just how I get when I’m hungry. I get extremely cranky. I got so tired of myself being cranky that I just told God to ignore me at times like this. Seriously. He shouldn’t have to deal with my bitchy self and also being there for other people. As it is, I can become three whiny people at once when I’m cranky. So I told Him to just ignore me. Pay me no mind when I’m cranky. In fact, pretend I’m not even there. Eventually I’ll shut up.

After a few minutes of laying there in the dirt, I began to feel dizzy. My vision was being blurred and there was this loud screeching sound ringing through my ears. I saw blackness start to take over my eyesight.

All of a sudden, I see someone kneeling beside me. Pain starts wracking through my body again, but only for a few seconds before it all disappears. The screeching stops, my body becomes numb, and all I can see is blackness.

Then, along with everything else, my mind went blank.

***

I woke up with the world turned sideways.

Wait a minute, what the hell?

I opened my eyes a little wider to try and figure out if I was dreaming or hallucinating. Dirt stretched out on one side, while trees were standing horizontal instead of vertical on the other. My eyes followed a bird that seemed to by flying upwards in my vision, until it finally disappeared.

As my brain was finally waking up from its little nap, I was able to register the fact that I was laying down sideways.

Wow. That’s pretty sad. This is how bad I am in the mornings. It takes a while for my brain to register anything.

I picked my head up just that little bit until the world went back to its rightful position, no longer sideways. My eyes closed as I let out this big yawn and then I sat up straight. When I opened my eyes again, all I saw where these big blue eyes staring at me. I let out a yelp and fell on my back.

Actually, the yelp was more like a howl. I guess I’m still a werewolf…

Sure enough, I looked down at my body to see gray and white fur everywhere. Cool. So whoever this freak is in front of me thinks I’m an actual wolf. Well, I better act the part if I don’t want them thinking anything weird.

I started to get up on all fours, growling at the dude in front of me, who looked strangely familiar.

I yelped again in pain as my front legs started to burn extremely badly.

Oh yeah, that’s right… The whole fight with the demon thingy, and then…

Wait, is this is the same dude I saw right before I blacked out? Who the hell does he think he is? What, he thinks he can just go around and help random animals in the wild? Is he stupid or something? I mean, seriously. I’m a freaking wolf! Who on earth would help some random wolf? What if I had rabies?! Not that I do or anything… I’m just saying.

I glared at the boy and started growling again, even though I was completely helpless on the ground. The boy rolled his eyes at me and stared shaking his head. “I know who you are, so stop acting all tough and let’s get this over with.”

Get what over with? What was this loony boy talking about?

I stopped growling at the boy and gave him a confused look, then went back to growling at him. I don’t let my guard down that easily.

The boy ignored me and stuck his hand out towards me. “Hi. My name is Stephen and I would really appreciate it if you’d help me.”

Help him with what?! I’m really starting to get tired of this little game he’s playing. I want to transform into my human self so badly, but then I’d be naked, and then this situation would become extremely awkward. I definitely don’t need to be naked in front of some random dude.

I gave Stephen another confused look, and kept it that way. Obviously, he didn’t want any trouble, but he still wasn’t explaining to me what the hell he needed my help with.
“Well?” He asked me. “Aren’t you supposed to turn human or something?” He looked like he was getting impatient.

Ugh, if I was human I would slap this boy senseless right now. He’s really pushing my buttons.

“Oh, come on! I really need your help! I can’t find anyone of your kind in this area and I need to find my body because I don’t know where it is and the last thing I remember was being beat up by some guys- and, and then I don’t know. I just woke up in the woods. When I went back to the city, no one could see me and I was scared, and then you saw me, so I knew I could ask you for help, but you’re being the biggest ass about it. I didn’t realize how stubborn you guys are.” Stephen said all in one breath.

Aha, now I get it. He’s a ghost, and he missed the portal to the afterlife and he wants my help. Now I get it! Well, if he had just said that in the first place, we wouldn’t be in this mess and I wouldn’t have to be an ass about it. His fault, not mine.

I slowly got up, trying to be careful of my wounds. I motioned for him to follow me, and he quickly got up from the ground and started following me. I was limping all of two minutes before I fell to the ground again, the energy completely drained from me. Stephen looked at me and sighed dramatically.

“What are you doing? Get up! We have to hurry if we’re going to find my body before somebody else does!”

Oh, who the bloody fucking hell does this boy think he is? Can’t he see I have two wounds the size of Jupiter on either side of my front legs?! Maybe that’s the reason I kind of can’t walk right now! I don’t even know why I think he looks familiar. I couldn’t have ever met him before. I don’t talk to annoying and disrespectful people.

I growled at him again, and then tried to get back up. The sooner I get home, the sooner I can transform into a human and then beat the shit out of Mr. Peanut Gallery over here.
Stephen made a snorting noise and said, “Thank you,” but not in a pleasant way. I just ignored him for his own safety. Once I was back on my feet, I didn’t stop again until I was home.

Once we were in my backyard, I looked through the windows of the dining room to see if anyone was home. Usually Mark knows not to worry if I’m not home for a few days, but you never know. He’s a pretty protective brother. I mean, I’m really the only thing he has left. Without me, he has no one else, except maybe if he gets a girlfriend or something.

I didn’t see anyone. Not even any form of life in the kitchen. Why is that? Mark is always in the kitchen… Wait a minute… Oh yeah, that’s right. Today’s Monday… which means Mark is at work… Fuck. I went over to the sliding glass doors and looked at Stephen, hoping he got the hint to open them. He looked at me confused for a second, before shaping his mouth into an ‘O’ and nodding his head in understanding. He slid the glass door open, but not before stepping into the dining room first. Nice. Just leave the bleeding and wounded wolf outside while you walk into a nice house. Another reason for me to beat the shit out of him.

Once I got inside, I pushed the handle on the door with my nose and slid the door closed. I turned and saw Stephen looking around my living room. He was looking at pictures and at other decorations in there. As I limped my way over to him, I heard someone call from upstairs, “Ronnie, is that you?” It was Marissa.

I barked in reply, since I couldn’t exactly talk at the moment. She came out of the spare room with a book in her right hand and leaned over the edge of the railing overlooking the living room. The smile on her face instantly vanished after she saw me. “Oh my gosh! What happened to you?! Are you okay?!” She started coming down the stairs and came over to me, putting the book that was in her hands on a nearby end table.

Before she could say another word, a shriek came from behind me. “Holy crap! What happened to your face?!” Marissa looked up as I turned around to see a freaked out looking Stephen. I growled at how insensitive he was being and turned back towards Marissa, who had a sad look on her face. If she was human, she would have had tears in her eyes right about now.

“Um, well…” She stuttered, “I- I was shot, and beaten.” She left out the fact that she was raped. In front of Stephen, I would have, too. He probably would have made fun of her for being a vulnerable loser.

“God! You look horrible!” He said with a disgusted look on his face. No, he didn’t say how sorry he was or apologize for freaking out on her. Nope. Not Stephen. He just stood there complaining about how ugly Marissa looked. How gentleman-like of him.

Ugh, he’s such an asshole! I want to get upstairs and transform so I can beat the shit out of him already!

Marissa looked down and tried to not let his comment upset her. I nudged her with my nose and motioned for her to follow me upstairs to at least transform into a human and put some clothes on, and then I can come back down and beat the shit out of Stephen. She followed obediently as we started up the stairs.

“Hey, where are you guys going?” Stephen asked. I barked abruptly at him, and then started walking up the stairs again.

“You guys can’t just leave me down here! We have to find my body!” He pressed. I barked even fiercer at him this time, my wolf-way of telling him to shut the fuck up before I rip his head off. I stayed there growling at him, before he huffed and sat down in the recliner.
Marissa and I finished our walk back up the stairs and into my bedroom.

Just as she closed the door, I transformed and plopped my bloody, naked self on my bed. Marissa shielded her eyes. “Uh, can you not do that in front of me? Just because it’s not awkward to be naked in front of people for you, doesn’t mean it’s not for me.” I laughed at her.

“Fine. Let me just take a shower first to get the dried blood off of me. Meanwhile, you call my brother to let him know I’m home and that I need his help because, obviously, I’m all torn apart.” I got up and grabbed my towel off the bathroom doorknob before walking in there and shutting the door. I heard Marissa say “Okay,” through the door, “Wait, what’s your brother’s number?”

I opened the door just a crack and peeked my head out. “I’m not sure, but both his cell and work numbers are on the side of the fridge.”

“Okay.” Marissa said, and then walked out of my room and closed the door behind her.

I turned on the water and let it run for a while so I wouldn’t step under cold water. I looked at my body in the bathroom mirror. “Holy shit…” I looked really bad. Both of my shoulder blades were torn open and a dried up blood stream was running from them both, all the way down to my wrists. My neck had a gash in it, but all it needed was a big bandage and it could heal on its own. My thighs had some scratches on them, but nothing bad. They would just be sensitive for a while. Other than that, I had bruises and cuts here and there, but nothing like my shoulders. Oh, I’m going to be in so much pain when that water hits my skin…

I saw steam rising from overhead the shower, and decided to just get this thing over with. Taking in a huge breath, I stepped into the shower.