One Horrific Night

A young man goes out one night with his brother while his wife is out with her friends. That one night changed his whole life forever.

“At first that night was plain. Nothing of importance was to be happening, but that quickly changed. My brother had invited me out to the bar that afternoon; I should have said no. If I had just said no, I would have been able to tell you what happened before I woke up the next morning. Now, weeks later as I write this out, for you my wife, I keep having flashes. Flashes of things that I do not understand; things that could not possibly be something a human being could do. I love you very much, but if these flashes are of the things that happened that night, I am not sure if I can stay with you. You would see me as a monster. I never want you to find out that it was me…”

          “Paul, come out tonight. You haven’t been out in a very long time, and tonight is Carol’s night out with her friends. You need to get out of the house and have some fun like we used to when we were younger. You’re only 28. Life can’t stop for you yet. Even I’m still going out drinking on a Friday night, and I’m 30. Little brother, you need to come, I want you to meet my friends.” My brother does this every night that my wife goes out with her girlfriends. He rants about how I have no life because I want to keep up with my work and read in a quiet place by the fire.

          “Mitchell, I have work to catch up on. Criminal psychology is not a course I am willing to slack off in. You of all people understand my love for learning, especially in psychology.” I told him. “Please let me work. I might be able to come out next time.” I was already sitting in my rocking chair by the fireplace in my sweatpants and sweater. I had long ago changed out of my dress shirt and jeans that I wore to my class.

          “It will only be a few hours. I promise you can go home after an hour if you still want to. Please, Paul, do it for your big brother? My friends want to meet you.” he said. “I tell them about how you will be just like Dr. Reid on Criminal Minds.” I knew he was smiling and also trying to give me the puppy dog look through the phone.

          Sighing I closed my book and put out the fire. “Fine. One hour and I’m coming back to read up on my work.”

          “Yes, sir! Meet us out at Mel’s in twenty minutes.” He hung up.

          I quickly ran upstairs to shower and change into casual clothing. Jeans and a nice striped collar shirt.

          When I arrived at Mel’s it was extremely crowded. My brother was in the back corner with a few people around him. He was locking lips with some blonde girl. Once I got back there a small brunette that was in the group with my brother slinked her way over to me and wrapped her arms around my neck. I tried to detach her from me but her grip was too tight. I looked to Mitchell for help. Thankfully when he saw my predicament he rushed over.

          “Diane, get off him. He’s attractive sure, but he’s married.” Mitchell smirked. “Go get yourself some other guy at the bar, not my brother.”

          “Thank you, Mitchell. Her grip is more forceful than one of George St-Pierre’s punches!” I laughed.

          “Here, I got you your Ginger Ale that I know you love.” He handed me a glass.

          “Thank you.” I smiled. I have never been big on drinking.

          “Here, I’ll introduce you to my friends.” He pulled me over to the group. “This here is Lina.” He said pointing at the blonde girl he had been kissing earlier. “This is Matt” He pointed to a tall brown haired man. “This is Hubert” He pointed to a tall black haired man. “This is Joan” He pointed at a short black haired woman. “And you already know Diane, who has disappeared.” He smiled at everyone.

          “Hi,” I waved slightly.

          They all smiled, said a round of ‘hi’s and went back to their drinks.

          It had been an hour, but I didn’t want to leave yet. I was getting along great with Lina, the blond woman, and Matt, the tall brown haired man. Turns out Lina really liked Mitchell, but was too afraid to tell him. I, of course, brought up the small make out session I had witnessed when I first arrived; she only smiled and said that she told him she saw an ex that she wanted off her back. Mitchell was only helping out a friend. She and I then spent time going over how she could win him over. In the short time I knew her she seemed like the perfect match for my brother in every way. Matt, on the other hand, was shy and really into his studies like me. He was actually my age. He said that he had first met Mitchell because of his boyfriend. He only came tonight in hopes of getting to know his boyfriends friends more. His boyfriend was late and only showed up about fifteen minutes earlier. He seemed really nice and you could tell they loved each other from the look on their faces when they looked into one another's eyes.

         

          It has now been two hours, and I’m still at the bar. Lina told Mitchell of her feelings. Mitchell had already assumed that she liked him because of the kiss they shared tonight but had not been certain.  Matt and his boyfriend, George, left half an hour ago. Soon after them it was my turn to leave. I started heading out to my car, only to remember that I had had more than just Ginger Ale tonight. I decided to walk home. The walk only took 20 minutes if I cut through the forest by the park, so I headed that way.

          Halfway through my walk in the forest I heard a twig snap. Normally I wouldn’t have gotten nervous because of that, but something put me on edge that night. I started walking more quietly, making sure my feet weren’t stepping on any twigs. Another twig snapped. I stopped. This time, I was sure it wasn’t me. I heard growling. Snarling. I was terrified. I started walking again, this time faster. The faster I got, the more twigs snapped, the more the growling sounded. I was shaking and sweating. I couldn’t tell where the sounds were coming from. Then the growling got closer, it sounded like it was right behind me. I knew I couldn’t turn around to look or I would trip and fall and my life would be over. I ran faster, pushed my legs to a new limit. I could see a slight opening in the woods that was only a kilometre up ahead. I was close to freedom but someone had it in for me. I was tackled. I rolled onto my back in time to see a massive wolf, bigger than a grizzly bear, jump onto me and bare his razor sharp teeth. He clamped down on my neck. I couldn’t even scream. Nothing. No sound came out. Just as darkness started to take over, the teeth detached, and the wolf turned into a naked man. I was hallucinating. I had lost too much blood. This was completely impossible!

          The last thing I heard before I passed out was the man speaking in a low rough voice, “Relax. Tonight will be fun. I will now have a partner...”

         

          “Dear Journal,

This is not possible, I understand that, but now as I remember the things that happened last week I can’t help but think of the possibilities of it being true. I will later be writing a letter to my wife to apologize for the things I had no control over that night. The horrible things I did to people. My story did not end with me passing out. I remember it all now as though I was living it again.

‘I woke up to an excruciating pain in my neck and shoulder. I tried to cry out for help but my lungs weren’t working. I turned my head, causing more pain to shoot through me, and found that the man had turned from wolf to human. I laid there for hours in pain while staring at that man. He had this sick look of satisfaction on his face whenever I would cringe from pain. Finally when the pain subsided I could move, although I still could not talk. The guy smirked and told me to just wait a second, that I would feel better and thank him for it later. I’m not thanking him though. Actually I’m happy about one thing from that night. I listened to him; there wasn’t anything else I could have done. Not even a minute after he told me to wait I felt a sharp pain start in my spine, and spread through my whole body for a few minutes. I kept my eyes closed until the pain died. I then opened them, and I was no longer on my hands and knees. I was on four paws. The man stood up and walked over to me. He smiled and told me that I was a great choice. Telling me that I was going to be strong since I was bigger than he was. I nodded my big wolf head. Everything felt different. I felt like I was on autopilot. Somebody else was running my body. The man shifted into a wolf and we took off at a speed I can only achieve in my car. It seemed that in this form I couldn’t control anything. Somehow I understood what the other wolf wanted me to do though. We slowed our speed and found a group of teenagers having a bonfire. We saw two walk in a direction away from the rest and we silently followed them. I noticed them leaning against a tree talking quietly. I looked to the wolf and nodded. I then lunged for the young girl. He lunged at the young boy. They didn’t even have a chance to scream before we had latched onto their throats. I didn’t go for the kill shot. I wanted to make this last. I started biting her arms and legs, twisting them until they broke. She tried to scream, but my bite to her throat did too much damage to her vocal cords and she couldn’t make a sound. I heard a few teenagers shuffle from their spot at the bonfire. I decided to finally end my game and bit around her small throat in order to detach her head from her body. I dropped it a few metres away before I took off out of sight. We then headed in a different direction, wanting more of a challenge. We headed in the direction of a bunch of restaurants. We waited in the bushes for people on the sidewalks to come closer. Just then we heard laughter; my ears twitched and I scanned the area. The wolf beside me had already found them and grabbed the lady closest to him. I didn’t even wait to look at my victim. I just grabbed her arm and dragged her into the forest. She didn’t scream, just shook in fear. I dropped her on the forest floor and examined her. The human in me wanted to cry right there, but the beast that controlled me didn’t seem to care. I was screaming at him to stop. To just leave her alone. Leave her to her life. I didn’t care if he killed someone else. Just not this lady. Not my wife. I was crying internally, praying to anyone who would hear me to stop the beast. Stop him from killing the one person that meant the world to me. Nobody was listening though. That much showed when he, I, lunged and ripped her apart limb from limb. She never even tried to scream. That only seemed to anger the beast more. He went for more painful places, her nose, her ears, her breasts. All the while she barely even flinched. She was so strong. I just wish this had never happened to her. I wish it had been me that had this horrific death. A death that didn’t come until the beast had had enough of her not responding.  The other wolf helped by grabbing the remaining lower half of her body, while the beast grabbed the arc between her neck and shoulder and they pulled until she ripped apart. She still had not made a sound. Her breathing stopped the second the flesh started to rip apart. I had not forgiven myself until I realized that the beast started to feel my pain and went after the wolf. He attacked him when the wolf wasn’t paying attention. They wrestled for some time when the beast overtook the wolf and latched onto the wolf’s throat, holding until the wolf went limp and lost his heartbeat.’

I’m not sure what happened after that, I just remember waking up on my back porch as a human with my car in the driveway and a note from Mitchell saying that he found me passed out beside the car. I found out only a few days ago about Carol’s death. After I got the news I started having my dreams.

          Goodbye Journal,

          Paul.”

          “At first that night was plain. Nothing of importance was to be happening, but that quickly changed. My brother had invited me out to the bar that afternoon; I should have said no. If I had just said no, I would have been able to tell you what happened before I woke up the next morning. Now, weeks later as I write this out, for you my wife, I keep having flashes. Flashes of things that I do not understand; things that could not possibly be something a human being could do. I love you very much, but if these flashes are of the things that happened that night, I am not sure if I can stay with you. You would see me as a monster. I never want you to find out that it was me. My sweet Carol, I’m sorry. Please know that I will forever love you. That night, it should have never happened. Goodbye Carol. You will be missed.” 

Author's Note

Be honest and say what you really think. I'm looking for criticism to help me better my writing.