The Hunt

This is the beginning of a story I was writing. I have more in an old notebook if anyone likes this.

The Hunt

In the night I run. Through the thick woods I feel free, I feel alive. As the trees fly by in a blur I am at peace. Sucking in the fall air the scent of rotting leaves fill my lungs. The cool air hints of a long distant cold. It is the smell of the hunt. Nostalgic feelings long dormant rise again and I grin. Sliding to a stop I flex my muscles and breathe. The warm pulsing of blood and the pounding of my heart. Its drum beat goes on and on drumming the sound of the hunt. My senses are keen, focused, and searching for prey. In the moonlight I stand silent. At the moment life is simple. I desire nothing more than to hunt, to kill. I know no other lover than the lady of the hunt. People long dead worshiped her at alters of blood and flesh. Today mankind is too proud to believe in the pagan gods of the old world and her name has been lost to the ages. But tonight I can feel her gentle caress and I know she is with me. Always watching, always guiding. She has guided my heart through many hunts and today will be no different. The wind changes direction and I smell the musk of my prey. The hunt has begun I look to the heavens and see her. Through the trees she shines brighter than the stars. She is my lover the lady of the hunt. I howl to her proclaiming my affection and asking for her blessing. The woods echo with my call, curdling the blood of my prey in its pulsing veins, as I sprint off into the night.

            I’d like to say that this all started on that fateful day five years ago, but I cannot. No more than I can say man fell the day Adam ate the forbidden fruit. Man fell the day Adam loved Eve. If not for his love and his desire to be with her he would never had been brought to that fateful day. The day of his destruction. The day of his curse. Many nights I lie awake and ponder the fall of man. The sad tragic story that cursed the seed of Adam and the seed of Eve. Though it may be our history it is still a story and stories always have a happy ending. My life is no grand story. In life we are not guaranteed a happy ending. I am not ignorant enough to say in life there are no happy endings. No man knows what our future will be and no man knows the consequences of our choices. No matter how long the night or dark our circumstances may be, there is always hope. But sometimes the night becomes too dark and too long. That is where I stand today. I feel like a hypocrite writing these words because my hope has died many times. I know not if my life holds a happy ending or only more sorrow, but I know that no matter the ending I will never stop fighting for hope. For a better future.

            This is life, this is living. I was born for this moment. As I close in on my prey I slow down then stop. The smell of fire lingers faintly in the air and my ears prick up. I am close, I must be cautious. As I slowly inch forward my prey comes into sight. There it is lying on the bank of a still moonlit lake. Its fire slowly dying casting light upon my prey. It is pale. Bare except for hair upon its head. Something is wrong. Something about this creature. It has too many arms too many legs. I sniff again and its scent divides. The lady of the hunt has smiled upon me tonight. She has delivered two for my feast. My joy and excitement overcome me. I burst from the trees and pounce upon my prey. My claws rip and my teeth consume. The tangled creatures let out a scream and I am overjoyed. It is a scream I know so well. It is the scream of the doomed and the dammed. It is the scream that drives me mad with ecstasy. I tare flesh from bone and feel the warm sticky blood in my mouth. This blood is life, it is what I want. The flesh is what I need. My prey has gone silent I feel sorrow for the hunt is over. As the fire slowly dies and the lake whispers not a sound I gorge upon my prey, now my feast. I devour and time is lost to me. I sense a growing light and look over the lake. Fear consumes me and I run for the woods. No matter how much I run I can I can never outrun the light. I collapse howling in the pain of the morning sun. My body burns and my mind fogs. I am dying and I know it. Fear once again grips me. The burning begins to recede as I lay in the grass. I stand and look at my hands. My claws are gone and I am human once again. Alone and naked I stand breathing in life. I look back down to my hands again and see what I wished I never would. They are covered in dark crimson blood. No, no not again. My legs grow weak and I fall to my knees. I try to remember what has happened but I cannot. All I can remember is a calm lake. Tears of sorrow stream down my face. Reaching down my throat I demand myself to gag. Last night’s victim comes up and out in warm red vomit. My body convulses and shudders as blood, bone, and human flesh pass my tongue. After what feels like an eternity my body is empty and hollow. Five years. I have been doing this for five years and I still am not used to this. I don’t believe I ever will. On shaky legs I rise determined to move on. I find my clothes and head home, a human once again.