BLINDED BY A MONSTER

CHAPTER 4: She-wolf

I took a few steps back “what’s wrong with you, did you get hit by a bus or something? Why all these scars, are you alright?”

“Yes, a Bus. I got hit by a bus…now that we’ve established a cause for the scars, take off your clothes

I won’t ask again.”

She said charging menacingly towards me.

“Jesus Christ!”

I jerked back, missing my steps, the ground hurriedly came towards me. my small head connected with the ground, and my brain with my skull…I think, and everything else went pitch black.

…..…………………………………..

I woke up— my sight, blurred, I had suffered a mild concussion but I wasn’t in a state of utter obtrusion not to notice Barbel ruggedly hurling me up a rock. I was stripped to my underwear, was I r***d?

“Oh, you’re awake” she said as she tossed me to the ground.

“this is abuse,” I said, yelling, feeling my dignity slipping away. I placed my hands over my crotch. Today was red, today was shameful.

“What, are you, who are you…?” Still riddled with fear.

“Welcome to Sherwood forest, welcome to Alvian Pack. Juan.

You’re not alone…” Barbel’s voice echoed with liveliness, dripping with so much intensity

“You see here, we shed everything, our secrets, our fears, our desires …our clothes. We move as one” she jerked closer covering the gap between us in one step

She appeared more feral than before, like a Predator preparing to run wild.

“We don't hide anything here, we give into the wide, we are the forest, the forest is Us?”

“Us..?!” I reiterated moving away slowly with my hands still placed above my crotch,

What have I gotten myself into, my mind racing with fear.

Barbel moved from sheer innocence to a rabid creature ready to pounce on me. She grew fangs, her pale-blue eyes shredded into a menacing gold, her nails lengthened as thick linings of veins wrapped around her neck.

“wait…wait…”

“That's enough, Barbel.” A thick husky voice called out from behind me.

He was bold— definitely an unheard wonder of the world. He was built like a brick wall, towering as high as 6 '4, his shadow stretched far beyond giving shape to a more dreadful figure, almost as if this figure had a personality of its own, their movements were not synchronised.

His chest was broad, plastered on it was an unhealthy amount of grey hair, as well as a lot more on his jaw. He had a large scar running across his face, but his most appalling feature was the fact that his right hand ended at his elbow.

His fingers on the left were thick, his palms rugged enough to scrap metals, his forearms were hairy and implausibly large. This guy was definitely the real deal

His lenses were of unusual composition, each assuming a different colour, one grey, the other thick brown.

His presence was daunting. Who in the name of the seven rings if hell would want to fight this guy?! Definitely not Barbel. Compared to him, she was small…she looked less scary, more or less like an over excited puppy.

“Jezz I was just joking around…hmpf”

“Once again Juan” she said “welcome to the Park…”

“park? Asin wolf, no this is definitely a mistake.

What do you mean by park?

I am not a stray dog…I mean, I’m…I’m normal” I said, toning my voice to a whisper because, I mean, no one wants to anger the big guy.

There was always a big guy, the muscle—grumpy, scary, someone with no moral or ethical constraints. Someone that gets the Job done through every and any means.

A man of few words whose responses were restricted to grunts and growls. This was him— the grey man.

He was the kind to make an entrance not through charms and charisma but by mere breathing air, through his presence which almost always translates to “I am here, I am doing this, and there is nothing under God’s green earth you can do about it”.

“You must be confused. Sweet, sweet Juan. I have been watching you, you’ve changed.

your sudden weight gain, and mortified looking body didn’t happen by mistake.” Barbel said, bringing me back to the moment

“…And not to even get started on your stench, yours is by far the strongest,

All this, my dear, evidence of your fiendish nomenclature. You’re not human.

You were born a lycan, and lycan is what you are!”

It took a minute to digest all she had said, it was like funnelling thorns through my mind, each word chiselled through my perception of reality slowly tearing its very fabric apart, burning it whole and restructuring a new conception of what my life would become.

It began to add up, why and how it was possible to perceive the faintest sound, or see Crystal clearly at night, why it always felt like I had worms in my brain, or my bones were heavy as metal.

Why my sense of smell was heightened, and though my physique declined my core strength towered above average. And then, the dreams— vivid, unsettling, real!

It was hard to fight this realisation, the very truth was destined to come out, I am not ordinary, now it's time to leave the rest of my life hiding that truth.

I stood up knowing this, stole a glance at the big guy.

Is the litter box really even? Knowing all this, if push comes to shove can I really take this guy down?

I turned to Barbel, and sighed “what now…?”

“ Now we explore?” she said, her grin expanding, she chugged down an air of fulfilment and howled.

The big guy followed suit, and never in my life have I heard a howl loud enough to shatter the sound barrier. But he coughed it out in one breath.

From there, it was down the rabbit hole. The wonders of the world pales in comparison to the hemisphere surrounding Sherwood.

The environment swallowed an entire civilization— it was a mechanisation prospering the livelihood of various forms.

It was scary!