The Tenth Daughter of Memory - Moon

I paced across the wooden planks, cringing at the sound of each creak. I ducked under the steep, slanting roof as I reached the north wall of the attic, then pivoted and paced back across the floor. I threw anxious glances towards the circular window on the east wall at regular intervals, waiting for the moonlight to throw itself in, unwelcome, casting it's hideous light upon my skin.

I crossed the floor to the little window and fidgeted with the curtain, trying to get it exactly right so the evil moon could not shine upon me. Stupid rags - they never worked. I tore off my t-shirt and covered the window with it, but my hands overlapped and they wouldn't stand a chance against that moon.

I sighed heavily and gave up on that. I pulled my t-shirt back over my head - the more skin covered, the better - and went back to wearing a trench in the floor. I turned my head to check the sky, which had turned a vibrant blend of blue, red, purple, and black. I could see the first star - twinkling, as though innocent, when I knew it marked the horribleness of night - and I sprinted to the corner of the damp attic.

I pulled my sweatshirt over my bare arms and tugged my hood tight over my skull. I drew my legs in to my chest and wrapped my arms around them securely, as I had forgotten to grab pants and had only shorts on. I turned my head and buried it into the corner of the wall. A spiderweb tickled my nose, and I sneezed, batting the web away with my human hands. Still human. I breathed a sigh of relief.

It took a little persuasion, but I finally convinced myself to peek at the window. I opened up the small hole between my arm and my chest to look outside, and saw the man in the moon beginning to cross the sky, a menacing look to his face. I shuddered and tucked my head back into the corner as I felt a strange tearing along my ankles.

I gasped and jerked my head around to look at my ankles. Once I saw my ankles, left sockless in my haste, had been struck with that sinister moonlight, I shrieked and hurried to cover them, but I knew it was too late. I shrieked once more, sort of a howl, and vaulted to my feet. I howled once more and tore at my ankles, trying to rip them off before the disease spread to the rest of my body.

I failed in my desperate attempts, and collapsed back to the ground as my veins began to burn. My feet bursted, tearing my shoes to bits and pieces that flew into the walls. My shorts went next as my legs exploded with my horrid disease. I tore off the hoodie and the t-shirt in time to see my chest explode.

My skull, something I once imagined to be my one safe haven, began to morph and crack with the transformation. I screamed, a blood-curdling scream, as my face changed into something so familiar, yet so hideous. I scrambled to my feet and crashed through the window, that traitor, that window who betrayed me when I needed it most, and now it's pieces lay scattered across the lawn, littering the damp ground.

The shards cut into my feet, but I ignored them as I fell to the ground and raced to the top of the hill on the far side of town. As I reached the top of the hill, I slowed, and pulled my torso up, like I was a puppet, so I could stand on two legs. I chuckled once, a snarl or a growl, really, at how... how... stereotypical this all was. Soon, the dark humor faded, and I reached the top of the hill.

I fell to my knees, threw my head back, and howled at the moon, as any werewolf would do.