“Ahh!” I cried when my left foot caught on a twig that I’d mistaken for a small snake. Hyunseung didn’t even bother to turn around to see ‘trap’ I’d gotten myself into. He only shouted for me to pick up the pace and I was walking as fast as a girl carrying a three pound bag pack on her back and a lantern in her hand could.

Hyunseung never made it his priority to tell me about our little quest in the forest. His face had lit up like fireworks when were brainstorming about how we should spend our summer holiday. Never in a million years would I ever think that his grand idea was to venture in the forest on the outskirts of our little town. That forest gave me the creeps and sent shivers racing down my spine and butterflies in my stomach. There was incident a few years back about two little kids who went on a trip into the forest and were never found and heard from since. A lot of panic had come over the neighbourhood about it. There were stories too on the tips of many tongues that a strange creature resided in the darkest part of the woods in the centre of the forest and many believed those tales. Almost everyone did, everyone except Hyunseung. He wasn’t a er for tales. He was a realist and his mind only succumbed to the cold hard facts of life.

So when he proposed our little excursion into the dark deadly place filled with trees towering many feet over our little statures and producing frightening cries of animals, I hesitated. Hyunseung had been my friend since the fourth grade and now we were currently in the twelfth grade. That was nine years of friendship. We’d been friends for quite a while. Though he knew I was scared, I could never refuse an adventure. Darn it! He knew my weakness and that I’d always had time for a little venture or if I didn’t, I would make time.

“Ahhh!” I shrieked again when a toad jumped on my shoe. It was small, black and slimy-looking. Staring at it made my stomach churn and I hoped it wasn’t the fish I’d had for lunch. It was a hideous thing.

“Hurry!” Hyunseung snapped. Why that little ughh! Did he not know how hard it was for me to swallow by pride and act all high at mighty in this death zone? After taking a few deep breaths and regaining my composure I took a step forward only to plunge into a murky puddle. I screeched as the lantern flew from my hand and lungs taking it all that water. I didn’t know what was living it that water. There were little slimy toads, fishes, and oh my…maggots? Wait, did maggots live in water? I didn’t even know but there were also mosquito larvae. When the realization hit me that I could have been ingesting mosquito larvae, I scrambled to my feet only to trip over a twig that been around my ankle.

“Hyunseung!” I cried, scaring away the birds that were lounging in the trees. I heard the wings flapping away in unison, disturbing the quiet of the night. Then I remembered I must have swallowed innumerable microscopic organisms. I sputtered, spat and brushed and scratched my tongue with my fingers with agitated fingers whilst gaping for breath.

Could anything else go completely wrong? I didn’t think so.

“Jinri, what happened to you?” He managed to ask between pants. I stared at him with steely eyes not that he could see them because night had fallen and my lantern laid battered on the other side of the log that prevented from lurching at him.

“Forget it!” I said, exasperated. “Let’s go before it gets later.” He held out his arms and I took it. Drenched in murky water wasn’t the best state to be in and plus we had to get out of the woods before it got darker. Only God knew how worried my parents were once they noticed I wasn’t home.

“I’m sorry for being so selfish. I should’ve tended to you when I discovered you were so far behind.” Guilt tainted his low voice.

“You don’t say.” I rebutted purposely just to make the situation even harder on him. Instead of retorting he began trudging behind me, the twigs and dry leaves crunching and breaking beneath our feet. The night air too was cool against our sweaty bodies as we meandered through the overgrown pathways in awkward silence. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hard on him but he wasn’t behaving like a gentle man when he wandered off and made me swallow mosquitoes though he did apologize.

“Jinri.” A raspy voice sounded.

“Yes Hyunseung?”

I whirled around to see him facing me with a look of fear and confusion. “I didn’t call you.” He whispered, his eyes flitting about.

“You said it again!” I said, my hands shaking. Either Hyunseung had been taking ventriloquist lessons or I was hallucinating because I heard it, whatever it was calling my name over and over as we walked further and further into the forest. I blamed myself for even listening to him in the first place when he decided to lead the way. After seeing that awful puddle for the third time I definitely knew we were lost.

“We’re not lost!”

“Stop being so egotistical, you know we’re lost so just admit it already!” I blurted and regretted it instantly as Hyunseung looked hurt but I too had a lot of pride. I didn’t apologize even though I wanted to. I tried to say something to him but he only turned his back to me. I massaged my temples with my index fingers. Lost in the forest, drenched in water and I just quarrelled with my best friend was not how I imagined our adventure to be. Maybe if I –

“Fuuuudge!!”

 “Jinri!”He jumped around and ran towards me.  “Jinri, what’s wrong? What’s happened?” He hovered over me, trying to pry my hands form my hand when I crouched on the ground.

“Run!” I gasped. The change was taking place. How could I have forgotten? I didn’t get a chance to look at the almanac this morning and I wasn’t counting the days. Stubborn as usual he still stood over me. “Run idiot!” Yes, he staggered back to look at me in awe. Well, I thought it was awe. I couldn’t really tell since I was peering through the space between two fingers and my vision was blurry and his lantern wasn’t doing anything of much justice.

“Jinri I’m not leaving you. We can get out together.” And I thought I heard that line solely in poorly written movies.

“Bull!” I hissed, dropping the hand from my face to reveal my red pulsating eyes. “Run!” I growled. The voice had changed too and I could feel the muscles thickening and tensing in my arms. Hyunseung, frightened and appalled scurried away. There was no time to even think about how he had to find out about my … condition.

I could hear my clothes tearing to shreds as I morphed into the beast I was: a werewolf. Stupid me didn’t remember that it would be a full moon. Then there was the sensation building up from the pit of my stomach, surging upwards in my body only to stop at the back of my throat. At that point I was beyond self control. The urge to roar, growl, or howl, whatever wolves did overpowered me and I howled. It sounded real nasty though. Think of it as a cross between a gurgle and the bad cough you get when you’re sick and you know you going to get well soon. Yep that was it.

“It’s time.” Jinri the voices chorused. The trees were rustling in the wind and I felt empowered like I could do anything I want. Anything! But oh my gosh was I hungry. The smell of Hyunseung lingered in the air and off I was in search of him. The trees were blurry as I ran about 50 miles an hour.

I don’t remember ever finding him though. I was rescued the next day when campers stumbled upon a girl. Please I’ve seen worst. It was like they saw a ghost or something but the pain in my stomach and blur in my eyes caused me to pass out. I don’t know for sure though, I was told that. Anyways they say that Hyunseung was-

“Jinri! I see that you’re writing in your journal. Come on let’s go time for your nap.” It was the man in the full suit of white again, the man who talked to me as if I were a child. He enunciated every syllable and spoke so slowly that my ears hurt from listening to him. He wore those creepy smiles too. You know the ones that are wide as the Nile River. Yep those smiles alright. The one you get right before the person kills you. I see them a lot in the horror flicks prior to being placed in this dump.

He was taking me to the room whose walls were stuffed with sponges. They thought I would hurt myself. Idiots!

“I’m not crazy.” He took away my book and pencil. “Hey you can’t read that.” I told him. I wanted to scratch his face with my fingernails but I’m chained up like a criminal. I was not a criminal.

“Keep it down, y.”

“Don’t call me that!” I hissed.

“I’m sorry, babe.”

He laughed and unchained me and pushed me into the spongy room. I looked around and heard him locking the door behind me. I saw the four cameras spying on me in the corners of the ceiling. I needed to get out of that hell hole. I pranced around the room and found an almanac hanging from a nail.

“A nail?” I ask myself. “These idiots always leave something out.” I smiled to myself when I saw that that night was going to be a full noon. Hmm a full moon and a nail plus an almanac, life couldn’t get any better.

 

 

 

 

 

a/n: i hope this ddin't come across as confusing.