It was summer break, leading up to my senior year in highschool, my last year of education. I had long decided that my place was at the farm my parents owned, where they held both cattle and cultivated crops. Working here is a 24-hour job, but doesn't tire me out in the least, it's what I grew up with and what I aspire to keep doing. Being a farmer is almost devoid of mental stress. Muscle stress was a whole other story..

My family lives at the far outback, but are still classified as citizens of the clevery named town Deville. An idyllic mountain town like any other, with the exception of a mall, a public highschool and a few myths that attract hundreds of tourists to investigate for themselves. Something about shapeshifting men and women who become beasts at night and live among us by day, don't ask me how they believe any of that. 

I attend Deville highschool, under the name of Kang Seulgi, dubbed as Bear by my friends. Member of the track team, not the worst student gradewise and in possesion of an undying smile, I would say I had plenty of friends there. But over the summer, I barely saw any of them, not that I needed to. Until I had this strange dream, something that I needed to tell someone. That is why I'm writing in this journal right now, on the last day of summer. After all, my pen can't react in disbelief, can it?

I've always been the type of person who likes their solitude, despite liking the friends I have and the interactions I make in daily life. This side of me needs to recharge every now and then, and where best to do that than on a hike in the forest. Yesterday I ventured out for a few hours, just walking over abandoned roads, following the stream and eventually arriving at a waterfall where the current ended in a lake. I dipped my feet in the water, smiling at this peaceful sight. It was beautiful, calming and colorful. Eventually, I returned home and after having dinner with my parents, I walked upstairs and fell into a deep slumber. 

I don't remember how or if I even truly got there, but when I opened my eyes, I laid in the forest again. It was dark, until the thick barrier of clouds shifted away from the moon, a bright and full one. Seemingly beaming down at me through the tree branches, so bright that it made my eyes hurt, to a near burning point. This wasn't real. My hands clawed into the soil I laid upon, grabbing a handful of it, as to convince myself that I was truly having a dream, you cant feel inside a dream. But I did feel it, the earth dirtied my hands. The hairs on my neck rose in fearful realization, this might not be a dream. Sleepwalking was the only realistic possibility, but who could not only leave a locked house, then stumble to follow the exact hiking route that they took before? Sitting up, I rubbed my eyes and tore myself away from the moon's light, looking at the lake I dipped my feet in during the day. Perhaps this dream would end, if I jumped in the water, but if it was real...I didn't feel like getting soaked. 

Standing up and getting ready to cannonbal my way out of this night's sleep, I took a leap before stopping dead in my tracks. I heard someone else, a laugh. Looking in the direction of where it came from, that was when I saw them. Three women, stark on the left edge of the lake, appearing to enjoy a nightly swim. They were pale like porcelain, two had black hair and one a rosy blonde, the latter was the one who gazed back at me. Her lips curled into a crooked smile, before she spoke to me.

"What are you doing here, dog? This is our territory. You weren't being a ert, were you now? I suppose you look sort of cute, but that stink won't do, I have no choice but to make you my midnight snack.."

The other two slowly turned their gazes towards me, seeming amused for reasons I didn't dare guess. I felt like a prey, stalked by their glowing eyes. Deep red eyes, beautiful as were they, fear would almost be replaced by butterflies in my stomach. One of them stood up, water streaming down her fair skin as she stood there silently. She breathed in, then gauged me with her eyes. Looking at the full moon, she nodded to herself.

"Don't, Irene. This one barely smells like a wolf, must be her first turning. At this age, looks like she isn't a part of their tribe. An outcast, this could be interesting."

At this point I was paralyzed with fear, eyes still burning with the moon's light. A wolf, this was definitely a dream. Yet, what was happening became dauntingly more real with every second. The woman who had overlooked me took a leap and as if it seemed nothing, landed only five feet apart from where I stood. This strenght was unnatural for any living being, but as she did it, it was graceful, as if she barely even tried. With a few swift steps, she stood in front of me, seizing me by the chin with one hand that gripped like a vice. Her other hand took mine, holding it up for me to see something frightening. From my nails, sharp claws had began to sprout. I wanted to scream, to struggle and run, but she would not let me escape. Her hand let go of mine, reaching up to tug at something I realized were the ears of a wolf, then her fingers travelled down to scratch along the dark hairs of my tail. This could not be real, but what she said, almost led me to believe it was. She opened , for me to see her long set of stark white fangs.

"I am Sunmi and you my dear, are a werewolf. I do not know why you turned this late, or why you seem devoid of any knowledge about yourself and us. But I'll teach you this, when you see my kind at night and still only muster this pathetic excuse of a transformation. You should run for your life, or Irene might actually find herself a snack in you."

Her right arm wrapped around my neck, so tightly that I almost passed out. The fingers on her left hand formed into a gun and as she pointed it to the side of my head, a current that hit like fourty thousand volts of brutal pain coursed through me. I fell to the ground, my eyes only saw the vague image of Irene, Sunmi and the unnamed woman who slowly came closer. Before I saw no more.

I woke up, inside my own bed, my own room and with the golden rays of sunlight peering through my window. It was a dream, I told myself with a sigh of relief. 

"Just a dream."

Looking at my nightstand to see the time, I noticed a single piece of white paper. Pressed upon it, a pair of crimson lips, a bloody kiss. Her name written on it with perfect caligraphy. Irene.

This was not a dream. Even when writing it down, I can't stop shaking. Tomorrow is the first day of school, all I can do is hope to forget. Forget that all those myths I laughed at, the tourists I looked at in disbelief. I am one of those beasts, and one in denial at that.

I must forget. All that I am is Kang Seulgi. 

Question is, will they let me forget?