04-25-2011, 02:22 PM
It was cool here, cool and dark and almost familiar. It reminded her of a safer time when mother was a goddess of warmth and nourishment before she lay torn open on the ground. The sharp scent of the den's former resident, a vixen, pervaded everything, suppressing these memories. Moonglow whined softly, feeling hunted. She was, she was forgetting things. Last night was gone, a blank spot in her memory.
It wasn't the blackness of despair or suffocating weight of past events there was just a blank. The young female shivered and buried her nose in her fur. Two days ago she'd woken up beside the eviscerated remains of some animal with blood on her muzzle and gore caked on her chest fur. She didn't sleep after that but the black outs kept happening. Sometimes she heard a laugh or a growl when she was alone. Moonglow whined again and squeezed her eyes shut.
She was okay.
She was okay.
She was okay.
'Are you?'
Moonglow jerked her head up, sending down a shower of dirt particles on her head but the female didn't react to the stinging just kept her eyes wide, peering into the murky twilight of her tiny den. No one. O-of course not. The den was too small for a second body. It was nothing, Moonglow assured herself, just the wind. The young wolf curled herself into as tight a bundle as she could and rested, uneasy even in this small haven. Moonglow twitched at every twig snap, every abrupt rustle of grass. When the howl sounded she yelped and scrabbled backwards attempting to push herself into the dirt wall behind her. Heart kicking her breastbone hard enough to hurt Moonglow slowly calmed as she realized that the sound had come from a distance. An Alpha call. A command to come. She whimpered deep in her throat, she was on their land...
She was, wasn't she? Yes. Yes it was the same den. It WAS.
She had to go, she was obligated to go. She didn't want to. What if the blankness came? What if she was becoming a monster? Moonglow twitched, it was a word she'd been avoiding a fear that she dared not put to words.
What if...? No, no, no, no!
She clawed her way up and through the small tunnel of her den and burst into sunlight. She shook herself, freeing a small cloud of dirt from her fur. The sun felt too bright in her eyes and strange on her body. She felt good, not tired and not hungry. She hesitated a long moment before glancing back and along her body as much a she could. Her sides weren't as sunken in under the dirty and in some places matted fur. She was almost at a healthy weight, even. A combination of fear and horror lifted the hair along her spine. Something was happening.
Moonglow knew, she knew that she'd been living off mice for the last month. She knew intimately how such a stringy diet left her body. What was happening to her? No time, no time. Moonglow turned towards where the howl had come from and began to run in that direction. It was nearly effortless, a far cry from when she could barely walk for starvation. She hated it. Her body wasn't her own anymore. Whose was it? What was happening?
When she grew close enough to smell cooking meat and see three figures gathered close Moonglow halted and crouched until her belly brushed the ground. She began easing closer, unsure of her welcome. Her eyes were huge and pupil dark in her face a twinge of wild fear lurking in their depths. When she grew close enough to speak she did so. "Alpha?" Acknowledgement and question combined in a single rasped word.
It wasn't the blackness of despair or suffocating weight of past events there was just a blank. The young female shivered and buried her nose in her fur. Two days ago she'd woken up beside the eviscerated remains of some animal with blood on her muzzle and gore caked on her chest fur. She didn't sleep after that but the black outs kept happening. Sometimes she heard a laugh or a growl when she was alone. Moonglow whined again and squeezed her eyes shut.
She was okay.
She was okay.
She was okay.
'Are you?'
Moonglow jerked her head up, sending down a shower of dirt particles on her head but the female didn't react to the stinging just kept her eyes wide, peering into the murky twilight of her tiny den. No one. O-of course not. The den was too small for a second body. It was nothing, Moonglow assured herself, just the wind. The young wolf curled herself into as tight a bundle as she could and rested, uneasy even in this small haven. Moonglow twitched at every twig snap, every abrupt rustle of grass. When the howl sounded she yelped and scrabbled backwards attempting to push herself into the dirt wall behind her. Heart kicking her breastbone hard enough to hurt Moonglow slowly calmed as she realized that the sound had come from a distance. An Alpha call. A command to come. She whimpered deep in her throat, she was on their land...
She was, wasn't she? Yes. Yes it was the same den. It WAS.
She had to go, she was obligated to go. She didn't want to. What if the blankness came? What if she was becoming a monster? Moonglow twitched, it was a word she'd been avoiding a fear that she dared not put to words.
What if...? No, no, no, no!
She clawed her way up and through the small tunnel of her den and burst into sunlight. She shook herself, freeing a small cloud of dirt from her fur. The sun felt too bright in her eyes and strange on her body. She felt good, not tired and not hungry. She hesitated a long moment before glancing back and along her body as much a she could. Her sides weren't as sunken in under the dirty and in some places matted fur. She was almost at a healthy weight, even. A combination of fear and horror lifted the hair along her spine. Something was happening.
Moonglow knew, she knew that she'd been living off mice for the last month. She knew intimately how such a stringy diet left her body. What was happening to her? No time, no time. Moonglow turned towards where the howl had come from and began to run in that direction. It was nearly effortless, a far cry from when she could barely walk for starvation. She hated it. Her body wasn't her own anymore. Whose was it? What was happening?
When she grew close enough to smell cooking meat and see three figures gathered close Moonglow halted and crouched until her belly brushed the ground. She began easing closer, unsure of her welcome. Her eyes were huge and pupil dark in her face a twinge of wild fear lurking in their depths. When she grew close enough to speak she did so. "Alpha?" Acknowledgement and question combined in a single rasped word.