Willow Springs

Chapter 3

I don't remember the ride home that night, I only know that I was drifting in and out of my sleep because my parents told me. They said I woke up a few times and mumbled a few words but it never made sense. From the time I got home to the next morning, it's a blank. The next time I woke up was the following morning, I know that for sure because the first thing I did was check my phone, which my parents most of put on charge for me. I was still groggy when I woke up and at first, my eyes wouldn't focus on the screen. I felt strange, really strange and the room was spinning. I could make out little bits of my room, like my dresser and wardrobe but that was about it. Everything else was blurred with multiple colours constantly changing. I dropped my phone on the bed and tried to focus on my hands but like the rest of my room I couldn't make them out. I felt myself start to panic and my heart race, but I still couldn't see. I tried closing my eyes and opening them again, but it made no difference. I tried calling out but I couldn't, I managed to swing my legs out of my bed and stand but I only managed a few steps before my knees gave way and I crashed to the floor hard. I tried to use my other senses, trying to see what I could hear first but as with my sight, it wasn't clear. I didn't hear the normal sounds of my house but it was like I was back in the forest again, but this time it sounded like the wind was blowing hard. I reached out in front of me and grabbed at the carpet but I couldn't feel anything, but I am sure my hands were grasping at my thick carpet.

"Richard, Richard are you okay?" My mother asked as she rushed into my room, though to me it sounded like she was a lifetime away. I opened my mouth to reply, but no sound came out of my mouth.

"Is everything okay?" My father asked worried as he joined my mother next to me.

"I... I don't know, he's not responding. I'm really worried about him."

"He's having a side effect from his change, it's not uncommon in my side of the family. I am surprised Ecneret didn't have the same reaction."

"What do we do then? We can't just leave him like that." My mother said in a panic and with tears in her eyes.

"Calm down dear I expected this to happen. It's called Lycanpansemia, go to our room and grab the vial out of my jacket pocket which I was wearing last night. I spoke to Angus and he made up an elixir which will reduce the symptoms at least, but Angus thinks it should work fully."My father replied, surprisingly calm for the situation, though he revealed years later to me that he was just as worried as my mother was.

My mother didn't bother to reply, instead, she rushed out of the room as fast as she could and quickly returned with a small glass vial with a glowing green liquid inside. If you were to see it you would think it was some leftover nuclear waste, not something to drink but it was. My father was kneeling behind me, gently with his arms under my armpits he pulled me up into a sitting position. My mother quickly removed the metal cap off the vial and took a quick sniff, recoiling back from the smell. She paused for a second, holding the vial up to the light. She seemed to be rethinking letting me drink it, but my father soon grabbed it off her before she could take it away.

"Drink Richard it will make you feel better. Trust me, it smells and tastes like swamp water but it will make you feel better in an instant." My father calmly said, holding the vial up to my mouth. I sniffed it and sure enough, it smelt foul, but I trusted my father and slowly opened my mouth. "That's it Richard drink it all up." My father said pouring the liquid into my mouth. I thought I was going to be sick it tasted so bad but I wasn't. I swallowed it all down as quick as I could and my father lowered me onto the floor so I was laying on my back staring at the ceiling. At first, I thought nothing would happen, that the elixir had failed, but then all of a sudden the white of my ceiling got brighter and brighter until I could no longer keep my eyes open. I felt my whole body tingle from head to toe like a million tiny ants were walking all over me but then it all stopped and it was over. I slowly opened my eyes and stared at my ceiling again before holding my hands in front of my face, delighted that my sight was back to normal. For the first time since before my first change, I felt great. I felt like I could run all day and never get tired, that I could write a hundred stories and still keep going. My father most of sensed this and held his hand out to me and with no effort at all he pulled me to my feet.