An Heir

Part Twenty Nine- Merry Christmas

It was just going dark in the Shrieking Shack and I stood in almost perfect silence as I awaited the languid rising of the moon. I was standing naked pressed against the wall, holding my breath as my body ached bitterly, my eyes were beginning to droop and I felt so tired- and I hadn’t even transformed yet. It gave me hope that we had finally found something to knock me out thoroughly enough that I wouldn't be able to hurt anyone.

As the moon rose like a sunflower head in the sunlight, my knees weakened and I collapsed to the ground; my body taken by the pain, I blacked out.

My dream that night was the worst yet. What made it worse was that I knew it wasn’t just a dream.

I was running, the ground was moist underfoot and water splashed beneath my feet as I ran, checking behind me, hearing a snarling noise similar to that of a dog. My dark hair whipped around my face as I ran around a corner and directly into the wind. I heard the rattle of the wind in my ears and just behind me there was a great howl. Wild eyed and seeing no-where else to go I bolted down a side alley that I hoped would take me away back towards the orphanage, but in the dark and the cold and in all my panic I had lost count of the number of times I’d turned and span around and I had lost all sense of direction.

I was lost.

I was small enough that I could hide behind a bin at the end of the alley- but I couldn’t stop my deep panting breaths or the sound of my thumping heart that was straining to remain encased in my chest at the sudden massive exertion. I was sure that whatever was chasing me could hear it. Again I heard another howl and I tried to cower deeper into the corner made by the bin and the brick wall, there was another and it seemed further away. I waited another ten minutes and finally decided to make a run for it, I stood and dashed off into the dark.

At the head of the alley he stood.

I ran straight into him and my small body was no match as he threw me to the ground, his coat billowing and his boots splashing across the wet concrete towards me. I had smashed my head against the floor and I tried to shuffle backwards and to regain my feet but he lifted me by the front of my shirt and pressed me to the uneven wall, only then did I see his face.

He had narrow lips that were pulled back to reveal razor-like teeth, his eyes were cruel and glowering and his nose was crooked like it had broken and not healed properly. I tried begging him to put me down but he laughed nastily. Suddenly he was biting into my neck.

I screamed but got the feeling no-one could hear me, as if I was being swallowed up in a vacuum, I felt tears sting my eyes and did nothing to hold them back. I was in so much pain, my body felt as if it were on fire, as if the gates of hell had opened up and I’d been thrown inside to burn. It hurt so much.

I woke up and even though I was pressed against the door I was still in the room. However the thought was secondary to the tumultuous amount of physical pain that I was in, everything hurt.

I was lying crumpled up against the door like a plastic bag, my knees up by my chest and my hands in front of me.  I was bleeding from several long scratches along my arms and as I carefully levered myself into a seated position I noticed I also had them down my legs and across my abdomen, a particularly bad one ran from just below my left breast to the top of my right hip. I recalled my dream and felt my neck, it felt hot under my touch, but I was brought out of my recollection as I readied myself to get up. Standing I pressed my hand to my head, stopping just in time to retch noisily and cough, my lungs sounding angry; of course that then set off my nose and blood started streaming down my face. With my hand to my face I stumbled over the floorboards and fell into the cupboard, my calf felt tight and the light that shone through a crack on the wall made my head pound and spin in-phase. I righted myself and opened the door scrabbling around blindly for the rag in my bag which I found and pressed to my nose firmly to stem the flow.