by Paula Jeffery
It had been one full day since the village abandoned me in the forest. I had not slept once in the time I was left here. The cold was bitter and unforgiving; all I had been left with was my winter robes, hoping that I would be dead and long gone. The snow had not fallen yet, but it would soon. The cold pierced through my skin and reminded me of how utterly lonely it is out here. The leaves were gone from the trees, causing each one to stick out like the veins on arms. The silence is deafening, and all I could hear was my thoughts and myself. Soon it would be dark, and I would have to force myself to rest. The beast had not yet made its way to me, but eventually it would. I hadn’t served my purpose just yet.
It had been a year since the beast came to the village. My brother, John, had proposed the first month that a young girl who was deemed unfit for marriage be gifted to the beast. At the time, it had felt like a slight aimed towards me, and I promptly confronted him about it.
“How could you?” I stormed in after the village meeting. He was sitting at his desk, deep in some papers.
“I am only doing what is best for the village,” he said matter-of-factly, not even looking away from his papers. Despite our shared blood, he looked nothing like me. He looked just like our father; blonde hair, brown eyes, and the same stern expression. Against my brunette and blue eyes, just like our mother as I was told.
“What you are doing is murder,” I snapped.
He sighs and sets his pen down and stares me down. “What else am I to do? The beast will kill us all if we are not willing.”
“But young girls?”
“They have no use to the village if they will not bear children,” he went back to his work, uncaring about the many young lives that will be lost.
Despite my protests, the village had decided it was my turn to be gifted to the beast. I knew that John had given me the year to marry, but I fought him as I always had. It was not that I didn’t want to marry, it was just that I felt that I never could. At least, it felt that way with every suitor he had introduced me to. There was nothing there, no spark; each one brought disgust inside of me. I felt revolted with each and every single man that John had wanted me to marry. I did whatever I could to purposely drive them away. He hated that.
As the sun had set and the dark was slowly creeping into the forest. The tree closest to me, a pine tree, its evergreen needles stand out against the white of the snow. I would make sure that I survived out here as long as I could. It would not be long, but I’d be damned if they came for my body and found it the next day. I’d be damned before I gave that entire village what they wanted.
The tree was uncomfortable, hard just as much as it poked everywhere. By the time I made myself comfortable as could be, the sun had set, and the moon was peaking out. It was full, the nights that I hated the most. The screams from the forests each month would keep me up for hours. Restless sleep never escaped me those days.
The moon was out now. I saw her in her beautiful glory, or at least she had been beautiful to me once. Now she brought about nightmares. As luck would have it, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. A perfectly clear night for the beast. A howl sounded off in the distance- the beast would make its way to me soon. My body froze in place, I dared not to move, in case it could sense me. My heart was racing and I swear it was beating out of my chest, trying to burst out. I heard the branches snap before it came, followed by the howl. Deep down I knew I needed to get off this tree and run, but would I make it? Instead, I stayed in place.
Down below I heard the beast’s roar. It made its way to me, and before I knew it, it was making its way towards me. From here I could make out a few features; it was big and covered in fur. It was a hideous sight; growling at me and digging its claws into the tree. I noticed the beast was trying to climb up. I slowly made myself stand. I needed to get out of here before this thing got to me, and I knew that it would if I did not move.
The sound of wood crunching became louder, and I looked down. My eyes could not escape the beast, as it came ever so closer to me. The beast, claws embedded in the trunk of the tree, growled and huffed as it climbed. I looked down and back up, my heart continuing to race. I looked back down. The ground below would be hard, may cause some injury if I was to jump, but what would be a few injuries compared to a slow death to the beast?
The beast made its way to me, and I let it. When it was below me, so close that it could touch me, I made my jump. The fall was quick and hard. Breathing was hard, I could hardly breathe, it was almost as if the air was sucked out of me. Moving was worse. Moving was painful, how was I to make myself get back up? The beast looked down at me, I could see it, but I was unable to move away from it.
It jumped down, landing right at my feet. The beast growled at me, climbing on top of me, making me stare it in the face. Its drool dropped onto my face, still I was unable to move. Seeing it closer now, I saw its dark eyes, the snout, like that of a dog. Its sharp teeth, and I knew it would be capable of tearing me to shreds.
It was as if a blessing came to me then, and my strength came back. I managed to kick it in the stomach, my foot making contact and it made a loud noise. It lurched back in surprise, and I made my escape. It reached out its claws for me, and managed a cut on my arm, tearing away some of the fabric of my robes. I sent a silent thanks to whoever listened that I got away with just a cut, and continued on. I ran as fast as I was able while bunching up my skirt.
The beast followed behind me. I dared not to look back, but I knew by the sound of the leaves crunching and the branches snapping. I kept my eyes in front of me, that is the only way I knew how to keep going. If my eyes stayed ahead of me, the fear inside would not stop me.
I made my way to a clearing. It had once been a camp, with a forgotten fire pit, and some clothing; before the beast, it had been normal for the men to go on camping trips. The trips had been for feasts that we had held every full moon. In that case, there should have been a shelter nearby in the trees. If I remembered correctly, in those shelters there should be some sort of weapon. I looked to the tops of the trees and found a ladder to one of them.
I climbed it as quickly as I could, knowing the beast wasn’t far behind me. The shelter was small, only ever used to store supplies that the men had carried, but now, it mostly sat empty, with a few cloth bags left. I quickly pulled the ladder up and slammed the door to the shelter. I searched through the bags, finding mainly clothing, and a small hunting knife. I sent a quick prayer of thanks to the gods and got to work.
I grabbed a shirt from one of the bags and the hunting knife. I cut the shirt into strips, looking at the cut that the beast had left on my forearm. The cut itself did not look too bad, but not good either. I took the strip and tied it tightly around the cut. Next, I looked around the shelter for anything that could help me. In the corner of the room, I spotted a stick. I made for it quickly, while down below I heard the beast’s growls. I brought it back to my small station. First, I cut my skirt to my knees and then I placed the knife on it while wrapping it tightly with the cloth. I took a good look at my work, swinging it around to assure that the knife was on tight.
I opened the door and dropped the ladder, which brought the attention of the beast. It ran to the ladder, sniffing and growling at me. I climbed down, and landed in front of the beast. I stared it down, careful not to let my fear show. My heart was racing, betraying me, and I prayed that the beast couldn’t hear it. It lunged for me, and I thrust the makeshift weapon towards it. I fell a little, but I managed to stab it once in the leg. It let out a howl of pain. With my lack of training, I was quite proud of my work.
I took out the weapon, and went for another stab, but instead it lunged out of the way, and went for me again. Its claw connected with my leg, and I yelled out a curse. The sharp pain ended when the beast unlatched from my leg. I thrust again, and still it dodged away from me. I sent a small curse to John for never letting me learn any type of self defense.
The beast growled and once again lunged for me. I barely avoided its attack, and it left a mark on my leg again. I lunged and thrust the weapon forward, making contact with the beast’s back. It fell to the ground and my knees started shaking, my arms heavy, and I was unable to stand. I collapsed to the ground on my knees. I looked over at the beast, staring it in the eyes, its eyes wide as its writhing in pain. A whiny noise coming from it, I saw the same fear that I had held.
They were not this evil creature that the village assumed they were. They were like me, and I was like them. I could end them right then, but did I dare to? The fear in their eyes made me think otherwise. Who could dare hurt a creature for no reason other than it being scared? It was not acting out of malice, but out of necessity. Who are we to punish a creature for doing so? We let our dogs lash out and attack, but to blame and harm another creature for it?
I dropped the makeshift weapon and extended my hand out to the creature as I stood. It stared, perplexed, unsure of what to do. I knew not if this would work, but I needed to try at least once. I understood them, even if they did not understand me. We were two outcasts in this damned village. In the corner of my eye, I saw that the moon had set, and that the sun was beginning to peak out, creating streaks of gold in the sky.
As the sun rose, the beast began to move uncomfortably. Their skin was peeling, fur shedding. It was horrible and disgusting, but at the same time it was beautiful. The beast thrashed, yelling out in pain, but all I could do was stand and watch. This must have been how it could have hidden during the day. I looked down at the wound on my leg, and noticed that the cut had healed, leaving only a scar, but fur beginning to stick out. I brought my hand down, and tried to pull it away, but I was met with a quick pain. It was growing from me. I looked back at the beast, the fur was the same color.
After a few brutal minutes, the beast had shredded its fur and skin, leaving in its wake, a woman. Dark hair, and the same dark eyes as the beast. I saw scars running up and down her pale skin, along with some new wounds that I had left as well. Our fate had been sealed; I was to become just like her. She looked up at me, in awe and confusion combined. Reluctantly, she took my hand in hers.
Paula Jeffery is a current Youngstown State University student studying English. When she isn’t writing, shes consuming folklore and Urban Legends and daydreaming about mythical worlds. She loves to write cuddled up with her two cats, her biggest fans. Her favorite stories tend to contain monsters and myths. This will be her first narrative piece to be published.