by
Conan Young
The
forest was much quieter at the end of the Sturgeon Moon, now that the
parents
had returned to work and the young ones had started the school year
anew. The summer crowds had come and gone, the
eroding effects of the elements masking whatever prints they'd left
behind. It was a time of change for two
ninth grade students as well. They had crossed
the hurdle from middle school into high school, and the adjustment to
the new
setting loomed large in their lives.
Despite the shift in circumstances, there were still many
familiar faces
among their classmates.
Adam
had been Andy's best friend since elementary school, as loyal and
trustworthy
as they come. His charcoal eyes, which
some would say matched his gray coat, looked distracted as he peered
down along
the trail, lost in his thoughts. In
contrast with Adam's untidy habits, Andy was fastidious about trimming
and
combing his hair, which was brown as the earth itself.
The two
longtime companions were not an unusual sight walking along the wooded
path
most days. Ever since he was little, Adam's
imagination would try to find shapes in the mid-afternoon shadows of
leaves that
danced in the wind. Andy had to call out
from further ahead on the well-worn footpath, snapping Adam out of his
daydreams. As short as the walk was from
the picnic grounds to the fishing pier, it was always a race to Andy.
"You've
heard
about it, right?" asked Adam.
Andy
could
sense this coming from a mile away. "How could I
not? It's been
all over the news. Three hikers over the
past two nights. This part of the woods
just isn't safe anymore."
"I
wonder
how that thing survives out here."
Adam could see a few broken twigs here and there, but nothing
that
resembled a burrow or shelter.
"Yeah,
it
must get chilly without anything to keep you warm." Andy
crossed his arms and shivered at the
thought.
"Not
only
that, but I hear its face is flat like a gorilla's or chimp's." Adam was hesitant to believe anything he didn't
see with his own eyes. "How can it
smell anything with a nose like that?"
Andy
picked
up on the uncertainty in Adam's voice, which he decided to humor. "Yeah, or hear anything with those
ridiculous round ears."
The
story
that had local residents in a panic was the series of attacks that had
occurred in the evening hours, similar to the ones from a month ago, and
the
month before that. Every full moon, a savage
creature appeared. Witnesses described
it as frail, apelike, and hairless, moving in a slow, awkward manner. It had beaten several victims over the head
with a wooden club, leaving behind bumps and bruises and giving one
hiker a
mild concussion. The same question was
on everyone's minds: What was this
strange beast and where did it come from?
Adam
gave
a dismissive laugh. "I
swear. The things people panic over
these days."
"You
don't
sound too concerned." Andy
had assumed Adam doubted the specifics of the eyewitness accounts, not
that
something was out there in the first place.
"It's
all
sensationalism, paranoia, things like that.
People around here need a diversion." Adam
shrugged. "And let's face it. The
most exciting thing coming up is the
annual harvest festival."
"You
don't
have to be a spoilsport about everything." Andy
had taken the lead on the path. Let Adam preach
to himself.
"Aw
come
on, don't be like that!" However,
Adam knew the debate was over. Andy didn't
have to know, but the thought of losing his friend to this creature was
something that kept Adam up at night.
Andy
was
the first to reach the lake, which had swollen from the recent
rainfall. The day after a downpour was their
favorite
time to sit on the fishing pier, when the water was high enough to wet
the tips
of their toes. Adam used to wait until
Andy's back was turned to try and shove him in, but somehow Andy always
heard
him coming. They'd long since outgrown
such juvenile stunts, but no matter how much they matured, they were
never too
old to while away the afternoons sending ripples across the pristine
reflection.
"What,
not
going to work on your report today?" asked Adam.
"I
already
finished the assigned reading.
Besides, it wouldn't hurt you to show a little responsibility." Andy waved in front of Adam's eyes. "I
don't know how you can watch the same
boring sunset over and over again."
"Yeah,
I
know." Adam pushed his friend's
wrist away from obscuring his view of the aureate splashes cast over the
mountaintops. Andy would never understand his
appreciation
of the simple things in life.
Nonetheless,
homework
was even further from their minds than the foolhardy plan the
townsfolk were putting together to ensnare the strange creature.
If
one
believed the old legends, a similar incident occurred in the town of Gévaudan
Adam
and
Andy didn't realize how late it was getting until dusk fell over the
lake
and the pearl of polished silver took its place in the skies for the
third
night of the lunar cycle. The trouble
they'd be in for getting home so late at night wasn't as much of a
concern as what
the townsfolk believed the night brought with it.
"Ah
great,
I forgot what time it was," said Adam.
"No
problem,
it's not that dark out yet."
Andy's eyes were quick to adjust to the dimming conditions. "Besides, when was the last time we ever
got lost out here?"
"Yeah."
Adam was confident the two of them could
navigate the woods in their sleep if they had to.
"Hey,
you
know what? That gives me an idea.
What if we're the ones who catch the thing
that's been attacking the hikers out here?" Andy
could already feel the excitement
coursing through him.
"Yeah!" Adam put on a semi-serious grin. "If
we get it before everyone else does,
we'll be heroes or something."
"Yeah,
heroes." Andy tilted his head up,
gazing into the full moon, which gazed right back at him.
A twinge of pain appeared in the base of his
spine and spread throughout his entire body.
He doubled over and grunted something incoherent.
"Dude,
what's
wrong? Something you ate?" Adam
reached out to help him up.
Andy
tried
to warn Adam to stay back, but only an apelike screeching escaped his
lips. When he tried to shoo Adam away,
it came off as a random swipe in Adam's direction.
Adam
watched
his friend's sleek brown pelt disappear, retracting under exposed pink
nakedness. Andy's feet got shorter and
flatter until he was standing on his hocks.
Gone were his tail and pointy ears, which had shriveled into
useless
round stubs on the sides of his head.
His snout had shrunken down as well, until there was nothing left
but a
flat mouth and an odd fleshy nose. There
was no hair left on the creature's body except in a few sparse patches,
including one atop its head.
Adam
cursed
under his breath, staring wide-eyed with his hackles raised and his ears
flattened against his head. He watched
the creature amble about, clumsy and plodding. It
picked up a stick from the forest floor to
use as a weapon, swinging it at Adam's head.
"Andy,
listen
to me." He tried a staying
gesture on the creature. "Stop it!"
Adam's
attempt
to reason with him was to no avail.
He ducked once and jumped backwards to avoid the beast's frantic
swings. It would be a simple matter of
sinking his fangs into the creature's throat, just as his father had
taught him
to defend himself.
No,
Adam
thought. No way was he going to do
that. That was his best friend Andy
trapped inside the creature's body. He
wasn't going to hurt him. He would have
to restrain him; use necessary force.
The problem was how to get the stick away before he could cause
any
harm. The creature made aggressive
grunting noises, baring its dull teeth and thumping its chest like a
gorilla.
Before
Adam
could come up with a plan of his own, he heard the confident chatter of
torch-waving townsfolk from further down the old hiking trail. They moved in lockstep like a seasoned
hunting party, tinged with the excitement of exterminating an elusive
pest from
their midst.
"Aha,
right
where we expected it to be!"
Mayor Truman thrust his paw at the creature. "And
it's found its next victim!"
Fergus
brought
his hunting rifle to bear. "Don't
worry Adam, we got the situation under control."
"No
wait! You can't!" Adam had
spread out his arms.
"Now
you
listen, young'un." Fergus
cocked the rifle, but couldn't target more than a sliver of the creature
behind
Adam's larger frame. "You did good
in luring the beast out, but now you gotta leave it to the adults."
"You
don't
understand." Adam shook his
head, not taking his eyes off the mob. "That's
my friend Andy in there!"
The
creature
waved its fists and danced back and forth on its hind legs to issue a
challenge. It tripped and fell over a
tree root, struggling and thrashing on the ground for a few moments
before it
tried to get back up.
"Oh,
so
Andy has been the one attacking innocent victims every month?" said
Mayor Truman.
"No,
no,
it's not his fault! He can't control
it! I don't think he ever meant to hurt
anyone!" The creature lunged while Adam
was distracted and clonked him on the head with the stick, which
splintered and
broke. "Hey, ow! Knock it
off, will ya!"
"The
beast
is a dangerous wild animal that needs to be controlled.
Now stand aside!" Fergus waved Adam off
and started to circle
around for a clear shot.
"But
he
needs my help!" Adam sidestepped
to keep up, but realized too late that he'd left a direct path between
his
transformed friend and the mob.
The
creature
bolted as fast as its skinny flailing legs could carry it, making a
bold charge on the gathered townsfolk. This
was all the justification Fergus needed to take aim and squeeze the
trigger.
"No!"
In
an
instant, Adam had leapt in between the hunting rifle and the charging
creature. The wind was knocked out of
his lungs as a hurtling hunk of hot lead tore an unerring path. Adam was aware of little more than the dull
thud of the hiking trail slamming against his back and the warmth
seeping from
his body to stain his gray coat crimson.
The creature, staring in primal confusion, took the opportunity
to flee
into the woods.
* * *
Groggy
eyelids
parted to rays of scattered sunlight and floating forms of bluish
white. The breezy ambience and chirping
that reached his ears could only mean they'd left him where he fell. He remembered a loud bang, but the searing
pain was gone, having given way to numbness that spread throughout his
body.
Time
had
to be short then.
His
awareness
began to reassemble like mosaic tiles. The
sounds had a mechanical regularity, like
the ticking of a clock. The clouds and
the sky solidified into the angular shapes of overhead lights and
curtains. He smelled rubbing alcohol and
fabric softener.
Adam
realized
it was early the next morning. So they
hadn't left him behind after all. His
attention fell on the spot where a patch of his fur had been shaved off
and a
small bandage affixed to the wound. He tried
moving his leaden arms and legs to mitigate the effects of the
anesthetics.
One
question
remained. What had become of
his friend? More than anything, he
wanted to get up and run back to the old hiking trail to see if he could
find
Andy there.
"Finally
up,
I see?" said the attending nurse.
"There's someone here to see you."
Great,
thought
Adam. It was probably Fergus
coming in to brag about how he chased down the creature and killed it
for the
good of all. That kind of slap in the
face would hurt worse than anything he'd been through over the past
twenty four
hours.
Instead
it
was a familiar voice; the last one Adam expected to hear.
"Hey, how are you feeling?"
"Andy?" Adam's heart skipped a beat. His
best friend was standing at the foot of
his bed, back to normal now that the full moon was over, looking none
the worse
for wear.
"I
wanted
to thank you. You know, for what
you did for me." Andy's eyes looked
regretful. "It's funny, you
know? All this started thanks to a
souvenir chimpanzee belt I bought from some African shaman, not knowing
it was
cursed."
Adam
didn't
know what to say. "You would
have done the same thing for me."
"I
suppose."
Andy lowered his head as
his voice sunk. "What I meant was...
thank you for not seeing me as a monster."
"I
don't
think you're a monster." Adam
scratched his neck. There were so many
things he wanted to ask at once, which all came out as, "So what happens
now?"
"Wearing
cloth
pieces?" Adam had on a
quizzical look. "Now that IS weird."
"Trust
me,
you'd be surprised how cold everything is without your coat."
Adam
looked Andy up and down, reminiscing on the previous night. He couldn't
help but to burst out laughing.
© 2010 Conan Young. All
rights reserved.
Kyle Chu currently writes poems and short stories
under the pen name
Conan Young, and is working on a series of fantasy novels entitled
"Lunar
Realm." He is a student at Bergen Community College in New Jersey,
where he has had a poem "Contrast in White" published in their
Labyrinth magazine.
