The Morning After... (Patreon)

Emily awoke to the sensation of damp earth beneath her bare skin and the coppery tang of blood in her mouth. Her eyes fluttered open, squinting against the pale light of dawn that painted the sky in shades of pink and gold. For a moment, she simply lay there, her mind struggling to piece together the fragments of the previous night.

As she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, a wave of dizziness washed over her. She groaned, pressing a hand to her forehead, and that's when she noticed the dirt and blood caked beneath her fingernails. Her heart began to race as she looked down at her body, taking in the smears of grime and gore that covered her skin.

"Oh god," she whispered, her voice hoarse and trembling. "What have I done?"

Emily staggered to her feet, her legs shaky and weak. She looked around, trying to get her bearings. She was on the moors, that much was clear. The rocky outcroppings and rolling hills were a familiar sight, but in the eerie light of dawn, they seemed almost alien, as if she were seeing them for the first time.

She took a step forward, and a sharp pain lanced through her side. She gasped, pressing a hand to her ribs, and felt the sticky warmth of fresh blood. Was she injured? Had she been attacked by some other creature in the night? Or was this blood not her own, but the evidence of some terrible act committed by the beast within her?

Emily's mind raced with terrible possibilities. She had always feared the worst when it came to her transformations, had always been terrified of the damage she might do when the wolf took control. But this was the first time she had been confronted with the possibility that she might have taken a life.

She stumbled forward, her bare feet sliding on the damp grass. She had to find her clothes, had to get back to town and try to piece together what had happened. But even as she moved, she could feel the weight of her actions pressing down on her, could feel the guilt and the horror and the self-loathing rising up to choke her.

"Please," she whispered, her voice a broken plea. "Please..."

But deep down, Emily knew that the truth might be even worse than her fears. She had always known that the wolf was a part of her, that its instincts and desires were woven into the very fabric of her being. And now, faced with the evidence of what that wolf might be capable of, she couldn't help but wonder if she had been fooling herself all along.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, casting its light over the blood-stained moors, Emily wrapped her arms around herself and began the long, painful journey back to Davidstown. She didn't know what the day would bring, didn't know if she would find absolution or damnation waiting for her. All she knew was that she had to keep moving forward, had to keep fighting against the darkness that threatened to consume her...