Sweet Beast

I have awoken on the dirt ground and lifted my head towards the entrance of the cave. He was sitting in the middle and the breaking sun was illuminating his hairy shape and his eyes shone bright into my soul. Obviously was waiting for me. I could see my breath, it was that cold, but he kept me warm the whole night.

I collected myself with my stuff and walked after him. The werewolf kept his distance. Respected my personal space after yesterday's slip-up. Looked down on my bloody hips; already forgave him. I stopped at the entrance and looked at the horizon and rising sun. I bathed in the warmth; very pleasant feeling with the fresh foresty air.

Kind of like I knew where I was; which part of the hill. But I never expected a cave here,... but I can understand it, since this section is the most steepest. I looked left and he was standing on the narrow pathway waiting for me to follow him.

Slowly walking behind holding to anything I could. On my left, it was just all rock, and on the right it went down the cliff. Quit a challenging walk. I sweated like crazy, until I reached the bottom. Finally, I was in the safety of the sweet valley. He escorted me until the forest border and then disappeared in the thick brush.

From there I walked home, which I reached at 5 am. I decided to return the next day despite my period, which started that day. This was, what he was sniffing in the cave and was so obsessed about. He already learned his lesson. Probably now I don’t need to fear any deer, since I have a huge werewolf around me in the forest.

I think I got an unusual new friend. I packed my bag with a first aid kit, since he was hurt and went out early in the morning. How do I treat him? That will be figured out later, when it comes to it. I walked up the hill to the big rock where I sat the first time, when I met him and just waited. He didn’t disappoint me. He appeared right away, but he still kept his distance. I didn’t want to force him either.

We were staring at each other. Now I just analyzed every single detail of him. He was quite a monster. Robust body with defined muscles and under all the dark brown fur, which turned black in the parts, where it was longer.

The body parts, where he had longer fur were; the back of the head, neck area, upper arms, back, and under the waistline. It seemed somehow like pants. The front paws slash hands were a little longer. They looked like normal paws, the fingers were the same thickness, but longer; and ended with sharp claws. The toe pads were smaller.

I could clearly see he used his back legs more, than the front. Every time he stood up, I could hear the faint sound of air popping in joints. Same as I pop mine sometimes on my hands. On all four he just looked like a bigger wolf, but when he stood up, then he became that scary beast.

His face was wolf-like, with pointy ears, different colors in each eye. Very mysterious stare. He was missing his left fang. It looked like he broke the tip of it. His tail was long and bushy-looking. When he was standing on his hind legs he hunched a little over and never stretched his legs fully. He smelled after blood; probably his last meal, but the odor was not that strong.

I wanted to touch his fur and feel its texture again, but I preferred not to do it. I didn’t want to get my arm bit off. Maybe he will let me in the future. I didn’t dare to come closer, even when he needed some treatment right now. I just let him choose to come to me first and eventually, he did. I guess he was curious about me too.

He placed his paw not so far from my hand. His nose and ears twitched. I turned it with the palm upwards. He did the same and then compared it to mine. His was twice the size of mine. I think this was also his first time to inspect a human from head to toe.

Suddenly his pupils narrowed and just became scary. He jumped up and ran into the forest. From the opposite side after few seconds I could hear people talking. They came out from behind the curve. It was a young couple. They gave me few strange stares, what was I doing here. I was sitting on the road with my palm still turned up on the ground. They must been thinking, that I was some crazy lady.

Finally, they passed by and he returned to me after a while. We spent the whole day together just hanging out without a word. Just our presence,... that was enough. Anytime someone was passing by, he just went into hiding. Even when I knew, where he was, I couldn’t see him. This creature was mastering the camouflage. His size and weight didn’t bother him at all.

Just two days and I was comfortable with him, but today might be the last day in a long period of time I will return to the forest. My vacation will end and by tomorrow I will have to go back to my work. I have no clue, if he will understand. I should tell him somehow, but for sure he will have not clue what I am saying.

By the sunset, I broke the silence. “I am not sure, if you understand human language, but I must tell you, I will not return tomorrow. I have human business to do, so don’t wait for me please.” I got surprised. Did he just nod at me? My jaw hung down in wonder. “So you do understand human speaking?” He nodded again. It looked like I got a listener and friend, since I had nobody. I smiled.

After a goodbye, I turned on my way home and he disappeared in the forest again. The next day I went to work like planned and was daydreaming, about what he was probably doing around that time. It was a boring day at the library. Most of the people, who were coming there were just old folks.

Nowadays youngsters don’t take a real book into their hands for reading. Everything is now online. Rather I would sit silent in the forest with my werewolf friend, rather than being surrounded by creepy old dudes. I am strange I know, but people freaking me out more, than real monsters.