5

It was a perfect night. There were fireflies dancing and a brook bubbling along joyfully. The hill was small and grassy. Gofers perked up out of the holes even this night to bask in the moonlight's silvery glow. The man on the moon grinned a lopsided grin like he wasn't sure if he wanted to be smiling or not. The image on the moon glowed brightly out at me and I walked down the small hill to the brook under the shade of a few trees.

The wind caused a breeze and the hairs on my back went this way and that as the wind touched them. My stomach was growling and I howled at the moon as though hoping, like every other time it was a full moon, that my howl would bring food, human food, not werewolf food. I was begging the moon goddess, Selene, again for a bite of decent food. The begging never helped, but I always tried.

It was as if she had something against me, whether it was because of my begging howls or something else, I did not know. She must have something against me for whenever she was full; I was turned into this hideous beast. At first it was every night when the moon came up, but she took pity on me, still, she has something against me. Is it because I'm a werewolf? If so that is silly, because it's not my fault, one of the others bit me, therefore I'm transformed. Unfair of her to think that if she does.

As the moon passed by the clouds again it came into view, I howled. She must really hate me, all that howling. But how could I stop? Its automatic! 'Beg, common, if I beg maybe she'll spare me the trouble of going down to the village and eating up one of the little children! I must beg!' I howled again, a tragic howl, mourning for my tormented soul and those I have killed unwillingly. 'Food, why did it always have to be about food?'

Even when I wasn't a werewolf I had craved it. Not just any old scrap of food like I do now as a werewolf, but delicacies and special dishes that my long gone mother had made. They knew the dangers of living with a werewolf and didn't love me enough to stay in this village; they moved after the first night they saw me like this! It's a curse! Don't ever go out into the woods alone! Don't even take a bit from a werewolf without a fight! Not that the fight'll do that much good because their devilishly strong, but its worth a try, come on! I warned the mildly cold night.

The moon glowed brighter that night than all the other nights before it as if egging me on to fully become a werewolf where even my mind would wish for human and animal flesh as well. It was as if she wanted that to happen and the breeze lifted the hairs on my back as I bent down to the brook to try and take a drink. Instead I went to a river further away from the village and took a swig of water.

I looked at the moon with puppy dog eyes and started bargaining with the moon goddess like I had done every night since I got bitten.

"Please. If you let me free of this body I'll become a vegetarian and will kill no more animals!" I said to her, or tried to. I couldn't really speak very well as a wolf. The language was of the wolf kind, not in a human language that could be understood. It consisted of a variation of howls, grunts, and whines. I hoped against hope that she could hear me. I howled a very low, deep howl, begging to be free of my werewolf body.

To my delight and surprise I saw the shape of a woman on the moon instead of the picture of the man on the moon with the lopsided grin. She reached her hand down to me and a silk sleeve trailed besides it. I howled softly not wanting to scare her. I wondered if she had heard my pleas and was deciding on whether to grant them or not.

"A vegetarian?" She asked in my thoughts. I jumped and whined.

"Yeah." I said tentatively.

"No, no, that wouldn't do!" She said in a silvery voice.

"What? Well I, I could become someone who takes care of animals then! I would, if you set me free of this prison! You're the goddess of the moon! You could do it!" I said to her in grunts and howls.

Selene laughed like silvery bells. I looked around confused.

"No, no you like meat!" She said. "I know you. You'd take care of animals, but eat meat later all the same! Even not in wolf form you crave it! I'd think that you'd like being a werewolf as you love meat so!" She added. I was shocked.

"But." I protested trying to get the words out.

"Yes?" She said looking at me amused.

"The meat is human, humans!" I said despairingly, sobbing.

Selene lay back into the moon on the now glowing C shape of it as if it were a lovely couch or bed, and pretended to yawn. She hid a smile.

"Oh, I see." She said lazily.

"Isn't there something I could do in return of you making me human again?" I asked desperately.

"Who said I was going to do anything of the sort?" Asked Selene playfully. She pulled a flower out of nowhere and stuck it into her hair.

"I thought that maybe, you could..." I asked disheartened and looked down at the water flowing in the rivers.

"I could, it all depends" said Selene with a wide smile, almost lopsided.

"Then you know how to!?" I asked brightly, and then I frowned.

"What does it depend on?" I asked her.

She sat up straight as she could on the C part of the moon.

"Well, you have a few choices to make after you have become a werewolf." Said Selene in her silvery chime like voice.

"And those are?" I asked interested.

Selene took out a blue, silver, and gold brush from out of nowhere and started brushing her hair, the flower fell out drifted off into the breeze. She looked at me sternly.

"Those choices have to do with the fact that you like meat, but not human meat. I can first help you with coping being a werewolf while I'm deciding whether to turn you back into a human or not" said Selene matter of factly.

I was disappointed. Perhaps this conversation was all for not, but I continued the conversation anyways.

"How can you help me cope with being a werewolf?" I asked while thinking that maybe this would be a good thing too even if I couldn't become human all the time again, yet.

"Here are your two options," she said, apparently pleased with herself, thinking she was helping someone out.

"They may seem trivial, but it's all I've got." She added and then went on, "You can choose to either be hungry all the time or full all of the time. I'll explain. If you are hungry all the time you will crave food and get bigger and bigger. This will teach you the lesson of not becoming a pig from eating all the meat that you crave. When you are full all the time you will learn the lesson that you do not need to eat as much meat as you did and as a werewolf it will mean that you will not have to eat humans. You will be full but your body will still be able to function without eating anything. You will notice that when you come out of this state you will need to go back to eating, but you will watch what you eat because you'll only want to eat your favorite meals or what's healthy because you didn't need to eat anything before. You will also learn that you miss the taste of food. I hope you will agree that both of these options will help you cope with being a werewolf until I decide if I will turn you back into a human. I decide things better when I am asleep, which is during the sun time, still, it may take a few days. Which option will you choose?" explained Selene eyeing me curiously perhaps wondering which option I would choose. I knew already.

"I'd like to be full all the time, that is, until you decide." I said eagerly. Her eyes became droopy as she granted my request and I noticed the sun coming up. I transformed back into a human.

I came back to my cottage at the edge of the village, hoping to eat something decent for breakfast, when I realized that I was full. I could smell the lovely backed bread from the other houses even though they were all the way down the hill. My mouth watered, but still, I wasn't hungry. I cleaned the house as it was a mess and then went out for a run. I came back expecting to make something to eat. My stomach felt full, and again, I was disappointed. At dinner time it was getting dark, I usually didn't have much for dinner, but I was expecting to have at least some tea, but I found for a third time, that I wasn't hungry. What was the use? I wasn't going to drink the tea, I didn't need it in my system, and I was all set.

I looked out the window, to see if it had grown dark. I was shocked for there was still a full moon! This couldn't be happening! I ran out side to the river for I knew that my transformation was about to happen. Just as I got there I transformed into the ugly werewolf. I looked up at the moon and remembered my request vividly and I cursed her. Even with her granting me the art of being full all the time with a perfect working body, my wolf-self craved meat, human meat and flesh. I wanted to call upon her, tell her it hadn't worked, but then I noticed that I wasn't full, I didn't have to eat any humans tonight. I rejoiced and whispered grunting apologies to Selene.

The memory of the taste of human flesh made my mouth water and I was disgusted with myself. It was my wolf-self kicking in, as the night got darker and the moon shinier. I howled up at Selene as if calling for her attention. She heeded my call and came out from hiding as she did the image of the man on the moon disappeared. She saw me glancing at where it would've been and smiled slyly at me. I shook my heads to clear my thoughts.

"Yes?" She asked sweetly.

"I was wondering if you'd come to a decision." I said calmly as the wind brushed by my face making my nose feel strange.

"No. I need one more day. Cloud messengers interrupted me during my sleep. I'm sorry, I'll tell you tomorrow. I'm oh so busy at the moment dear! Goodnight!" She said to me and then hid back inside the moon and the man on the moon's image reappeared with the lopsided grin.

My wolf-self was now fully taking me over. It was midnight and the time I was most prone to want to hunt. The wolf in me watered thinking of humans and flesh. I was so sick of myself that I just had to get it over with and kill something. I knew I wasn't hungry, but my wolf-self craved the taste of meat, particularly human's. The wolf part of me took me too the village and when I became awake in my cottage and went outside, I heard nothing. The village was destroyed; no one lived there anymore all thanks to my wolf-self.

I couldn't wait for that night. Selene had to turn me back into a full human so something like that wouldn't happen again. Finally the night came and I went out by the river in my human form, fatter than usual, and drank from the river, then sat near it.

"Selene!" I called to her, wondering if she would know it was I. She peeked out from inside the moon.

"Oh! You! Yes dear. Could you tell me what happened to all the people in the village you live in, I was to sleepy to hear what the cloud messenger was saying that was trying to tell me about it!" Said Selene in creamy voice. I was so ashamed that I couldn't bring myself to tell her for a few minutes. She looked at me quizzically and finally I spoke.

"I didn't follow your coping method." I said swiftly.

"I learned that I didn't need to eat human for I was full. But the power of the wolf-self took me over, he remembered the taste, craved it, and lead us both to the kill, the entire village. He must've been upset that he didn't get anything to eat that entire day!" I said quickly hoping that by saying it fast I wouldn't have to talk about it for very much longer. I felt so disgusted by myself and hated the wolf-self more than ever!

Selene gracefully looked in a lake that the river lead to she sighed and through some moon dust down at it.

"I'm sorry you didn't listen to the lessons that I told you." Said Selene. "You should've listened more carefully. You where supposed to feel like you didn't need to eat humans and when I said 'miss the taste of food' I meant human food not human's as food. I suppose you've learned your lesson anyhow seeing as you won't want to kill humans for food as a werewolf anymore, now will you? Also there are no more human's near to eat as a werewolf, your wolf-self will have to search father for that kind of food." Added Selene

"Have you decided if your going to turn me into a human or not?" I asked stiffly hoping now more than ever that she would.

"Well you are a human right now, aren't you?" Said Selene looking him over to emphasize her point.

"I've decided, with the use of quick thinking, that I cannot let you roam being the only person from that village who survived what will be known as a massive werewolf attack. They'll suspect you as the werewolf immediately and not bother proving that true until they've killed you! You've asked for my help and I can't turn you back into a human because of that. I can't keep you as a werewolf because you'll just keep hunting even if you are always full. There's only one thing that I can do to keep you safe until this werewolf attack has been forgetting." Added Selene in a silvery voice. She brushed her silver hair behind her ears before she would listen to what I had to say.

"What's that? Also, I understand every word you have just said." I asked and confessed. Selene smiled at me slightly amused. I observed the moon as I waited for her to answer my question. I noticed that the image of the man on the moon was gone. I looked at where it had been curiously, I couldn't make it out.

"You notice that lake?" asked Selene while pointing at the lake at the river's end.

"Yeah, I do." I said.

"Did you every see that it doesn't have a reflection of the night sky on it?" asked Selene.

I observed the lake with curiosity and could see immediately what she meant.

"Why, so it doesn't!" I said.

Selene didn't say anything more. She took a special type of moon dust and sprinkled it on me. I became the reflection of the night sky in that lake. I would wait there until the werewolf that killed all those people was forgotten, or named innocent.