Chapter 20 - The Second Attack and A Confession from Beyond

“I try hard only to be him, you always wanted in life, still I just bring you misery, what can I do?”

Matt murmured to the music he was blurring into his ears. Dead By April always seemed to match to his life story. He was at home, his eyes closed as he lay on his bed, waiting for the change to come. He could feel it on the brim of spilling over and was bracing himself for the pain to begin. He should have been in the kitchen, really, but he was so comfy at the moment he really didn’t feel like moving. It was going to be messy, wherever he was, it was just easier to clean up in the kitchen.

He’d been lying this way for about fifteen minutes, waiting for it to happen. The sun had gone down so it was just a matter of minutes until it began. He was relaxed for the moment, his mind almost blank except the lyrics that ran around his head much too loud for his sensitive ears.

The thing he was most trying to forget was Kristen, of course. He should be out trying to catch this thing that had been quiet the past few days. As far as Matt knew, there had been no more murders or disappearances. Maybe they’d moved on to the next town.

He hoped so. It was terrible to think, but he was glad he didn’t have to put effort in finding whatever it was. He had too much to think about.

God he was selfish.

Matt opened his eyes and blinked up at the ceiling. He had to move at some point. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, pulling out his earphones and dropping his phone on the bed.

He was tired. He didn’t sleep much anyway and his body was used to it but he just wanted to be lazy tonight. He decided he was going to stay in.

Then he saw something.

He jumped to his feet so quick he almost fell over. The shadow was back. Watching him. In his room. In the corner. A misty area of particles that swirled slowly. He hadn’t heard it come in or smelt it or anything. He’d been so vulnerable. It could have done anything to him. He stood and braced himself in a kind of crouch, his fists clenched.

The shadow suddenly stilled as if it was solid in some way and froze against the wall. Matt took a deep breath and then growled in his throat, stepping forward. It instantly twisted around and Matt lunged.

Missed.

It span out of the way and a hissing noise came from within it. Matt glared at it then stopped in surprise. It had teeth. Sharp pointy teeth. There had been just a glimpse of the pearly white canines but they were definitely there.

Before he was able to process this information, it whooshed out of the window.

Matt ran to the window and looked down. It was blowing down the road like lightning. It soon went out of sight and Matt glared at where it had disappeared. He couldn’t have a lazy night in after all.

It hadn’t gone.

It had been hiding.

It was back.

It was lethal.

It was armed with sharp weaponry. This was the murderer. It must tear it’s victims with it’s teeth and eat them. He wasn’t sure what it was but whatever it was it was on the hunt tonight.

He had to stop it.

He was so frustrated that he turned a wolf the moment the thing disappeared. What good timing. He rushed to the kitchen and ripped out of his skin, shaking his fur free. His clothes lay crumpled in a heap in the corner to stop the blood getting on them and staining them.

He wondered how much blood he lost every night. It couldn’t have been a healthy amount. Although, Matt thought for a moment, his healing was incredible. He assumed that the amount of blood would soon be replaced in minutes once he'd lost it. That was the brilliance of having a curse like his.

Not like it was important at the moment. There were more serious matters to attend to. He howled, tossing his head back, before bounding outside into his back garden and over the fence so that no one else would see him. He pushed from the ground, digging his nails into the soil so that he could travel further forward, moving towards where he’d seen the thing last.

He was blind against it, he knew. He couldn’t smell it, as it didn’t have a smell, and he couldn’t hear it because it was so silent. It could easily escape and worst of all, it didn’t even have a proper shape. It was just a load of mist which, if he attacked, he would probably fall straight through.

How was he going to stop it? He relied so much on his skills to take things down but this thing seemed to turn his strengths into weaknesses. The only useful thing he had was his quick healing and he doubted that would help catch it.

He reached the corner and stopped, breathing as deeply as he could in case he was missing something. No, still no smell. This was it. He had to be careful now. He bowed his head to the floor and was careful to duck away from the passers by into bushes and behind walls. There was no sign of the mist but he knew it was around here somewhere.

He scanned everything he could see and double scanned it just in case. It was time consuming but it was the safe option. Anyway, if someone was being killed he would hear them scream, or smell their scent stronger from the exposed blood.

Better safe than sorry.

It was a slow process and Matt quickly got bored. He stuck at it, though, and went down around five long roads and around 6 different corners in each road, just to check that he didn’t overlook anything suspicious. By the seventh road, Matt was starting to get annoyed. He had been so close. He could have taken it down in his room. He could have trapped it and found out what it was. He was so stupid.

A large whiff of raspberries gripped his nose and Matt froze. No. Kristen was out. What was she doing at this time? Had she been attacked? Matt growled under his throat. She was close. In the next road by the smell of it.

He quickly swerved around the corner and ducked under a shadowed tree. It was definitely Kristen, as he knew anyway. She was alone, walking slowly down the road as if she was coming to or from somewhere. He didn’t know where but it wasn’t really a big deal.

The big deal was that she was out on her own, unprotected, and there was a murderer on the loose. She was so stupid. He’d told her that there was something that could hurt her. She was so confident about being able to look after herself and she just couldn’t.

She looked a lot healthier but that may have been just because of the light. The thing that worried Matt was that there wasn’t just her on the road. There was a guy a few feet behind her, suspicious looking, 6 ft 3, stubble, chubby, layered up to the eyeballs. He looked as if he was minding his own business but Matt could see the speed of his steps. He was advancing on Kristen…and she was completely oblivious to the fact.

He was also looking around, checking that there was no one to see what he was about to do. He had his hands in his pockets like he was hiding something. Matt crouched down, ready to spring. He hoped this was the misty thing that had transformed because, from where Matt sat, he looked like a murderer who would kill a load of kids. It would save a lot of trouble if it was.

The guy was getting closer to Kristen by the moment and she was still oblivious. Matt wanted to call out and make her turn around and see him so that she could run away and Matt could get him.

He couldn’t attack him whilst as a wolf. That would be too obvious for Kristen and she would suss out straight away that it was him. He wished she’d run so that he could stop her finding out who he was and he could save her at the same time.

She wasn’t going to turn though. The guy was practically within arms distance from her and she still hadn’t noticed. Matt had to step in. If she found out about him then he’d just have to worry about it after it happened. It was more important to keep her alive than to save his own skin.

Matt stepped from the shadows and sprinted towards the guy, just as he wrapped his arms around Kristen and pulled out a handkerchief. She screamed and struggled as he pressed the handkerchief to her nose and mouth and tried to smother her. Matt snarled and pounced onto them both, knocking them to the floor.

“Help!” Kristen screamed as she tried to bat away paws and hands. Matt scratched the guy’s arm which was clinging to Kristen and he shouted out in pain as he let go of her and clutched the scratch. Kristen rolled on the floor and lay on the ground, panting.

Meanwhile, Matt was kicking and scratching the guy with as much as he could. The guy was trying to push Matt off of him, holding Matt’s teeth a centimetre away from his face. Matt growled and scratched more of the guy’s stomach, snarling and spitting at him. There was no way this guy was going to win.

He really had no chance.

Soon the guy slackened and went still. Matt stopped and jumped off him, panting. He shook his head and glanced at Kristen, who was frozen on the sidewalk, staring at Matt with wide eyes. He pressed his paw down close to her and she jumped up as if he was the most terrifying thing she’d ever seen. God, he wished he could talk to her.

“It’s impossible.” She whispered and stepped backwards away from him. “You cant be real! That’s not right!” She looked from Matt to the guy and back again. “That’s not fair! Stay away from me!”

Matt whined and stepped closer but she backed off more. He wished that she understood. It would have made things a hell of a lot easier right now. This thoughts were contradicting and arguing with each other. He wanted to tell her but at the same time he really didnt.

He really didn't know how to proceed.

Being the size that he was, he wasn't surprised that she was so scared of him. He was taller than her and wider than her. He was also a lot stronger and scarier than her. If she wasnt scared then Matt would have been slightly concerned. What normal person wasn't scared of a hideous monster like himself? He didn't exactly look friendly even when he was trying to be, which was rarely.

“Leave me alone! Don’t come any closer!” She stepped away more and then turned on her heel and sprinted into the shadows, disappearing out of sight.

Matt sighed and glanced down at the scratched guy. He would survive but he’d need care in hospital for a few days. Not like he deserved it. Matt grabbed the guy by the hoods of his jackets and dragged him to the corner, propping him up like a doll.

He had to get out of here before anyone else saw him. He’d just risked himself for Kristen and now she knew and now she hated him. He hoped she understood now why they weren’t able to be together. It just wouldn’t work. He was a freak of nature. A strange one in a million infected by a genetic disease he couldn’t escape from.

It was painful. He could feel his heart thumping in his throat and it made him feel sick. He hated it and he wished he could get rid of it. No matter what he did, it never went away. Out of everything right now, Matt wanted to find Kristen and see if she was okay. Though there was no way that he'd be able to approach her, he had to know that she got home, wherever that was.

Matt left the man in the alleyway so that someone else could find him, only after booting him in the face with his back foot as he left, creating a groan from the man's throat.

Surely it wouldn't be hard to find Kristen now. All he had to do was follow her scent. She couldn't have gotten far.

Matt began running down the alleyways, following the soft smells of raspberries as he did so, listening for any sound of footprints. She would have stopped running by now, wouldn't she? He wasn't too sure so he kept up the pace.

Her scent seemed to deepen as he reached the park. Matt slowed down to a padded walk and kept his eye out for her. She was there somewhere. He just had to find her.

As he rounded the ponds, he spotted her sitting on her own on a bench beside a bin, looking into her hands with wide calculating eyes. He didn't even stop walking. He didn't know what was wrong with him but he couldn't stop. He walked practically right up to the bench.

She must have noticed him just before he reached her because her whole body froze and she looked down to watch him in shock. He immediately froze in mid step and made himself whine. He really didn't want to scare her. He was being stupid but he wanted to do this, he thought at the back of his mind.

Kristen sat up straight on the bench, the moonlight shining off her blackened midnight hair. Her eyes were diluted and wide, taking in Matt's appearance with a look of caution and apprehension.

He really suddenly wanted her to understand. He wanted so desperately to be accepted by her that it shocked even himself.

Matt slowly shuffled forwards, crouching low, his snout facing the ground and his eyes half open, looking up at her nervously. He was large but he could shrink himself down if he really wanted. Right now, he was probably just about her height. He whined again and shuffled closer, only to freeze when she moved slightly away from him, her fingers clenching.

"I don't know what you want but please leave me alone." Kristen whispered, her lip quivering slightly.

Matt felt awful. He whined further and lowered his ears, almost lying on the grass underneath him with his belly. If this wasn't submission, he didn't know what was.

He had been able to reach the bench and he was within reaching distance but Kristen kept her fingers on her lap, twisting and turning them as if she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"I mean it. Dont come any closer." She breathed and watched as Matt pushed his nose into the side of her foot. She sucked in air through her teeth but she didn't move.

Progress.

Matt stopped moving and slowly lifted his head slightly so it was the same height as her hands. He whined like an idiot and pulled the most innocent look he could muster. If only he could turn back into a human, then this confession would be so much easier.

"Who are you?" Kristen whispered and hesitantly moved her hand closer to him. Matt leaned towards her and slowly put his chin against her lap.

The first touch of her fingers on his fur would have made him purr if he was a cat. It was such a wonderful feeling. He made a noise of pleasure in his throat and Kristen took that to mean that she wasn't going to be attacked tonight. She pushed her fingers further behind Matt's ear and he leaned into her, twitching his head.

"Where did you come from, eh? How did you find me?" Kristen leaned down and Matt pushed his wet nose gently into her jaw. Kristen giggled and wiped her chin. "Why did you save me?"

He whined under his breath and nibbled gently on her fingers. She gasped and stroked Matt's nuzzle, creating another sound of appreciation.

"I've never seen you around here before. Are you the one killing all of these people?" She whispered and Matt tilted his head up to look straight into her eyes. At first, it looked like she recognised him, but it was quickly removed from her face as she smiled gently at her savior. "Where did you come from, boy?" She scrubbed under his chin and leaned down.

Matt could smell her raspberry scent and he couldn't help it much more.

He stood up and Kristen took in his whole size, her eyes wide and unbelieving. He quickly poked her in the side then tilted his head in the direction of the exit. When she continued to sit there, he pulled on her top a little bit with a nip of his teeth and pulled her upwards.

With a gasp, she stood up and watched him. "Fine. Show the way, doggy."

Matt couldn't believe what he was about to do.

Tonight he was going to show Kristen his house.

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I hoped you liked it! Keep in touch and youll see what happens with both of them!

Will he show her who he truly is? Do you think she knows? Will she recognise his house or not?

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