The Transformation of Andrei Petram by Bree L Messier and Joei Spero

The Transformation of Andrei Petram

By Joei Spero & Bree Messier

A stick snaps beneath my foot as I run through the slowly blackening forest. I’ve been running far, you almost can’t see the lights of the town a couple miles behind me anymore. That steadily growing pain in my stomach is spreading rapidly throughout the rest of my body. I’m gripping it tightly, hoping it will vanish, but instead my hand begins to convulse with pain.

I’m a regular teenaged boy. I’m in 11^th grade, and my name is Andrei Petram. I take all the usual classes. Today is my 17^th birthday, September 19^th. My parents always forget, so as usual, I will spend my day in the woods. Today is one of the odder days though. I may be turning seventeen, but for the first time in my life, I feel as if I need to run wild, and run free. Harold and Marcia won’t care if I’m gone anyway. They’re my parents you see, but they rarely pay any attention to me. Sometimes, I write a different last name on my papers at school to try and convince people that I’m not related to them. I once broke their bedroom window in defiance against them.

The agony is running rampant through my system. First it was in my shoulder, and it spread further from there. I knew I should’ve seen that doctor when I had the chance. When a bite mark starts turning black and blue, there’s got to be some kind of infection going on there. My hands move all over my body, the pain is surging in too many places for me to handle. It feels as though my arm is going to burst, like that damn mountain at Pompeii. My throat is swelling, I can’t breathe. The world is going dark, and I have a sudden urge to piss on a tree.

I live in Washington State; I can’t remember the name of the town. I usually spent my days wandering through the forest. There’s a nearby national park, my friends and I usually hang out there on the weekends. We don’t go camping or anything like that; we just hike and stroll the waterline. There are some beautiful sights to see there. I’ll be sure to appreciate it more if I survive this. Come to think of it, that was where I first met both of my friends. Ewan Houser; such a simple boy he is. Sometimes I feel like he takes advantage of me, but the torment is mutual. I met him when my family went out to the park for the first time; I think it’s called Norman’s National Reserve. I’m probably wrong about that though. I remember it now, I was about to go on a canoe ride with Harold and some canoe-guide-guy. His name escapes me at the moment. Ewan stole my paddle, and I was literally up the river without a paddle. How he stole it in the middle of the venture I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s best I don’t know. We got into a bit of a tussle as soon as we got back to shore. How we became friends after that…? Truthfully, I can’t remember that either. What’s happening to my memories?

I stare up at the moon, it’s full. Coincidence? No way, this can’t be what I think it is. I feel urine trickle down my pants, and my veins are tightening. It’s like when sheets are all wrinkly and you pull them to try and straighten them. Blood is rushing throughout my neck, it’s like a hot needle is being jabbed into my jugular. My mouth opens to scream, but a howl comes out.

My other best friend is Lila, but what’s her last name? She…she…ran over to me one summer evening. Yeah, her family was camping…or was it just visiting? Lila asked me to join in on her family game of Frisbee. I think I caught it, and that impressed her. She had a large dog with her, a German Shepard maybe? His name was Bruno. Okay, I remember now. Bruno caught the Frisbee, and that’s what impressed Lila. It impressed her because I threw the Frisbee and Bruno caught, but he tackled me afterwards. He started licking my face, but dogs have slimy tongues. I threw dirt in Lila’s face and ran away after she laughed at me for it. She was about to leave and I walked up to her and apologized for what I did. She pecked me on the cheek and she left. I was left standing there, blushing...or was I vomiting?

It feels like a knife has been taken to my ear. With dwindling strength, I reached up and feel my listening tool, it’s morphing to a point. My hearing is increasing dramatically, I can hear a campfire crackling in the distance, and I hear a fly buzzing towards me from two miles away. My sight is changing, the sky is turning gray, and my hands are turning white. I’m choking on nothing, breathing raspy and in spurts like I was hammered on the back by a mallet. No, I’m not breathing, I’m growling. I’m angry, I want to hunt, I want to run even more than before. My head snaps to the side and I collapse. My back arcs and my torso bends towards the sky and another howl is birthed from my throat. My nails are growing in length, not nails, claws. Someone is driving a javelin through my spine, I’m sure. What else could cause this torture?

I was walking through Norman’s with Ewan and Lila a couple days ago, but we got separated. How? Night fell before I found my way back to the hiking trail, but I heard something moving around in the blackness. The wind was swaying, like it was beckoning me to follow it a certain direction. I turned my back for one second and I heard a branch snap behind me. Leaves rustled, and then there was monstrous panting, like an Olympic sprinter after a four-hundred meter dash. Daggers sunk into my shoulder, the right one to be exact, that much I remember. Part of my flesh was tore from my body, like pulling apart Play-Doh. My blood soared in front of my eyes like it had a doctor’s appointment. There was no pain at this point; I was too scared and shocked for that. That was probably because I can’t recall what bit me. My entire brain is failing me, why is this happening?

My head jerked to the other side now, my neck feels like it has more hair on it than it did before. Feeling it, it can’t be hair, it’s too smooth. Fur! I’m growing fur? Humans don’t grow fur. My legs are being stretched by someone, elongated into a desired shape. I feel a pounding in my chest, like I’m bench pressing something far out of my weight class. My chest is expanding! I’m coughing up blood. Or is it saliva? Or a mix of the two? My tongue is recoiling back into my mouth, and it’s falling still. The trees are enclosing in around me, like black walls of a high security prison. They’re getting closer, get away! I’m not an animal; I’m a member of the human race! Air is cut off from my lungs, if I even have lungs anymore. My vision is starting to blur, I can’t see anything. Ewan, Lila…help…me…

Who would care if I die? Harold and Marcia never pay any attention to me anyway. I have a few teachers that would miss me. Mrs. York might care; she says I’m one of her best math students. I don’t really like Mathematics, but I’m good at it, so that’s a plus. I think I had to help Ewan with his homework at some point. Lila was the scientist between the three of us. She’s really smart, and pretty. Smart, pretty…? Lila! That’s right...I was going to ask you out tomorrow! We’ve been friends forever, and I trust her more than anyone! I’ve been meaning to ask you sooner, but I got into a terrible argument with my folks yesterday. What did we fight about? Lila…run…I don’t want to hurt you…something has happened to me. What bit me?

I’m alright? I shake my head, but I feel buffaloed for some reason. I scrape my fingers against the coarse ground. No, not fingers anymore, they’re still claws. I have a tail now, and I feel like I have a large build. I feel strong, and powerful. I feel like I could kill someone. I want to kill someone; or at the very least something. I still hear that damned fire crackling off in the distance. Maybe I could hunt those unlucky campers? They’d be easy prey, I could tear them open like wet paper. I’d feast on their inner bounties. My mouth…jaws…open and a soul-shattering growl escapes. Yes, I’m a monster now. I love this. My urge to kill is growing, I need to hear my prey scream, and I need to watch it squirm. I want to see them try to run in fear. I’ll tear apart the children first, if there are any. Then I’ll go for the women. If there’s a man there, I’ll slaughter his whole family in front of him. He’d like that. But before he thanks me, I’ll gore his chest and devour his heart, whole. Why am I still standing here thinking about this? I can run fast now, on all four of my legs. My fur conceals me in the darkness, and I can hear every move that they make. Trees race by my sides like race cars, I’m practically flying across the rock implanted and moss covered ground. I’ll tear through roots and ravage tree trunks. I hear them laughing, that’ll never do. I see the slow burning light of the fire ahead of me in the dim night; this is going to be euphoric.