The Werewolf Chronicles

You run to the nearest hardware store and pick up the heaviest-duty chains and padlocks you can find. The full moon is fast approaching, so you quickly plan out how you will restrain yourself.

The bed is old-fashioned with a wrought iron frame. You figure if if you chain your ankle to the bed, then manacle your two ankles together, there's little chance you'll muster up the strength to snap the chains holding you and escape. Right before you get ready to chain yourself up, you set up the camcorder and give a short introduction. You feel like a huge dork, but you don a ski mask before you press record. After all, proof of the existance of werewolves is one thing, but you have no desire to wind up in some secret research facility:

"Hi, lets say my name is Michael. I've recently returned from a trip abroad and have reason to believe that I was bitten by a werewolf while there. Laugh now, don't believe me, whatever. In roughly (you check your watch) a half hour I either will or will not transform into a werewolf, proving my claims or just proving I'm a lunatic. I'm making this video so that the world will have evidence that these things are real and can happen to you."

With that, you somewhat self-consciously place the camera on the dresser across the room from the bed. You check your watch again- according to the times you looked up, the full moon should be rising in about 20 minutes. Hands shaking slightly, you strip down to underwear (but still keep the mask on) and lock the cuffs around your ankles that will hopefully contain you tonight.

Time seems to trickle by...

Suddenly, a twisting pain shoots through your limbs. You grit your teeth and shriek as your very bones feel like their snapping out of their sockets. You can feel your face, hands, and feet melting and contorting with a burning sensation. You can feel your teeth changing and taste the blood as they tear at your also-contorting gums. You are still crying out, but your voice is warping oddly, the sound changing into something more gutteral. The world starts to narrow and grow dark as your mind begins to shut down from the pain. Just as you feel you must surely be about to either faint or die, a flood of adrenaline and energy courses through your body.

You can feel the pain receeding, or maybe you've just decided it doesn't matter anymore. A new insanity has taken hold in your mind and you feel ready to burst with the power and bloodlust. Suddenly being attached to these chains seems intolerable and you howl your rage, snarling and pulling relentlessly at your bindings. With a screeching sound, a link connecting you to the bed snaps and you lurch backwards. There is still a short length of chain binding what are now your clawed, wolfish feet. You gnaw at it furiously, but it will not break.

A sudden sound distracts you. Your nose detects the smell of something delicious and you begin to salivate. There is a sound coming from beyond your bedroom within your house. Someone is calling your name. You can smell them, the blood and meat they are made of, and it calls to the hunter in you. At the same time you feel insane rage and agression towards this living thing that dares breathe and have a heartbeat near you. But on the other hand, you are still chained and therefore somewhat crippled. Perhaps the best decision would be to avoid detection and wait.