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Coming to grips that the thing in front of me was no longer my friend Daniel, I watched in slow motion as he leaped high into the air. Challenging him, I came up under his chin, and caught him in the side of his neck, just below the right ear. With a life threatening grip, my fangs sunk in, letting his life flow into my mouth. We went down to the ground in a roll, struggling and growling. The more he struggled to get free, the more I felt the fur give way to his hide, letting my fangs sink deeper into his flesh, allowing his warm blood to flow freer into my awaiting mouth. Holding onto him from the back, I wrapped both my arms and legs around him, pinning his arms to his sides.

In my mind’s eye, I had my companion at my side, and we were running through the peaceful forest. The air was warm, the day was young, and I was happy.

The clearing was coming into view when I heard the companion say, “Let’s go for that jump. What do you say?” I had no recognition of what I was doing when the cliff came into view. I never hesitated when I made the leap into the air. I was careless and loving it as I watched the ravine to the rocky mountain crossing underneath me. When I landed on the opposite side, I stopped, and looked back. I found my companion had never made the jump. He was sitting there staring at me. Dropping his chin, he turned and walked off, leaving me to my fate. It made me snap back to reality. Or was it the companion’s state of mind?

My head called out and said, “We did it kid.” To make matters worse, I really had no knowledge of what I had done to Daniel. All I knew at the time was Daniel’s life was slipping away. His struggling ceased to exist, and I could feel his last heartbeat under the fur of his neck. Sucking on the blood like a vampire, there was no one to stop me. Not even the pain from the wounds Daniel had inflicted bothered me at the moment. In my thoughts, I was not even anywhere near Daniel. I had no clue as to what I had just accomplished. I laid there feeling no remorse or shame when I thought I killed a deer. I would never have realized I had been fighting with Daniel.

I was still sitting on the cliff, facing the opposite side of the cliff when someone came to my side, placed a hand on my neck, and said, “He’s gone. You can get up.” Watching the foggy companion disappear, I snapped back into the human realm, and dropped the grip to whatever I had. Rolling over, I came face to face with Daniel. He was lying motionless as he returned to his human form.

Finding Tom standing there, I asked, “Is he… did I?”

Kneeling down, Tom said, “I know how ya feel. And I’m sorry, but Daniel is dead.”

I rose to a sitting position, changing back to human form myself, and looked around. I was hoping to find the miserable thing that caused me to kill a friend but it was nowhere in sight. Kimmi came to mind when I heard her cry. She was still in the cave, thank god. Turning my attention back to Daniel, I found his neck was torn open. Unable to control myself, my tears flowed like rain once again.

I never thought I could still have tears after everything that I had done to others. But I did. And they hurt like hell’s fire.