2025-11-20 17:29:12Cold!
That was the first thing Wesley felt as he stirred awake. It was a sharp, slicing cold that pressed through his clothes and seeped into his bones, dragging him out of a darkness he couldn’t remember falling into. His eyes fluttered open to the blurry patch of the sky at sunrise, framed by street lamps and empty road markings. He pushed himself to sit up, his eyes meeting the view of the faded, empty road that extended into the distance. Wesley realized he was lying on the pavement. 'Why am I on the ground? What... happened?' For some reason, Wesley felt like he's been there on the floor since forever. He couldn't remember anything. For a moment, he didn’t move. Part of him was afraid to. His brain moved slowly, as if wrapped in cotton, his breath shaky and perplexed as he held his throbbing head. He tried to remember how he got here, but every memory slid away the moment he reached for it. He was too discombobulated to focus. His hand brushed something sticky. He subconsciously looked, only to freeze-- eyes widening in panic. Blood! A gasp tore out of him as he trembled all over at the sight of the dark, dried puddle spread beneath him. A chill that had nothing to do with the morning air crawled up his spine. It didn't take him long to figure it was his blood? It had to be. He scrambled backward on instinct, palms slipping against the pavement. He ran his trembling hands over his body, expecting to find wounds. Heart thudding loudly in his ears. Thinking he was bleeding, Wesley waited for the pain to register. But... there was nothing. Not even a bruise. “What… the hell?” Wesley was left confused. For several seconds he just sat there, shivering in disbelief. 'That's clearly mine' he looked down at his bloodied, torn cloth. ' How then am I....' Wesley geared into his memory, looking to remember how he got here in the first place. Then came the flashback. Wesley remembered riding back from work on his squeaky bicycle the previous night. He’d been thinking about college and how much it sucked to be the guy no one noticed when suddenly, something jumped out of the trees and attacked him. Wesley froze. He remembered the growls that came after he was knocked off his bike, as well as the sight of what had attacked him. It was a wolf! Wesley remembered its sharp claws and jagged fangs digging into him as it mauled and bit him to death. His breath stuttered. The image flickered in his mind like a dying flashlight, now clearer as if he were reliving it. The mad, dangerous gleam of its eyes, and the salivating predatory teeth that dug bites of pain through him returned, fresh in his mind. Wesley barely remembered fighting back as much as he remembered.. Dying. Yet, here he was. Not only alive but also uninjured and without a scratch. None of this made sense. ' Was I hallucinating? I sure didn't drink last night... Besides, what would explain this pool of blood?' 'Did I fall on my bike and hit my head?' Wesley pondered, his gaze wandering to his bike that lay crashing into a tree on the roadside. Having read so many mangas, he started having a dreadful feeling that he'd found himself in a similar situation. Wesley was still in a daze when he heard a vibration buzz weakly in his pocket. He almost jumped out of his skin, but then he relaxed when he realized it was just his phone. He reached in his pocket to pull it out, checking the message on the cracked screen with dread, half-expecting it to say something cryptic like, "You have been reborn." But no. It was just his roommate: "Your fucking alarm has been going off for an hour now." Wesley stared at the message. 6:42 AM. Wesley blinked. He had class this morning. “My life actually sucks.” He whispered, stunned at the mundanity of it. Of all the things to worry about after waking up in a pool of his very own blood, late attendance somehow rose to the top. " Great,” he muttered, pushing to his feet. “I somehow survive a wolf attack, what's Intro to Economics that I cannot survive?” Pushing himself up slowly, Wesley felt dizzy. The world tilted, then corrected, like a camera auto-focusing. However, what he found even strange was how his senses sharpened abruptly. Too abrupt! He could feel the cold air brushing against his skin like fingertips and he could hear the hum of the streetlights almost two blocks away. Wesley didn't pay this too much mind, passing it off as the aftermath of adrenaline rush from what he'd encountered last night. He started walking, stumbling at first before he steadied shortly after, as if his body remembered how to move before his mind did. ' In any case, I have to get out of here to avoid being questioned.' He picked up his bike, and backpack, riding back to campus with its squeak now louder. As he rode back to campus, the world seemed somewhat different. The morning air skimmed against his skin like a whisper. His ears twitched at the sound of a car several streets away and his view was so much sharper, as if the man crossing the street in the far distance was only right in front of him. He could even smell the damp metal of the nearby street lamps in the air. Wesley felt estranged in his own body. However, he was more concerned about getting to campus, cleaning himself up, and attending class. Soon, the campus buildings came into view, washed in early sunlight. At first, he rode pass students with half-awake expressions who ignored him. Until some caught sight of his state. They gasped in shock, immediately calling the attention of others to look at him. The stares hit him like thrown stones. Wesley looked down. ' Can you all just ignore me for today as you always have?' He muttered under his breath as he forced himself to ride even faster to his dorm. Getting to the dorm, he parked his bike but just as he was about to go in, he saw a girl standing to the side, staring at him as if she'd just seen a ghost. “Terrible accident,” he mumbled. “You should see the other guy.” Wesley managed an awkward half-smile at the girl who just recoiled. He didn't stand around either, and just rushed in. In his dorm lobby, someone gasped when the elevator opened and saw him. Wesley didn't bother explaining, it was pointless. He just forced a smile that probably made him look deranged and went to his room. By the time he reached his dorm room, his scuffled hoodie was stiff with dried blood, and his shoes left faint red prints on the floor. His roommate peeked out from behind a laptop screen, eyes widening. “What the hell?” “Long story,” Wesley said. “Short answer, I’m alive.” He left to shower quickly without telling his roommate more. Wesley scrubbed frantically, as if he could erase the memory by erasing the blood on him. He kept expecting to see a wound appear, like maybe the wounds that were supposed to be on him from last night would… reverse? Break and return? or anything! But his skin stayed smooth. ' Did my skin always look this toned? Did my veins always sit this close to the surface? Did I always hear the water this loudly? Why is the showerhead screaming at me?' Wesley wondered, but he had no answers to his questions. Not any he could think of. When he felt that he was clean enough, Wesley returned to prepare for class. He got dressed quickly and left sometime after, his thoughts spiraling on his way to class. ' I should see a doctor. But doctors ask questions. Doctors want explanations. Doctors run tests. What would I even say Hey, I died last night but now I have Dolby-Atmos ears? Like that wouldn't get me put in a psychiatric ward!' When he finally rushed into class minutes later, he was out of breath and completely unprepared for the way every head turned toward him. Even cleaned up, something felt off. It seemed as though he were still covered in blood the way they all looked at him. 'Great, fantastic. This is my nightmare. Literal nightmare mode unlocked!' Wesley forced his head down and slipped into a seat in front, ignoring the whispers and suspicious looks shot at him. Thankfully, the professor taking the class didn't mind. Struggling to calm his nerves, he clenched his hands so hard he could feel the texture of the desk through his palms. His heart hammered so violently he wondered if anyone else could hear it. Wesley forced himself to close his eyes, breathing slowly to calm himself and focus. He shot his eyes open later, but still he was unnerved. ' I survived a wolf attack. I shouldn’t have survived. But I did. Without wounds. Something's happened to me. Something impossible. Something I can't even wrap my head around!' Even after several minutes in class, his heart raced, his mind spiraled fast. He pretended to listen to the lecture but the instructor's words faded into the background. The thoughts in his mind grew louder. “You. In the back.” the professor called sharply, jolting him out of his thoughts. Wesley panicked when he saw the professor pointing at him. “ Can you explain the law of diminishing marginal returns.” Wesley’s eyes snapped open in shock. He looked around, confused, lost, and anxious. He didn’t know the answer. He slowly rose, almost stumbling out of his seat from the tremendous pressure in the stares peered at him by everyone in class. Wesley felt a cold sweat break on his forehead. 'I hate this day. I hate--" But then strangely, he found the answer! Not from memory, but from sight. He could see a student’s notebook a couple desks ahead. Every word on the page was clear in his sight. Wesley swallowed. He looked towards the middle-aged, bald professor whose wrinkled face calmly spoke of expected failure, wondering if he should give it a try. "Um..." He started, peering at the notebook once again. " The law of diminishing marginal returns states that as one input variable or factor in production increases, there is a point at which the marginal per unit output decreases" Wesley answered, his voice unconvincing. The professor calmly nodded, and said, " Correct, and that factors into the topic at hand..." he continued with the class A short murmur rippled through the class, but the class soon resumed to its learning silence. Wesley sat, frozen, pulse thundering. He shouldn't have seen that far. He shouldn't have been able to read that note at all. If he wasn't sure before, Wesley knew now for sure. He wasn't the same person anymore. And worse, he had no idea what the hell he’d become! ... 
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Who?
Night crawled slowly across campus, tinting the sky in deep bruised darkness with a tinge of light as Wesley made his way down the dim path leading toward the woods. The air was cooler now, crisp enough to sting lightly against his cheeks. His hands were tucked into his hoodie pockets; his “best” attire. Standing next to her earlier in the morning had felt too painfully inadequate. Wesley remembered to not let that be the case again this time.He walked with uneven steps, half-dreading and half-excited, his thoughts noisy and tangled.' What does she want to do tonight? Are we going to practice being a werewolf and what it's about? Why did I even agree to this?'On his way, he rehearsed questions in his head. Questions that had been on his mind since afternoon, questions he should have asked her earlier in the mornin. About werewolves, about what he’d turned into, about the strange instincts that kept flaring inside him. She was the only person he could talk to about any
Determination
Wesley pushed into his dorm feeling fatigued. He expected to meet his roommate, Ralph, but only the quiet walls greeted him with a wave of silence. His roommate was gone, probably off to class or the gym or wherever normal people with normal lives went at this hour. For once, Wesley was grateful. Silence was exactly what he needed at the moment.He stepped inside and shut the door gently behind him, leaning against it for a moment. His pulse was still unsettled, beating in uneven thumps as his mind replayed his encounter with that pretty girl.‘I’m a werewolf…’She had said it casually, like someone telling him he had forgotten to tie his shoelace, and it only left him confused as to the truth of it.Wesley dragged himself to the bed and collapsed face-first into the thin mattress. He stayed that way for a while, breathing into the fabric, letting the exhaustion sink into him. He had classes to attend, he probably should have gone to at least take some notes…but how was he supposed to
Bargain
“You’re a werewolf now.”The words hit him with such force that the world seemed to tilt. Wesley’s mind blanked…‘Werewolf.’‘Werewolf.’His pulse spiked violently, panic surging up his spine as the word echoed in his mind. ‘Werewolf?’He subconsciously stepped back, knees weak and sweat pooling on his forehead.‘No! It can’t be…I’m not a-’ Wesley wanted to deny, but his brain betrayed him with a flood of memories that seemed to slap the denial out of him.He remembered the wolf that’d attacked him last night. He remembered the bite, and how he’d woken up in a pool of his own blood just this morning—proof of how he’d been mortally wounded by that wolf. And strangely, he had no wounds on him.As if-As if he’d healed someway.Wesley’s chest tightened painfully.‘No.No, no-’He sucked in a breath, ready to deny it still. Anything to escape the possibility of him being a werewolf. How could he believe that? It has to be a prank!Wesley subconsciously looked at the girl to see if she mean
What you are now
Wesley didn’t realize he’d stood up until he noticed the scrape of his chair on the cafeteria floor. The girl was already walking away, unbothered by the looks she’d stirred up. He followed her because his body seemed to have chosen for him, still buzzing from embarrassment, still trapped somewhere between panic and the lingering warmth of her breath against his ear.The cafeteria doors shut behind them, muting the chatter inside. The air outside was cooler and quieter, it left him feeling a bit relieved. She walked ahead with long, confident strides, her long hair swaying like she didn’t have a single question or doubt in the world. Wesley trailed a few steps behind, every heartbeat reminding him he had far too many problems at hand.' Why him? What did she want? How did she know about him liking Emma?' His thoughts kept loopingAnd beneath that he questioned the feeling in his chest, 'Why does it feel like the air around her pulls me in?' Like he couldn't resist for some r
Strange girl
Wesley stared at the girl like she had spoken in another language when she said she could help him get Emma back. His brain stalled, tripped over itself, and finally shut down entirely.“W-what?” he croaked, voice cracking in incredulity. The girl rolled her eyes, looking at Wesley as if he was denying something so obvious that it made him look stupid and lame.Heat rushed up Wesley's neck at his own fumble. He tried to recover, tried to pretend he wasn’t just seconds away from imploding just now.“I don’t…" He paused realizing he'd be feeding right into it. " What are you talking about even?” "Her." The girl pointed right towards Emma, her expression as dry as cement. Wesley sucked his teeth, he said fast, waving his hand dismissively. “I’m not-- no, that's not it...”He tried to deny, but his tone was unconvincing, even to himself." I don't need anything or anyone." He stabbed a forkful of food, shooting his head down as if to ignore everything else even though
Crushed
By the time class ended, Wesley's brain felt like it had been dragged across gravel. Everyone else seemed completely normal, packing their bags, joking with friends, drifting into little clumps of conversation that floated toward the hallway. Him? He just sat there, staring at the blank page on his notebook like there was something written on it that only he understood. ' Maybe I'm just overthinking everything. I should go eat first for a change. Maybe I'm just hungry...' He forced himself to stand, slung his bag over his shoulder, and followed the stream of students out of the lecture hall. His legs felt strangely light, as if he'd lost too much weight. Not only that, every sound around was just sharp in his ears. The scrape of chair legs, the echoing footsteps, even the fluorescent buzz overhead. It all felt… amplified. ' Is this paranoia?' Wesley wondered, fighting the urge to press his palms to his ears so as to not look crazy. He refused to be
You may also like
The understated miraculous Doctor.
Pen thinker 80.5K viewsI Married a Beautiful Boss After the Breakup
Seafarer's Strike188.9K viewsThe Return of Doctor Levin
Dane Lawrence140.8K viewsInvincible Billionaire Heir
Chanhlee81.1K viewsShadows of the General
Freezy-Grip720 viewsRISE OF THE ALMIGHTY WARLORD GRANDMASTER
Ayo _Writes7.9K viewsThe Forgotten Heir
Bernice Samuel1.2K viewsTHE HIDDEN KING
Ciro-Grip261 views