Smoke surrounded me already, but I couldn't pass up the last drag. Oh what a sweet sensation this was. I couldn't remember when I had started this, the drugs, but it didn't matter. Luckily, no one but my friends knew, though even they weren't aware of how much I did. For some reason, the high burned out of me really fast. So I've started taking twice or three times as much as my friends did. Even now, no more than a minute after I took that last drag, I could already feel it start to leave my system. 

My friends and I continued our game of Truth-or-Dare, made more humorous because of the drugs. It was my turn.

"Dare," I said, tossing the unusable end of the joint in the ashtray.

"You've got to get a girl to sleep with you-" started the darer. 

"I can already do that."

"But it has to be a girl you haven't already slept with or even know. It has to be a stranger. And you have to get her to agree within... two minutes."

"Fine. But I'll have to go to another party in that case."

"No problem. Now, get pictures with your phone and we'll wait here. Actually, Scott, go with him."

Scott threw his empty beer bottle in the trash and stood up with a shrug. The two of us left the house and started off down the street. The streets weren't lit up that much, and a cloud was blocking the full moon above. I liked full moons, have since I was a kid, and always seemed to know when there was one even before I looked. Tonight was one of those times. I had arrived at Cathy's before night fall to "help her set up for the party", or at least that's the excuse I have to my parents. Her parents were out of town, so we didn't have to worry about them. And though I hadn't even seen the moon, or even looked to see what my calendar said, I just knew it was a full moon.

We arrived at another house filled with partying teenagers and went inside. Scott stood in the corner, watching me so he could start the time once I started talking to a girl. There was a particularly hot girl at the edge of the dancing crowd. Her costume made her look like a ragdoll that had been sewn back together, fake stitches near her mouth and sporadically drawn on her arms and legs. I looked at Scott and nodded before tapping the girl on the shoulder so he knew to start the time. 

"Care to be my doll for the evening?' I asked her.

"Why not, officer?" she replied, the smell of alcohol blowing into my face, but I didn't mind. "I've been a bad girl tonight, you might have to handcuff me."

"Then come downtown with me." I took her hand and lead her to the stairs. Glancing at my watch, I smirked. Not even a minute.

                                                                                        ***

The girl, Jamie, had passed out shortly after I rolled off of her. I was putting my clothes back on and decided to just leave her there, she'd wake up eventually. When I went back downstairs, I looked for Scott but couldn't find him. Figuring he may be waiting outside for me so we could head back, I went outside. No one stood outside, so I pulled out my phone and texted him. He told me he had already left, so I pocketed my phone and headed off down the street once more. I looked up and saw the halo-like light from the moon brightening up the surrounding clouds.

"Logan, wait up!" someone called. I recognized Scoot's voice.

"I thought you were already back at Cathy's," I said, stopping so he could catch up.

"Nah. I was headed back there, but I stopped at the cemetery. One of the other guys dared me to go in there on Halloween night a few days ago."

I nodded as we started walking again. Our group was all about dares. There was hardly a time where one of us, or more, weren't busy with a dare. Scott and I took the shortcuts back to Cathy's, which took us off the main road. There wasn't anyone on the streets with us now. Up ahead, I could see the street getting steadily brighter and I knew the cloud was moving out of the way. With my love of full moons, I was happy there was one tonight, my eighteenth birthday.

Then something grabbed me. Not literally, just my chest. I felt my heart start pounding, it's beats coming rapidly. My lungs seemed to be stripped of all air, so I fell forward onto my hands and knees. An agonizing pain ruptured in me, setting all of my nerve endings on fire. I tried to breathe, to take in large gulps of air, but it was as if my lungs had been sealed off.

"Dude, are you okay?" I heard Scoot ask. His voice sounded both loud and far away.

I watched as hair began spreading across my hands, thick hair like a dog's. My nails grew and came to points, similar to claws. In my mouth, I felt like my teeth were growing longer and sharper. Snapping my head up to face Scoot, he jumped back, face masked in horror.

"Wha... what's up wi-with your eyes?" he stammered. "They're yellow."

I didn't focus on his words, all I could hear was the heart beat. Not mine, which had returned back to normal, but his.

                                                                                    ***

Only part of me was aware of what was going on, and I didn't seem to have full control over my body, which seemed to be under someone else's influence. My nails scratched against the asphalt as I ran, surprisingly well, considering I was on all fours. I ran by buildings with speed I didn't know I could manage, going for the cemetery because I figured it was the only empty place in town that didn't have an alarm. As I passed by the book store, I stopped short. Staring back at me, which should have been my reflection, was a large yellowed eyes dog. No, it looked more like a wolf. The image was bleached by the moon light, but some of the fur near the mouth was matted with something. A faint memory played through my head as I recalled Scott's lifeless body sprawled out on the street, a crater in his chest that exposed a missing heart.

For some reason, the idea of a bloody heart made me lick my lips. The reflection mirrored me. And at that instant, I knew, no matter how much I wanted it to be false, I knew I was looking at myself. But how? How was I a wolf? People don't just turn into four legged animals.

Oh, duh! I was high, the drugs were messing with my head, with my sight. Or maybe I had lost consciousness, the sex being so amazing my mind had shut my body down to re-energize or something. Yeah, that was it.

"Greetings, Moore," hissed someone. 

I turned around and no one was there. Then there was a gust of wind and a blur.  All of a sudden, I had an arm locked around my neck in a way that I couldn't get free, and they were in such a position that I couldn't even find them with my limbs.

"Take a walk with me," the person hissed.

I had no choice but to comply. I went wherever he wanted, turning where he wished. If I didn't do something, or tried to escape, he growled and squeezed my neck. Then, in a dark alley, I was alone. I glanced around, trying to find someone, but there was nothing. Steadily, the air around me grew cold. My breath came out in smokey puffs.