Chapter 1. The bite
The house was in a very wild place, sunk in verdure. Chase was watching it with love and admiration becuse it belonged to him, only to him. The countless problems connected with selling the house to him are now left behind and the man finally got rid of the fatigue that possesed his body and soul for such long weeks. He was a policeman and would remain here at least a week.
‘’A walk among nature will refresh me’’-he thought and relaxed himself on the soft chair.
Chase was already here, unbothered by no one. He marvelled at the two-storied house, at the two cherry trees and the huge pine-tree wchich grew up in his yard, enjoyed watching the colorful little gardens and the meadow covered in rye-grass. All of these things were his and no one could take them away from him. Chase’s mouth widened into a tender smile and his eyes sparkled with happiness, despite his exhausted body.
The man looked at the beautiful forrest behind the country house. One small and barely visible path made its way into the splendid beech-trees and lost itself into the romance of the darkness.
The rainy clouds in the sky gave the trees sombrous charm, pouring them over with cold greyish hue.
Chase went towards the forrest,smiling,despite the bad weather. The magic of tranquility overwhelmed him and he felt the vast difference between the fast life in the city and the idyll, reigning in this magical site. Here the grass, the flowers and the bushes are wild and natural. Also the air smelled of harmony and freshness, and beauty.
When he reached the forrest and came in it, he sensed chill that exhilarated him even more. The sky lurking from the high branches of the beech-trees, lit up irregularly the solid soil.
There was no people, nor benches there. Also no road markings or false alleys. Only the unappeasable singing of birds and the rustle of the leaves, caused by the faint wind.
Chase stopped, propped himself up a tree and breathed heavily. He felt the big amount of air inside him, containing no dust or petrol fumes.
. . .
Suddenly, Chase detected a movement behind him. He turned around harshly and …something jumped toward him and bit him on the arm. All of this occured for less than a second and while Chase’s conscious tried to re-create the event, the intruder disappeared noiselessly into the forrest. The man looked his arm and saw a big trace, beginning from his elbow and ending nearly the palm of his hand! The blood sprang slightly from the hurt spot and Chase felt pain, mixed with an itch.
He started running toward the house. The wound was not small at all and needed to be washed out and binded up because otherwise it would infect itself. There was no iodine or alcohol in the country house but luckily there was plenty of whiskey and vodka that would do the same job.
On his way home, Chase was thinking about what happened in the forrest. It was a wolf or he thought so. But there is something not right in it, something bizarre. The creature appeared too quietly and surprisingly, scratched him and then….then it kind of disappeared with no trace! And the creature’s eyes?! These were not normal eyes.
Chase shook slightly his head to expel these thoughts but to no avail. The eyes of the beast shone horribly in the man’s mind and exuded incredible hatred!
The policeman entered in, took a chair and gazed at his wounded arm. The blood has stopped running but remaind black traces on his skin and the spot around the wound was swollen and had turned pinky.
Chase opened a cupboard, pulled out a bottle of whiskey, opened it up and prepare himself for the pinching, life-saving pain. He clenched his teeth and poured the transparent alcoholic liquid over the wounded spot in his arm. Strangely, he felt no pain. Chase took a cotten from the first-aid kit and cleaned the blood. After that, he put vodka on the cotton and rubbed it into the wound. Again nothing-no reaction at all! The man was watching the wound deeply with his eyes, trying to find an explanation.
He remembered he has an eau-de-cologne in the holdall. Took it and spilled some amount of it into the wound. Then waited for the result.
The only thing Chase sensed was a light cooling and constriction of the skin.
‘’What is this thing, for heaven’s sake’’-he thought and leaned himself in the chair.
In a while, the man went to the first-aid kit, took a liniment and gauze and fixed somehow the wound.
A bit later, he came to the conclusion that tomorrow he will drive to the city, searching for medical help.
. . .
Chase looked throughout the window-outside the moon was trying to pierce the thick layer of clouds.
The policeman removed from the window and took two cans of soup, a can of beer and a beefsteak out from the fridge. Ate all and turned the TV on but very soon turned it off because nothing caught his attention.
At the end of this unusual day, he made his bed and placed himself under the warm sheets and switched the night lamp off.
The fatigue of the day overreigned above everything else and the policeman didn’t think about his wound anymore, not thinking about the bizarre creature that caused it,either. He transported himself into the world of dreams, leaving the pain in his arm far, far away into the infinity.
