I had been running for about five hours. My paws were beginning to hurt, and I could still hear the hunters coming after me, seeming not to give up on trying to kill me. I had been blamed for a murder, a murder that I had not done, yet I still am held responsible. Of course I was present at the time of the murder, I watched the man who really did it slowly slash and kill the woman. I was his scape goat, and I was feeling both sorrow and anger. Let me introduce myself. My name is Bryan Mc Cormack, and I am indeed a werewolf. First off, let me tell you the truth about werewolves: We are not all blood-thirsty killers. Sure, we may need to feed, but most of us don't actually feed off of humans. You see, werewolves are not savage beasts like you have probably heard, but we are actually smart, intellectual creatures. But, because of the world fearing us for our differences, we are portrayed as violent and brutal beings. But now, I was the monster; I was an evil villain in the towns people's eyes, and they wanted me dead. Not much a werewolf such as myself can do to protect myself these days, since they foundt out our secret weakness: silver. I heard the hound dogs barking not far off, and saw in the growing darkness of the night the torches that lit up the pathway growing nearer and nearer. I was far away from the nearest wolf sanctuary, and I had no where to go, except deeper and deeper into the woods. I crouched down next to a huge boulder, and waited for a moment, catching my breath. My legs were hurting, my paws were getting sore, and my eyelids got heavy, exhaustion taking over me like a warm blanket on a cold afternoon. I didn't want to run no more, I wanted to lay down and let them catch me. But, the wolf part of me creid out for me to try to survive. I laid down, my exhaustion too great, and I started to loose all feeling I had. Get up Bryan! I said to myself, trying to get my body to move by thought. If you don't get up now, you will die, and now is not your time! Suddenly, it was as if my body regained hope. I jumped up on all fours, stood up on my hind legs, and listened for the hunters. They were closer now, much closer, and if I were to lose them, I had better start running now. So, that's exactly what I did. I ran, and ran, and ran, deeper and deeper into the woods, the lit growing thinner and thinner through the thickness of the trees above. Wait!, I exclaimed to myself, the trees! Why didn't I think of it sooner? And with that, I looked up, and saw the biggest tree in the woods, and within seconds, I was up in the highest branches, hiding from all light as much as I could. Soon, the hounds were right below me, and barking like madness, then stopped cold, and sniffed the ground. The hunters arrived minutes after, panting and moaning about how tired they were. "But Barthalow," one of the mob members said, "I'm tired. My body is starting to due to the cold, and my feet are aching beyond anything I've felt before." The leader of the mob turned his head sharply, and looked at the man cold in his eyes. "We shall not stop hunting the werewolf!" he demanded, raising his voice to a booming thunder. "He shall pay for taking away the woman of my life. He shall die for killing my daughter." And with that, he grabbed a gun and a torch from onr of the hunters. "You sorry spineless mice can head back to the town if you want, but I will not stop until his blood covers the forest floor!" And with that, he ran off, the others turning away, grumbling and cursing the man as he ran. I felt as though this were my chance to redeem myself in some way, maybe not his way, but MY way. I followed him in the treetops, waiting until he was as far away from the mob as he could get before I thought it was safe. Then, I spoke from the trees, and he stopped at the sound of my humble, yet powerful voice. "Barthalow Gunther, I wish to speak to you of the matter that which you hunt me for!" He raised his torch in one hand, and his gun in the other. I felt a chill run down my spine to the tip of my tail, and then spoke again. "I wish to tell you of the truth; I DID NOT KILL YOUR DAUGHTER!" I shouted, turning into a howl, and stopping myself from attracting the mob back to my location. "You speak of lies, fowl demon of the forest!" Barthalow yiped out, his fear showing by the way the torch shook and his gun rattled. He was a big man, but a small child at heart, and he feared me more than I feared him. He feared me because Iwas different; I feared him because he was normal. "You killed my precious Anna, and now, I sahll kill you!" "You pathetic FOOL!" I shouted, jumping to another tree to keep him from shooting me. "I did not commit a crime! Thy neighbor has betrayed you, and raped your young Anna. If anything, I wish I could destroy HIM, for I loved your daughter more than any other prcious being in this world." I could not hold in my feelings any longer. Tears started to run down my sheek, my fur getting wet from each drop. "If I coul have, I would have easily taken Anna's place, but there was nothing I could do. Yet you don't believe me because of what I am!" "You are a demon, and a liar! You will pay for your sins wolf man!" Barthalow raised his gun again up to a tree, nowhere near the one I was in, and fired a shot. "Your anger is blinding you from the truth Barthalow! Underneath my fur, I am human like you. The only difference between you and me is I am CURSED to show my inner wolf. You humans can hide your dark side, where as I cannot mine!" I jumped to another tree, and Barthalow shot at the branch I once was sitting on. "You have no proof that my neighbor did such a crime!" "And you have no proof that I killed Anna as well!" I let out a cry of anger and pain, my heart breaking from the thought of Anna, her face as she died etched in my memory as the rapist slashed at her, setting the clues and evidence to point at me. "She was slashed to death! Claw markings cover her body, and bite marks on her neck and thigh!" Barthalow fell to his knees, and began to sob violently. I pittied him, for he was closer to Anna in a way I was forbidden to know. He raised her, and taught her what she knew. I lowered my head, and readied to pounce to another tree. "Search his house, under the floorboards. Some are loose, where you will find his blood-stained clothes, the weapon he used, and some of her hair that he pulled out." I shook my head, for I knew he thought me a liar. "I will leave this town, for my heart has no reason to stay here any longer. I shall trouble you no longer, but, as my last request before I leave, search his house! And rightfully bring justice to the man who killed our precious Anna." "You bastard!" Barthalow shouted, and he shot at the tree I was sitting in, but I had already left before he had said a word. I left him in the forest, on his knees crying for his lost daughter. From what I heard, he searched the house, and foundt the evidence against his neighbor under the floor, just as I said. They be-headed him, then burned the body. Anna was burried on a hill top, looking over her favorite valley seeing spot. I visit often, when no one isaround, and I weep for her loss. I shall never love another as I did her ever again.