I creep through the forest, hunting, the early morning breeze wafting around me and bringing to my attention several suitors for what was to be a surprise breakfast in bed or rather, den, for Chase. I twitched my nose, taking in the scent of much prey, a mouse here and a hare there, fine pickings indeed. Swivelling my ears, I stepped lightly through the undergrowth.
I stopped short as a rather plump hare emerged through the bushes only a few metres aware, nibbling on some grass, blissfully unaware of my presence, and my position downwind from it prevented any chance of it scenting me.
I quickly creeped forward, step by step.
Almost there.

SNAP

I cursed as I accidently stumbled on a dry twig. The hare immediately sprang up and away. No longer needing stealth, I tore after the hurried hare. It led me on quite a chase, and I lost almost all my bearings as I intensely focused on the hare. It was fast and had more maneuverability, but I was faster. The distance closed between us.
Almost... almost. Now!
I leapt forward, preparing to sink my teeth into my prey.

CLICK

My teeth snapped together, closing on thin air as the Hare slipped down a hole in the ground just seconds before I got it. The hole was no doubt an entrance to a burrow or a network of tunnels. The hare could be anywhere by now. Damn!
I felt frustrated that I had been so close to getting the hare, only for it to so easily slip out of my paws. I gave a small whine, but then briskly gave myself a shake, a smile touching my face as I thought of the one whom I was trying to catch some prey for,
Oh well, it is a pity but it can't be helped. Besides, it will be a good story to tell Chase over breakfast. Better see if I can find something else to catch.

I lifted my nose to begin hunting again, when I realised that I had lost track of where I was. Oh well, I'll find the clearing sooner or later, and I might as well have some food to deliver first.

I wandered around for a while, sniffing high and low, when a sudden chill fell over me. As I gazed at the part of the forest I had wandered into, I felt a sense of foreboding in my spirit. But that was just silly, right?
Yet, taking in the cold, somewhat darker atmosphere, gazing at the tall, grey trees, and the freezing mist that was beginning to wrap around me, I found it difficult to shake off the feeling.

"Luna? What is this place?"
She replied swiftly, her voice grave,
"It is the Forest of Shadows. A place where great darkness resides. Make haste to leave this place!"

At the unusually panicked tone of her voice, I immediately turned and began to blindly rush through the undergrowth, yet the mist seemed only to grow thicker around me. I turned this way and that, but there seemed no escape from this accursed place.

"Just be careful Ebony, but stay calm,"  Luna cautioned.

Then the whispers started.
"You aren't good enough"
"You are such a bitch"
"Everyone is better off without you"
"No one really cares about you"

"Ebony...!" Luna's voice faded away, drowned by the words of the whispers.
"Luna!" I called out, but my voice seemed to no longer work.

The voice's continued their chanting.
"You will always be a Lone Wolf"

"No. No! Stop it!" I yelped, trying to cover my ears.

"You're just a joke to everyone"
"No! I am loved. The pack doesn't see me as a joke!" I yelled back in defiance, trying to fight off those words that had dragged me down for so long.
"All you do is injure those around you, physically, emotionally and mentally"
"No! It's not true!" I screamed, trying to push back the darkness inside that was beginning to revive and take hold once more.

"You are such a coward"
"You are such a horrible, selfish monster"
"You are utterly hated by all"
"No... no!" I grappled against the overwhelming words.

The voices hissed as one
"You are such a..."
"...horrible..."
"...spoiled..."
"No! Stop it!" I clawed at the suffocating mist, for I knew it to be the source of this evil.
"...ungrateful..."
"... inconsiderate..."

I ran, trying to escape this mist. To escape the darkness and sadness that was coming flooding back. But the mist was a living, breathing thing that thwarted all attempts at escape.

"...terrible..."
"...heinous..."
"...bitch."

Then they spoke as one, a single, piercing sentence,
"Everyone would be better off without you"
"No! It's n-not true!" I answered in defiance. The voices hissed back at me.

I fell and stumbled, and around me the mist seemed to swirl together to form a single scene. Echoes of the moment that the darkness had grown most deep.

"Why do you even hang out with her?"

"Oh, Ebony? I know right".

"We only hang out with that freak because we feel sorry for her, and she is just so dumb that she doesn't seem to get the hint that we don't want her here."

"She is such a moron. I swear, if she asks me one more idiotic question, I'm going to scream!"

"I hate the way that she always butts into our conversations and just talks REALLY LOUD LIKE THIS even when we are like right next to her"

"I swear to God, Ebony is so annoying! Nobody likes her, she should just kill herself".

"...she should just kill herself..."

As much as I tried to fight it, I could not hold back the darkness. It had struggled against the bonds of light for so long that they had weakened, and that last sentence was the hit it needed to break free. The shadows flooded over me. The bleak, desperate, depression weighed me down. The tears began to flow from my eyes, and I lay down on the ground, defeated.
Why had I ever believed that things would get better? How could I have ever thought that Chase actually loved me?
Chase... I put all my will into his name, a prayer, a plea, that he would find me.

Through my blurred vision, a figure suddenly appeared. My heart gave a leap of joy. He had found me!
"Chase!" I called out.
He only glanced at me before turning his back and walking away, ignoring me. I heaved myself up and followed him,
"Chase! Where are you going? Why are you leaving me?"

He turned, his expression full of hatred, then he continued to move away from me.
"Wait, Chase! Don't go" I cried out after him.
"Chase" I whimpered.

He stopped and turned.
"Well Ebony", he spat out my name, his voice filled with venom, breaking my heart. Then he looked away, up to the darkened sky,
"Have you noticed how the moon behaves?"
"I-"
"It goes around the Earth only exposing a few parts of it everyday, until one day it shows it's full self. You exposed your true self today. (Credit to Kosidarl for this Moon analogy) You bitch!" He smirked, "I guess human habits die hard."

I shrunk back, feeling as though he had slapped me. No, no! It can't be true. It can't be him. It must be a strange sleight, an illusion of the mist. As I had this thought, the mist materialised into the forms of all my pack. Liz, Max, Hugo, Leah. All of them glaring at me with stone cold hatred in their eyes.

"You are a failure." Liz hissed.
"You deserve all you get, you little bitch!" snarled Leah.
"You're so fucking stupid!" caterwauled Max.
"You are such a disappointment,"  Hugo growled.

I knew they were lies, but they rang true in my heart. I felt my ears droop as I backed away from my snarling pack. My heart panged,
They are right. Everyone is better off without me.

I turned and fled, the mist parting before me. I tore through the forest towards the only place that would give me salvation.
Now out of the mist, and at the voice's silence, Luna spoke once more, her voice pleading, and I could feel her fighting me for control of the body, trying to turn me away from my current path,
"Ebony, no! It is not true! You are loved. It was just an illusion. Chase loves you! Do not listen to the voices of shadow!"

I faltered. I couldn't risk hurting Luna. As cruel as I am, I couldn't do that.

Luna sensed my thoughts,
"No, Ebony, it is too dangerous!"

Ignoring her, I savagely called out,
"Simul separatum!"

Without the soothing light and magic of the Solar Eclipse, the transition from Wolf to Human was no longer painless. Pain crackled through my body as I felt my spirit torn from the body of the wolf and thrust into a new human form, every twist of the muscle, every formation of the bone causing me immense pain, until at last I was in human form, crouched in the dust, panting heavily.

Luna nudged me, and for a moment I allowed myself to draw strength from her warm touch. Then I stood, gritting my teeth against the spasms that tore at every fibre of my being. For a moment I knelt down, holding my forehead against her own. Embracing her.
"Thank you," I choked out.
Then I turned, and started off once more to my end point. Luna leapt in front of me, crouching and blocking my way.
She growled at me, and although my human mind could not comprehend her words, the meaning was all too clear.
"No! Don't you understand!? Everyone is better off without me".

She fiercely shook her head, but I ignored her and dodged around her, bringing myself to a pathetic jog, the most I could manage in this pain, both physical and emotional.
I felt a tugging notion as she gripped the back of my jeans, desperate to stop me. I shook her off, but she continued to drag back. I turned to her, shouting,
"No! Go home Luna. Go away!" I sobbed out, "I'm sorry, but I can't do this anymore!"

When she continued to grip at my leg and slow my progress, I lifted up my leg and kicked her. Hard. Her yelp nearly broke my heart, but it had to be done. She gave me one last look, tears in her eyes, before she turned and sprinted away, no doubt to get Chase and the rest of the pack.

"I'm sorry", I whispered after her. Then I turned and continued to make my way to the place where all my problems would be solved. The only way to vanish the shadows and pain inside and around me. The only way out. The only solution.