(no subject)
While growing up, Leo didn't think his life was terribly exciting. His father was a lawyer, his mother was a teacher, and he had a good relationship with his sister, Lena. All in all, life was good and by the time he was a senior in high school he had high hopes to become a professional photographer and move to New York City.
Really, his life was boring.
During his senior year in high school, a camping trip went horribly wrong and everything changed. He doesn't remember specific details of that night, but he remembers a wild animal tearing through the campsite and attacking him and his friends. By the time the sun began to rise and a park ranger found them, his best friends were dead and he was laying mangled in a pool of blood by where his tent used to be.
Despite how gravely injured he was, though, Leo managed to survive. Nobody could figure out how, but within two weeks he was stable enough to be released from the hospital and tried to resume his life as best as he could while his wounds healed. Except, he couldn't. He missed his friends. The scars throughout his body and on the side of his neck reminded him of what happened, and he couldn't just move on. His personality changed to something darker than how he used to be, but people dismissed it as him mourning. The poor teenager whose life had been flipped upside down after some freak accident - who wouldn't be surly and moody after that?
But, his personality change was only the beginning. At first he didn't notice the correlation between the pull of the moon, and the way his bones seemed to almost ache the closer the full moon came. By the time it did, it was as if he blanked out completely. One minute he was in bed, feeling feverish and trying to just sleep it off without alerting his parents of what was going on, the next he was waking up in a field, naked and covered in blood. A man approached him then, offering to help and took him to his cabin in he outskirts of the woods where Leo could shower and change into clean clothes. His name was Gavin and he was from a secret brotherhood, he explained. The night Leo and his friends had been attacked, a wild werewolf had been on the loose and was responsible for the massacre. Now it was responsible for the change that Leo had gone through, but he could offer to control it. Leo, in complete disbelief and bewilderment, dismissed his story and ran from him as fast as he could, only to discover emergency vehicles surrounded his house. His parents had been attacked by a wild animal, the authorities explained, and Lena had found their bodies after coming home from a party the previous night.
With Gavin's words resonating in his ears, Leo came to the realization that it hadn't been a wild animal that had killed his parents this time. The blood he had been covered with that morning belonged to his parents - he had killed them and, without an explanation or even a goodbye to his sister, he left so he could ask Gavin to help him. His guilt was overwhelming, and he just wanted him to help him control the wolf living inside him.
Now, four years later, Leo has learned to at least manage the power burning inside his veins. There are full moons where he still loses control, but he makes sure to go to a distant location before the sun goes down so that he won't encounter an innocent bystander in his night as a wolf. He has yet to be properly introduced to the brotherhood Gavin belongs to, and he still keeps a safe distance from his sister even if she still doesn't know the truth, but he's trying to settle in whatever normalcy he can accomplish. It isn't easy sometimes, and there are still days when he can feel himself losing control, but he's doing his best.
He just wants to survive, even if deep down he doesn't feel he deserves it.
Really, his life was boring.
During his senior year in high school, a camping trip went horribly wrong and everything changed. He doesn't remember specific details of that night, but he remembers a wild animal tearing through the campsite and attacking him and his friends. By the time the sun began to rise and a park ranger found them, his best friends were dead and he was laying mangled in a pool of blood by where his tent used to be.
Despite how gravely injured he was, though, Leo managed to survive. Nobody could figure out how, but within two weeks he was stable enough to be released from the hospital and tried to resume his life as best as he could while his wounds healed. Except, he couldn't. He missed his friends. The scars throughout his body and on the side of his neck reminded him of what happened, and he couldn't just move on. His personality changed to something darker than how he used to be, but people dismissed it as him mourning. The poor teenager whose life had been flipped upside down after some freak accident - who wouldn't be surly and moody after that?
But, his personality change was only the beginning. At first he didn't notice the correlation between the pull of the moon, and the way his bones seemed to almost ache the closer the full moon came. By the time it did, it was as if he blanked out completely. One minute he was in bed, feeling feverish and trying to just sleep it off without alerting his parents of what was going on, the next he was waking up in a field, naked and covered in blood. A man approached him then, offering to help and took him to his cabin in he outskirts of the woods where Leo could shower and change into clean clothes. His name was Gavin and he was from a secret brotherhood, he explained. The night Leo and his friends had been attacked, a wild werewolf had been on the loose and was responsible for the massacre. Now it was responsible for the change that Leo had gone through, but he could offer to control it. Leo, in complete disbelief and bewilderment, dismissed his story and ran from him as fast as he could, only to discover emergency vehicles surrounded his house. His parents had been attacked by a wild animal, the authorities explained, and Lena had found their bodies after coming home from a party the previous night.
With Gavin's words resonating in his ears, Leo came to the realization that it hadn't been a wild animal that had killed his parents this time. The blood he had been covered with that morning belonged to his parents - he had killed them and, without an explanation or even a goodbye to his sister, he left so he could ask Gavin to help him. His guilt was overwhelming, and he just wanted him to help him control the wolf living inside him.
Now, four years later, Leo has learned to at least manage the power burning inside his veins. There are full moons where he still loses control, but he makes sure to go to a distant location before the sun goes down so that he won't encounter an innocent bystander in his night as a wolf. He has yet to be properly introduced to the brotherhood Gavin belongs to, and he still keeps a safe distance from his sister even if she still doesn't know the truth, but he's trying to settle in whatever normalcy he can accomplish. It isn't easy sometimes, and there are still days when he can feel himself losing control, but he's doing his best.
He just wants to survive, even if deep down he doesn't feel he deserves it.