Seth's Nyctothropy

They say you can never tell anyone about the curse of being a werebat, out of fear of being killed, ostracized, or both.

I've had this curse for five years. I was a careless teen when I got too close to a bat, trying to help it when it was trapped in my family home. I grabbed it in mid-flight and then it brought down its fangs into my hand as I threw it outside into the darkness. My vision blurred from seeing the blood coming out of the bite, but when I woke, I was in a hospital room, hand all bandaged, my parents worried about how I could've had rabies and was being reckless by grabbing the bat bare-handed instead of handling it with gloves. Little did any of us know that what the bat did was so much worse.

At first, it started with having a sensitivity to light, but then one night, I had what seemed like a vivid dream. I had gotten out of my home, flew into the sky, and was feeding on insects while flying before I found myself in the backyard of my neighbor, Mr. North. He cultivated and grew an apple tree for three years which had been devoured and then demolished in seconds by my hands. I tried to get control of myself, but it was like I was watching this on a TV in a room, my words falling on deaf ears, they say. That was when Mr. North came out, with a shotgun in hand, trying to shoot at me, but I quickly evaded and jumped on the kind old man, roaring at him, before I flew away into the darkness.

I woke up, finding nothing but claw marks, pieces of apple on me, and my parents looking at me, disappointed and worried. I had asked them what had happened, but my dad told me, "You tell me." They then told me of how Mrs. North had found her husband in the backyard, having died from a heart attack, along with a shotgun in the middle of it and a destroyed apple tree. That was when I realized that that was no dream I had.

From then on, my parents tried fruitlessly to keep me from going out at night until they could find a cure for this nightmare, but I still got out to feed on bugs and whatever fruit I came across. The creature within got more and more violent with each attempt until it got away from the house one night, with me waking up in the middle of the woods and away from home. I was unsure of where I was, but it was like I was better off to ensure my parents didn't end up like Mr. North did or worse. I had to hide from cops when venturing to places to find people who knew about stuff like lycanthropy but for bats rather than wolves. However, I had to hide somewhere away from people when the sun began setting. When I became the bat, I had to try to resist the urge to attack people, but it kept getting harder to control each night.

I remember one night when I raided a nearby grocery store for as much fruit as I could stomach. I heard a security guard coming to me, yelling something along the lines of "Hold it right there!" When he saw what I was, he said, "Ohh shit!" I approached him, looking to strike, but I froze and nodded no, as I stepped back, not wanting to harm a civilian doing his job. I had a hard time keeping myself together as I dove for the guy, but I flew above the man to avoid hitting him, running into the section full of dairy in the process. I flew around and above the man like that bat stuck in my house that fateful night before I dove for him again, only this time, he had a taser that hit me. It hurt like nothing I felt before, and I was down for what seemed like hours before I flew out of the place when I regained consciousness. I woke up in the place I set up camp in, with my head throbbing, fruit guts, and the phantom pain of that voltage going through my entire being. I knew that I would need to find someone who could help before I either lost my humanity to the darkness of these primal urges, or my family would find me and be in danger.

I eventually found someone named Aaron Ritt who ran a store full of toys, books, and games, but also had stuff for the metaphysical for sale as well. I took a look at some crystals and a book on lycanthropy, but it was only after I looked at the stuff for days that he took an interest in me. "Something must be drawing you in about this place if you keep coming back, I'm sure," he said. When I told him that meeting him at night wouldn't work, in the most uneasy tone that I've ever given anyone, he told me to meet him during the weekend to talk. That was on a Thursday.

That Thursday night, the curse came up once more and I raided whatever I didn't nab from the store in town. Rather than security or a cop coming into the place, it was Mr. Ritt who came in and saw me as a big bat. He didn't try to do anything to provoke me. Instead, he simply said, "I always wondered why a big bat kept coming back, but something must be drawing you in about this town, huh, big boy?" I was surprised by the word choice he used, like he knew what I was, as my body once again tried to strike the man. I tried and struggled to keep from hurting him and was inches away from striking his head before I kept from hurting him. The man was undeterred by this and instead grabbed two mangoes from what was left of that section of the store and gave me one that I ravenously ate before luring me out of the store with the other mango and into the nearby forest I was camping in. The bat within me disliked being seen as a pet being lured with a toy or treat so I smacked the fruit out of his hand before tackling and pinning him to the ground.

I had trouble keeping from biting the man before me who was scared but didn't try to get free or hurt me. He noted, "Get a hold of yourself if you want to know how to be rid of this beast inside you." I backed away while trying to keep from hurting the man before I flew far away from him. I got near the camp site I was at for days while in this town and was trying to keep myself from going back to finish the job or wrecking parts of my so-called home in the process of keeping the bat under control. I didn't want to kill anyone, not after I indirectly and unintentionally had my neighbor killed. I had to resist the urge until sunrise, cause killing people just to fill my stomach with fruit and bugs was not who I was. I wasn't going to kill my family, any cops, and I certainly wasn’t going to kill Aaron Ritt for trying to help me keep myself together and overcome these nightmarish impulses. It wasn't in my nature even before I became this beast.

As the sun came creeping up, and I started to revert to my human self, I caught a glimpse of Mr. Ritt coming into the area from hearing all my screaming and thrashing about. My vision stopped as I crashed onto the ground from my exhaustion at keeping from killing anybody. When I awoke, I found I was in someone else's home with bandages on my chest, arms, hands, and head. I worried about being in this place with how much of a damage I've been to myself and others. I then saw Aaron coming in, telling me, "Whoa, easy there, kid. You've been out for almost the entire day, but I brought you here to treat your condition." I paused and asked him, "What condition, sir?" "Nyctothropy," he replied, "A condition much like lycanthropy but with becoming a bat instead of a wolf. Some bat bites come with rabies, but if you're not careful, you'll get something else entirely. That was why you came to my shop, right? To look for a cure for something like that?"

I was stunned so I asked, "How did you know?" He bluntly stated, "I have a sibling around your age who dealt with that. Between you coming into my store, looking through the stuff, and then reports of a giant bat making a mess out of the nearby store's fruit supply, I figured you had the curse like they did. We went through a lot of different remedies and treatments until we found something that worked. When applying the dressing, I applied a cream with vitamin C, mupirocin, and trace amounts of silver. I can walk you through the rest of the process for treating nyctothropy, but only if you stick around here and follow these instructions to the letter. You'll be able to go back to your family when that's taken care of."

I was surprised at how prepared and calm this guy was at handling the nyctothropy, but it made me feel like I failed at keeping myself under control. I didn't figure out a cure with how the urges and their triggers kept flooding my mind within this one year I've been on the run. I was really afraid of how people would react to what I could do to where getting a cure became second to trying to keep from harming others within my feasts for fruit. Then I find this guy who was the closest I had gotten to losing control and he is willing to help my sorry self. So I asked him, "How can I ever repay you after all this?" He simply replied, "I don't need money or favors for helping a person suffering through their battle with themselves in silence and loneliness. Kindness doesn't cost a thing."

From there, I decided to follow Aaron's instructions while staying at his place for 3 months. I was grateful that the house was a ways away from the town, which was important for the process of treating nyctothropy. I was even more surprised with how he had a basement that was set up like an apartment inside, with a bedroom, TV, bathroom, and fridge for food. Aaron would be right by me for the first night of treatment, although that had me nervous with how I turn into the bat and can be very violent around others trying to get in my way.

I went into the bedroom and when night fell, I turned into the bat and was unfamiliar with the place, flying around and looking for a means of escape, clashing with walls. I even tried breaking down the door but that didn't work as Aaron called out, "Hey, don't break that, big guy!" I turned to the man and landed on the towel placed in front of him on the floor, which felt warm and made me feel calmer and tired, bringing me to my knees. He then put a blanket over me, gave me water that had some sugar in it, and then brought out that cream from earlier and applied it to my arms, hands, and head. I felt calmer while waiting out this process of letting this cream soak into me, but I was worried that once I got out of this warm embrace that the thoughts and urges would come rushing back with a vengeance and I'd try to kill Mr. Ritt and get out of there to cause havoc on myself and others once more. I needed to let my body relax and get control over it to beat this curse. Twenty minutes passed and I was led to the bathroom, where I had to use the shower to clean off the cream and then dry off before being led into the room to keep warm, eat some fruit, and sleep with lights on.

Within two-thirds of my time here, I was getting more control of myself to allow myself to not need fruit or bugs. Aaron was really nice to me, but I was unsure of how my folks would react to me once I had this nipped in the bud. They know I'm still there with how many big bat sightings and grocery store break-ins there have been. I hoped they weren't mad at me for running away from home, but I needed to remember that the stuff that happened was not my fault.

By the third month, my change was not as violent and I was getting restful sleep, but I had to apply the cream myself to ensure the transformations didn't come back, or at least weren't flaring up as violently. After that, I had to work up the courage to call my parents and tell them where I was all this time and how Mr. Ritt helped me manage the symptoms of nyctothropy. I never thought about when they would arrive for me, but when they did, there were many tears of relief and joy. There was understandable anger with how I was homeless and didn't tell anyone where I was all this time, but they were glad I was okay and managed to find someone to help with my problem. As we were leaving, Aaron tells us, "Let me know if the transformations come back at all and be sure to keep at it until you're sure it's not a problem anymore." I told him, "We will, Aaron. We will."