Seth's Road to Recovery

People say recovery is not as clear-cut or linear as people overcoming an addiction to drugs or trying to eat less sugar when dieting. Relapses are bound to happen in the road to recovery. Relapses cannot be helped when you try your damnedest to ensure you don't screw up. When it comes to nyctothropy, however, one variation from following the way to recovery to the letter could turn dangerous and potentially even deadly.

It had been about a month since I came home, following Mr. Ritt's recovery from when I stayed with him for three months. We were following the recovery closely when my mom read somewhere that you're supposed to take a break between treatments. We stopped doing the treatment on that Monday and I asked, "Why are we taking a week break? Mr. Ritt said that we have to do this every day until the nyctothropy is gone." She said, "We should take a break with how relentless we've been with treating this and see how far it's come along."

I went to bed feeling very worried when my werebat side came out, expecting the usual treatment of Ritt's silver-laced cream, only to find nothing. Mom moved the cream out of where I usually had it in my living area. I caused a ruckus and made a mess of the furniture trying to get out of the house and looked at my dad angrily when he yelled, "Seth, get back in your room now, son!" The werebat ran towards him and smacked him into a wall, before escaping through a window. I flew into the nearby forest of the neighborhood. When I tasted the moths and mosquitoes in the darkness of the night, my body felt a violent hunger come back with a vengeance. It was like it missed this feeling for so long due to the treatment I was given by Mr. Ritt.

From there, it was a blur of people with lights screaming from me flying towards them, flying into the sky, and then waking up in the forest in the middle of town. The first thing I said when I woke up was, "Oh crap, no. No! No..." Who could blame me? I was out of the house once again, there was blood in both my hands, a cut on my left shoulder, and the taste of bugs, fruit, and blood in my mouth. I was in tears from the fact that I had failed to keep myself under control and I probably got someone hurt or worse in this relapse rampage.

My mom caught up to me and told me on the way to the hospital that she called Aaron Ritt and told him about this transformation that occurred because of the break. She told him to meet all of us at the hospital and I was terrified about what awaited me there. I hadn't killed anyone since my first transformation and that rampage in Mr. North's backyard where I indirectly caused his death by heart attack.

We reached the hospital and found a couple of people in the waiting area having what looked like claw marks. We told the staff that we were there to see my dad. We were told to wait a bit before we could go see him. By the time it was deemed okay to go see him Aaron finally arrived and so we went to go see dad together. We told the staff that Aaron was a friend of the family as we went further down the hall of the emergency room.

My dad was lucky to have survived this violent night, but he still had to stay for a couple weeks to heal from his broken ribs, a mild concussion, and a broken leg. We had to cover by saying it was from a distracted driver collision. Word got around about a bat monster making a nuisance of people's gardens and stores and flying around the area and that this latest attack was one where several people got hurt. I felt very guilty knowing the bat within me was let loose from following a faulty information source steering us wrong. I knew that I had to ensure we didn't screw up treatment again.

Aaron had to pull me aside in a stairwell knowing that if anyone knew I was behind this recent attack, I'd be chased out of town or killed for the monster that I was.

"I know what you're thinking. My mom saw something online, thinking we needed a break from the relentless treatment with how it's been working so well," I told him, "My body was even trained to be expecting the cream, but she took it out of where I had it stashed. I got out when I was panicked over the stuff being missing and before I knew it..."

Aaron put a hand up so I stopped talking. "At least two people are in the ICU from that treatment misstep, kid," he said, "A couple more people were injured with some having severe bite marks. Think of a break from recovery like it's a relapse in alcoholism. If you're not careful, before you know it, you'll be back to where you were when you first came into my store. The only thing missing will be the feeling of that thrill of the hunt for fresh food and attacking anything that got in the way. Eventually, you won't ever want to go back to a sense of normalcy. There will be lapses on the road to recovery, but don't ever let the bat within you tempt you. That bat will make its little calls of how you're better off letting it take control of you. People will come looking for you if you don't stay in control and be vigilant with the treatment. We'll try again on the treatment when we get to your place."

As we exited out of the stairwell I let Aaron's words sink in. Two people were nearly killed and others had bite and injuries that weren't life-threatening, all because of this error in judgment. A lapse that led to a resurgence of the beast and almost made two people pay the ultimate price. Aaron was spot on about how my body missed the rush of being outside of the confines of my home and the freedom the bat provided.

My body felt like it was having a good dream of being able to fly around and do what I wanted. The darkness of the night gave me a sense of comfort wherever I flew. The light scared me since it gave me a burning sensation to see it. My body felt like it needed the nutrients from those bugs and fruit. I seem to have gotten weaker without them so a couple of missing fruits in stores won't bother anyone much. The new taste of blood felt foreign during that recent night, but it didn't seem like a bad taste now that I thought of it...

Wait, those aren't my thoughts. I then realized with horror that I bit into someone. That's right! I had a taste of blood that I never had before, even before I got help from Mr. Ritt. Oh dear God, someone else got the nyctothropy curse. Now there's going to be more sightings of giant bats in the area. I have to tell Mr. Ritt and we have to find who got bit before the cycle continues anew or we have a whole town full of werebats.

When we got back home, in the evening, we had to restart the cycle of treatment anew. As Mr. Ritt got the supplies and preparations ready to re-start the treatment, I felt the excruciating pain of transformation that I hadn't felt in quite a while. It felt like how it was before the treatment first started. My body was ravenous and I didn't waste any time in getting out of the house, even when mom and Aaron yelled out my name and for me to return home. The light going down felt inviting for I could see things in the dark much more clearly. I flew towards a river and landed, washing my hair with some of its waters before screeching out with joy at being in my new hunting ground, like this was where I was meant to be.

I then shook my head, when I realized that it wasn't me talking. I looked in the river to see that I did backslide into becoming that which I was trying to be rid of and having failed. I felt shame at being this creature once again. I flew off to look for the people I cared about before I realized that there was work to be done with how a person or two had gotten bit. I can't run away from what I had done, not again.

I noticed the sound of a sirens and a couple of screeches akin to my own before a couple gusts of wind went by me. I flew after them, but I saw that they were bats as big and brutish as myself. I saw what looked like four of them, but then I realized that they were like me when I first became the bat. They haven't gotten their first taste for fruit, bugs, or probably even blood. There was still time to try to help them.

I tried calling out to them, which caused them to disperse. I had to ensure they didn't spread the curse or at least are not seen by other people. I don't want to attract the wrong attention in doing this. I screeched at one bat, but they landed in a pond below, making them have trouble get out of the water. I was terrified that I might've led this one guy to their doom. Before I could think further, I watched as I grabbed this werebat with my own feet and flew off with them, dropping them to the place that I flew to when I got out. One down, three to go.

I flew and saw one bat, but we had a clash to where I got scratched myself in midair. We all fell to the ground, screeching at each other. My body felt compelled to scratch back on the main one of the pair with how I craved the taste of blood and was thinking of how it would taste coming from another werebat. An intense battle was about to begin, but before it could continue, the sound of emergency vehicle sirens pierced the air and our hearing, hurting us and making us all scatter, except for the one I had saved from the pond earlier. I was racked with guilt and failure over my own instincts causing more people to be turned over to the call of the bat, all while hearing a voice in my head that kept saying, "You did this, why would you ever want to go back to what you were doing before?"

I saw the third bat of the group, who was small and hid in a tree, but was scared of my appearance when I spotted him. He probably thought I was a big monster even when he was one himself. He was trembling and was spooked by the sound of sirens in the area as well. I tried fruitlessly to go after him, but then I saw some light peek through on the corner of my eye. I had to stop because I could feel my body ache and beg for more freedom as I flew away to secrecy and safety.

Mom and Aaron quickly found me when I started changing back and looking like a sad puppy that knew it was in trouble. We went back home, and I told them how I did see three bats but only encountered two of them. It made me wonder how many more bats were made that fateful night besides the three considering how many people were in the hospital when I went in to check on dad. I was worried about the one bat I did save and how that guy would fare when the cops found him there, changing back from bat to man.

I had a bit more control of myself than the previous night, which wasn't saying much with how I fought against a couple others like me and I found one of them that was like a small child that didn't ask for this nightmare. These poor people plucked from their normal lives like how I was compromised because I grabbed a damn bat in my home without ever thinking of putting on some fucking gloves to catch it! They'll probably wrestle control with the beasts that want the freedom to do what comes naturally to bats. They might get caught by people that want us dead because of our potential to kill or make more like us. I'm such a fool for thinking that the road to recovery would so simple, but now I have to deal with the fact that I made these people like this. Maybe I should let the beast be in the driver's seat with how my mind becomes a prison whenever I transform and how much harder controlling my body has gotten since that lapse. My body's been itching to have that freedom at night and to fly with again with all those bats I made. We might have a whole colony of bats when that creature is through with this town...

My mom snapped me out of my thoughts by calling my name before she then said, "Listen to what Mr. Ritt has to say."

I turned to Aaron, looking so defeated by what I had done. "This can be fixed, but only if you listen closely to what I have to say."

So the skinny is that because I bit some people, my recovery is stunted, and so we'll need to find those people and bring them to him so he can help them. It was easier said than done when he noted how this meant having to become the bat to find them. I was conflicted about that last part with how it was telling me to embrace being a bat essentially when that was what caused all this.

We applied some cream on my head and arms before I transformed and I flew out to find the three bats that I saw, starting with the child who looked scared as he was feeding on some bugs and getting the hang of flight. I was trying to see less threatening by going down to the ground and being still. The kid came down to me but then the other two bats came over, looking for a fight. We clashed as I protected the kid, which led to them biting my arms, hurting me.

I staggered and before long, I was in pain. When I awoke, I was in a form that was in between human and werebat, and the two bats that bit me were back to human. I was surprised that happened and that was when the cops came back once more, so we had to flee.

We took them to Aaron and mom, who applied bandages with the cream on them. I asked Aaron about the change and he said, "My sibling never bit anyone, but he was able to overcome his nyctothropy with the treatment used to the letter. The person who told me how to do the treatment said that it was based on how in some myths, a person chosen by lottery becomes a predatory animal and if they avoid the taste of blood within nine years, they can turn back to human. Is this all the ones you saw?"

I told him yes, but I was uncertain if there were more like me and the kid I brought back. All I knew was that with my recovery stunted from tasting human flesh, I would have to work harder to follow the recovery steps to the letter and help every person who was affected.

Being the bat was my curse, my burden to bear, and I'll do whatever I can to manage the symptoms.