Time of the month

Brief synopsis: characters are from a project of mine called "Moonlight". Slight warning, there is some blood talk, so be cautious of that.

How do you get to a place like this in your life? It's a crisp autumn night, and instead of being at home finally indulging in an audiobook you've been meaning to get to or binge-watching some stupid kid's cartoon that just GETS you for the six hundredth time, you're wandering in the middle of the woods just on the outskirts of the neighborhood, having lost track of your two other friends maybe five minutes ago, trying to see literally anything in front of you with the less-than-stellar flashlight feature on your phone (currently at 12% battery, mind you). All while your hands are covered in some mix of animal and (what you keep telling yourself isn't) human blood.

How does one get to a place like that in their life?

Well, only through the best of intentions, of course. Otherwise someone like Sterling Davies wouldn't be here. Right?

***

Let's start from the beginning.

Sterling had moved in with his girlfriend, Lucine Moses, just at the start of the month. They had been dating for about a year and a half now, and they both agreed it was a good next step for their relationship. He was finally able to leave his parents' home fresh out of college, and since one of her previous roommates had recently moved out, her place had a room available. Lucine lived with two other people: her ex-girlfriend Aldis and Aldis's current boyfriend Nolan, and both of them were pretty chill with Sterling and had been quite welcoming towards him in their home. Aldis had repeatedly invited him to join their impromptu movie nights, while Nolan kept insisting that they go bowling together sometimes, "just the two of us, as guys." Everything had been going smoothly up until a couple nights ago. When he began to sense that something was...amiss with Lucine.

"Oh God..." Sterling peeked his head into the kitchen when he heard Lucine's dismayed voice. Aldis, who was already in the kitchen getting the oven ready for pancakes (and scrambled eggs on toast for Nolan), turned her attention to the brunette as well. "What's up, girl?" Lucine sighed and nervously ran her fingers through her hair. "It's, uhhh...going to be a messy week." Aldis sucked in air through her teeth, sounding sympathetic. "Again already?" "I know. I'm already not looking forward to it." The brunette girl stepped closer and put her hand on the darker girl's shoulder. "I'll be here to help you, you know." Aldis said, and Lucine smiled as she wrapped her own hand around her friend's. "I know. You always have been." Sterling walked into the room, watching the girls pull back from each other and turn to face him as if they had just been caught in a scandalous act. "Everything okay, baby?" he asked. Lucine gave her boyfriend a forced smile, nervously glancing at Aldis. "Everything will be okay, hon. You don't need to worry about me. I just...I just need some alone time right now. When breakfast is ready, gimme a call, yeah?" With that, she hurried upstairs, closing the door to her room behind her.

"Something wrong with her?" He asked as he approached Aldis, momentarily distracted by the loud clatter that the can of non-stick spray made when Aldis dropped it from the cupboard. "Luci? No, no, she'll be okay." "She'll be okay? What does that mean? Did something happen to her?" "No, not...not exactly. It's, ummm..." Aldis seemed to be struggling to find the right words as she toyed casually with the various cooking utensils she was gathering. "It's sort of a...a private thing. Not really something you'd understand. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself. No biggie." Private thing? Something he wouldn't understand. At the time, he was pretty dang sure he could decipher exactly what she was talking about. He grew up in a household with two sisters, he knew the coded language they used to talk about 'the gross fact of female life that men couldn't cope with'.

—

"Whatcha doing there, bro?" Nolan asked, rounding the couch to try and steal a glimpse at whatever it was Sterling was intently looking at on his phone. It looked like one of those relationship support websites, the kind that seem just a little too preachy to be taken seriously. "I'm just looking up some stuff." "Stuff for what?" Sterling picked up the notepad he had placed on the coffee table and started jotting down notes from the website. "Stuff that helps with cramps, mood swings, iron deficiency. There's a lot of really alien words on this website, though. I don't think I've ever heard my sisters talk about their...luteal phases." Nolan nodded in understanding as he sprawled his body out on the opposite side of the couch from his roommate. "I hear ya. Sounds like it's the monthly meltdown time again for our beloved Lucine, huh?" "Don't call it that, man."

Nolan just shrugged. "Take it easy, soldier. It's not her first time. Need any advice? I've been living with Lucine for longer, so I get how her cycles work by now. Just a heads-up, she gets really sensitive all at once during these times. If she wants to be alone sometimes, don't take it to heart; it's mainly how she copes. Most of the time during the day she'll be bedridden, so just...you know, bring her snacks, bring her pain meds, make sure she's not stressing herself out too much, but above all else, just make sure she's comfortable and relaxed as much as she can be. All the good boyfriend stuff, except just twice as good. Got it?" Sterling nodded. That seemed simple enough. Nolan certainly had everything figured out to a tee, no doubt. Besides, he liked being there to support Lucine. He was adept at making her happy and at diverting her attention.

Ultimately, that's what it came down to, right? Being Lucine's loving and supportive boyfriend should be just that simple.

---

Nothing's ever THAT simple, of course.

In preparation for Lucine's return from job hunting, he had worked most of the evening arranging the living room just right. Fluffy and soft blankets fresh out of the dryer, two of her favorite movies and a box set of her favorite show (for now), some of her favorite sweets including a few bars of eighty percent dark chocolate (he had read somewhere that dark chocolate helped with mood swings) as well as a bag of mixed nuts for iron, and finally, some packs of Midol and a pre-prepared hot water bottle to help alleviate her pain. As Sterling stepped back and surveyed the little comfort station he had transformed the couch into, he felt quite proud of himself. And he put it all together just in time, judging by how quickly the front door opened and slammed shut.

"Babe-" he attempted to greet, only for a blur of black and orange to rush past him and up the stairs, past her bedroom and into-...the attic? Was she crawling on all fours? Damn, there must be something seriously wrong. Lucine was quickly followed by Aldis, who hurried in the same direction and slammed the attic door shut behind her. Then...there was silence. For a few long minutes. Nothing but silence.

Sterling rushed to climb the stairs when the silence finally grew too oppressive, only for Aldis to come nearly flying down the stairs and slam into his chest. “Hey!” “What are you doing!? Don’t go up there, she needs to be left alone right now!” Sterling defensively raised his hands at his friend’s almost panicked tone of voice. “I know,” he began calmly. “I was coming up to provide her comfort. I got things to help her.” Aldis exhaled, relenting a little. “That’s very sweet of you, Star, but she really just needs her space right now. She gets really ravenous this early on, and I’d hate for you to-” “Well, it’s a good thing I got her lots of snacks. I read on a few websites that chocolate is mainly what women crave while going through this.” Aldis raised a confused eyebrow. “Chocolate? You sure you went to the right websites?”

Nolan entered the room before Sterling could ask her any questions.

“Where's Luci? It's like 10:30.”

“She just pulled in a few minutes ago, she's in the attic now. I helped her get settled in.”

“Why is she in the attic, by the way?” Sterling asked. “Wouldn't her bedroom be a better place for her to rest?”

“No, there are windows in her bedroom.” Aldis responded matter-of-factly, as if that explained anything.

“Okay? What does that have to do with her period?”

“Period? She's not-” Aldis paused, suddenly realizing something. “She…never told you?”

“Told me what?”

Nolan rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “Should we tell him, Dis?”

“Why didn't you tell him? You were talking with him in the living room yesterday!”

“You talked to him first!” The blonde retorted.

“I didn't know she never told him! Though I should've figured since she didn't tell me initially back when we were dating! What's your excuse?”

“Well…to be perfectly honest, when he said ‘luteal phase’, I kinda assumed he meant a waning moon. I've heard Lucine’s mom talk about it like that, so…”

Aldis kneaded her temples, as if she was trying to massage away a headache. “Nolan…”

“Sometimes I don't read the room properly, alright!? You know this about me!”

Sterling sighed loudly in exasperation. “Okay, well, could one of you please tell me what's actually going on here then? Because I don't understand!”

His two roommates shared a glance before Aldis gently took Sterling's hand. “Do you want to see what's going on with Lucine?” Sterling nodded. “Please. I just want to be there for her.” Aldis pulled him towards the stairs. “Alright, just…just be warned. She's a bit erratic right now, especially since she hasn't eaten yet.” Sterling followed her up to the second floor, then up the creaky old wooden steps to the attic.

A rumbling growl was practically reverberating around the dusty loft, louder and lower than any animal he had ever heard. He took a few steps and noticed a huge figure moving uneasily in the dark. A huge, muscular creature with glowing eyes, massive fangs, massive claws, and coarse black fur. “Babe…?” He whispered, not quite sure yet if that was in fact what he was looking at. A big, pointed ear swiveled in his direction, then a lupine face turned towards him. She made a noise somewhere between a growl and a whimper. Sterling was overwhelmed by a thousand emotions at once. “Is she a werewolf?” He hissed at Aldis with barely concealed disbelief. “No, she's a damn mermaid. What's it look like?” Aldis spat back impatiently. The creature in the corner - Lucine - growled once more, louder than before. She paused in her pacing, her yellow eyes fixed on Sterling. “Does she…recognize me?” “Seriously, dude? She's not dumb, she's just…not really herself right now. Just…stay on guard, yeah?” Sterling extended his hand cautiously as he approached the werewolf. She leaned in closer, the growl becoming almost a rumbling purr as she pressed her furry head against her boyfriend's much smaller hand. “Heh, I guess I can see why chocolate wouldn't be much help to her right now.” Upon hearing the word ‘chocolate’, Lucine whimpered again, claws extending and grasping for her stomach. Then there was a distinct rumble that made Aldis freeze. “Speaking of…you did bring some of those snacks up with you, right?”

***

“Lucine? Lucine? Where are you?” So now, here he was. In the forest. Blood soaked. Searching for his runaway werewolf girlfriend, before she slaughtered the entire neighborhood. They had found exactly one body since she escaped the attic, a raccoon. Or, rather, a mangled, unrecognizable mess of viscera that had possibly once been a raccoon, mixed with torn, bloodstained cloth that appeared to be from a jogging suit. He sincerely hoped it wasn't. The elderly couple who lived next door had a Jack Russell Terrier that had been barking nonstop at the woods right outside the streets for the last ten minutes. “You'd think she saw a monster or something,” the neighbor had remarked. It was the only lead they had as to where Lucine might have gone. He was just hoping he'd find her soon.

“Luci-?” Something darted through the bushes up ahead on all fours. Eight feet tall, extraordinarily fast, and darker than the night. “Lucine!” Sterling yelled as he raced after her, his heart pounding in his ears. He was chasing a werewolf. An enormous, fearsome beast of legend. That was also his girlfriend. His life sure had taken a very strange turn. He pursued her until she came to a halt in a little clearing in the forest, where the full moon shone down on her, giving her silhouette an almost badass look. Her snout and fangs were red with blood, and she held something in her mouth with her paws as if to protect it. She could keep it, honestly. He didn't want to touch anything else dead tonight. “Lucine, please. Just…calm down, alright? You already have something to eat, so let's just sit down and try to relax a little. I'm trying to be here for you.” Lucine snarled at him, and he was briefly concerned that she would flee into the woods once again (if not do something worse), but instead she sat down in the grass and started munching away at whatever she had caught. Sterling moved a few steps closer, as close as he dared to get, before kneeling on the ground in front of her.

This was fine. He could figure out how to handle this too.