• I was a normal man once; I had kids, a wife who loved me, a loyal dog, a white picket fence. I had the perfectly average life everyone dreamed of. I never knew how one day could completely alter everything, could take everything you hold dear away from you and throw it on the ground like a cheap old toy. One day. That's all it took for me.

    Really, the whole thing started days before. Signs came up, but I was too stupid and careless to think anything of it. Who would ever think this would happen?

    On cold nights I liked to spend time with my family. Nighttime seemed to be the only time I could do just that. Being the governor always left me too busy to pay attention to my personal life. There were plenty of ballet recitals I should have gone to, too many little league baseball games. My work left me unavailable some of the time. Do I regret that? I don't know, sometimes I wish I could see my wife and kids more often, but I love what I do.

    I had just gotten home from another business trip. Everyone seemed happy.

    “Daddy, look what I can do!” Charlotte screamed in the living room. Her 6-year-old legs twirled around in front of the television. “Aren't I good?”

    I chuckled, “Of course, baby. You're great.” She beamed at me.

    “Thanks, daddy.”

    “I think she's horrible.” Joseph called from the computer room. What a 9 year old was doing on the computer for hours was something completely unknown to me.

    “You aren't even in the room, Joey! How do you know?” Charlotte retorted.

    “Because I'm older and smarter than you!” he snorted, “Duh.”

    “Okay, guys. That's enough.” Joseph's loud typing resumed and Charlotte's smile returned as she began to dance again. Her smooth blond curls bounced around as she danced, her green eyes sparkled. She twirled around continuously, nearly running into the mahogany entertainment center on the far wall. She kept twirling though, I ran to catch her before she fell, but I was too late. Fallen on the floor, Charlotte realized she'd hurt herself and starting crying loudly.

    Nikki, my wife, ran into the room from the kitchen, “What did you do this time!?” she snapped. Her words seemed to cut the air like knives. Comet, our golden retriever, jumped up when she entered the room and barked. When she noticed me, her eyes widened. “What are you doing home, love?” The words came out like sweet honey; completely different from the horrible and scary one she used to yell at Charlotte with.

    “What do you mean?” I inquired. Why wouldn't I be home?

    “I thought you were working late tonight. That's all.”

    “Oh, well, no. I'm here. Is that okay?” Something was wrong.

    She smiled at me, but it wasn't genuine. It was one of those smiles you give to children when they've said something silly, but you find it extremely annoying, so you just smile in reply. “Of course it's okay.”

    “Good.”

    “So what has happened to our dear Cherry?” She walked over to her; I had stood up when Nikki entered the room. “Did you fall again?”

    Charlotte looked scared; her eyes darted all over the place. Her words rushed out of her mouth, “Yes, mama. I'm sorry. It was an accident.” Nikki smiled that smile again.

    “Don't be sorry, love. Just go to your room, I'll be there to help you in a second.” Charlotte's tears came falling down again. “Why are you crying?” she said all sweet-like.

    “Baby, what's wrong?” I asked. Something had to be wrong, she just fell, it couldn't hurt that bad. She turned her head towards me. Nikki took her face by the chin and forced her to look at her.

    “Cherry, do as I say.” Nikki's tone turned to ice, and Charlotte froze, and then stiffly walked to her room. Joey's typing had stopped.

    Nikki turned to me, but she looked funny. There was something about her that seemed...wrong. Then I saw it. Her blond hair looked wild compared to the usual detailed styles she usually wore. Now, it was like she just woke up and flipped her hair a couple times. Her eyes. They weren't the normal honey brown eyes that had caused me to fall in love with her; they were this deep gold color. Her pupils were almost unnoticeable, and those eyes, they seemed hungry. She looked me up and down like a piece of meat.

    “Nikki, are you okay?” She shuddered and her original eyes came back to me.

    “Of course. I'm so glad you're home,” she came to me and smiled, “We've missed you.” She kissed me and walked back to the kitchen.

    Something was wrong, something was definitely wrong. But what?

    I went to Charlotte, she seemed scared. I had to know why. I knocked on her white wooden door before I walked in, heard her sniffling, saw her wipe her eyes as I walked in.

    “Is mama still mad at me?” her eyes searched mine. What she was searching for, I don't know.

    “Why would mama be mad at you?” I sat down on her pink bedspread, looked around for something different about her room. I could tell there was something different, I couldn't figure what it was exactly.

    “I fell, I could've broken something. Mama gets really mad when things break, even if she's the one that breaks them.”

    “No, honey. She's not mad at you at all.” As soon as the words came out, a smile spread across her face, her eyes were a pool of relief. “Now, where are you hurt?”

    “I'm a big girl daddy. I'm not hurt.” I laughed; she looked at me like I was the stupidest thing on earth. “Why is that funny?”

    “You are a big girl, but that doesn't mean your daddy can't help you when you're hurt.”

    “I'm not hurt, though!” She laughed too, “Fine, a band-aid is fine. Thank you, daddy.”

    “No problem, princess. I'll be right back.”

    As I walked down the hall toward the guest bathroom Joey and Charlotte shared, I heard Charlotte yell, “Can I have a Nemo one?”

    "Sure, just a second!"

    “She doesn't need a band-aid, Charlie.” I looked up, Nikki was standing there, fire deep in her eyes, “She fell. That's all. No big deal.” Her tone was awfully rough, almost a growl.

    “I want to get her one. No big deal.” I shot back.

    “Fine.” She stomped off to the bedroom. “We'll talk about this later.”

    I was frozen. What would we need to talk about? I walk into the bathroom, the walls are a light sky blue, seashells are placed randomly around the room. I opened the medicine cabinet/ mirror and grabbed a band-aid. After I'd gone back and given it to her, I went to the kitchen to look for Nikki.

    As soon as I stepped through the doorway I saw Nikki pouring chocolate syrup over a bowl of ice cream. "What's going on, Nikki?" I asked, suspicion clear in my voice. She jumped and turned to look at me.

    She laughed, "What do you mean, silly?" she sounded normal, not at all like the woman Charlotte and Joey were scared of.

    "I mean, why have you been acting so weird since I got home?" A look of confusion embedded itself into her face. "Don't even pretend like you have no idea what I'm talking about."

    She blushed and fidgeted with the bowl in her hands. "Here, I made this for you. It's your favorite flavor. Cookies and cream." She handed it to me, put the bottle of syrup back into the fridge, then left the room. I put the bowl down and followed her.

    "Tell me what's going on, Nikki." It seemed as though she couldn't hear me, though. She just kept walking toward the bedroom. I went back to the kitchen. Ice cream sounds great right about now.

    I woke up on the couch the next morning. It was almost nine thirty. The kids must be gone. Work was out of the question for today. I needed to figure out what was going on with Nikki. Why was Charlotte so afraid of her last night?

    “Good morning, honey.” Nikki leaned against the doorway that opened up to the hallway that led to our bedroom. She was wearing her black sweats, hair tied up into a long ponytail on her head. “I’m going to go for a run. Will you be gone before I come back?”

    “A run? I thought you were doing yoga.”

    “I was. But I like running more.”

    “Oh. Well, okay. You want me to come?”
    Her face lit up like Charlottes did whenever we gave her those big colorful lollipops you get a carnivals. “Sure. I’ll wait for you to change.” I got up from the couch and headed toward the bedroom. As I got closer, Nikki straightened and gave me a kiss on the cheek as I walked past her.

    I raided the closet for my old workout clothes and found them in a box with my old boxing stuff. As soon as I turned around, I saw a dead rat on the floor between our black dresser and the bed. Bile rose up in the back of my throat. Rats were disgusting when they were alive, even worse when they were dead. I walked closer and saw that its entire body was ripped open. The only thing left inside it was its bones. Oddly enough, it reminded me of a baked potato. You know, how everyone usually eats all the stuff on the inside, but never the outer part of it.

    I opened up the window behind our bed and chucked the rat outside. I went back to the box and put my workout clothes on.

    When Nikki and I were ready to go, she was all bouncy and happy. It was odd, but cute. I missed her during that business trip. We went outside and began our jog. She didn’t say one word, but that was okay. I kind of liked it. After about ten minutes, I began to get tired.

    “We should go back now, Nikki.” I panted. She looked at me, shocked.

    “Are you kidding? I’m just getting started!” She smiled this huge grin that made me want to laugh until I cried. It was the goofiest thing I’d ever seen.

    “I guess I could keep going.” I laughed. But Nikki started going faster. I kept up with her, but she just kept speeding up her pace. She was still smiling. I couldn’t keep up with her. I stopped completely and watched her go faster and faster. A small Toyota drove by, she glanced over to look at it, and she ran faster. Amazed, I kept watching as she outran the car. Before I knew it, I couldn’t see her anymore. She’d gone out of the neighborhood onto the main road.

    I walked back to the house. With each step I took a new question popped into my head, crowded my brain with confusion. How did she run that fast? When did even start running? Is she coming back, because she looked too damn happy when she was racing that car? I wouldn’t be surprised if she kept racing it.

    When I reached the front door, Nikki came up the porch steps panting like I was after that first ten minutes. “Hey, sorry about that. I’ve found that I really like running.” She smiled. I looked at her, really looked. She seemed to be glowing with satisfaction. Her eyes danced, but a hint of fear lurked behind that happiness. Comet came around the house from the back yard. He turned to Nikki and began barking defensively.

    “Shut up, Comet!” Nikki roared. Comet whined and turned back around, tail between his legs.

    “Did you beat that Toyota?” I asked as I turned to open the door.

    “Huh?” she looked confused, but a hint of knowing sounded in her voice.

    “Never mind.”

    I went to work the next day. There was no excuse not to. Before I went, I took the kids to school. They seemed at ease, which was relieving, because Nikki was beginning to put me on edge. Something’s wrong. I just know it.

    I was in a meeting when I got a phone call from home. It was at about four thirty, so the kids must be home. Joey was probably being a pain. Nikki most likely wants me to talk to him. I left the conference room and walked back to my office so that I would have some privacy during my conversation. It always annoyed me when people took personal calls on speakerphone in the conference room. When I picked up the phone, no one was talking to me in particular. There was screaming, it sounded like things were being thrown. “Hello? Hello! What’s going on?”

    “Daddy! Daddy?”

    “Yes, honey. What’s going on?” I screamed into the phone. I could see people staring at me through the window as they walked by.

    “Comet’s hurt real bad daddy!” Another crash on the other end sounded. Charlotte’s sobs cracked through the phone. “Daddy! Come home!” Charlotte screamed.

    “Where’s your mother?” Before I received an answer, the line went dead. My mind began to race. I ran to the closest exit. People stared after me. I’ve got to get home. What’s happened to Comet? Where’s Nikki in all of this? Did something happen to Charlotte and Joey too? I ran toward the parking garage outside the office building. As soon as I got into the car, I fumbled for my keys and stuck them in the ignition.

    I raced through traffic. Gods, I hated rush hour. The streetlights always seemed to be red. Was the world conspiring against me so I couldn’t help my own kids? Finally, I was on 518, the main road. I turned into the neighborhood. I didn’t see any kids outside playing. It was after school. Why wasn’t anyone outside playing? As I drove onto the driveway, I looked inside the windows for anything odd. I could see broken lamps and bookshelves. There was a hole in the window where it looked as though something had been thrown out of it. I got out of the car and ran into the house.

    I could see explanations of what those crashes I heard over the phone were. Everything had been thrown, or torn. The couch had huge claw marks slicing through it where white fuzz oozed from it. It was silent in the house. Where is everyone?

    I walked into the kitchen and saw Comet on the floor, torn to pieces. Blood was everywhere. Blood was on the cabinets, the floor, in the sink, and splattered all over the windows. I had to turn away. I could feel lunch coming back up to escape the prison I call my stomach, but I swallowed it again. I went back to the living room. Where are Charlotte and Joey? I looked in their rooms, but they were unchanged. I looked in the bathrooms and those were fine too. I walked slowly down the hall towards my bedroom. There were more claw marks along the walls, the family pictures had all been broken and ripped. As I got closer, I saw the door was ajar. I pushed it open.

    Blood. Blood. Blood. So much blood. The walls were painted with it. The windows covered. The bed torn and stained. The floor was one big puddle of blood. In the middle of the floor, two small bodies were torn open just like Comet was. I wanted to look closer, but was too afraid of the knowledge that could come from it. I looked around again. Gods, all the blood! I could feel my heart racing. Over in the corner between my bed and the dresser, where the dead rat had been, was Nikki. She was curled up against the bed, clothes torn, blonde hair stained red. She looked horrified. I went to her.

    “Nikki, love. What happened?” she jerked her head and looked at me. The hungry look stole over me again just like it did the other night. “Nikki?”

    “I’m so sorry. I lost control.” Her eyes darted from the bodies on the floor to the blood on the floor, and back to me. “I just couldn’t take their whining anymore.”

    “What?” I asked, bewildered. She couldn’t have done this. How could she? It looked like an animal had attacked all of us.

    “I got so angry. I couldn’t stop the change.” She choked on a sob. “After that, I don’t remember anything.”

    “Baby, what are you trying to say?” I moved her blood-soaked hair away from her face. Her eyes turned that golden color, her hungry gaze rested on my throat. Her chest began to rise and fall quickly. I looked down and saw her fingernails growing, her hands forming into big paws. Confusion drowned me.

    “I killed them, Charlie.” She growled.

    “K-k-killed who?” she began to move closer to me, I backed away slowly.

    “Comet. Joey. Charlotte. All of them.” My blood began to pound through my veins. I had absolutely no idea how this could have happened, but I knew one thing. I needed to get out.
    I looked around me as I backed away from her. She was still creeping toward me. Her movement reminded me of something feline. Her eyes danced with desire, or hunger. I don’t know.

    I glanced toward the dresser and remember the gun I kept just in case. “Nikki, just a second. Let’s try to clean all of this up.” I opened the drawer and grabbed old shirts. I threw them on the floor and tried to mop up the blood. She paused for a second, confused. I used that hesitation to my advantage and grabbed the 9mm out of the drawer. I aimed it at her, but I couldn’t bring myself to shoot.

    She let out a laugh, if you could call it that. Fur began to sprout from her skin. She seemed to be getting bigger, her feet changing into big feline paws. “Stop it!” I yelled.

    She paused. “Or what?” she purred. “Are you going to shoot me?" Her voice was almost incomprehensible. Animals weren’t meant to talk.

    “If I have to. What happened to you, Nikki?” Pain tainted my words.

    “I was attacked.”

    “By what?”

    “Someone like me.”

    “What do you mean?”

    “A wereleopard.”

    “Huh? I thought were-animals were fictional.”

    “Obviously not.” She lurched forward at me. I shot the gun at her. The bullet lodged into her thigh. She fell to the floor. I ran.

    I ran over the bodies, through the door, down the hallway. I heard Nikki running after me. Oh, gods. I was doomed. My wife has become some killer fictional creature and now she’s after me. I stopped in the middle of the living room. Nikki stopped limped into the doorway and glared at me. I raised the gun and aimed it at her head.

    “It won’t kill me.”

    “How would you know?”

    “I’m indestructible.”

    “You don’t know that.”

    “Fine. Try shooting me. Come on, Charlie. Do it.” The gun began to shake in my hand. I hadn’t had much practice with it, I wasn’t used to it’s weight.

    “I don’t want to shoot you, Nikki.”

    “Bull.”

    “I don’t.”

    She looked at me with pained eyes. I walked closer to her. I couldn’t understand what was going on, but maybe I could fix it.

    “Stop.” I did. She sniffed the air. “You smell good.”

    She walked towards me, baring her huge sharp teeth. Those things looked like they could chomp through a tree. I backed away. She smiled.

    “I’m not playing cat and mouse with you, Charlie.” She laughed aloud at her own cruel pun. Then, she jumped at me again. I squeezed the trigger and shot her in the head.

    She fell to the floor. Her eyes held a shocked and pained look. Her body slumped and relaxed. Slowly, she returned to her human form. Her blonde hair still blood-soaked, her deep brown eyes still fixed in that look.

    I looked around at all the rubble. The adrenaline slowly died down, and the reality of what had just happened pounded into my brain. My kids were dead. My dog was dead. My wife had killed them, because she was angry and hungry for more than a Big Mac. My house was ruined and I had just killed my wife.

    I fell to my knees, my face in my hands, and cried