Gretchen had inherited the hunting cabin after her father’s death. Her friends often asked her why she kept the place. She only used the place a few times a year and refused to rent it out. Gretchen would just smile and say it was her bond with her dead father. Which was true in a way. Her father had introduced her to the animal spirit. The spirit was in the cabin. Sometimes it would call for her but otherwise it did not want to be disturbed.
She had felt the spirit calling her a couple of days ago. It was restless and demanding her attention. The spirit was insistent, plucking at her thoughts and distracting her while she was at work. Friday finally came and Gretchen told her friends she would be out of town for the weekend. She made a few stops along the way to pick up some items and arrived at the cabin late in the evening.
Gretchen carried in a bag of groceries and put the food away in the small kitchen. She went back outside and grabbed the wheelbarrow from behind the cabin. She rolled the bound and gagged man from her trunk into the wheelbarrow. She pushed her load inside. The cabin had been built with two bedrooms. Gretchen used one for herself and the other one was for the spirit. She pushed the wheelbarrow into the spirit’s room and rolled the unconscious man onto a low wooden table in the middle of the room. Gretchen stripped the man naked, checked the gag, and secured the man to the table with shackles on his wrists and ankles. She went into the main room and collapsed on a couch.
The spirit buzzed in her head with excitement and anticipation. Do it now, the spirit urged.
No, I’m tired. We’ll do it in the morning.
DO IT NOW!
Gretchen returned to the spirit’s room. She went to a large trunk in the back corner and opened it. She reached in and carefully removed the headpiece. It was made of fur and felt with a pair of short horns. She donned the headpiece and felt the animal spirit enter her. The spirit took over, a restless swirl of primeval urges. Gretchen’s consciousness withdrew to a small corner of her mind. Why had she resisted doing this? Submitting to the animal spirit was just as exhilarating as the day her father had first put the headpiece on her. Gretchen let out a yelping howl.
She turned to the table and saw her captive was awake. Good. That always made it better. Gretchen reached into the trunk again and drew out a crude knife. The handle was a well worn length of antler, the blade covered with dried blood.
Her captive looked at her imploringly, eyes wide with terror as she approached. Gretchen was a forgotten memory as the animal spirit took complete control over her body. The knife was raised then plunged into the chest of the bound man then raised again. A dozen times the knife struck then was dropped to the floor.
The spirit receded and allowed Gretchen to return. Drink, it commanded her.
Gretchen lowered her face and drank deeply from the bloody wounds. The animal spirit was pleased and Gretchen was filled with bliss.
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