Beast Mom: A Novel by Kim Imas

Author:Kim Imas [Imas, Kim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798988246411
Publisher: Mudlark
Published: 2023-08-28T16:00:00+00:00

I really should have gone home. I should’ve gone home and planned out what to say to my boss at our upcoming off-site meeting. I should’ve done whatever it took to get a new cell phone. I should’ve made a point to talk to—and possibly fool around with—my husband. And even though I would’ve preferred to pry off all my toenails and hand-feed them to a barracuda, I really should’ve spent some time figuring out how my goddamn neighbor had uncovered my goddamn secret. But I couldn’t bring myself to do any of those things.

This is what I did instead: I took out my new road atlas and spread it on the hood of the Caravan, where I could study the locations of all the wooded areas in the region. I looked at parks and forests within reasonable driving distance, so I’d make it back home before it got too late. I tried to recall whether those places were sufficiently dark, heavily forested, and devoid of people. In the end, I determined that a state forest in the town of Winslow, to our southeast, fit my needs best.

I drove out there, parked in front of a half-abandoned strip mall, and got out of the van. I barely glanced at the pawn shop, nail salon, and empty storefronts as I was too busy beaming and bouncing on my heels—this even though my nostrils burned from some toxic odor I’d probably only detected thanks to my powerful new monster-senses.

I was fizzing with impatience to become her again. I seemed to have developed an adrenaline-lust, and now that I had a second to consider things, my rational brain threw up a few concerns on the matter. Like, what if there were limits to her healing ability? What if I learned the answer to that after making a wrong move, and busting myself up?

I made a half-assed attempt at a mindful breathing exercise, hoping to calm my body; I tried to lengthen my spine, to stand tall. You can spend time as the monster, I said under my breath, just don’t push yourself to new speeds and heights every damn time. These mantras did nothing to relieve the fierce itch I had going, however, or to slow the expansion of the cavity inside me that wanted filling. So I let myself loose.

I sprinted through the parking lot, past the strip mall, and across their back alley, ignoring the splintering pain in my knees, knowing it would soon be over. From there, I entered a defunct industrial lot that was scattered with the rusted-out hulks of old lifts, like the man-made buttes of some dystopian planet. I was so pumped as I closed the last hundred yards to the forest that I let the beast out to fly a little early, before reaching the cover of trees.

The transformation happened quickly; I hardly noticed it anymore. The night went from dusky and quiet to thundering and atremble in an instant. But after jumping over some train

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