Cresting the hill the way he always did, his chest felt lighter as he spied the small cabin nestled in the forest. He could see the soft yellow glow of her lantern spilling through the open window. It was always that way and it always made him feel instantly more at peace. His feet carried him closer without engaging his brain; his brain wasn't capable of holding more than a couple of solid thoughts in his current state but something about the cabin drew him and as he got closer he could hear her voice.

The full moon overhead provided light but he could have made his way there in total blackness; his senses overloaded by the lunar pull. It mocked him and made him into something else and despite how he tried nothing made him feel as normal as hearing the voice of the girl in the cabin.

The first time it had happened he had been an angry mess, barreling through the trees, gnashing at anything that came close to him. As he got nearer to the little cabin his one thought was of carnage but upon getting closer he could hear her reading aloud from the living room. He edged himself closer to the open window but was content to just sit underneath it and listen to her read.

He was touched by the sadness in her voice and yet she still sounded like the sweetest melody he would ever hear. He knew then that he would never bite her; that he would allow himself to be carried away in chains rather than harm her. She was like an elixir or an antidote, bringing his real feelings back to the surface instead of the rage that was brought on by his illness.

And his illness, how he had come to hate that! At first it wasn't a bother to him. He acted upon his natural urges that came along with it but once he had noticed the girl, and once he had listened to her read, he knew that he was in love. He had fallen in love without ever seeing her face. Listening to her sad and sweet voice was enough. From his place outside the window he would fight back tears as his agony over his predicament grew. He knew she could never love him and yet he didn't want to stop going to hear her read every month. He had become smitten with her and the more he listened to her the more he hated the disease that turned him into a monster. His agony and his love for her danced together as she read and he realized that he had never even looked through the open window, so afraid that she might see him.

"Hey, babe? Where are those jeans you were wearing last week?" El asked from the laundry room.

Mike slinked into the small room. "Um, I don't remember. I'm sorry." He looked like a puppy with his tail between his legs and El's heart almost broke. She walked to him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"It's okay. We can get a new pair. Don't get upset about it. Clothes aren't important. You are what's important to me." She smiled up at him, beckoning him to kiss her. It was true that they went through this same conversation a lot but it was also true that her answer would always be the same. Mike would always be more important to her than any material goods.

"How do you keep loving me with all the problems I cause? I don't deserve it. I hate it that I start to forget things. I never want to forget you. You are all I care about." Mike hugged her tightly, more for himself than for her. He needed her and it scared him that he needed her so much.

"No matter what will ever happen, it will always be easy for me to love you, Mike."

She could tell the signs by now, she knew when the fogginess in his brain would start to set in. It was like a clock that only she could read. It saddened her greatly but she had vowed to always keep watch, to always be his bastion and protector.

And as the thing she had come to dread drew closer each month she had to watch as Mike started to pull away from her. The days before the moon he wouldn't be able to recognize her and then he'd be gone. The pain was almost unbearable but El had to be strong. All of her worry she channeled into reading. She would sit up and wait, month after month.

But it wasn't all bad. They had been living together for a few years and they had a lot of good times. They had some great times. When Mike was himself he was as sharp and witty as ever, reminding El of why she had fallen in love with him in the first place. One month he surprised her and made her very happy. She had waited for it but never thought it would happen, especially with his new illness, but at the heart of everything Mike was still Mike and he never failed to be able to touch her soul, to be the most thoughtful and best person she had ever met.

And then the next morning he was gone. She'd known he would be. Her heart was riddled with scar tissue but still so full of love.

Darkness fell and the forest that surrounded the cabin basked in the light of the full moon overhead. In the distance could be heard a mournful howl. El began to read aloud. She had exhausted her supply of Tolkien and after attempting to read Watership Down and Charlotte's Web and finding that both texts caused her to sob, she decided to start Stephen King's series The Dark Tower. She had made it to book three, The Waste Lands, and thought the story was really getting good. She pulled her knees up, folding her legs underneath her as she sat in her favorite reading chair. There was a fire in the fireplace tonight as the autumn air had turned chilly but she wanted to leave the window open. She would always leave the window open.

A beastly figure approached the cabin as stealthily as he could. He could hear her reading already and his heart sped up. It was a new story, he realized, and he was eager to let her take him on the journey with her. He had decided that tonight he would try to look through the window, just to get a peek at the girl whose voice gave him hope. He crouched below the window sill and listened to her like he always did. Slowly he let himself stand, making sure that he would still be in the shadows.

She was sitting in an armchair and she looked happy. She actually looked happy. Her voice had always seemed so sad but now it had a slightly more confident quality and a joy to it. It was no less appealing to him. She flipped through the pages as she read, her voice animated and enthralled in the tale she was telling. Her left hand flicked and something on her finger caught the light in the room.

He looked down at himself. He could feel tears stinging his eyes as he observed the changes to his body. Anywhere his flesh had been was covered in coarse hair, his nails were claws. He felt embarrassed and hopeless and exhausted and alone. Hearing her read quelled his demons but that didn't mean that his appetite was any easier to control. Hearing her was the only thing that kept him in check. He felt like it was his only tether to the real world. It was frightening to think that the only thing keeping him at least a little bit human was the angelic voice of the tiny girl reading her book aloud.

Feeling overwhelmed by the idea of his own monstrosity and the thought of never being able to be with the woman he loved, he ran away into the forest. His tears were flowing now and he no longer fought them. He found the highest peak he could and wailed at the moon, his lamentation could be heard for miles.

She heard him as well and she stopped reading. She had felt happy but upon hearing his sadness, a tear rolled down her cheek. Her lower lip quivered. She could feel his pain.

El was awakened by the sound of birds chirping. She had fallen asleep in the chair. She had cried for a little while but then started reading again, wanting to remain an anchor. She stretched, pulling herself from the weird position she had fallen asleep in. The fire in the fireplace had died. She winced as her feet hit the cold floor of the cabin. El crossed to the window to close it.

She reached to close the window and was frozen in place at what she saw. On the ground underneath the window sill lay Mike, sleeping still. Her heart skipped a beat as he opened his eyes. He was handsome and cold, charmingly stunned. He looked slightly confused but when his eyes met hers he seemed to soften.

Mike looked down at his naked body, examining himself, seeing only flesh there. His feet were muddy and his legs were scraped but he felt like himself. He looked up at El and sighed heavily. It was over for another month. He had been saved by her eloquence and loyalty.

And El had been saved by her husband's safe return.

A/N: I just loved the song and wanted to Milevenize it. It's sad. I love melancholy.