Fantasy There's No Such Thing as Werewolves (Closed)

[Amazonkass]

"And the monster of a beast stood at least 8 feet tall." The man speaking around the roaring campfire raised his arms, as if to emphasize the height of the creature, before he continued on, animatedly, with his story. "Hans had lost his gun at the beginning of the hunt, so the only thing he had with him was the families' skinning dagger. It was made with pure silver, the handle was mother of pearl. It was small, but it had kept many hunters in the family alive in it's time. Hans slashed at the creature," The older man's arms were waving in the firelight, as if he could see the whole fight unfolding in his mind's eye. "But it dug it's claws into his shoulder. It opened it's jaws to take a chunk out of him-"

"Seriously, you think this is a story everyone is going to enjoy?" Interrupted a young woman at the man's left. She looked to be about nineteen, her dark raven hair glinting in the light cast by the fire. A total of four people were sitting around the campfire, indulging the storyteller. Most of the expressions around the fire reflected boredom, and the man who'd been speaking let out a 'hmph' of disapproval.

"It's not my fault that you aren't proud of your family heritage. I told you, Jae, get into the military, get the skills you need to live up to the family name. But what did you do? Apply to some liberal arts college for a useless degree. Figures." The man shook his head in disappointment, but Jae was shaking her head.

With the air of someone who had had enough, the young woman got up from the campfire and started to walk away from the campsite and into the woods.

FOR YEARS! Years! Her father had been telling her about the family line. How the Riley family belonged to a proud line of warriors whose specialty was werewolves. No matter how much Jae had pleaded with her father that the stupid creatures weren't real, it didn't make a difference. Hell, if her father had his way she'd be enlisted already in the green berets.

Jae didn't stop fuming until she was quite a distance from the camp. She found a boulder to sit on and reached into her jacket. Out came a crushed pack of cigarettes and a lighter. Her father didn't know she smoked, and she was going to keep it that way. She lit up and took a deep inhale, her body instantly relaxing.

This was going to be a LONG camping trip.

 

[brightkings]

Tobias always felt a little bit awkward whenever Jae’s father was around.

Not that he didn’t like the guy. Far from it, really. He was funny, if not a little loose in the head. But the stories he told always enraptured Tobias. Did it matter, really, whether they were true or not? They were good, and that’s all that was actually important. But whenever the subject of Jae’s choice in schooling came up, he had half (if he was telling the truth, three fourths) a mind to run off into the forest and submerge himself in a cold lake just to escape from the conversation.

“Um, I actually like your stories, Mister Riley,” he said, swatting an invisible mosquito he just knew was there off his jacket. “But I should probably go and check on Jae.”

He didn’t wait for a reply. Awkward situations, while being a specialty of Tobias, were to be avoided at all costs. Especially when they included the guy who was known in the Carsten household as demented.

He positively ran into the woods. If anyone had been watching, they would think he’d been being chased by one of the legendary creatures the Riley family had vanquished in ancient times. Hopefully he wasn’t. Did werewolves even live here? According to the newspapers, the most deadly creature they’d ever found near here was a bear.

Tobias looked for smoke, any sign of fire. He knew his friend’s way of relaxing, and while he didn’t exactly approve, it made for easy finding in a forest that was over ninety per cent green.

“Hello? Jae, you there?”

Tobias heard a growl from the bushes behind him.

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae had taken a few drags from her cigarette before she heard noises from the path behind her. She was sure it was Tobias coming to check on her. They'd been friends for years, and he knew exactly how Jae felt about her father's stories of her family history. Jae had to admit there was a time when she longed for the adventures her father spoke of. But as she had grown, she could see that no other kid had dreams of killing werewolves. She'd been ridiculed when her father had come into grade school for career day. At the time, he was working an office job, but told the entire class of first graders all about his great family business.

Her father had been half way through Jae's favorite story when the teacher cut him off, whispering something about the story being too graphic for such young listeners. All the parents had been there, and from that day on, Jae had been an outcast. Tobias had been her savior at the end of middle school, he'd befriended her one day in the library. From that moment on, the two had been best friends.

Jae let out a puff of smoke when she heard a voice, “Hello? Jae, you there?”

Jae stubbed out her cigarette. She knew Tobias didn't like it, and she wouldn't subject him to it just because she was feeling harassed.

"Over here," Jae called into the darkness as she fumbled to find her phone and shine a light on where she was for Tobias to find.

 

[brightkings]

He tried not to panic. It was fine. These were the woods, were they not? Of course there would be animals. Unless climate change had killed them all. Was climate change relevant to how scary the thought of a grizzly behind him would be? Maybe. Tobias wouldn’t know; he hadn’t paid too much attention during Science class.

Besides, the animal in question could be miles away. Ducks could be heard from canyons, he was pretty sure. Maybe it was a duck. A duck with strep throat. Yes, that would do for an explanation.

Tobias saw a faint brightness to his right. Phones, an invention with reverence equal to the Holy Grail. He didn’t have one, of course, but he did have a flashlight.

He smacked the button several times, for no particular reason other than that was what his father did if anything was broken. It never had fixed the toilet, and apparently the treatment didn’t work on flashlights either.

He followed the light, trying not to touch any poison ivy or Venus flytraps or those nippy-thingies that looked like pitchers. Now he thought of it, he really should have paid more attention in Science. And every other class. At least one of them.

“Jae!” He said, finally reaching to the point where he could see an ill-defined silhouette. Did he need glasses? “Yeah, I think we should maybe get out of here. Like, right now. Your dad’s probably really worried, and I’m pretty sure I heard a thing growl at me. It might just be a duck with laryngitis, but I think it’s better we don’t risk getting eaten alive, yeah?”

The boy laughed, uneasily, at that. He had a strange feeling this camping trip would turn into one of those Stephen King novels he was supposed to read last summer.

 

[Amazonkass]

It seemed to take Tobias a good few minutes before he could find her in the darkness. His words made her chuckle to herself. Her father would feel many things at Jae's retreat, but worry was probably low on his list. Nothing would ever be good enough for her father, unless she was out hunting non-existent werewolves and bringing home the gold he seemed to think they hoarded in their dens. Of all of the things her father told her about werewolves, this, she found the least believable.

"Just come sit with me for a second. I'm pretty sure it's a full moon tonight..." She said, and as if by cue, the forest before them was lit with moonlight. Jae could easily make out Tobias where he was. "And a duck with laryngitis? Really? That's a new one." She couldn't help but laugh. "I need to stay away from that fire until my dad goes to sleep. I can't take his badgering anymore. Plus, it's less scary when the moon is out."

She wasn't sure he would agree, but she wasn't going to budge.

 

[brightkings]

Tobias considered it. He wasn’t exactly known for his trait of sensibility, but really? The most sensible thing he could have done then was ask to borrow Jae’s phone, ring a few thriller authors, then make money off his almost certain near death. At least his parents would have more cash.

“Fine,” he said, after carefully considering his last words (the monologue of Bender at the end of The Breakfast Club, he decided, after considering Darth Vader’s admittance of fathering Luke, and Spock’s, “highly illogical”. After much mental debate, he worked out the latter would be best saved for his gravestone). “But only until four in the morning. Mom wakes up way too early.”

He sat next to her on the stone, trying not to fidget too much. “But if the duck comes to attack us, you’re gonna be the one protecting me, alright?”

 

[Amazonkass]

When Tobias acquiesced to her request, Jae couldn't help but smile. His comment about not staying out past four, got a nod from Jae. She checked her phone and it was only a little bit after midnight. "We have plenty of time. I'd give my father about another hour before he tires himself out and heads to bed."

She laughed loudly at his further comments about the killer duck with laryngitis. "I will protect you, I promise. I'll shine my phone on him and punt him off the mountain." She told him in a matter of fact tone. "I'm wearing my steal toes..." she gave a little kick with her black boots. She smirked and leaned back on the boulder, looking to the moon again.

"If we do survive the night, I am gonna miss you when we start college." She said not really wanting to see how he reacted to her statement. She could feel a little knot in her stomach. "You've put up with a lot with my dad over the years. I don't think anyone else would have stuck around for his stories after the first time." Jae couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

 

[brightkings]

Tobias shifted his weight a little at the mention of college. He still hadn’t gotten back from any he’d applied to, not that it mattered too much.

That was a lie, not at all the colour white. College was simultaneously the most important and least important thing in the universe, as of then. Without it, he couldn’t get a job anywhere other than a junk food chain, where his hands would always be covered in grease and he’d have to make burgers from meat that was definitely not beef. The horror.

With college, he would have to leave the only place he’d ever known, almost literally. He hadn’t focused much on Social Studies and Geography. Tobias regretted that, sort of. No matter whether he knew why he was supposed to care so much about Japan, he’d still have to set off and be alone, no matter what the colourful brochures said.

And he’d also have to leave his best, and honestly, only friend.

“Yeah, I’ll miss you too,” he said. “I probably won’t be able to find anyone who I can make fun of as easily.”

He looked at the moon. It really was bright as hell. No wonder the monsters the Riley family had supposedly hunted could draw their power from it. “And, your dad’s stories aren’t too bad. They’re fun.”

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae sighed and couldn't help but laugh when he commented about not being able to find someone to make fun of. She jabbed her elbow into his side gently. His words about her father's stories made her groan. "Please don't, it only encourages him. " She shook her head and let out another sigh.

"Let's go for a walk. I think there was a stream not too far from here. I saw some cool stones I wanted to bring back as a souvenir." Jae got up and grabbed Tobias' arm, she wasn't giving him an option. She was right though, with the moon shinning it was easy to see the path they had walked earlier in the day. "If there's a flock of killer ducks though, you might have to watch my back."

She shoved him gently and let go of his arm as she took off down the path towards the sound of running water.

 

[brightkings]

He followed her, a few steps behind. Tobias still felt like a bloodthirsty clown was going to pop up behind him and kill him with fatal balloons. Yes, he knew that wasn’t what the book was about, but the sentiment was there. And if he wasn’t going to die from helium, he would probably die from the stench of the burger meat he’d inevitably end up delivering to some poor sap’s door.

“Cool stones? What are we, four?” He said, ignoring the fact his own rock collection was sitting in a plastic chest next to his bed. “And you said you’d protect me if there’re some murderer ducks out here, I’m holding you to that. Ducks are scary.”

As he looked on to the water, he noted he could very easily drown there. Now he had about twenty things to worry about: college, money, Pennywise, ducks, death, Jae, death. Actually, most of the list was just death. Whatever, at least he’d die from something cooler than old age.

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae rolled her eyes at Tobias' comment about her rocks. She knew about his rock collection, of course, and part of her hoped he would find something to add to his own collection. Jae wanted something to commemorate the trip with Tobias, forgetting that her father was involved at all. It would be easy to do, she'd been blocking him out of happy memories for years. Mostly because her father had no hand in most of them, and she could easily block him out.

They found the stream pretty easily in the moonlight. Small round stones glittered in the pale light, and Jae couldn't help but smile. She stopped on the bank of the stream and took off her shoes. The water would be cold, but Jae didn't mind. She let out a little hiss as the cold water shocked her momentarily, before she waded into the ankle deep water. She squatted down to go through a handful of stones.

"Do you have any of these in your collection?" She held up some blue green rocks, "You know, cause we're both four."

Jae snickered. She was about to make another comment about their mutual love for pretty rocks when Jae felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up.

The comment died in her throat as a deep howl echoed through the woods. Jae's body was frozen in fear, her eyes widening as they zeroed on Tobias.

She was about to tell him to run when she heard lumbering steps coming at a speed from the opposite side of the stream. There was a momentary silence before a huge, dark shape launched itself from the far bank right at Jae.

In the moonlight, the shape could be seen more clearly. The creature was double the size of a black bear, and covered in thick fur. Though it's musculature was vaguely human, muscles bulged on the creatures arms and legs.

Jae went down face first into the water as the creature began to tear at her. She opened her mouth to scream in pain, as water from the stream invaded her mouth and lungs. Jae struggled to turn herself over . Her mind still couldn't come to terms with what was currently happening. Jae scrambled for a large stone and upon finding one, swung hard backwards. It seemed to stun the creature long enough for Jae to flip over in the freezing cold water.

"RU-" She was about to shout at Tobias to run, but her words died in her throat as she felt razor sharp teeth tear into her shoulder. Her scream echoed through the trees.

 

[brightkings]

Tobias was scared.

At first, he thought that maybe he should’ve helped Jae. That maybe he shouldn’t be completely useless. Then he saw the blood. Actual, real blood spreading into that water. And the thing’s eyes. That were looking straight at him. And blood. Blood that belonged at a crime scene.

He ran as fast as he could, in whatever direction was away, yelling for help knowing nobody would come.

He wasn’t the best runner, but his life depended on it. Literally, a word he’d never used outside of hyperboles. But right then, there was a monster that had hopefully not killed his friend, and it was chasing after him.

Then he fell, looking right at the thing. He’d never been a good runner, after all. And it could jump across entire bodies of water. And its fur was dripping with gore. Really, he never stood a chance. And so, he didn’t put up much of a fight when it sank its razors of teeth into him. He screamed, yes, loud enough the entirety of the country could hear him, and he writhed, yes, as anybody would when they’ve effectively been murdered with shivs did.

All he could think as his consciousness faded into nothing was a small hope that Mr. Riley has remembered to bring his silver with him.

 

[Amazonkass]

"So, you were camping and the teens were attacked by a bear?"

"Yes! YES! JUST PLEASE HELP THEM!"

Patches of lights broke into Jae's vision. She was in and out of consciousness as her blood stained body was pushed down a bright linoleum lined hospital hallway. She couldn't remember how she got there, but she could hear her father's worried voice as they pushed her through a set of double doors. Jae struggled to keep awake, the bright lights hurting her eyes more than they usually would.

"I'm going to need a transfusion kit, AB+ two units."

There was a stinging sensation in Jae's arm as the pushed the needle in. It was the last thing she felt before she passed out again.

~~~~
Jae woke, in a state of grogginess. It felt like her mind was in a vat of sludge. Every time she wanted to try and move, it felt like ages before her muscles listened. The room was dim, it had to be night time. How long had she been out? A day? A week?

Jae surveyed the clean hospital room and found her phone on the counter. It was in a plastic bag, as if it had been cleaned. Slowly, Jae reached for it and turned it on. She had to send a text to Tobias. The last thing she remembered of the attack was the creature heading straight for him. Her mind hit a speed bump. The creature. Her heart felt like it had stopped momentarily when realization dawned on her.

It had been a werewolf.

Bear's didn't get as big as that thing was, and though Jae hated to admit it, she was positive it had been a werewolf.

Had her father really not been lying about the whole family business? She knew there was always at least a kernel of truth in her father's stories, but seeing the creature up close....

A pain stabbed it's way through her shoulder, as if to remind her why she was in the hospital in the first place. She reached up and gingerly touched the bandage that covered her entire right shoulder.

A hiss of pain escaped her lips as she went back to tapping on her phone, hoping Tobias had made it out safe too.

 

[brightkings]

Long story short, Tobias would not be able to go outside for a century, if his parents’ word kept true. Hopefully it wouldn’t be.

He’d woken up a bit earlier than Jae, who was not dead. He thought. He hadn’t been very sure. From the metallic smell and white everything, they could be. Then he remembered he was probably going to hell, as about five different people have said, which ruled out the possibility of arrival into the afterlife. Maybe he was less tasty. Then he realised the connotations of that, and decided to shut off his brain for the next week. Not hard, since he was pretty sure this was how marijuana (for medical purposes or not) was described in the Public Service Announcement last year. Was he high? Not important, totally not important.

But there was a part that kept working, digging into possibilities that were darker than an actual ditch. One, this was indeed hell, and they had indeed died. But that wouldn’t explain why the thing had only attacked then. If this was hell, there should be a stampede coming that moment to rip his head off again. Probably wasn’t happening. Two, he had indeed been attacked by a real bear, and he had indeed been hospitalised due to such an attack. This, being his first instinct, was absolutely out of the question. Tobias Carsten’s first instinct was never to be trusted unless the situation was pop culture trivia. That was a fact.

Three, he’d been attacked by something else. Something Mister Riley had been rambling about since he was born, most likely, and something that couldn’t even happen if this wasn’t a Catherine Hardwicke film. Did that make him Edward? Sure, he’d been called Cedric before, but he’d never even been in an arts and crafts shop. And did that make the thing Jacob? Maybe he shouldn’t have used that movie. Then again, it was one of the best to criticise generously.

He mentally told the not-drugs to shut up and get back on the horror track.

It was a werewolf. A werewolf on full moon, biting them on full moon was equal to two more werewolves. He didn’t need to pay attention in Calculus to know that. The thing was, he didn’t know the base value. Was there more? Was the delusional pariah just a regular weird old man?

“Tobias! Your friend texted you.”

He read it.

“Mom?”

“Yes?”

“I need to go back to the hospital like, right now. Please. It’s really important.”

They went in his father’s car. Painfully slow. He felt thirsty. For what, he didn’t know.

 

[Amazonkass]

"There was severe muscle tearing...and...Ms. Riley are you listening?" The doctor was speaking to Jae as she looked out the window. It was the middle of the day now and her father hadn't bothered to show up. Part of her knew why, and she didn't blame him. How she wished he was here, serving her humble pie. "See?! What did I tell you, they're real Jae." She turned her attention back to the doctor and forced a smile.

"Sorry, the painkillers make me a bit...spacey..." She apologized as the doctor frowned at her.

"You know, you should really have a family member here to sign these forms for you. You'll need physical therapy and follow ups with the surgeon...." The doctor seemed to read Jae's face as he spoke, and handed her the clipboard with the discharge forms on them.

She didn't know what she would go home to. Would her father be gone? How could she go to the college if she turned into a werewolf every full moon?

These thoughts and a million more swirled around in the whirlwind of her mind. She held back tears until she finished signing the forms and the doctor left the room.

She sent a text to Tobias,
Dad's not here
I have a bad feeling, can your parents pick me up from the hospital?

Jae typed all this through tears. She hoped they wouldn't be mad at her for making Tobias come after her into the woods. This was all her fault.

 

[brightkings]

It was a silent car trip.

Situations like these were much better on blinding screens, where music could start at any time and costume changes took less than a second, Tobias thought. In real life, there was nothing in the air but humidity and disappointment. Even worse was the fact he couldn't be sure whether it was him or Jae. Or both, which would be the worst possible situation. He'd been coming up with explanations all morning, rehearsing in the mirror. The problem was his mother's face was much more stern than he expected. The problem was his own father wasn't there, and assuming he left because his son was now going to be known as the idiot who got attacked by a quote, unquote bear, there were three problems and counting. And counting included the fact they hadn't spoken since he got home, and counting included the fact that he had surgery done on him, and counting included the fact he was a werewolf. That every few weeks he'd turn into one of those inhumanly tall monstrosities, baring teeth the size of a large screw and claws like that one dinosaur, the one whose name meant scythe lizard.

And he might even hurt someone, turning them into one of those things. And then the cycle would continue until his home was overrun by the things, which equated to much more than one problem.

A new worst possible situation appeared in his mind. He might kill somebody. As the werewolf might've done with Jae's father. Besides, who was it? Was it someone Tobias knew? Was it his own dad? Was that why his mom wouldn't tell him where he went? He had a million questions, more, even.

The most important was why couldn't the damn prescribed drugs last longer?

"Hey, Mom, can I borrow the phone?"

She threw it at him, not even looking behind.

we're here

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae had been wheeled down the halls, which were blessedly empty. She was still in her own head about the whole thing as she was rolled into an elevator and taken to the ground floor. The phone in her lap buzzed to life and Jae almost jumped out of the wheelchair. She'd been so deep in thought. What would she say to her father if he was home when she got there? He would know, obviously. That was the whole reason he wasn't at the hospital, Jae reasoned.

When she saw the text from Tobias, her spirits lifted a little, but not much. She was glad to at least have a ride home from the hospital. She would have to thank Mrs. Carsten profusely and beg her forgiveness for putting her son in harms way. The only problem is Jae's tongue felt like lead in her mouth.

As she was dropped off at the front desk, Jae stood from the wheelchair and made her way out the front entrance. She could see the familiar car and made her way towards it, not saying much as she got in the back seat next to Tobias.

She could feel the tension in the air as she entered the car. "Thank you Mrs. Carsten...I don't know where my dad went. Must have stepped out before I woke up. Sorry for any trouble I've caused." She said timidly as she closed the door and put on her seat belt.

Jae couldn't help but exchange a helpless look at Tobias. She mouthed the words 'what the fuck is going on?' before Tobias' mother started the car and the trio left the hospital parking lot.

 

[brightkings]

Really, Tobias had one response to Jae's silent, slightly vulgar question as he once again forgot to put on his seat belt.

'I have literally no idea.', because, really, he had no idea. None whatsoever. He had no idea what the fresh fuck was going on.

"Hey, uh, Mom," he started. His voice sounded much hoarser than usual, at least to him. Whatever, at least actual words were coming out of his mouth, and not flopping pathetic fish sounds like breakfast. "Don't be mad at Jae. Be mad at me. I mean, you're probably really pissed off at me already, just be more mad at me. Like, transfer all your anger at Jae to me," not the best, but he could still salvage it. "Because it's my fault. I agreed, and besides, it wasn't Jae who attacked me. It was a bear. If anything, you should be mad at animal control. They might be able to neuter and crap, but that doesn't even make bears less angry. It makes them more angry, I think. I mean, I'd go real mad if somebody...never mind. Pretend I didn't use that as a metaphor, simile, whatever. Just, don't be mad at her. Please."

Not exactly salvaged, but it would have to make do.

And just when peace was to come, and his mother would glare at him slightly less like she was going to laser her son's face off, his brain that was sadly no longer high found another sobering thought: Mr. Riley would probably kill them if he found them in the woods, wolf form. Seriously, being high was way better than real life. Tobias realised how bad that sounded, but it was better than, 'hey Mom I'm a mythological creature who may or may not end up killing some people. Also, we're out of cereal.'

Another problem to note: they were out of cereal. Brilliant.

"Is anybody feeling a bit hot in here?" He said. If somebody opened a window, maybe he could escape from there. Hopefully he could escape from there.

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae had to admit, the pain killers were still coursing through her system. As Tobias made a plea to his mother, she looked out the window and pretended to not be there. She was sure Tobias noticed, as it was what she did anytime her father began to tell one of his stories. His initial response to her question had been received but, Jae couldn't help but be frustrated. So, he had just as little idea of what was going on as she did.

Jae knew she was going to have to be the one to break the news to him. As Tobias complained about being hot, she lowered her own window and let fresh air into the back seat of the car. She was still groggy, but she was feeling a little flushed.

As the car rounded the corner into her neighborhood, Jae felt a little better. Her somewhat lifted spirits dropped when she saw her father's car was gone from the driveway. She tried to keep her face blank as Mrs. Carsten pulled into the empty driveway.

Before she could say anything, Jae piped up and opened the car door. "I think my dad went to get supplies for my shoulder. Thanks again, Mrs. Carsten. Tobe...will you help me up to the door? I have my key." She jerked her head towards the door as she got out and waited for him to come and walk beside her.

They were a few feet away when Jae fumbled for her house keys. "I think my dad left....I have a feeling...he knew what attacked us..." she mumbled, trying to not let his mother see as they made their way to the front door of a small, rather shabby looking house. At least all the windows were intact, unlike some of the other homes in the neighborhood. Jae slipped her key into the door and turned to Tobias. "Come over tonight...we need to talk about all this."

She was being cryptic partly because she still couldn't come to terms with all that had happened. And if her father had really left, well she and Tobias were about to go through a whole lot of hell.

 

[brightkings]

What was the name of him, that philosophy guy his dad was always reading the works of? The goody-doer one, with all the complaining about lying and all the stuff he probably did? Kant? Yeah, well, screw Kant. He never had to deal with werewolves. Unless that was just never mentioned in his notebooks, in which case he was totally writing about the wrong stuff. A book concerning lycanthropes without the mentions of sparkles and messed up animated babies would come in handy by now.

"Cool, cool, cool," he said. He was going to hell anyways, there wasn't really a point in being honest anymore. "Sure, I'll come over to discuss that later. Just, if my Mom calls, pretend we're making a science project or something. If I go out for any reason other than school, she'll, like, arrest us. Say we're participating in some science fair thing out-of-town."

"Tobias! Hurry up. We have a lot to discuss, young man."

She was playing the young man card? He was dead. A dead young man walking.

"I'll see you later," he waved with a weak smile, then returned to his father's car for what would be either thirty minutes of yelling and then twenty-four hours fuming like an active volcano, or a ten hour sermon. There were no good options, either way.

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae watched as Tobias and his mother pulled away and headed down the road. With a deep inhale, she opened the door to her home. Just as she assumed, no one was there. She closed the door softly behind her and set her things from the hospital down in a worn out recliner. She surveyed the house, it still looked like it had when her and her father had left for the camping trip. Jae walked through the kitchen to open an ancient looking sliding glass door.

Tobias had been right, she felt even more flushed now as the drugs were finally finding their way out of her system. She pulled out one of the chairs from the wooden kitchen table and sat down with a sigh. It took her a few minutes to realize there was a slip of paper on the cluttered table that hadn't been there before.

With a sudden sense of dread, Jae lifted the paper and immediately recognized her father's chicken scratch hand writing.

You're on your own.

It wasn't even signed, but Jae didn't need it to be. This was the confirmation she'd been dreading and she could feel hot tears springing to her eyes.

For a good fifteen minutes, Jae sobbed. She sobbed for the loss of her father, the loss of what her life was supposed to be. There was no way she could go to college now. Her mind raced as she cried. A starling realization came to her in the middle of her pity party.

Tobias.

He had no idea what was going to happen to them. But Jae did. And now she was convinced that it had been a werewolf who'd bitten them both. There was no other explanation. She sat at the kitchen table, refilling her glass and watching her phone as the sun got closer to the horizon.

Tonight was going to be a long night.

 

[brightkings]

Tobias wasn't sure what was scarier: the werewolf, with a piercing glare and eating him alive, or his mother, shouting and crying and doing all the things he really couldn't deal with right now.

As of then, she'd been like a hurricane, loud and sobbing and very terrifying. It didn't matter whether it was the third or thirtieth time that week, it would be a new punishment he probably wouldn't follow each day. At last, when Hurricane Mary-Anne subsided, leaving a wake of devastating regrets and coffee mugs that no longer had any handles, she ordered him to do the thing he most wanted to do. Go to his room.

He obliged immediately.

Maybe he hadn't been bitten by a mythological creature. Maybe it was just his imagination. After all, he'd been under much more stress than the SAT prep he had, and that was saying a lot. The teacher let him go to the clinic at least twice every session.

His mental monologue continued, going through about every stage of grief that humanity could name. Until he noticed the setting sun had turned into the rising moon, which was thankfully not full anymore. Jae was waiting. On a side note, his mother hadn't even thought of giving him dinner. Whatever. It would only be a few months before he could just order all the unhealthy shite he wanted.

He grabbed one of his dad's books, one about Norse mythology, on his way to the back door. Did werewolves even appear in Norse myths? He was fairly certain they did, though he was also fairly certain he wasn't in Scandinavia.

Tobias was unsurprisingly good at sneaking out. He'd done it several times before, actually.

~~

He knocked on Jae's door.

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae hadn't moved from the kitchen table for hours now. She was lost in the swirl of thoughts that her mind at the moment. She felt like she'd drank at least a gallon of water in the past three hours. She was pretty sure it was a side effect of the pain medication. As she took another sip of the nearly empty glass, a thought dawned on her. Jae shot up from her seat and made a bee line for her father's room.

If he'd really left her to her own devices, she knew he wouldn't have left her without at least something. As she entered the shabby bed room, she could see the remnants of hasty packing. Lone socks and shirts were strewn about the floor, and the accordion door on the closet was ajar.

Jae flicked the switch to the closet light and began to shuffle through her father's closet. She knew it had to be there. If her father loved her at all, he wouldn't have taken it with him....

It took a few long moments before Jae was able to find what she was looking for. It was an embossed wooden chest that had the family seal on it, and was roughly the size of a wide milk crate.

Jae lugged the heavy box to the kitchen table and cleared everything from the table with a sweep of her arm onto the floor. She had been so focused on the task at hand that Tobias' knock on the door made her physically jump.

Jae made her way to the door and opened it. She was sure Tobias could see the absence of her father's car, still gone from the oil stained driveway. "Hey, come in." She wanted to tell him everything, but she waited for the barrage of questions she was sure her best friend would have.

 

[brightkings]

“Hey,” he said, hands in pockets. He felt nervous, and also like he wanted to jump out the nearest window and run away again. Tobias has been thinking about that a lot lately. His bags were already packed.

He entered the Riley house, the same one he’d visited for about a decade, yet something felt different. Off, even. It was darker, though the moon was about one-sixteenth black. It was emptier, though another presence seemed to have entered. Mr. Riley’s car hadn’t been in the driveway, though he was sure that wasn’t all that was different.

“Okay, so I need you to tell me the truth,” he said, eyes keeping on the window. “Do you really think it was a bear that attacked us?”

 

[Amazonkass]

Jae closed the door behind Tobias and went for a seat at the kitchen table. When he asked her the question about the bear, Jae shook her head. "No, I don't think it was a bear. And I feel like you know that too..." She could feel anxiety welling up in the pit of her stomach. "Sit down, do you want some water?" Regardless of his answer, Jae refilled her glass and poured one for Tobias too.

"It was a full moon last night, and a bear...well a bear wouldn't make my father leave this note." She held out the simple words scribbled on the paper by her absent father. She waited for Tobias to take the paper and read it before continuing. "I'm just going to say it. And I need you to pause you initial reaction...but I'm almost positive we were attacked by a werewolf."

She laid that out on the table and waited for her best friend's reaction. She knew it could range anywhere from denial to straight up hysterical laughter, but if he thought about it, it was the only explanation that fit.