This choice: A female watching their sibling • Go Back...Chapter #2Full Moon by: Unknown “You shouldn’t be hanging out with these boys, Jordan. They’re… not a good influence.”
When your sister asked you supervise her son and his friends while they went trick-or-treating, you thought it was a marvelous idea. Perhaps this would be the perfect opportunity to just wind down, forget your problems and enjoy the fun, ‘spooky’ atmosphere of Halloween. Perhaps you could vicariously relive your childhood memories of dressing up on spooky autumn nights and collecting candy with your long-lost friends. Perhaps you could even get your hands on some candy yourself. Unfortunately, your night hasn’t been particularly relaxing so far. While you expected Jordan’s friends to be rowdy, you didn’t expect this.
You felt like you were being ripped in half trying to keep track of them all. Every time you took your eyes off one of them, they got up to something or another; be it roughhousing, tormenting poor Jordan, or even, at one point, dumping a carton of rotten eggs onto somebody’s windshield. You had to waste an entire half hour of precious Halloween time resolving that one. Jordan was always such a little angel, which is why you were shocked he would keep this sort of company. As their delinquency continued, though, you were starting to piece things together. Jordan definitely didn’t approve of what they were doing, but he was too meek and shy to stop them — they had somehow brainwashed him into believing they were cooler than him or whatever.
Worse still, they seemed to be trying to ditch you to head to some place called Vampyre Lane, supposedly more ‘dangerous’ and ‘real’ than another other neighborhood during Halloween. Well, they could ditch you if they wanted, but you weren’t about to let them bring poor Jordan along. “C’mon. Why don’t we continue trick-or-treating together — just the two of us?” You whispered, kneeling in front of Jordan while his friends were distracted. “They haven’t even let you have any candy, for goodness sake.”
“I’m sorry, tía, but… if I don’t come with them, they won’t want to be my friends anymore,” Jordan frowned, looking guilty but persistent.
“Why should they be your friends? They don’t seem to treat you very kindly.”
“Yeah, but they don’t mean it! They’re just joking around!” Jordan tries to explained. “I-”
“Hey, dickweed! You comin’ or what?” The oldest of the boys, Walter, interrupts. He was sort of the ringleader of the group, and was the one who constantly escalated their bullying. He tried to make himself look older than he was, with a black baseball hat and bomber jacket atop a white undershirt and jeans. He even had the faintest makings of a ‘stache, a fact he frequently boasted about. When he saw you kneeling in front of Jordan, holding your nephew’s shoulder reassuringly, his face twisted into that familiar, unbearably smug grin. “Aww. What’s the matter? You need your precious aunt to take care of you?”
“N-no, I’m coming!” Jordan insists, pushing your arm away and rushing back to his friends. Walter gives you a mean look before he turns away, leading the group towards the so-called Vampyre Lane. He was the one who egged that car when you had glanced away for only a moment; you shudder to think what he would get up to when left to his own devices. You follow stubbornly along behind them as they tread through the forest towards the ‘lane’, although you knew they were going to manage to slip away any second now. You’ve already called each of their parents at least once by now, and none of them care. Boys will be boys, they all say. You were going to have to take care of these delinquents all on your own.
Among their ranks was Travis, Walter’s younger brother and lap dog, who tries his best to get into his sibling’s good graces, and continually fails. There was Daniel, batter for the local junior baseball team and second-in-command of the group. Finally, there was Doug, who continually got into fights at school and loved to roughhouse ‘til somebody’s bleeding. While Jordan was dressed in an adorable werewolf costume, the rest of his friends weren’t dressed up in costumes whatsoever; they were too mature for such a thing, of course. They just cared about the candy and the pranks — the tricks and the treats, you suppose, were the essence of Halloween.
Eventually, you grew bored. Was Vampyre Lane a real place? Were they actually going anywhere, or were they just wasting time? As you followed them down the forested path, your eyes eventually drifted up to the moon. It was a full moon tonight. Fittingly spooky for Halloween. You chuckled at the thought… but continued staring at it. There was something… enchanting about the full moon tonight. It absorbed your focus completely, and soon you could hardly take your eyes off it… at least until you heard bushes swaying all around you. You turned back to the group, only to find that they had disappeared! You hear movement in the bushes as they ran off, as well as Walter’s unbearably smug laughter. They had ditched you! “Damn it!” You groaned. You knew they’d try this, but you were hoping you’d be able to catch ‘em. They were smarter than you gave them credit for.
You huffed as you started walking back through the forest. Let ‘em leave — who cares? If they get up to any trouble now, you weren’t going to be around to bail them out. They weren’t your responsibility anymore. You felt bad for Jordan, but… he needed to learn his lesson, too. You were so wrapped up thinking about your hatred for Jordan’s friends that it took you a few minutes to realize you had no idea where you were going. They had just stranded you in the middle of the woods! The forest here was huge; you could be lost all night! You bury your face in the hands, to muffle the sound of you screaming in anger and frustration. You didn’t care what Jordan said — next time you saw those boys, you’d be giving them a piece of your mind! And you’d be making sure they couldn’t bully your poor nephew any longer!
You take a moment to compose yourself. All you had to do was pick a direction and stick to it. You’d only been walking for 15 minutes; it couldn’t be that hard to find your way back. Your plan seems promising at first, but you eventually realize that, in the darkness, you couldn’t tell if you were travelling in the same direction or not. Your surroundings all blended into itself. It didn’t help that there was something genuinely creepy about travelling through these woods so late at night on Halloween. You shivered a bit, clutching yourself as you venture deeper and deeper into the unknown… until you hear a howl in the distance.
Your blood runs cold. A wolf’s howl. That’s how they communicate with eachother in the wilderness. That must mean there’s a pack nearby. Were they out hunting for something? You knew wolves didn’t usually attack humans, but if they were starving, you would seem like an all-you-can-eat buffet. You try your best to stay calm as you walk at a gradually increasing pace, panic rising in your chest. You hear a second howl — sounding like it was much closer this time — and before you knew it, you were sprinting through the woods at full speed. No matter how fast you run, you can hear the howls growing closer and closer, as if the pack was hot on your tail.
Suddenly, something huge jumps into the path in front of you. You stop dead in your tracks, staring at its silhouette in horror. The creature stood at eight feet tall, towering over you as its glowing yellow eyes pierce through the darkness. As your eyes adjust, you realize it’s some kind of hulking wolf creature, standing up on two beefy legs, with thick grey fur shielding it against the cold October breeze. For a moment, it almost seems friendly, gesturing towards you as if trying to tell you that it’s safe to come closer. The second you take a curious step towards it, though…
“Aaaaaugh!”
… the monster leaps at you, and the last thing you see before you lose consciousness is its sharp fangs ready to wrap around your head…
┄┄┄
While you’re unconscious, you’re… transformed. You’re not human. Not anymore. Now, you’re something else entirely. Eventually, you’re awoken by the sound of someone’s voice...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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