Hunter awoke at midnight to his cellphone's buzzing. He cracked one eye open and rolled over, extending his arm to reach the desk. Gripping hold with the tips of his fingers, he gingerly pulled the device towards him. It fell into his wastebasket. With a small growl, he rose from the bed to retrieve it, admonishing his laziness.

He had two messages.

The first one was from Ashley.

°~* H A P P Y N E W M O O N *~°

Hunter crossed the room and moved the curtain aside. The sky was clear. No moon to be seen. Back home there were probably a few "New Moon" parties going on. The lack of a moon was cause for celebration, a guaranteed last night of freedom but the shift began again. After this night, the moon would come back bit by bit. Emotions would bubble, tempers would flare, lines would be crossed. He walked over to his closet.

A large army green duffel bag sat inside. He pulled it open and surveyed the contents; Bandage wrap. A pair of ankle restraints, cushioned and soft to avoid discomfort, but held together by a belt made of leather and a small snapping lock. Foam wrist restraints. Hand mittens made of cloth and plastic, easy to remove when he was coherent. A straight jacket, not likely to be used unless someone else would be there to help him out. Lastly, there was the human muzzle. It was unused as he never needed it at home, but more or less a gag gift, as it looked like something out of a BDSM catalog.

If he was too loud during the shift, anyone who found him would assume he was in the middle of some weird sexual ritual. He prayed that didn't happen. The last thing he needed was to be caught rolling around, growling and drooling. The authorities would probably cart him away, with onlookers whipping out cellphones, videos going viral, hospital experimentation, news footage--

He shook his head. If he kept thinking like that, he would be up all night. He closed the bag and walked back to the bed. Why was he up again? His gaze went back to his cell phone. Oh, right.

There was another message for him to read. He squeezed the phone, his hand trembling. While no name was displayed on the screen, he knew the number well. The message was short, but enough to send him into a rage. He chucked the phone across the room, startled when it broke the glass and sailed out the window.

Hunter blinked at the broken glass. He heard a thud, followed by an alarm. He grabbed a pair of sweats from a pile of clothes on the floor, got his keys from his desk, and ran down the hall barefoot.

Hunter's room was located in a corner on the second floor of the Howard dormitory, easily mistakable for a closet. To the casual observer, he would have looked as if he popped out of the wall.

He quickly ran down the stairs, down the hall, and outside. Most of the campus was shrouded in darkness, with the occasional lamplit patch, dotting across the area. With the amount of light reduced, Hunter could see without his sunglasses. While a wolf's eyesight was relatively close to that of a human, those of his kind were often sensitive to light.

The lawn was not empty despite the late hour. Hunter could see several people in the grass, a couple here, a woman with a telescope, and a group of five sitting in a circle and chanting.

He recognized one of the chanters as Ashley, the girl with the wolf ears. Tonight she sported a faux tail as well. Looking closer, he noticed each person in the group seemed to be wearing something animal related. There was a woman with cat ears, a man wearing wings made of leather, a person in a bear-shaped onesie, and a teen wearing fox ears and paws.

Hunter shifted his focus back to his phone, hoping the screen would still be lit and easy to spot. Hunter stood at the edge of the lawn. There was shattered glass right outside his window, but the phone was nowhere to be found. He growled, perhaps too loudly. The chanting stopped. Ashley's eyes fell on him and Hunter looked around, trying to appear nonchalant.

"Is that you, Hunter Reeds?" she squinted.

"Oh, uh...y-yeah..."He scratched his head. "Sorry for interrupting your...thing." He honestly had no clue what to call it. Meditation group? Midnight society meeting?

Two members of the circle looked at Ashley for some sort of explanation. "Sorry y'all. This is Hunter, another child of the wolves."

"Hello, wolf child." They said in unison, startling him.

"Uh..hi.." He took a step back. "Don't mind me, just looking for my phone. I kinda threw it out the window and uh...I'll just look or it quietly now."

"Do you want some help?" The winged man asked.

Before Hunter could decline, they were all getting up from the grass.

"Oh, you don't have to do that..."

The others began to search the grass, using their phones as flashlights.

Ashley walked up to him. "Happy New Moon!"

"Happy New Moon..."Hunter repeated. "So, what's going on here? Just hanging out?"

He knelt in the grass and began feeling around for his phone.

Ashley did the same. "It's first monthly meetin' for the Redwood Therian Society."

"Therian?"

"Y'know, people a little closer to their former selves. Same as us with the wolves."

"Oh..." Hunter continued to search. "You believe in that old theory then, the one where we descended from wolves?"

"The one where we used to be wolves." Her tone was more serious than he expected.

Hunter said nothing. The urge to disagree was there, but he preferred not to argue over beliefs. He was not the wolf. He was not the snarling, growling thing that had to be locked up to avoid hurting others. He was the person who woke up in pain, the one with spasms, mood swings, seizures, fits of depression and tears.

He looked at the pierced faux fur ears that sat atop Ashley's head. It was clear that she loved the animal side. Perhaps her shifts weren't long and painful. It could be that she waited all month for them to occur. Maybe she lived in an area where she could run free with her pack, howling at the moon and hunting at night. Whatever the case was, he could not share her sentiment.

He looked down at the grass, he would have tried sniffing the phone out, but he didn't want to be caught doing so, and his conversation with Ashley had left him sour.

"Found it!" The person in a bear-shaped onesie held Hunter's phone up with a paw.

"Thanks." Hunter appraised the phone. Large cracks ran across the phone's case. He would have to buy a new one. "Again, I'm sorry for interrupting."

"We always have time to help!" Ashley's enthusiasm seemed genuine and Hunter could see how she became the spokesperson for the group. "Do you want to join us?"

"I'm actually kinda tired." He looked back at the Howard building. "Well, thanks again." With a wave, he retreated back to his dorm. Once alone, he looked at the phone again. The other text message he had received was still on the screen.

Miss you

--Colton