“Look, Penn from whatever side you look at the situation, I still win.” Nigel pointed to himself as he walked backwards. We were walking to school and found Penn and Izzy along the way, waiting at the bus stop. The argument wasn’t going down soon. All of us argued over who would get the hundred dollars because according to Penny, the night wasn’t exactly what we…. expected. All night, the three of us stayed up thinking about we had done. Well, most part of the night was spent on figuring out a way to get in without waking Dad up.
“That's a bold thing to say.” Penn nodded. “The beast was right in front of you. You saw a whole freaking spirit.”
“Trapped it in the mirror.” Izzy added in.
“None of that wasn’t part of the plan.” Enzo pointed out.
“It wasn't a werewolf. The deal was to show a werewolf.” he defended.
“You guys played that part.”
“Because we were nearly dying!” I slightly laughed.
“What about the mental damages?” Enzo shot the question.
“Yeah, do you know how much mental turmoil we went through?” Nigel and him stood together.
“I checked my window a hundred times and kept staring at it the whole night. We were all equally traumatised.” Izzy said.
“How about the best weed in town?” Penn negotiated.
“Ye-” Nigel tried to speak but we spoke over him. “No no no that won’t cut it.” Enzo and I said in unison. Nodding and making cross signs with his fingers.
“Ok ok ok… I’ll buy you guys food.”
“For three days.”
“I’m not that rich.”
“For a day and a half.” Enzo suggested.
“Done.”
“See we’re not that bad.” Nigel smiled.
“I can’t believe that you guys knew but continued to pretend to know nothing.” Izzy hit Nigel with her bag.
“Next time we’ll just go… Hi! I’m Nigel and GROWL.” he stuck his tongue out, slowly falling over me as he leaned back. I pushed him as we all burst into laughter.
“Your face was was a treat.” Enzo said through tears. Izzy pinched him on the arm.
“Best prank ever.” I smiled. “Besides everything, whatever happened was so out of the blue so please keep our secret.”
“Yeah, it will be a real danger if word gets out.”
“Just in time before we texted the whole group.” Penn said sarcastically.
“It’s not a group if it's two people.” I clicked my fingers.
“If something happens, we’ll sacrifice you guys.” Nigel nodded.
“I have my cross with me.” Izzy put her hand on her necklace. “I was just joking. Don't worry, we got your back.” She gave a reassuring smile.
“We deserve answers as compensation.” Penn crossed her arms.
“One each.” I announced.
“Do you guys eat other humans or other dogs?” The question just blurted out from Penny’s mouth as if she was waiting for eternity to ask.
“No,” we said in unison.
“That would be cannibalism.” Nigel made a disgusted face.
“Why would we do that?” I huffed. “Don't ever think of that.”
“It depends on the situation.” Enzo blurted.“Hypothetically, if you are stranded and very very VERY hungry.”
“If you think about it, it wouldn't be cannibalism if you eat a human in werewolf form.” I thought.
“Yeah if you eat another wolf in wolf form that would be disturbing.” Penny added. “But if you eat a human as a wolf, the human is still inside of you so it would be cannibalism.”
“It wouldn’t be.” My eyes narrowed.
“Yesss.”
“NO,”
“If you ate a chicken knowing that you can be a chicken, you would be thinking like the chicken even when human.”
“It doesn’t work like that.” I cried.
“It does. Your brain would be the same inside.” she stomped her foot as she insisted.
“Time out. You're next.” Nigel gestured to Izzy. At this point, we were barely walking. I didn’t realise how much time had passed.
“Dogs die at twelve. You guys are 15.”
“No, we don't die at 15.”
“So, if you turn into a werewolf, do you guys turn old in dog years or just-”
“We would be dead as a wolf that way.”
“We run fast though.” I tried to remember.
“Fast is an overstatement.” Nigel snorted as he eyed me.
“Actually– I don’t know.”
“Our grandma's 80. We'll be fine.” A wave of relief washed over Izzy’s face.
“Ok is that all?” Penn raised her hand. “You already asked.”
“Team Jacob or Team Edward?” her face became serious.
“Penny, that is disrespectful.” Izzy said to her but brought her face closer, waiting for us to answer.
“Huh?” We together gave a questioning look. Penn made a dead face whilst Izzy slumped her head on Penn’s shoulder.
We entered the school building, dodging the crowd of students. Enzo, Penn and Izzy went on about what teachers he had gotten. I eyed the row of lockers. A week will pass by and I still would get lost finding my locker. I spotted mine opposite Nigel's. Ethan stood at his locker which was beside mine, in his plaid shirt that hung on his body. He looked calmer than yesterday yet dark circles rimmed under his eyes. I guess he hadn’t slept all night too.
“Yo Ethan,” I waved at him. He held the French book in his hands. “We are in French together? Please tell me you are any good at that because I nearly failed mine last year and–” he closed his locker shut.
“Thanks for yesterday but stay off my back.” he muttered without looking back. He walked away. A nervous smile came over my face. The hell just happened?
“What was that?” Nigel approached me, putting on his backpack.
“Nothing.” I took my books out. Nigel stared at Ethan’s locker. My eyes were drawn to words scratched on the metal. Die!, May the power of Christ compel you, Rot in hell demon boy, Leave the face of the earth. Death threats and devil horns drawn in red into the locker door. Under the carvings, white paint tried to cover the obscenities but whoever wrote this also didn’t give up. My stomach churned at the sight of it.
“What the hell is wrong with this place?” Nigel placed his hand on the door and tried to wipe it off. His hand came back plain. The permanent ink remained unbudged.
--------------------------The school bell rang and I slumped down on the table as I clutched my pencil tightly. Only two theorem questions were left and if I hadn’t gotten stuck in on the first question, I would have been done by now. I need to get better at this. I can’t let the teachers think I’m a loser. It only takes one misstep to fail. Snickering sounds fell to my ear. Voices that I could recognise. Trent and his friends laughed at what he said. His nose was bandaged up. Another bandage wrapped around his hand. A thick one at that. I broke his wrist after all. Nigel sat one row behind me. We both smirked at each other. Ignoring them, I put together my papers. As I stood, Trent walked by.
“It reeks in here. Someone needs to take the trash out.” he said with a smug smile as he walked away. I rolled my eyes. Nigel stood from his chair. His fist clenched tight. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
“Leave it be. There’s no use.” I muttered to him. His hand changed back to normal. He gave me a look and then walked away from me, snatching his backpack away.
“Meathead.” I said to myself, following him to the cafeteria.
“What are you doing?” Nigel asked as we sat down on the table with our trays.
“Oh.. I’m filling out the club registration form." She showed us the form.
“I thought you had a registered club.”
“Yeah, we didn't have enough members so we never had a club. The two of us ran it unofficially since middle school. But for this year, we decided to put in the work.” she wrote on the form. “What’s the date again?”
“How did you not find members? This town is a borderline cult.”
“Only until its the witching hour. After that we’re weirdos.” Izzy played with the baby carrot. Her tray was mostly empty. Only the mashed potatoes on the side with the carrots that she barely touched. She let out a sigh.
“Who’s being a weirdo?” Enzo joined, setting his tray down.
“You.” Nigel hit him with his carrot. Izzy protected him.
“The hell.” Penny muttered in confusion as she read the form. “They changed the member requirement! It was five last year.”
“She did that last time too.” Izzy slumped her head on the table in defeat.
“That’s no problem. We’ll get the Ethan guy.” I suggested. She looked behind me. Izzy looked somewhere in the back too. We all turned to see Ethan sitting alone at the corner table. He picked on his food, moving the potatoes around in his tray.
“I’m not sure.”
“Like he was there. He saw everything and he knew what the spirit was saying. That’s the perfect member right there.” I spoke with my mouth full.
“I don’t think…that would be a good idea.” Izzy rubbed her nape.
“We can try talking. I’ll go talk. He’ll just say no.” Nigel stood up. We all turned our heads to see Nigel walk over to Ethan. He sat down across from him. Nigel continued to talk. He went on but Ethan just listened with his head down low. He looked towards us and we diverted our attention towards our lunch.
“What is he even saying to him?” Enzo whispered.
“It might be working.” We raised our heads again and saw Ethan saying something to Nigel. Nigel sat there speechless. Ethan got up and walked away from him with his lunch.
“The heck.” I whispered as I watched Nigel walk towards us.
“Dude.” he sat down. “What’s on with him? He barely listened to what I said and then just went ‘you don’t have to take pity on me.’” he returned to his lunch.
“That’s all he said?”
“And to leave his back,” he added.
“I’m going to the bathroom.” Izzy got up and left the cafeteria. Penny turned towards her in surprise but only watched her leave.
“Is she okay? She looks sick.” Enzo noted.
“No, she’s fine. I hope.” Her eyebrows furrowed together. She got lost in a thought for a second.
“You heard what the spirit was saying?” She asked.
“Penny, what do you mean think? We all saw and heard the spirit in the end.” I swallowed my food.
“You saw the spirit?” she said surprised.
“You didn’t see the spirit?” A shocking look came over all our faces.
“I knew the spirit was there. I felt the spirit there but I didn’t see it. That’s not the point. The point is I didn’t see that spirit.”
“So Ethan can actually see spirits?” Nigel concluded.
“Don’t you remember? He knew exactly what the spirit was saying.”
“Dang, he’s something else.” Enzo commented.
“How did you not see?” I blinked.
“I only felt this energy coming towards me and that there was this slight silhouette like.. Like a shadow in front of me.” she defended.
“Ok this is taking a huge turn.” Nigel leaned back, rubbing his eyes.
“Minus us- he is the only one who interacted with the spirit.” I put my hand over my mouth as the realisation hit. Penn sat stunned in her seat. I have seen spirits and ghosts roaming around the land. Usually they reveal themselves to us but most of the time they are out of sight. We would see one in the woods but that wasn’t everyday and for the most part it’s because of us being werewolves. Ethan’s story looks different.
-------------------------------------------I kicked on the curb as I waited for Enzo and Nigel. Nigel decided to go to the bathroom and Enzo was taking forever to come out of his class. My mind wandered to those theorem questions. Maybe if I do that step differently, the answer would turn out right. I looked around the crowd. Everyone was going home, going in different directions. Right about the corner of the school gate, I spotted Ethan’s back turning the corner.
“Hey Ethan!” I shouted. He turned around with a surprised look. I ran up to him.
“Listen, I’m sorry if my brother offended you. He just gets friendly right off the bat. He really meant well.” He continued to stare at me.
“So if you did mind his words, I hope you let it go.”
“What part did you not get?”
“Eh?”
“What part did you not get about minding your business?”
“Um..”
“Thanks for all the help yesterday but as I said I don’t have any interest.” He turned to walk away.
“You knew what the spirit was saying.” He froze. “Penn was there too but she didn’t hear what you heard.” He turned around again, a flick of emotion on his face that I couldn’t recognise. “Look I don’t know why you are running away. I’m not messing with you or anything. If it's because of us, this school or whatever you are going through… we can help each other. I know we can.” I went to put my hand on his shoulder but he smacked it away.
“You don’t know anything.” He whispered. I pursed my lips as he walked away from me. I could only stand and stare at his back. A sinking feeling bloomed in my stomach. Every interaction was leading nowhere. It was like digging into thick skin. What was there to hide? We had seen it together. Been through all of it together. I silently went back to my spot. Nigel and Enzo would have returned anyway.
------------
The soft soil gave way under my feet. The sky faded to orange, mixing with the blue and whites. The sky faded to colours and we faded into the woods. Up on the mound of land, a cave-like hole was sheltered by the tall trees. Grass and wild plants speckled the ground. It was big enough for all of us siblings to spend time around here.
“Finally.” Nigel dropped his bag as he stretched his whole body. He changed and landed on his four feet. His grey fur ruffled as he rolled on the grass. Enzo jumped on Nigel, his light brown fur colliding with his. They wrestled with each other. I transitioned into my wolf form. A big yawn came over me, making me stretch my paws. I slumped down on the grass. I had missed this. You could have all the things in the world but if there wasn’t a place to hide then nothing would be worth it. Nothing could compare to a good hiding. Rolling around, practicing to fight. A place all to ourselves. Enzo’s butt crashed onto my back.
“That’s it, I’m coming now,” I joined the wrestle.
We rested on the ground, tired from all the playing. The night overtook the sun, pushing it to the end.
“I wonder if they are at peace now.” Enzo spoke all of a sudden.
“Who?”
“The werebear.”
“They faced death twice. He has to have some kind of heaven.”
“I hope they do.” My jaw clenched. A silence took over us. How alone they must have felt. In the rain, with the body torn to pieces. The sight of their dead body flooded into my mind. It faded into.. I closed my eyes, trying not to think too much. It’s not the time. It’s not the time. It’s not the time.
“Dude, we can grow weed over here.” Nigel gasped. I laughed. I turned human. It was getting late now. Dad would start calling us any minute now.
“Don’t want to leave.” Enzo hid his face in the grass as I nudged him to get up.
“We’ll make this our place. In all of Myrefalls, we would belong here.” I scratched the rock with my wolven nails just like Dad had taught us. Leave a mark so others would know this place is yours,
“I’m going to make one too!” Enzo scratched over mine. Nigel followed after him, leaving one long mark over Enzo’s multiple ones.
“Don’t tell Dad about this.” Nigel warned Enzo.
“Then don’t mess with me.” He warned him back.
“We would be trapped in the same place.” I smirked. Enzo stuck his tongue out at me. We returned home.
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