The professor had always given me a queasy feeling. Something about the way his eyes looked in the dark. The lurch of his body as he looked up at the night sky. If it hadn’t been for his human face, I would’ve called him a monster. Yet here I was alone with the man. I was making up a test. Alone with the man in his office. Short glances came to me as he looked at me as though I were a snack. A meal for him to enjoy. I swallowed hardly a drop of my focus on the test as I scribbled out each answer just fast enough to not raise suspicion. It started to feel unfavorably warm in the room as the man gave his tie a quick adjustment. He gave up on the garment a moment later, placing the strip of fabric on the desk next to him. A thin trail of perspiration dripped down my neck as I tightened my posture.

The man gave me another stare before starting to chuckle. “There’s no need to be so nervous.” He said. I stared into his mouth as he spoke to me. His canines seemed sharper than average. “I won’t hurt you.”

How could he even know what I was thinking? “Of course,” I said. My phone was still in my back pocket, right? I felt the hard device as I reached a hand behind me. I gave a silent sigh, fixing my eyes on the paper before me.

It was quiet again aside from the soft sound of his fingers on the keys of his computer and the gentle scratches of my pencil against the paper. My suspicions had to be false, right? There was no such thing as monsters. All my logic told me so, and yet here I was, petrified of the way the man sniffed the air like a wolf on the hunt. The way he smiled as though he’d just been served a home-cooked meal. I just needed to get out of there, I decided.

“I’m done,” I spoke. My lips formed a wary smile as I handed him the paper with a slight shiver. “I’ll be going now.” The sound of my heart pounded in my ears as the cold touch of his finger brushed against mine for barely a moment.

“Wait.” He said. His eyes were intense as I met them. There was a beastly quell beneath the surface. “I believe there’s something I should address.” The man pulled me close, a tight grip maintained on my arm as his lips drew near to my right ear. “Aren’t you glad it’s not a full moon?” He smiled as the color drained from my face. “Have a good night.”

“Yeah,” I said. He was right. The full moon wasn’t until tomorrow.