The Moonwalkers

The Wastebasket

"Cupcake?" The man I refused to call Dad was standing in front of me. "Happy Birthday. I... I brought you something."
I closed the front door behind me and glared at Charles. "Why are you here? How did you find out about the party?"
"I... look, I just got wind of it from your social media."
Darn, why didn't I block this idiot?
I sighed. "Whatever, but why are you here? Even after you disowned us? Why?"
"Why didn't you reply to my texts? I noticed you read them?"
The front door suddenly opened, followed by Chris saying something. "Charlie, what are you- you... why are you here?"
I turned around and saw Chris glaring straight at Mom's soon-to-be ex-husband. His amber eyes started glowing yellow. This can't be good.
"Chris, no, go back inside," I said, pushing him back into the house. "I'll deal with this!"
"Charlie, where are you?" Mom's voice called from somewhere inside.
Chris sighed. "Mom's looking for you," he said through gritted teeth. "Get that Wastebasket out before anyone sees it. Or else things are gonna get messy." He cracked his knuckles angrily.
Whoa...
I turned back to said Wastebasket and saw him staring at the front door in surprise.
"Look here, I don't want any trouble," I said. "Will you please leave?"
"Are you... are you one of them too?"
Mom came running out of the house with Chris.
"Yes, I am one of them," I said. "We are us."
I turned to Mom and saw her eyes welling up with tears. I grimaced when I turned back to him.
"Leave if you know what's best for you," I said, feeling my blood boil in my veins. The hairs on the back of my neck were rising too.
I looked at my arms and noticed how my nails were slowly turning into claws. Am I transforming?
"Charlie, please," Mom rubbed my back. "Calm down! We have guests."
I turned to her and felt myself going back to normal. She averted her teary gaze to Charles, giving him a silent plea for him to accept her. I turned to him and he just grimaced, turning away from her in disgust. Mom bit her lip and headed back into the house.
"Mom!" I called as I went after her.
"Leave now, or we'll have to use force," Chris said firmly.
"Oh yeah, what kind of force?"
"You really wanna find out?" Chris said through gritted teeth.
"Mom, please don't cry," I said, rubbing her back gently. I ran back to the porch to try and stop Chris from tearing him apart.
"I'm calling the police," Charles said, taking out his phone.
"Why don't we do that instead?" I said, taking out my phone. "You're the one that's invading our house."
I pushed Chris into the house and made as if waiting for the police to pick up the call. "It's ringing."
Charles frowned. "See you at the hearing."
"Right back to you, Charles."
He glared at me before turning around and leaving the house.
"Come on, guys, we have a cake to cut," I said, getting Mom and Chris's attention.
"Wow..." Chris smirked. "That was an easy way to get rid of trash."
"How you manage to joke after that, I still don't know," I try to smile as I brought Mom to the dining room. Turns out, Charlene actually managed to distract the guests by making someone set up the candles. She even handed confetti blasters to Barbara and Kelly.
"Alright, one two three!" Charlene counted. Instantly, everyone started singing Happy Birthday. I was just awkwardly there, smiling as I went towards the cake. Charlene handed me a plastic knife and I sliced the cake. The first slice went to Mom of course, just like the last time. Then Charlene, and Chris got some cake smudged all over his mouth. Only mouth. I'm not that evil, especially in front of my friends.
The cake was quite large, and Mom and Charlene helped cut it up and serve it to the guests.
"Who's ready to play party games?" Charlene grinned. Wow, she should be a professional party planner. "Chris, can you do that? I have something important up."
Chris brought the guests and me to the living room, leaving Mom and Charlene behind. So we ended up playing group games.

The guests finally left and I finally got to rest my case. Literally.
Mom still looked a little broken after... after that man's visit.
Charlene had somehow taken her up to her room to comfort her there. Chris and I grabbed a few plates of food and went up the stairs.
"Do you think she's okay?" I asked as I followed him up the stairs.
"Eh, Char probably has it covered," Chris said. "I still don't know why Mom tortures herself like that over a jerk..."
"Tell me about it," I sighed. "But think about it. Your life partner suddenly abandoned you just because you're not as human as they thought. That would be pretty painful."
Chris agreed with a frown. We walked into Mom's room and saw her sobbing on the bed.
"I shouldn't have hidden it," she said. "I should've told him before our wedding. It wouldn't have gotten this far."
"Mom, please, it wasn't your fault," Charlene comforted. "Leave him be. If he doesn't accept you for who you are, then he isn't the one for you!"
"But... but we were made for each other," Mom blurted, bursting into more tears. "We made that promise every year on our wedding day. And yet..."
Chris went forward and handed her a cup of ice cream soda. "Drink this, Mom. You haven't eaten since lunch."
Mom shook her head. "I'm not hungry."
"Oh come on, Mom," I said, joining them. "It's not good to starve yourself like this."
"But I'm not hungry," Mom said, trying to smile.
"Mom, I know how hungry we werewolves can get," Chris handed her the plate with a mini pizza and chocolate-filled cookies. "Here, eat this."
Mom took the pizza and took a small bite off it. Then she snarled and wolfed it down like an animal. She ended up eating everything that was on the plate.
Charlene smirked at me. "We werewolves tend to stress eat a lot. Better try to keep it in check."
"Yeah, don't eat anyone," Chris grinned.
I stared at him in shock. "You're saying that we get tempted to eat people?!"
"No!" Mom got up. "We do not eat people at any cost. It is against the werewolf code to eat humans!"
I glare at Chris. "Mom! Chris broke the code!"
"No, I didn't!" Chris argued. "It was a joke!"
"Yeah right," I leaned towards him. "And you didn't almost bite Charles's head off."
Chris smirked. "I wouldn't have done that. I would've skinned him alive!"
"Just as bad," I shrugged. "But yeah, I agree with you. I think I was at the brink of transforming when I saw him just now..."
"I know..." Mom said. "Your eyes were glowing, and the hairs behind your neck were standing."
I gulped. "Does it always happen when we're angry?"
"Aggravated, sad, exasperated, whenever our emotions grow too strong," Charlene explained. "That's how... that's how Charles found out that Mom's a werewolf."
"How?" I asked sitting down on the bed. "I would've never known. And I know I've aggravated you guys at some point, right?"
"Yes, but not enough to awaken our... blood," Chris shrugged, sitting down next to me.
"Then how did Mom accidentally show hers?" I asked, puzzled.
"It's a long story," Mom sighed. "But I have to tell you."
I scooted closer, eager to listen to her story.