Red Riding Hood

Chapter Nineteen: "Growing Pains"

Jack placed his hands on the back of a chair, while his dad told him in a sorrow filled voice. "I killed my father and brother that night. My mother has never forgiven me. That's why we don't communicate well. That's why I don't hunt anymore. I can still fire a gun as a warning shot... but I haven't killed a werewolf in... years." Gesturing to himself, his dad informed him casually. "My mother and her coven started killing Huntsmen. She couldn't bring herself to kill me for what I did... So, she took it out on them. One night, your mom is in labor, and your grandmother comes riding in like a bat out of hell. She tells me this thing about one of her friends having seen a prophecy about a child being born on a Blue Moon. I didn't pay any attention to it... but when she said that Geralf had killed her friends and was hunting her. I... contacted my mentor and he smuggled us out of the city. He owed me a favor and didn't ask questions." Tossing his hands up, his dad stated out dryly. "I didn't pay any mind to the Moonchild bullshit that she spoke of. I just wanted to keep the last of my family safe. But no... She insisted we move back here to this place. She insisted on trying to make my life difficult with her talk of befriending the werewolves here. She filled your head with her weird ways and now..."

Giving one last shrug, he finally locked eyes with Jack when he said uneasily. "I don't know what to believe. I don't know why they want you. I just know that... If you don't stop whatever it is that you are doing. They are going to burn you as a witch. The town already thinks you are one because the Huntsmen claim that you can talk to werewolves. They say you were talking to them in the woods... That you unleashed one in the barn that killed two Huntsmen! They have even started to think you've been putting stuff in your pastries to make them taste the way they do. Jack... I'm worried." Jack bowed his head, mumbling out. "I know it sounds bad... but it's not true. The werewolves weren't in wolf form. They were human. Any of them could have spoke with them. And they did. I didn't kill anyone, and I never did anything to my pastries that recipes didn't tell me to do in the first place." His mom moved a little closer, asking him gently. "Then why were you with the werewolves?" Jack swallowed, hiding his face in his hood when he answered softly. "I was trying to get to Granny's house and... ran into them. I'm sorry. I just... I miss her." Jack sniffled, tears brimming his eyes as he hugged himself.

His mom strolled up to him, giving him another hug, before pushing his hood back to see his face. Giving him a loving motherly look, he licked her thumb and tried to wipe something off his face. Shaking her head, she whispered to him. "You're filthy. Let's just... put this mess behind us and get you cleaned up. Ok?" Jack nodded, but his dad piped in curiously. "Why did Geralf let you go? He had all the evidence he needed..." His mom frowned at his dad, but Jack honestly told him. "I joined the Huntsmen like he wanted, and he let me go." His dad looked unhappy by that, but his mom pulled him away to stand behind a little wooden wall divider that hid the tub. Sitting on a stool by the tub, he watched his mom warm buckets of water to fill the tub with. When it was full, she told him to strip and wash up before dinner. Stripping himself down, he slowly sank into the warm water and rubbed the dirt off his pale skin. He wanted to tell them about what he could do and why Geralf wanted him, but it seemed pointless. They either wouldn't believe him, or they'd just become more worried. Taking a deep breath, he sank under the water and closed his eyes to enjoy the muffled silence the water provided. The water felt great on his skin, and it allowed him to think.

He didn't care if his Granny was a witch or not. He didn't want to be mad at his parents or at Mark. Yet, he felt so torn up emotionally and didn't know how he should feel. He had wanted to be a Huntsmen to get out of this town and still felt like that was his plan. However, things Mark had said just made him feel like staying. Slowly siting up in the water, Jack let the water run off his face and bangs, listening to the drops trickle to the water before shivering. Pushing his wet hair off his face, he tilted his head back to wipe the water off his face. Covering his eyes, he bit his lip as his heart raced in his chest. Just the thought of Mark was making his face flush. Slumping in the water, he pouted and mumbled out to himself. "Don't think about him..." Reaching up to rub his neck, he found himself closing his eyes and imagining Mark's warm fingers on his neck. He tilted his head to enjoy it, then jumped as his mom asked him from the other side of the divider. "Jack? Honey? Are you getting out soon?" Blushing a bright red, Jack stated out nervously. "Ya. Just finishing up." Listening as his mom moved away, Jack sank in the water to blow quiet nervous bubbles below the surface before climbing out.