Howl For Me

~1~ Heated

"You know Alec, if you're going to be moping the entire drive, then at least stick your head out the window so I don't have to look at your pathetic attempt to guilt me," my lovely mother oh-so-casually said to me.

"First of all," I started, "you should be looking at the road. Secondly, I'm not trying to guilt you!" I actually was, but she didn't have to call me out like that. I was hoping that my amazing attempt at sulking would cause my mom to rethink her decision on sending both of us to our deathbeds. "You can't blame me for being upset when you're the one ruining our lives."

"Allister Caldwell!" my mother yelled, "I am not ruining our lives! This is an amazing job opportunity for me, and the increased pay is going to help both of us. I told you that you need to-"

"Keep an open mind, I know," I interrupted, "but we're literally going to be living in a town with monsters." I've never even spoken to a werewolf and I've only ever seen a handful, but from what I've heard, they're terrifying beasts that can snap a human in half with their bare hands if they get angry. They also have claws and sharp fangs! Basically, we're toast. Ohh I could go for some toast right about now.

"I know werewolves might seem scary Alec, but I promise they really aren't that bad. I already told you that I've met my fair share of them and nothing bad ever happened." Sure nothing bad happened to her, but I'm gonna be going to high school with those animals. Good thing I wrote my will last night.

"Sure," I muttered, not wanting to start another big argument like we've been having all week. I love my mom, but she tends to make a lot of questionable decisions. Like last year, she saw this post online about using guacamole as lotion to get smoother skin. She smelled like a Mexican restaurant for an entire month after that. There was also that one time after I came out as gay to her where she would not stop using the words "slay" and "yasss," claiming she was trying to "speak my language."  I didn't know how to feel about that. 

And that brings us to today, moving from our beautiful (and human filled) town of Eastport, Maine to Payson, Arizona. My mom is a restaurant manager at this chain called Skippy's, and the big boss man offered her an employee relocation package due to the manager at the restaurant in Payson's sudden passing. Apparently they couldn't find anybody else any closer willing to relocate. My guess is because Arizona is mostly populated by werewolves, but Mom says I'm just being paranoid. Yeah, right.

It's not like I can blame her entirely for accepting the offer, it does come with a good pay increase. Ever since Dad died, she's had a hard time taking care of me. That's why, ever since I turned 16, I've gotten jobs to help her out. But for some unknown reason, I've had a hard time keeping them. I'm now 18 years old and I've had...14 jobs and counting. All of which I've been fired from. Whatever, people just can't handle my carefree spirit. Dickheads.

"Oh look," my mom starts, "we're passing the sign!" My heart suddenly stops as I look out the window and see an old-looking sign that says "Payson Welcomes You!"  I wish it didn't...

As we a drive further into town, I start seeing people on the sidewalks and in front of houses. Wait a second, those are werewolves! Holy shit, I thought, werewolves are huge! I could tell even from a distance that they're much bigger than humans. I'm pretty tall, standing at an acceptable 5'11, but most of them definitely tower over me. I'm also pretty skinny, so I would look like a twig standing next to them.

After about 15 minutes, we pull into the driveway of an average sized, one story house surrounded by trees. The house was a dull blue with white trims, and had a small porch extending from the front. It looked decent, definitely needs to be touched up though. "Here we are," Mom said, "home sweet home!"

"I wouldn't use the word 'sweet,' but it's definitely a home." I joked

As I stepped out of the car, it felt like I was stepping into an oven. "Holy shit, what's with this heat??" I managed to gasp out. We came here at the end of the summer, just before school starts (hooray..), and it still feels like I'm in some kind of heatwave.

"Woo, yeah, it's definitely warm here. And watch your mouth," my mom said, seemingly barely affected by the immense heat.

As we walk up to the door, my mom fishes out a key from her purse and inserts it into the door. The door creaks open and the subtle smell of wet paint and pine sol invade my nostrils as we step into the house. The entrance was attached to the living room, and I could spot the kitchen on the other side of the wall further in. There was a hallway stretching down to the left, with a door at the end of the hallway and a door on each side.

 "Wow," Mom said, "this place looks great! Good thing it came pre-furnished."

"Yeah, thank god," I said. "Our furniture was falling apart." Not that we had much of it. "Now can you please turn on the A.C? I'm literally dying over here."

"Yeah, yeah." My mom said as she waved me off.

I walked down the hallway where my mom told me my room was and opened the door on the left. As I glanced around the room, I could tell that this room was considerably bigger than my old room. There was a bed with a small wooden nightstand on the side, and one window that lead out the front of the house.

As I laid my suitcase on the bed and started unpacking, I heard my mom call out to me, "Remember that you have school on Monday, so make sure you have all your school stuff ready!" Ugh, don't remind me.

"Fine!" I yelled back. It was Saturday evening, the sun just starting to set. That means I have one day of peace before the hell that is high school begins. School was bad enough without wolves, so now I have another layer of awfulness on top. Thank god I only have a year left until I graduate.

"Oh, also," my mom says as she peeks into my room, "the alpha of Arizona Rim Country is coming to visit tomorrow, isn't that exciting? He lives nearby, and apparently it's been a while since any other humans have moved into the area, so he wants to welcome us."

"WHAT?" I said, whipping my head around to glare at her. "You're going to let an ALPHA in here? Do you have a death wish or something??"

"Would you relax? I talked to him on the phone and he seems like a really nice guy. He'll be here at 2 o'clock tomorrow so make sure you're home so you can meet him," She said. Oh fuck, this is probably a ploy so that the alpha can kill us. That must be why there's barely any humans who live here! Mom's so gullible.

"Well, it's been nice knowin' ya." I muttered. She just rolled her eyes and walked away.

I kept unpacking my stuff, thinking about the impending doom that awaited me tomorrow. What am I gonna do? It's not like I can go anywhere. I guess I'll just have to be ready to defend us if the alpha tries to attack. Maybe I should go out and buy a shock collar and a spray bottle, ha!

After an hour of unpacking and setting up my room, I finally finished and flopped onto the bed with my sheets now spread. I gotta admit, the extra space is nice and makes everything fit much easier in here. 

"Hey, you finally done in here?" my mom asks as she peeks her head in again.

"Yeah, do you need help with anything?" I asked

"Nah, go ahead and get some rest, it's late. I will need you to go out to the store for me tomorrow and grab a few things for Alpha's visit. I'm gonna make lasagna," she said. My favorite. Hey, at least one good thing is coming out of this. 

"Alright fine," I reluctantly agreed, "but if it was anything other than lasagna then you'd be on your own."

"That's why I picked lasagna," she told me with a wink, "goodnight Alec, love you. My room's across the hall if you need me."

"Alright, g'night Mom. Love you."

As I laid in bed that night, I thought about what my mom said: keep an open mind.

I guess I could try.

The last thing I heard before falling asleep was a deep howl somewhere in the distance.