[SHYAN] skeptics and true believers

ch. 2

Google Search: creatures with yellow eyes
Google Search: supernatural creatures with yellow eyes
Google Search: werewolves

Ryan sat back with a sigh, staring at the open tabs on his computer. All of the search results related to werewolves in one way or another. According to the internet, the creature Ryan saw  was a werewolf. 

Ryan wasn't satisfied with this answer. Even he, with his unwavering belief in most things paranormal, had to draw the line somewhere. Werewolves. Just the idea that there was a were-creature of some sort wandering around the forest was fucking absurd.

Right?

Ryan stared at the images on the page (some website called A Beginner's Guide To Were-People), which claimed to be "real" photographs of werewolves. In one of the pictures, piercing yellow eyes stared into the camera. They looked almost exactly like what Ryan had seen last night. 

He couldn't stop seeing those eyes in his mind's eye. He shuddered as he thought back to them, staring at him from within the pitch-black woods,  bright gold the only contrast to the inky darkness. 

He had never seen anything like them... except on this stupid website that claimed they belonged to a werewolf. 

Ryan groaned and laid his head down on his desk. He wanted to know what was roaming the woods, but he didn't like the answers he was getting. He looked up at the clock at the bottom-right of his monitor and saw that it was 2am; instead of sleeping, Ryan was debating whether or not fucking werewolves were a real thing. God, he thought, resting his head on the desk once again, What even is my life?

His phone dinged from where it sat on the nightstand, disrupting Ryan's self-reflection. He picked up, confused as to who else was up so late. 

[unknown number] hey, it's shane (brent gave me your number)

[unknown number] sorry for being a dick and leaving so suddenly today. i had just remembered my mom had given me a shitload of chores today haha.

Ryan stared down at his text messages, all knowledge of social skills suddenly fleeing him. He had almost completely forgotten about the conversation with Shane today, too preoccupied with the creature in the woods, but now Shane was texting him to apologize. Ryan was suddenly glad he was alone in his room, because he was now blushing furiously. 

[ryan] It's all cool. I was worried it was something I had said, but I'm glad that's not the case. 

As he laid down his phone, he wondered if he was being weird by saying he had been worried he had upset Shane and mentally face-palmed. Why was he so bad at interacting with someone he thought were attractive? 

His phone dinged again and Ryan practically jumped to look at the new message. 

[shane] no need to worry, you didn't say anything wrong. 

[shane] well, besides all the factually inaccurate stuff about ghosts. all that was wrong. 

Ryan laughed, his anxiety lessening and being replaced with the desire to convince Shane ghosts were real. 

[ryan] This again!! I'm sending you links to people who have said they've seen ghosts. 

Ryan opened another tab on his laptop and began researching, but Shane's reply was almost immediate. 

[shane] all bullshit, but okay. go ahead ryan. convince me that the undead walk the earth. 

That's how they spent the rest of the night; Ryan abandoned his search for information on yellow-eyed creatures and instead shifted his focus to providing Shane with first-hand accounts of ghosts and demons. All of which he infuriatingly refuted, of course.