Payne's Hollow

I8I The After Party

Carly noticed how her father's hands clenched the steering wheels, his body stiffening. "Carly, this is not a laughing matter." He said in a strained voice. "Werewolves are a myth. It was dark, so I'm sure you may have been mistaken about what you had seen. Maybe it was a bear? Everyone I asked described something big and furry..."

Carly stayed silent, feeling irritated how her father did not believe her. A part of her sympathised with him however since less than a week ago, she wouldn't have believed any of it either.

Olga Archer was waiting for them on the front porch, wringing her hand nervously as she saw the car come up on the driveway. She ran forward, throwing her arms around Carly, who had just stepped out.

"Thanks the spirits, you're okay!" She exclaimed; her normally cheerful face marred by concern as she looked Carly over. "I was so worried when I heard."
"Let's get inside." Jonas Archer said, ushering the two into the warm and comforting interior of the cottage. Olga spared not a minute in fussing about Carly, passing her a cup of hot chocolate as she looked down at the bandaged leg questioningly.

"What happened?" She asked, the question directed at her son.

"Bear attack most likely, although the victims seem to think otherwise." He muttered bitterly, walking into the kitchen to fetch himself coffee. Olga glanced at Carly in confusion. Carly glanced at her father's turned back, and quickly mouthed 'werewolf'. Her grandmother's eyes went wide and she muttered a quick, pagan prayer.

"I'm going back," Her father announced a few minutes later, slipping batteries into his pockets and grabbing any equipment he needed. "I'll be gone all night, since we'll have to search the forest for this thing. I'll try to make it to breakfast."

"You can't go!" Carly stood up suddenly, the pain in her leg forgotten. "Dad, you can't, this thing is dangerous! Ordinary bullets won't work on it!"

Her father sighed. "For the last time Carly, there are no such things as werewolves. It was probably an agitated bear, and we'll hopefully find it lumbering about the woods. Now please no more of this nonsense." He then left, taking his coat from his mother the door shutting behind him. Carly made to follow, but her grandmother stopped her.

"He won't listen you know." She said, walking over to the door and locking it. "However just in case things get crazy out there, I slipped a protective silver necklace of mine in his coat pocket. That should keep him safe." She added with a smile. She seemed to want to talk more, a disturbed look on her face, similar to the one she had when Carly first mentioned that a werewolf was behind the attack.

"Are you sure it was a werewolf?" She asked hesitantly.

"Considering I came face to face with it, yeah." Carly nodded.
"That can't be right." She heard her grandmother mummer, more to herself than Carly. "These are very bad omens indeed. I wonder if this may have something to do with him."

Carly was just about to ask who she spoke off, when there came a knock at the door. Her grandmother snapped out of her trance and shuffled forward and went to see who it was. Carly heard soft conversation, followed by two pairs of footsteps. Her grandmother came in, a funny sort of expression on her face and behind her was the lanky form of Ian.

"Your friend came to see you." She said, glancing between Carly and Ian suspiciously.
"Oh yeah. This is Ian." Carly introduced him. "We'll be in my room if you need us."

She took a step toward the stairs, gesturing Ian after her. He came forward, offering his hand to help her, but she shook her head, leaning against the banister as she dragged herself upward to her room, Ian following closely behind. Carly reached the top of the stairs and looked back to see her grandmother gazing after Ian with a quizzical look in her eye, and a faint smile on her face.