Little Monster - Nolan Holloway

Chapter 1

It was barely autumn, but it had started to get uncomfortably cold at night and the metal bleachers at the lacrosse field were even colder. Despite the temperature, I was bound and determined to watch practice. It was one of the last practices of preseason and Scott's last day as assistant coach. I was sitting on the bleachers by myself, my brother's lacrosse hoodie pulled tight around my body as an extra layer of protection from the cold. Liam, however, was not in sight. The rest of the team had already started running drills, but my brother was not with them.

A text from Mason confirmed that he was still moping in the locker room. I told him to get Liam out there quickly because from where I was seated, it looked like Finstock was already on the brink of an aneurysm.

I cringed when I saw my friend Nolan get slammed for the second time already by Diaz but clapped supportively. "It's okay, Nolan! You've got this!"

He offered me a small wave when he got up and I smiled at him.

Coach Finstock yelled at him a second later. "Holloway! Grab a new stick and get in goal!"

Nolan hated playing goalie, it was something he'd admitted to me junior year while we were talking in our history class.

He took his spot in goal and the team started playing again. Liam was still not out there and Diaz was taking over the field. He was better than he'd been the year before and I was actually impressed.

I heard Finstock make a comment about making Diaz captain if Liam didn't show up soon so I quickly texted Mason to tell him.

Diaz was making his way down the field with the ball, rapidly approaching the net where Nolan stood nervously. He took the shot and a second before the ball could make it into the net, Liam appeared out of nowhere. He did an admittedly impressive flip before catching the ball and taking off towards the opposite end of the field.

I hopped up and clapped excitedly. "Way to go, Li!"

Things were looking good until Diaz started coming towards Liam, diving low and flipping him over his back. Liam landed hard on the ground and I cringed. When he didn't get up right away Scott blew his whistle and ran towards him.

I knew something must have been wrong, so I abandoned my seat and ran onto the field, weaving between the players who were standing there looking at Liam. I knelt next to him and Scott to see that Liam's eyes were glowing gold and he was growling lowly.

"Li, are you okay? You're not hurt, are you?" I asked, putting one hand on top of the heavy pads on his shoulders.

He shook his head, but I could still hear growls rumbling through his chest.

"Hey, look at me." I said, grabbing the face mask of his helmet and forcing him to face me. "You need to calm down. Take a deep breath."

He followed my instructions and I watched his eyes flicker back to their normal shade of blue, the same color or my own eyes.

Scott stood up suddenly, pulling the two of us to our feet as well.

I noticed everyone staring at something and I looked over to see a wolf standing on the field, barely fifteen feet away from all of us. There was still-wet blood on the side of its neck and it growled, baring its teeth.

Liam immediately pushed me behind him and I found myself nervously gripping the back of his jersey.

"Everyone back." Scott said cautiously.

Most of the team followed his instructions and took a few slow steps backwards. But Nolan was standing still, seeming unable to move. His eyes were trained intensely on the wolf.