The Wisconsin Werewolf (OPTIONED FOR FILM BY NETFLIX!)

2)

I didn't sleep that night. I tossed and turned in my bed while still frightened of whatever it was we saw eating the deer. Even as I shut down Simon's hypothesis that a werewolf was the creature, I wasn't sure if I was right to dismiss his guess. There weren't a large variety of animals it could be as I researched it that night. It was far too big to be a coyote or a wolf. Cougar's didn't stand on their hind legs. My best guess was that we saw a bear. They could stand on their hind legs but then there was the issue that they shouldn't be this far down in Wisconsin. In the back of my mind I knew I was only kidding myself. Whatever it was wasn't a normal animal by any means. There was no one to tell, either. Simon and I couldn't tell our parents what it was we saw. They were still overseas traveling for my dad's large presentation he had to show for the sister corporation of his company. We could call or text, but with the time difference I didn't exactly know how to broach the topic of a "werewolf" with my parents. Not to mention I couldn't expect to tell them this over the phone late at night and expect them to take me seriously. Hell, I couldn't expect them to take me seriously even in the morning. The truth of what it was we saw was too absurd.

The next morning as I made coffee Simon entered the kitchen with his laptop in hand. "Why are there not more lore books on werewolves?" He complained as he shoved his laptop screen under my nose.

There were many fiction books based on werewolves but not too much regarding any concrete myths."We're still gonna tell mom and dad it was a werewolf?" The skepticism wasn't hidden in my question.

"I can't think of anything else it could have been," Simon shrugged as he allowed me to take the laptop to search. He proceeded to the cupboard to pull out a colorful box of cereal. As he found himself a bowl and spoon, I found my voice.

"They're never going to believe us."

"Yeah, but we know what we saw."

"And what exactly are we going to say to them?"

"I dunno but we should probably tell someone a giant werewolf is outside hunting the deer..."

Suddenly Miranda appeared down the stairs of our lavish five bedroom farmhouse. Her wet hair was put up in a towel turban, her fluffy pink robe covered her from neck to toe. "What are you two arguing about?" She didn't look at us as she asked her question and proceeded to get herself some coffee. The eldest of us three Davis children, Miranda had gone to the University of Madison for a degree in business. Upon graduation she had found a nice job for an advertising agency near her college. When our dad had announced that he and mom would be traveling for his job over seas, they offered Miranda the ability to stay in the house in the Dells rent free as long as she looked after Simon and I. It was a joke to even "offer" free rent. My parents would never make any of their children pay rent regardless of what age we reached. Still, Miranda said yes and that was the arrangement the last few weeks. Given Simon was still a minor this worked out perfectly for him and our parents who still wanted him supervised. But I found myself sour nowadays. It wasn't bad enough my writing career still hadn't taken off. Now I was back to living at home and under the supervision of my overbearing know-it-all elder sister. It was like I was twelve again minus the hideous braces.

Wanting to show Simon that no one was going to believe us, I sighed. "Driving home last night I hit a deer crossing the road. A large werewolf then came up and ate it." I nodded seriously as Miranda snorted into her first cup of coffee.

She didn't bat an eyelash as she played around on her cell phone. "You're hilarious. Simon, hurry up or you're going to be late for school, Everly, good luck today."

Miranda ripped open a packet of fake sugar to dump into her coffee. As she went in search of a spoon, I shot a pair of raised eyebrows at Simon to prove my point. No one was going to believe whatever it was we saw last night.