Cursed

F O U R

"I need you to come home now, we need to talk." Mack's heart sped up at his words.

"Um, o-okay. I'll head home now I-I guess."

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I just really need to tell you something. In person." Her father reassured her and Mack let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Bye."

"Bye." Mack hung up and gave the phone back to Kai before going over to the table and cleaning up the stuff from earlier.

"I have to go." Mack said to Kai before walking up to Jo's room to grab her things.

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Mack walked through the door and instantly stopped in her tracks, seeing Mim and her
dad sat on the sofa, who both looked up when they heard her come in.

"Come sit." Her father said, motioning to the arm chair. Mack swallowed thickly sat down, nervous. "We need to talk." Mack nodded slowly and her gaze flickered from her dad to her sister every few seconds. Her sister took a deep breath before beginning.

"Well, y-you see, mum, she uh wasn't, h-human." Kim stuttered out, not exactly sure how to say it. Mack frowned in confusion.

"What do you mean not human?"

"W-well she was, a uh-" Kim was interjected by their dad.

"She was a werewolf." He said quickly and bluntly. Mack's eyes widened and her mouth hung open.

"B-but h-how?! Werewolves aren't real!"

"They are. I don't know how, but I fell in love with one." Her dad said calmly.

"H-how does it effect me? She's dead." Mack said with a tear in her eye. Mack's mum had passed out in a car crash when Mack was 14.

"Well, werewolves pass on their, um, gene, to any children they have." Kim said shakily. Mack tilted her head in a questioning way.

"I'm not a werewolf though, surely I'd like 'turn' on a full moon or something if I was."

"You have to trigger the curse." Her dad deadpanned.

"Curse? It's a bad thing?" Mack was genuinely confused.

"Y-yes. To turned you h-have to break every b-bone in your body first." Her Kim almost whispered.

"And you have to kill someone to trigger it." Her dad chimed in grimly.

"W-why do you know so much about this already?" Mack's question was directed at Kim.

"B-because I've already triggered it. Recently. We thought you should know so you might be able to avoid the same fate." Kim said softly, still worried they were scaring Mack and unable to read her sister's expression. After that Mack pieced it together. Kim being distant, not going to college despite being smart enough to get a scholarship, her always picking up an extra shift once a month. It all made sense.

"I-I need some air." Is all Mack said before storming out the door and pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and fore finger.

I'm a freaking werewolf, she thought. It made no sense, yet in every way made sense. She needed to distract herself, she needed someone to shout at or to hit something or-

It wasn't until she got to the end of the road that Mack realised she'd been sprinting. She doubled over, out of breath and rested her hands on her knees. Mack hated running, or just sports in general. Her heavily breathing masked the sound of his footsteps and when Ben put a hand on her shoulder Mack jumped in shock and spun around ready to scream. When she realised who it was she calmed down.