Long chapter as a reward for keeping you waiting :)
Next update will be Mafia Don
"I've seen the werewolf."
Mr. Derek was staring down at the ground without blinking. He seemed buried in deep memories.
"You have seen the werewolf?" I asked again, interrupting his memoirs.
"I looked it straight in the eyes." he looked at me "Just like I'm looking into your eyes right now."
"But I don't.. understand.." Daniel said.
"Listen, kids, this is not the right place to talk about werewolves. Come to my place tonight and we can talk."
"Wait a minute..." Daniel started "Could it be that you're the werewolf and now that we disturbed you last night, you want to revenge on us by tricking us into thinking that you're not the werewolf but a harmless old man, and then lure us into your home and kill us?" that was a long sentence, but Daniel had a point. I looked at Mr. Derek too, now even more suspicious.
"I am not the werewolf."
"Then how do you know all those things about it? Me and my friends are the only ones that know!" Daniel added.
"I know, because I killed it."
"WHAT?" we both said. Mr. Derek walked over to the door slowly, grabbed the handle and said
"And come before full moon." he opened the door and right in front of it stood Michael with his hand ready to knock. He had coffee in the other one.
Mr. Derek ignored him, but Michael gave him one weird stare, then came in.
"Who was that?" Michael asked.
"Mr. Derek." I replied.
"The town's weirdo." Daniel added.
"And what was he doing here?" Michael asked.
"Nothing, he just saw the door open, came in, started talking and then left. You know.. he's crazy." I couldn't tell Michael about the beast talk.
"Whatever. I'll be waiting for you outside, YN." then Michael left the room.
"I don't like that Michael, YN." Daniel said as soon as Michael closed the door.
"But I do! He lied for me in front of my parents!"
"You seem to like him a lot, YN... don't forget he's your cousin."
"How can you be saying such things! Are you crazy?! That's disgusting!" was it really?
"I am not crazy, nor I'm blind. I know what I see... you should be careful." I rolled my eyes "He doesn't wanna be my rival."
"Stop it Daniel! We have more important things to discuss! We have to go to Mr. Derek's house tonight..."
"And how am I supposed to do that? I'm in a hospital forgot?"
"You'll have to escape and I have to find you a wheel chair. Call your friends, I'll call Jess and we need to come up with a plan to meet somewhere tonight and go together to Derek's house!"
"Yeah.. and do that before full moon." he added "I don't wanna sound like a pussy but walking around town with a werewolf that probably hates us because of last night.. isn't a very clever idea."
"I have the feeling Mr. Derek knows a lot of things about this town, Daniel. Maybe that's why people think he's crazy..." Daniel was looking at Michael through the big glass.
"Your cousin's getting very impatient."
"I'll go now. How about 7pm at the park?"
"Fine."
"See you later."
"Bye."
I left Daniel's room.
"I'm ready." Michael nodded and we headed to the car. Once we got in, he drove off and suddenly asked
"I thought you didn't like that boy, Daniel."
"I don't." I replied.
"Didn't get that impression few minutes ago..." his voice was calm, but somehow.. cold.
"What do you mean?" I looked at him, but his eyes were focused on the road. He made a short pause, then said
"You seemed very happy to see him..."
"I was happy to know he's alive! I don't like him, but I'm happy he's okay, because he's a human, cousin." I sarcastically said the last word, but that sarcasm was on me.
Deep inside of me... very, very deep, I didn't want him to be my cousin.
"Yes, he is. Remember what that human tried to do to you and your friend? Thank God I was there..."
"That's in the past. Now he's hurt and needs help and understanding."
"You like him, don't you?" I looked at him.
The sound of his voice saying those words played over and over again in my head, trying to analyze it. I was afraid to even think about it, but... he sounded like a jealous boyfriend. Could he be j-jealous?
No. No way.
Then suddenly, he averted his eyes from the road and locked them with mine in a deep, intense stare. Those brown eyes were penetrating right through my whole body and soul.
I then looked away.
I didn't know if he was jealous, but one thing I knew for sure - he and Daniel didn't like each other.
The ride home was silent. He didn't say anything about Daniel and I didn't answer his question. When we arrived home I scurried in my room and called Jess to tell her about Mr. Derek.
She was very scared from what happened last night and didn't want to go out, even to the store, but I had her convinced after 1 hour talking on the phone.
We couldn't just stay there and do nothing about that werewolf. It had already killed many people and we couldn't let it take more lives. I felt as if I was in some kind of horror movie and couldn't explain to myself how was it possible for a werewolf to be real. Therefore, I desperately needed to talk to Mr. Derek. Now I understood why people thought he was crazy... maybe he had tried warning people about the beast's existence before? And they ignored him? Laughed at him?
I had to find out tonight!
6:30pm
I got dressed and was ready to leave the house to meet with Jess and the rest at the park. All I had to do now was ask Michael a permission.
I went into the living room and the TV was turned on, but Michael wasn't there.
"Michael?" I called.
"In the kitchen!" he replied.
He was doing something at the sink and his back was facing me. I approached him.
"I want to ask you something..."
"Sure." he stopped the water, dried his hands and turned around to look at me, but.. his eyes landed at my décolleté. I knew I shouldn't have worn this shirt, it's too revealing! I froze under his stare.
"Ahm... ahh.. I.." it was an awkward situation and I saw that he noticed me noticing him, so he averted his eyes. "Can I go out? With Jess?" I decided not to mention Daniel, because his answer might have been no.
"And go where? The woods?" he said looking away.
"No!" I forced a laugh "Of course not... I'll meet her at the park and then we'll go drink something. I won't go into the woods ever again!" I lied.
"I don't know, YN..."
"Please!!" he looked at me, then his eyes travelled down to my décolleté and he sighed.
"Alright... but keep your phone with you in case I decide to call and check on you."
"Thank you so much, Michael!"
I turned around to leave and just before I opened the door, I heard Michael yelling from the kitchen
"Oh and be careful when you go to Derek's house! I don't trust that old man!"
I froze.
How the heck did he know that I was going to Derek??!! I never told him.
I gulped down a big lump in my throat, not knowing whether to just leave or turn around and start producing more lies or apologize and tell the truth...
"Why are you standing there? Leave already, don't make your friends wait for you, that's not polite!" I heard Michael say.
I simply nodded and left.
I couldn't figure out what was going on... But he didn't sound angry. His voice was calm. He must have heard us talk at the hospital, how else was he supposed to know the truth about going to Derek's house.
Anyway, I felt kind of relieved, even glad, that he knew because I didn't have the courage to tell him and felt guilty for laying to him. At least he didn't try to stop me or rob me of my freedom like my parents would have done. I needed to thank him actually, but now I had to focus on Mr. Derek.
When I arrived at the park, Jess was already there. I gave her a warm hug and we started talking about the werewolf and Derek until Daniel arrived in a wheelchair with Stanly and Jason.
"Hi, Jess. Nice to see you're alive." Daniel said.
"You're alive too... nice."
"Now do you believe me, Jess? Do you still think I'm crazy?"
"No. I hate to say it, Daniel, but this time you were right." Jess replied.
"This is the first time I hear you say something clever. Wish Chad was here to hear it..."
"Don't worry, Dan, we're gonna revenge for Chad." Stanly said, one of Daniel's best buddies, who just like us thought he was crazy until last night's 'adventures'.
"Absolutely!" Jason said. "But I think we're wasting our time with that weirdo Derek.. we could be making a murder plan right now!"
"I can't be killing beasts in this condition, forgot? While we wait for me to get better, talking to Derek won't hurt us. Now, let's go! I don't have much time. If they find out I escaped from the hospital..."
"Daniel's right, let's go." I said.
We decided to get to Mr. Derek's home through the park so that no one will see Daniel's not at the hospital.
When we got to Derek's home, he opened the door and we quickly got inside, so that no one would see us.
He lived alone and his house was messy. I noticed he had many pictures of young men, dressed in uniforms, but no family pictures.
"Sit down." he said and we all sat down in the living room. "Quit staring at me like that, I ain't the beast! I'm not gonna eat you!"
"Mr. Derek, " I begun "we don't have much time... Daniel had to escape from the hospital and Michael's not letting me stay too long outside, so let's get to the point. Tell us about the werewolf! Who is he??"
"Woha young lady... I don't know who he is."
"Is this why we got here??? He doesn't even know who the beast is!" Stanly jumped in.
"Shut up and listen, boy!" wow, Mr. Derek was sassy! "You have no idea what you're dealing with!"
"People, let's just get a silver bullet, shoot the beast, go home and end this story, ha?" Jason said.
"Silver bullets won't kill this beast, smart boy."
"And how do you know that, old man?" Jason fired back.
"Because I killed it with silver." we all looked at each other, then back at Derek. "Winter of 1953... when I was young. This town was a small village, plagued by a werewolf. I still remember the corpses we would find in the morning... " the room was silent, only Mr. Derek's voice filled the silence. "The streets were like rivers overflowing with dead bodies... Imagine what it felt like to find your loved ones or parts of your loved ones here and there." I felt goose bumps all over my skin as I thought of my family. "Hands, legs... whatever the beast didn't eat, women screaming, children crying... I'll spare you the details." he sighed and I could see the pain in his eyes "One day, we gathered and decided that this had to stop. We were about 50 men and we were determined to kill the beast that night, so we went into the woods to look for it, but... " he sighed again "It had killed almost all of us and we hadn't even noticed." he made a short pause "In the end it was only me and the beast. It held me and looked straight into my eyes. Just before it killed me, and I don't know why I connected silver to the beast, but I had a silver cross hanging on my neck, so I took it and stabbed the beast. It fell on the ground and I thought it was dead. From there on, I've been having nightmares all my life about the beast standing up and killing me! I guess I'm living my nightmares now..."
His story left all of us scared... I didn't know what to say.
"And ah.. how do you know it's the same werewolf?" Jason finally spoke. "Maybe that werewolf died and this is a new one?"
"Your friend has seen it." he looked at me "She gave the very same description! The one in my head! I'll never forget it's face and eyes! It's the same werewolf and I don't know how, but it is!"
"So, silver won't kill it?" I asked.
"Obviously not. It only makes it weak or something like that, but it is not dead!"
"And what are we gonna do?" Stanly asked.
"That's the question... I don't know how to kill it."
"Then we are going to find out how." Daniel said.
"Be very careful... the werewolf is not just an animal! It is very smart." he whispered the last words "It's smarter than all of us put together. I felt like.. it was thinking and planning its actions with precision. Whoever the werewolf is, is smart too."
"Do you have any idea who the werewolf might be, Mr. Derek?" I asked.
"No... unfortunately."
"But it must someone old, because you said 1953. Now that the beast has grown older, maybe it is weaker..."
"I have no idea... and the strange thing is that it suddenly appeared out of nowhere! There haven't been any 'animal attacks' as they say on TV, ever since 1953!"
"I say we check on all old people in this town." Daniel suggested.
"There aren't many left. All of my friends died and those who are alive are not here anymore, but in the city. Maybe we are targeting the wrong group... Maybe it's someone knew. Someone who came here recently..." we all looked at each other.
"Michael." Daniel said.
"Daniel! Michael is my cousin for God's sake!" he rolled his eyes.
"Do you know this Michael well, YN?" Derek asked me.
"Of course! He's my cousin and he's been living with us! My father knows his father and family and him being the werewolf... he's not a violent person to begin with! He can't hurt a fly. I live with that man 24/7, forgot? If he was the werewolf, I would have known!"
"He's got a protector, I see..." Daniel said with sarcasm, but I ignored him.
"The priest is new in this town." Jason suddenly said.
"A priest to be a werewolf? Seriously?" Jess said "I don't believe that, he's a priest!!!
"You never know." Derek said.
"But isn't he too young? He's like 40-50 years old!" I said.
"Maybe the werewolf doesn't grow old!" Stanly jumped in.
"Oh Lord.. this ain't vampires, Stanly!"
"Kids, you shouldn't be fighting!" Derek said "I think we should check on the priest, just in case. Anyone else?"
"Oh Jeremy! He's our new neighbor!" I said.
"Good, we should check him too." Derek replied.
"I'll take care of that!" I said "I live right next to him."
"Just make sure it's not full moon, YN." Derek said "Remember this kids, whatever you do, wherever you go, the full moon is not your friend. As long as it shines, the beast reigns. And avoid the woods at any price. Be careful of the people you don't know. The human is no different than the beast... it's dangerous too." we all nodded. "Now, we have 2 suspects. YN's gonna keep an eye on Derek and someone needs to check the priest. We can go to church on Sunday, what better opportunity to talk to the priest than the church!"
"Fine."
"Also, getting something silver and carrying it around with you, won't do any harm... just in case, you know..." we all nodded.
"I think I should go then..." Daniel said "I don't want anyone to find out about me not being at the hospital."
"I should go too. Don't wanna make Michael wait."
"Good and don't forget, kids, be very careful when the moon is round! And one more tip, don't tell anybody about the werewolf, because you might end up like me."
Then we left.
Now I understood why people thought Mr. Derek was a weirdo... because he tried warning everybody about the beast and had nightmares, but no body believed him. Poor man. But now he had us and we had him! He was our supporter and thought us things about the beast.
I looked up in the sky and remembered his words about the moon, so I picked up speed. Although there was still time before the moon shone, I wanted to return home as fast as possible. I was glad that my parents were not in town right now, because they were safe.
When I approached my house, I saw Jeremy in the distance. He was watering the flowers in the garden.
"Oh hi, YN! How are you doing?" he smiled warmly and I focused my eyes on him.
On his face, eyes, voice and body language, trying to find something that could connect him to the beast, but I couldn't. This man seemed so warm, nice, gentle and caring like Michael! Besides if he was the beast, what would he be doing watering flowers? I mean the moan was about to shine, wasn't he supposed to prepare for his 'transformation' and werewolf life?!
"Hi, Jeremy. I'm good. How are you?"
"Oh God," he wiped the sweat off his forehead "I'm tired! I've been doing work in the garden all day long! But I'm almost done here. Can't wait to be done so I can take a shower, have a nice dinner and go to bed to get some rest!" I nodded "I heard about Daniel.. I'm glad he's okay."
"Yeah, me too.."
"If there's anything I can do to help you or Michael, just let me know."
"Thank you, Jeremy..."
"We have to look out for each other until the police catches the wolf." I nodded again.
"Do you have children, Jeremy?" a werewolf won't probably have a family!
"Ah.. yes, I have a son."
"Wife?"
"Things didn't work out between us..."
"I'm sorry.. and for asking too."
"It's okay, but why are you asking?"
"Oh just curious. Well, I have to go home now. See you!"
"Bye!"
I hope I didn't seem weird for asking those things, but I had to check - Jeremy seemed completely normal. However, this didn't mean I wasn't gonna spy on him! I'll keep my eyes open. Maybe the werewolf was the priest!
I stood in front of my door and could hear voices. Like someone was fighting inside. I placed my ear against the door.. it was Michael and a woman's voice? What was going on?
I opened the door and stormed inside
"NO I DON'T WANNA HEAR IT!!!"
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND MICHAEL LET ME J-"
They turned around and looked at me.
"Who's this, Michael?" the woman asked.
"YN, my cousin."
"Who's she?" I asked.
"Lisa, my ex wife."