Illuminated Moon

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This is for the #adayinthelife contest. I’ve been watching Teen Wolf lately, so I was happy that I landed on werewolf. The story I wrote took approximately two days, and only counting the time in which I worked on it, it actually only took around four hours. It may be long, but I assure you that’s it is worth the read. The summary is: a boy in his Sophomore year of high school was bitten a month ago by a werewolf while taking a walk in the forest at night. Today is his first full moon and, with his girlfriend, Jenna Kingsley, by his side, he believes that he’ll be fine. But, with the wolf side of him slowly crawling up his throat, he faces many problems throughout the day as the full moon slowly arrives.

In my view, this is how werewolves work (thanks Teen Wolf for inspiring me while I added some ideas of my own). To become a werewolf, you have to be bitten by one and survive it. Then, the wound heals and you get all kinds of extras because you are now a werewolf: intense hearing, extreme strength, good eyes, etc. In a pack, there are Alphas, Betas, Deltas, and Omegas. Alphas rule the pack and are the strongest werewolf. They often recruit new werewolves as a plus, and when they don’t have the time or are busy, the Beta, or the second in command, takes over and does so. Deltas are average werewolves that are in training to be future betas while Omegas are the outcasts who tend to do all of the dirty work. Even if it’s day, a werewolf can swap to their wolf form, but it requires extreme skill, or rage. When it’s a full moon, however, it works differently. Unless a werewolf has practiced to control their unreasonable anger, they will slowly grow in rage as the full moon creeps forward, and when it does, they will become a wolf with no control over it. That’s why Alphas help werewolves on their first moon; to help them control any urges.

By the way, if there are any errors in the story, please excuse them. I tried my best to spot every single error, but with as much writing done as this, it was an absolute pain trying to spot all of the problems in sight.

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Illuminated Moon

         Dark, sneering trees surrounded me as I ran past each and every one of them, until only darkness could be seen, and the oaks were long gone. I stood still, wearing nothing but a pair of night pants that warmed my legs, and multiple times I turned around, trying to make out any shapes. But, barely anything could be seen in the pitch-black area that surrounded me. I was utterly blind, and despite me still heading forth, the blackness never cleared. Suddenly, a low growl could be heard, and I whipped about, but there was nothing. I kept twisting my body to eye possible sources, though nothing else could be heard for the moment. Then, just as I suspected all was hushed and quiet, a beast leapt. It came from in front of me, and it was a dark gray wolf with red eyes and a human-like structure, but still completely wolf at the same time. It toppled me onto my back, and the last thing I saw was it opening its mouth and going for my shoulder.

        I finally woke up, at long last, to nothing but the bright sun through by bedroom window. I forgot to set my alarm last night. An itchy sensation shrouded the one shoulder, but I ignored the odd feeling and got off of my bed. I have had this nightmare for a while now, ever since last month, when I wandered into the woods at night out of curiosity and accidentally went too far, only to be chased by the same wolf and bitten. A few days after the occurrence, strange people approached me, one from my high school, a Sophomore, just like me. They told me everything, as if it was no entirely big deal, and ever since then I’ve just accepted it and went along with the tide. Werewolves were real, and I apparently was bit by one and now was in a pack. My parents, friends, and other family don’t know about the creatures of the night, and I intend to keep it that way until the end, because they aren’t in this and thus they don’t need to know.

               I got dressed, brushed my teeth, did my hair, and finally headed downstairs. My mother, a tall woman in dresses often with a talent for cooking, greeted me, “Hey there, Nick.” That was her, and everybody else’s, nickname for me because my first name was Nicholas in actuality. “I made you some pancakes and eggs, but you apparently got up late. And--my goodness! The bus will be out at the stop in five minutes, so you better go! Don’t wake up late tomorrow again, because I’d hate to waste more food on a boy who doesn’t have the time to eat up.”

        “Sorry, mom,” I mumbled, though still sincerely. “I just forgot to set my alarm.”

        She went over to me and kissed me on the forehead after I grabbed my backpack, which already had my packed lunchbox in it. “I’ll let that slide for today. Now, go on!”

        My mom proceeded to rush me out the door without a slight hesitation, and as soon as I was out of the doorway with the door itself shut behind my back, I ran to the stop and boarded the bus, barely arriving on time. All the way to school, people were talking. One of them mentioned that gym class today would be fun because of dodgeball, but I was actually quite thankful that I had gym for last period instead of earlier. That was since it was the only class I didn’t spend with my girlfriend, Jenna Kingsley. Some people commented on her, saying she was one of the hottest chicks in the school, but I instead thought of her as the kind one who helped me in some of my classes. After a while of me studying with her thru times of going to each other’s homes, we hooked up fully and dated, and that was a week before the bite.

               After around 30 minutes of listening to conversations on the bus ride, the driver let us off and I bounded towards my school: Westfield High. I went straight to my locker upon entering, took off the lock once I dialed the combination swiftly, and began placing my bookbag into the locker and taking out needed items until someone breathed onto my left ear, “Hey, Nicholas. Don’t you know what tonight is?” I turned around, knowing immediately who it was: Dean Howell, the only werewolf of the pack who was in my school. They are the leading captain of the football team, and though not too cocky, he tended to get on my nerves ever since the bite, not answering my questions at first and always sneaking up on me in the halls.

        “Yeah, I know what tonight is. It’s the full moon. I you telling me that it’s when you go all blood-thirsty and wild right before dark, and honestly, the only thing I want to rip apart right now is you,” I spat in reply.

        “Don’t get too excited. Anyways, I wanted to say that you might want to leave school early, considering you’re the only werewolf besides me who has the nerves to stay. That’s because you might, oh, I don’t know, get mad during one point and go berserk?”

        I eyed him as he leaned closer to me, his words still in a whisper, and I said, “I’m only staying because I love somebody! Now, will you leave me alone about that?! And, I won’t get too mad or do anything only a nutcase like you would do. I promise!”

        “Okay, I’ll trust you on this one. But, when it’s after school, to head straight to the Alpha. Don’t go home and tell your mommy ‘I have to go somewhere’ because that’s wasting time.”

         Right after Dean said that in my face with warm breath and a teasing grin, he took his palm off of the metallic, red locker beside mine and walked away with a steady pace, leaving me to grab my stuff and get set to head to first period. The Alpha was the leader of the pack, and often was the one to turn somebody, but occasionally the Beta, or second-in-command, would take the role. The Alpha also helps a new werewolf of the pack on their first full moon, because when that comes around, the person tends to be constantly angry or annoyed during the day, but when it’s night, they become an absolute killing machine. Of course, during the day they could also become a wolf through own will, but that requires extreme practice, or rage, which is the worse end. Several days ago, while I was in Language Arts, people laughed at me because the teacher read my essay out loud, and despite Jenna comforting me, my teeth became razor, and that’s when Dean busted into the classroom and made an excuse to drag me out. That was about the only time he ever helped me.

        Now, I walked into my Science class and sat beside my girlfriend, who has dark brown, long hair, and brown eyes. She normally didn’t wear heavy makeup and that’s one of the things I liked about her, because, in my own thoughts, I think that girls don’t need too much makeup to look beautiful. She, in other , was naturally a beauty, and that’s what made her special. She turned her head and asked, “You look like you got up late. Did you get enough sleep last night?”

         “Yeah, yeah,” I replied. “I got just enough to look decent instead of crappy, while you don’t need too many hours to look beautiful at school.”

        Jenna grinned and gave off a small chuckle. “What a compliment, and now I don’t know what exactly to say in return.”

        “You don’t need to say anything to tell me you love me.”

        She smiled and said nothing more, and directly after we finished exchanging polite morning words, the teacher spoke aloud, “Okay, everyone. Today we are going to Chapter 7 in your science textbooks to more thoroughly discuss electricity. Open up to page 283, where the chapter starts, read, and we’ll get started on the lesson that corresponds.”

That was altogether science class: learning about electricity and talking to Jenna, all while paying attention to the teacher, who didn’t notice us chatting in the slightest hint. Geometry came and went, with nothing important happening during the whole class period, and it was the exact same with Economics, even though the teacher in that class was often very crabby. It was now lunch time, at long last, and I headed towards the cafeteria with lunch box clenched in hand, since I hated the school lunch with all my heart. The moment I went through the twin doors, the sounds of people talking made my ears ring, and the reason was because of my enhanced hearing, which was both a gift and a pain. I rushed towards my usual table and sat down, ignoring the ruckus, or at least trying to.

A few minutes ed, and at last Jenna sat next to me with a tray of school lunch. She playfully punched me lightly and said, “So, how bad does this tray of glob reek to you?”

        “Well, it doesn’t smell bad. It just looks disgusting.” On the navy-blue tray was macaroni and cheese, some bread, a small serving of beans, and mashed potatoes that didn’t even looked mashed. “On a second thought, I mean absolutely disgusting.”

        “Oh, come on! It can’t be that bad. Here—have a taste of the macaroni and cheese.”

She scooped up a spoonful of the food, and though I plead for her not to do it multiple times, she put it in my mouth and placed the spoon back on the tray, grinning. “Now, is it really as bad as you suppose it is, Nick?”

        The moment it hit my tongue, it happened to actually taste truly delicious, despite what I thought of it initially, and instead of lying, I answered, after I swallowed the macaroni and cheese, “It’s actually not that bad. I’m surprised.”

        “That means that even if you think something’s bad, it doesn’t have to be.”

        “Are you sure? Because I still will think that those potatoes will taste horrible.”

        Jenna laughed at that, and I did as well, but I stopped laughing sooner than expected. For some reason, deep down, I felt a tremble of unreasonable anger that was welling up and slowly growing, and I knew that it wouldn’t be long before the bubble busted open and I’d be unexplainably enraged in a later class. Still, I kept it hidden and to myself as I wrapped my arm around her and kissed her on the cheek lovingly, because wolfy business could definitely wait until later.

        The period afterwards was Language Arts, the class with the teacher in which I despised the most. His name was Mr. Ginnigan, and he was a tall man with a beard and brown hair. He used to be in the military, which is probably why he was so strict a good three quarters of the time, and though I always tried hard in the class due to the teacher’s efforts to bring me down to the mud, I always end up getting upset and failing to stay up. Day after day, no matter how easy the lesson seemed, it’d always turn out to be a hard one, and Mr. Ginnigan always made it worse by either giving us a big assignment or calling me out. Today was a little different, however. He was calm most of the time, and when the class expert, Dallas Farley, asked why he was so collected, the teacher said, “Because you all are getting a big ole’ essay tomorrow that’ll be due the next day!” Everyone grumbled in response, and at the end, that was the only thing I ed in that class, apart from Jenna whispering to me at one point, “When we are given that essay, I’ll come to your house so we both can work on it.” That made me a lot calmer, even though currently I am worrying about bursting with absolute rage. It was still creeping up the back of my neck and taking its time.

        Next, I completed my computer class, which was complicated, as per usual, and then I was off to my last period: gym. I went straight to the boy’s locker room and opened my locker, only to get out my gym clothes that we were required to wear if we wished to participate. Of course, I didn’t truly want to be a part of the game of dodgeball, but I had to in since I had my gym clothes either way and I didn’t want my mother to lecture me about responsibility later on. So, I took off my current clothes, slipped into the required wear, and ran into the gym, where I remained sitting for a good five minutes before the coach, Hawkwell, stepped out of his office and shouted, “Alright, my athletic troopers, today we are going to play dodgeball! Now, before we begin in this fierce game, I’m going to set up some boundary lines for all of you. The rules are plain and simple: no reing once you’re out until a new game starts, no throwing balls at people’s heads, no ing the mid-line, and no holding a ball for more than a minute. If I see any single type of cheating, you’ll be out for the whole class period! Am I clear?” Everyone nodded, me included, and after a moment we were in two teams, on our sides, and waiting for the blow of the whistle to sound the begun game.

         Soon enough, the coach blew the whistle. It rung in my ears like a siren, and as soon as it was blown, I ran forward and grabbed a red dodgeball with speed that outmatched that of many other players on either side. As soon as I located a person that was an acceptable target, standing too still, I threw the ball and it slammed into their thigh, and the said person mumbled something and walked into their side’s out box. I dodged a ball that hissed past the right side of my face, ducked under another, and caught the last skillfully. Once the person who threw it was off the court, I threw the ball to an unsuspecting team enemy and it hit their stomach. For a moment, I didn’t know what I had done, but when they collapsed, wheezing, I realized that I definitely threw harder than I intended. Instead of going over to the injured player, I stood still and watched them cough until the coach led them out of the gym doors to take them to the nurse’s office, and the game was resumed thereon, restarting.

         Throughout the second round, I kept dodging with ease. It was as if I was flowing with the current, and after a while, I felt the bubble pop, though I didn’t take it into the moment it did. I started playing with much more intensity, until I felt my eyes starting to bulge and my teeth turning sharp. I felt myself slowly becoming dizzy, knees turning weaker as the seconds flew by, and without a mere moment’s hesitation or thought, I grabbed another dodgeball and whisked it directly at somebody’s head. Just like the previous person who ended up injured, they collapsed. Their mouth was bleeding crimson red, and as I was running towards them like an animal heading on to attack a weakened piece of prey, people grabbed my arms. I felt my fangs go away, and when coach Hawkwell stormed through the doors, I fainted.

        I woke up in the nurse’s office. The two boys who I hurt earlier were in a separate room, and I was alone in the main one, sitting on an infirmary bed that felt like a rock under my body. One of the nurses came over and lumbered above me, only to ask, “So, you’ve finally woke up? I wonder what happened, because the principal wants to see you as soon as possible.”

        I felt my head spin, as if I was on a carousel, and my heart kept pounding like a drum on-and-off, until I realized that the nurse talked to me and she was waiting for any reply I might’ve had. I turned my head to the side and gradually got up to a sitting position, placing my hands on the bedside to be steadier, and the nurse moved away slightly, most likely supposing that I didn’t need any help—which was correct. Once I was up, I looked at her and said, “I guess I’m up. Why would the principal want to see me when I was knocked out?”

          “They say that you knocked yourself out somehow and that you were the one who injured the two of them. Nobody said anything after the first boy got hit badly, but after the second, they spoke up and told the coach what happened. I’m just here to help you up and to the principal.”

        “Oh…,” I mumbled, “well, I can get there myself.”

        “Are you sure?”

        “Yes, I’m sure,” I replied, now getting finally annoyed that she was acting like I couldn’t leave without her assistance.

        After a moment, she gave up, slouched her arms down, and stated, “Okay, you can leave and head to the principal without me by your side. Just note that your temperature is a little above the ordinary, but that’s nothing drinking water can’t fix. So, drink plenty of water when you get home.” I plainly nodded as she went over to her desk, sat down in the roller chair, eyed the computer a few times in the making, and then handed me a pink slip. I took it out of her hand and proceeded to leave the nurse’s office without any further words and began to go down the hall. Since the nurse’s office was in the front of Westfield High, the principal’s office wouldn’t be entirely too far at all. It’d be directly nearby.

         Thus, soon enough, after a minute of walking in the quiet, chilly halls whereas many pictures were hung, as well as awards in cases, I arrived at his office. I opened the door and immediately the scent of mint touched my nose, and the principal got up, off of his desk chair and said, “Come on in, Nicholas. Rest assured, this won’t last long unless you make it that way.” I walked in and shut the door behind me, and then sat down while the principal began to continue. Along the way of heading to the chair, I saw where the smell of mint was coming from: an air refresher. “Earlier today, two boys your age got injured in the gym. Not too bad of injuries, but bad enough to bring it to my attention. Some students told me that they saw that you were the one who managed to hurt both of them upon throwing the dodgeball hard; whether it be intentionally or not, I’ll never know unless you were to speak. Now, I already checked the gym cameras. I made sure you were the one who threw the ball—and goodness, despite the amount of flare that the camera displayed on your face—I still could tell it was you that did so.”

        I decided that I needed to tell a lie and so I spoke up, “Look, they both were teasing me earlier at my locker. I got so riled up in gym that I accidentally hurt them, and I swear that I didn’t mean to.”

        “I know you didn’t mean to, but that doesn’t excuse that you injured both of them. I will talk to the boys some day soon about the teasing, but for now, let’s discuss punishment.”

        “What will it be?” I partially prayed that it wouldn’t be too harsh.

        “I’ll call your parents tomorrow. That’ll give you time until then to tell them what you’ve done yourself, so maybe they’ll be less angry with being told by words that came from your mouth. As for gym, you will not be allowed tomorrow or the day after to participate.”

I only nodded with no expression on my face, thankful that the punishments were not too hard, and I supposed that whenever I got home I would be able to tell my mom about it before the principal could touch the phone and call her.

            Approximately thirty minutes later, I was on my doorstep with Jenna Kingsley by my side, backpacks slouched over our backs and faces smiling. Earlier, when I left the principal’s office, she was waiting outside and she asked me about what happened, and so I told her about it, including the lie in the story to add sympathetic thought. I felt ashamed of doing so, but I had to hide the truth or else she’d most likely get upset at me for injuring them without a proper reason. After I had told her all of it, Jenna hugged me and told me that she could come over and help me inform my parents about the incident, and that afterwards, we could study together. I happily obliged and that was the moment in which I ed the full moon was tonight and that I was told to visit the Alpha straight after school finished for the day. Still, I ended up ignoring directions, which was strange for me because I usually followed any I was given.

        Now, I held her hand. It was warm and smooth, and it comforted me as I unlocked the door with a house key and stepped inside with her. I closed and locked the door behind me, and immediately I whipped back about, contemplated my thinking for a moment, and then whispered, “Why don’t we study together first? I’m honestly a little scared about talking to my parents about the issue at school I had today, and I think that studying with you first will calm me down.”

        She smirked. “Okay, okay. But, right when I’m about to leave, I’ll drag you downstairs and we’ll talk to your parents together.”

        I was bewildered that she was fine with the new plan, and so we both took off our backpacks, placed them on hooks in the laundry room, took out our studying materials, and rushed upstairs and into my own bedroom, where we sat on the bed. I ended up studying thoroughly with Jenna for more than an hour, and as time ticked away, so did my mentality, but I kept on being by her side and talking. Apart from asking questions and answering them as a part of studying, we also spoke about how we felt about certain people in our classes, what we thought of certain teachers, how it was at our houses, and more. At one point, she looked at me and put her hand into her pocket. In the next moment, she took out a leather necklace with a metallic tree on the end, and I remained still as she placed it around my neck and then put her hands back onto her laps to ire it. “I bought it a day ago, and I didn’t know when to give it to you, but now is the perfect time. It’s pretty big, but I couldn’t find a smaller necklace with the same cute tree on it. I hope you like it.”

        “Like it? I love it, Jenna! It’s absolutely beautiful.” After I said that, I kissed her on the cheek, and she appreciated the reply deeply, and then we continued with studying.

        Normally, we treaded off topic multiple times through our sessions, and after around two hours, I excused myself. I went into the restroom and sweat began to dribble my forehead. I felt warm—too warm—and my hands clenched the sides of my sink as sweat kept on streaming down my now-reddened face. I felt my eyes partly bulge, and as I rubbed them through itchiness, I kept on heating up and now I was finally wheezing, gulping air like a dying fish. At last, I ran out of the restroom, not being able to take it any longer. Jenna called my name multiple times behind me, asking what was wrong and so on, but I completely ignored her and ran downstairs with speed, only to go out through the back door and into the fenced backyard. I ran forth and jumped over the fence, jumping higher than an average person could on any given day, and just as I landed on the soil past it, I felt my teeth grow sharper and more canine. I kept running into the woods on instinct, but no matter how much I twisted my head around and eyed every single tree in view, I couldn’t find anyone from my pack to lend a helping hand. They were either all gone, or they lost faith in me because I didn’t follow instructions.

        Soon enough, I fell to the leaf-littered soil. I heard Jenna screaming my name from my backyard, but I was already too far into the woods and I knew that I didn’t have the strength to go back to her, because I couldn’t even get up as it was. All of a sudden, I felt my muscles tighten up and my hands clench, and when I unclenched my balled fists and looked at each individually, I saw that my fingernails had sprouted into razor claws. Unbelievable pain welled up in my chest as I felt my body lurch forward, as if my chest was growing. I tried to ignore it but the pain was so strong that I couldn’t, and after a few seconds it paused, only for my face to keep burning up. My ears seemed to stretch up the sides of my head, and my nose went forward, as if I was growing a wolf’s snout; which I hoped wasn’t true, but it was very much real. Pain shrouded the front of my face as my jaws grew, muscle stretching, and in the next moments snapping sounded from my back legs. I threw myself on the ground, screaming chaotically now as my hind legs were growing longer and shaping themselves, and soon enough, the pain was so great that I couldn’t hold on anymore. I felt my head go in circles, one after another, and then everything in my sight was pitch-black, just like in the nightmare.

        The trees blew along the wind’s currents as a full moon was bringing itself to light in the sky. It was getting colder as time went on, and despite that, a young girl, presumably 17, was walking in the woods with nothing but a sweater on. Whilst walking, she kept calling out a single name multiple times on end, most likely hoping that there would be an answer from another person: ‘Nicholas’. But, there was not a single answer that came from the shadows, and cold air kept whipping and twirling along, making the girl breathe out puffs of icy air. Now, as she trailed along, she went slower as neighborhood homes were no longer in view, and she seemed to be utterly lost, though she didn’t mind, because she kept on calling out the name relentlessly, not giving up.

          After a while, she heard the sound of growling and turned and twisted to find where it came from, but she couldn’t spot where. The growling seemed to disappear after a few mere seconds, and just as she starting walking again with more caution and wariness than previously, a shadowed creature began to walk out of hiding. As it grew closer into view, it could be noticed that it was an abnormally large black wolf with yellow eyes that pierced the darkness, and though it was a wolf, it also seemed to have something human about it. The girl, out of fear, stood still and didn’t run or turn around because if she did, then the wolf would’ve leapt and shredded her flesh into small ribbons. Instead of running forward, the wolf slowly crept forth, as if examining its newly-found prey, and the girl dared to look at it straight into its wild yellow eyes. She looked slightly down, and what she saw made her both more scared and confused than ever before. It was a leather necklace with a metallic tree on the end of it, and though it was tight around the human-like wolf’s neck, it didn’t break just yet. The tree stood out from the beast’s black fur that mostly hid the necklace as a whole, but she could still see it with jumpy eyes, and when she looked back up at the creature’s face, its ears went back. It started to growl, saliva dripping from its white teeth. The wolf crept even closer, as if it was going to claw her down, but instead it went directly to her legs and sniffed.

        After it did so, it immediately crawled back, turned tail, and ran away with a small, barely audible whimper. She then reached out with an arm and called, “Nicholas?” The wolf paused, just as it was out of her range of sight, and the girl would’ve run forward but she was far too confused to even move a leg. Instead, she let her arm go back to her side, and once it was down, the black wolf finally started to run again, and made it out of her view a split second later. The air whistled around the girl’s brown hair, and she crossed her arms, trying to warm herself up, all while still looking in the direction the beast disappeared in, as if she had lingering hope that it’d come back. But, it didn’t, and instead of revealing itself, it howled from far away. It howled to the full, illuminated moon that shone from above, in the dark night sky, and the howl the creature made was full of sadness. Even though the girl couldn’t fully understand it, she knew partly on what the wolf’s howl meant, and thus she managed to move her legs once more to start heading back to the neighborhood homes.

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