DEUCALION AND THE WEREWOLVES OF OLD CREEK

BY JOHN PARRISH

CHAPTER 2: PREDATOR

Bobby and Klay had a quiet journey home, and talked very little which Klay noticed and asked Bob what was wrong? Bobby shrugged it off saying he felt kind of sick being there, after all, he was Ethan’s boy scout leader when he was younger, and they had some kind of bond.

While it was true, Klay knew that bobby was bullshitting him because he had that kind of look as if he was caught with his pants down. While bobby kept checking the time on his watch. Then he highlighted at a nearby café and called his wife that they had a lot to talk about.

Catherine, Bobby’s wife came to the café. In the café, they met each other for the first time and always celebrated their wedding anniversary. She stared at the signpost hanging overhead in front of her with little bright lights blinking around the name ‘marina café’ she went into the café and greeted the owner Sherilynn who have managed the café for the past years successfully and went to meet her husband who sat in the best seat he called it looking out the driveway, also having a clear line of sight to the entrance.

Sweetheart, she called on him as she sat down, Bobby still deep in thought looked at her she saw waves of line on his forehead and thought to herself what could have possibly gone wrong now.  Bobby then ordered some ham sandwiches and a cup of black coffee while Catherine asked him how could he be so worried and be eating? he quirked and said to her, you can’t worry about something on an empty stomach while he munched his sandwich.

Midway into his lunch, he told his wife who was now seemingly visible worried about the murders that happened which she replied to him saying it’s a small town everybody knows the murders, then he interjected saying that they are more connected than it seems.

Then he gestured for her to come close as if he wanted to kiss her and whispered to her ear that it was a wolf that carried out the killings, more importantly, he suspects it was a werewolf and a friend in Kingstown called Dean told him about a chain of murders moving up north to their location and the victims looked like they have been torn apart by wild animals.

Catherine was more than shocked, Bobby chuckled and took another sip of his coffee, and told her, “Well it’s up to them to protect their city before they come here.” Fear quickly lit up in her eyes as he said “they,” she whispered to the council? He turned around as if he was looking for something before saying “yes.” Catherine opened her bag and took out a cigarette stick, looking at Bobby she asked “do you mind?” He chuckled and replied, “no, I don’t.”

“Hey, wait up” yelled Charlie to Chris as he rushed quickly to meet him so that they can go to school together. “How are you doing bro?” Chris turned around and gazed at him for some seconds before replying, “I’m good, how’s it?” Charlie pulled his nose and ran his hands over his hair before replying “Bro, I’m good, just down haven’t prepared for the geometry test” His friend cut in “wow,” he screamed “You mean you didn’t read during the weekend. Chris looked up to the sky and said what else could go wrong sarcastically.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, they were in the school parking lot, Charlie saw his sister Clara hanging out with his arc nemesis Drew, right from elementary school which made him boil up in anger, on his way to meet her, he then saw Abby who he was crushing on since in their fifth grade but didn’t dare talk to her because he wasn’t sure of her reaction and wouldn’t want to be disgraced or humiliated before his friends. He watched as she went to meet a guy, what could she be doing with that lowlife he asked no one in particular. He paced up and down thinking of what to do to the guy but suddenly, someone tapped his shoulder, as he turned around to his amazement Abby was right in front of him, he was confused and stood still as he stared at her. She smiled and drew him closer to herself before whispering “can I see you before the test?” and left before he could give a reply.

‘Brooooo…. what the hell just happened right now? did Abby just talk to you right now?” Charlie who was still shocked at Abby’s action couldn’t say anything.  Chris continued pushing his friend gently “since when did you guys start talking? Or are you guys dating now and you don’t care to let me know? Am I the only one who knows?” Chris quizzed Charlie interrogatively as they walked towards the locker room His friend was still surprised and happy at the same time from the incident. His head, in the clouds, already having achieved apotheosis and transcending humanity then suddenly the bell rang, he regained his senses and walked to the classroom leaving Chris more surprised as he said what the hell just happened now.

Charlie sat in the back row of the class while Abby was in the front row. He didn’t even have a clear line of sight of her but all he could see was her, her scent filled the room, and his dopamine levels were rising. Chris looking at his friend, who was not concentrating for the past five minutes threw a mini dictionary to his desk which brought him back to reality and he reacted by saying what! which got Mrs. Freeman's attention and Chris uttered “boy, oh boy” because she hates distraction in her class.

“Mr. Charles Thompson!” “Would you stand up and give a summary to the class of what I have said for the past forty-five minutes because it seems you know better than me right?” Mrs. freeman rasped.

“Fuck me!” he muttered to Charlie under his breath thinking nobody could hear it. Then a hand from the back of the class shot up and waved to Mrs freeman who answered, “Janet, yes what is it?” Janet answered Ma’am,” Charlie said fuck me.”

Mrs. Freeman was visibly angered with Charlie’s attitude but before she could unleash her fury, the principal Mr. Walter walked into the class with a boy who none of them had seen before. Mr. Walter introduced him as Steele, John Steele.

Mrs. freeman introduced herself to Steele as the Arithmetic teacher and told him to get seated. Steele sat next to Charlie, they looked at each other as if they knew each other from a previous time. Charlie noticed a particular scent coming from him Steele looked at him and grinned while flashing his golden-colored eye for a second, then the bell rung the class was over. The class became noisy as the students walked out of the classroom leaving Mrs. Freeman behind. She looked at the students and shook her head not believing what the students are turning into. It wasn’t like this during our days, she uttered before leaving the class. 

Abby walked towards Charlie and Chris, when they saw her from a distance Charlie asked a friend “what should I say to her?” He replied sarcastically “Hi, I’m Freddy Krueger can I be your friend?” Charlie looked at him and uttered “dude seriously?” as he watched who Chris scampered away with.

Abby now with Charlie gestured they should move to a bench under a cherry tree, he looked at her happily and nodded, thanking his stars silently that they are moving to a secluded area as many thoughts were running into his head. He tried controlling his emotions and not to be too forward. She stretched out her hand to hold his as they walked to the cherry tree discussing generally the happenings in the school.  As soon as they got to the cherry tree, Charlie cracked a joke about geometry which made her laugh out loud and attracted the attention of passers-by Charlie jokily told them never mind by waving his hand at them.

Chris was in the science building which happen to be opposite them, looking through the window he saw Abby laughing and muttering something he wished heard but couldn’t because he was listening to walk on water by Eminem on his Air pod. He quickly removed his air pod thinking he would hear them but unfortunately, he couldn’t because of the noise coming from the students as the premises were rowdy. He put on his ear pod and continued with what he was doing.

After an hour of prepping Abby for the Geometry test, it was time for the test and they walked towards the hallway when Abby's boyfriend Jackson ran and threw a left hook which caught Charlie's nose and drew out blood then he shouted “what are you doing with my girlfriend?”

Jackson been a huge lad always intimidated the rest of the students with an imposing height of 6 foot 4 inches supported by almost 173 pounds of solid meat rushed at Charlie who managed to evade the second blow which could have sent him crashing down like a felled tree and replied to him with a right hook at his ribs while the students formed a circle screaming fight! fight!

Abby screaming stop! stop! She was pushed aside by Jackson and then went for Charlie who quickly took a defensive position by widening his stance a little bit so that his feet won’t give way, left and right hands formed into fists covering his face and moving lightly like a seasoned boxer quickly gave Jackson a three-hit combo to his face which stunned a bit before he could react, Charlie hit him with a left hook which made Jackson stagger towards the locker then, Charlie with an unnatural strength ran and gave him a knockout punch that Tyson fury would be proud of right in front of the school principal who was taking Steele to the infirmary.

“Hey! you better stop that fight” shouted the principal, who was surprised that the students are fighting the fight in front of him.” The two of you will be in detention and if you skip it, I will not have any option than to suspend you immediately from school,” he told them sternly before walking away.

Chris ran and shoved Charlie gently saying “what came over you man?” Charlie running his hands across his hair smirked ignored his friend’s question and said I have to look good he walked towards Abby who was crying. He consoled and hugged her while Jackson walked away and yelled it wasn’t over.

“Wow” Abby screamed during the geometry test, she was happy that most of the questions they solved with Charlie were asked by the teacher, at a time, she couldn’t believe she is the one solving the questions so easily. She wondered if Charlie saw the questions before the test. “Whatever, he did,” she thought to herself, she did not send him nor is she aware of it.  Charlie was calm during the test, the moment he submitted his script Abby followed suit. She ran after Charlie who was rushing to keep an appointment and hugged him, she looked him in the eyes and said I passed it, the test was so simple. Charlie smiled with pride and thought to himself this is just the beginning, then Abby gave him a peck on his cheeks and input her number into his phone winking at him, “call me,” And Charlie responded, “I will.”

Clara Charlie’s kid sister went home with her friends, yelling to Charlie “she would tell their parents that he was fought in school.” Charlie remembered he has to go to detention the moment his kid sister mentioned fighting. He went to detention without wasting a minute, in his detention room, he would stay for two hours thinking about what made him get there, he was lucky to have avoided extra credit to his subject’s load.

While in detention, Charlie went to the shelf and brought out a book about the Aztecs, he always fancied it and delved deep into it. then he heard a familiar footstep, he has grown accustomed to. It was Mr. Walter the principal but with another person. The steps got louder and closer with each passing second. It turns out to be Steele who got detention on his first day for nearly breaking a bully's hand.

Jackson waited for the teacher in charge to go out for a quick phone call when he went toward Charlie and threw the book he was reading which caught everybody's attention and shoved his bag off his desk.

Charlie smiled then laughed and told him it’s okay that he doesn’t feel like kicking his ass right now, the other people in detention laughed which made Jackson more furious, as Charlie stood and went to pick up the book.

Jackson threw a flower vase at him but Jackson was a lousy shot, the vase broke on Steele's head who wasn’t far from Charlie. Steele asked what was that for? Jackson said, “shut up new boy!”

Steele went to Jackson and told him to apologize or he would break his arm the left one to be precise. Jackson looked in awe and thought about the audacity of this frail little kid. Jackson quickly blew his jaw and banged his head on a nearby dispenser which gave him a bloody head.

Steele stood up and went towards Jackson but was stopped in his tracks by Charlie who told him it was a trap, that Jackson wanted him expelled for fighting and that’s it not worth it, amongst all the tussle and trying to keep him calm the teacher walked in and asked what happened?

Steele yawning said, “he slipped and fell”. Mr. Grey the librarian who knew better, “simply told him to avoid slipping next time”. Then Steele went to the restroom to wash off the blood trail on his face and apply a bandage but Charlie was already there peeping through the door.

As soon as Steele removed his hand from the wound, it had healed completely then Charlie stepped out and said I knew it, Steele quickly tried to hide it because he doesn’t feel like explaining any shit to anyone, but Charlie murmured I knew what you are.

Steele's eyes flashed, then Charlie said I am too. Steele jokingly said gay? Charlie said hell no! almost immediately, we are werewolves, bro, Charlie then helped Steele to apply a bandage on his head to fool the other students, then they shook hands thinking inwards was this the beginning of a beautiful friendship? Then he walked out of the restroom whistling then paused and said meet me in the library by twelve tomorrow.

Charlie then went home to meet his furious mom waiting for him, as soon as he stepped into the house, she queried him for fighting in school. What if you had by chance turned, in school? what will you have done? kill everybody? look at me, just get out from my sight and you are grounded till I say you are not, she hurled at him while his sister teased him saying he fought because of a girl.

Charlie now angry, breathing louder, voice getting deeper, claws protruding slowly, eyes changing from a deep brown-black to searing golden then snapped, growled at her showing her his canines immediately her primal instincts kicked in she quickly yelped and ran into her room crying.

Three hours later, Charlie looked at himself, then the thought of Abby crossed his mind. He hasn’t even called her back what a fool he was. As much as he wanted her but something kept telling him not to call. He struggled with the urge of calling and not call but unfortunately, he couldn’t resist and decided to make the call. He then placed a call to her, the phone rang, rang, and rang before he heard a sweet voice saying “who is it?” But Charlie didn’t utter a word, Abby cleared her voice gently and asked the second time; who is on the line, please?”, still no reply.

“Charlie? Charlie? Are you still shy to talk to me? even after spending the afternoon together.” Charlie chuckled before saying “I am just trying to let you talk more I love the sound of your voice it sounds angelic and I have fulfilled my promise.”

Abby blushing said “thanks.” As he sank into his bed staring at the star chart on the ceiling, smiled at Orion and slept off.