A man drops a cup, just as a two high school students drive-by.
“Where are you taking me?” Michelle asks quietly, resting her head on her hand by the window. She had been asked on a date by her boyfriend, Eric.
“It’s a surprise, I want this night to be special.” He replies, his high-pitched voice sounding soothing. Obviously annoyed by this response, Michelle pouts and stares out her window. She notices that the town begins to whiz by, and trees seem more frequent here. Looking up at the sky, she notices that tonight is a full moon.
“Are you going to tell me know?” Michelle asks impatiently.
“Just wait. We’re almost there.” Eric replies, looking straight ahead, not paying attention to Michelle’s glare. After a while, the car begins to slow down.
“Oh no.” Eric mutters.
“What’s wrong?” Michelle asks, not hiding her irritance.
“We’re out of gas.” He explains combing his hand through his hair.
“Oh that’s it! I’m done!” She yells and slams the door shut. In her rampage, her skirt had gotten stuck in the door; it tore.
“This is the worst day ever!” She yells at Eric,” First you forget my birthday, then you don’t even apologize, you take me on a drive and don’t tell me where we’re going, you run out of gas, and now this!”
“Hey, easy. I didn’t forget your birthday. I have been planning for it all month. I was going to give you your birthday present up down the road, but you can see that’s not going to happen, so I’ll give it to you now.” He replies smoothly.
Michelle looks around silently, confusion spreading through her face. She looks down to see Eric on his knee, holding out his class ring.
“ I was wondering... If you would be my girl.” He asks, his voice very light and delicate.
Michelle’s brown eyes widen in surprise and joy spreads through her ebony face.
“Oh of course I will Eric!” She replies and wraps her arms around his shoulders.
“But... there’s something you’ve got to know first.” He says, not hugging her back.
“What’s that?” Her arms loosening.
“I’m not like other guys.”
“Oh that! I knew that, why do you think I love you?” She exclaims. Staring at his jersey, she notices that his body starts to tense.
“No, I mean... I’m different.” He continues, trying to explain his situation.
“Michelle releases her hug to stare at his face.
Usually, his face was absolutely lovely. His skin the color of dark chocolate made his white teeth seem brighter. His full lips would turn up in the corners and his nose was straight and round at the tip. Now, in the light of the moon and his tense stance, he seemed angry.
“What do you mean?” Her lips turning down in a frown. Her eyebrows were creased together and her eyes now expressed worry.
Eric brought his hands up to his jet black hair and began to comb his hands through it.
“I-I don’t know how to explain it to you... So, I’ll show you...” He looks up at the moon and a growling sound begins to arise, seemingly coming from his chest. His brown eyes begin to turn white, making him look blind, then a bright yellow.
“Eric, what’s going on?” Michelle asks, her voice cracking. Tears were threatening to spill over her lids.
Abruptly, Eric yells into the sky and then his hair begins to grow rapidly. He buries his head in his hand and shakes his head, ears suddenly popping over his head. His teeth grow twice their length and sharpen.
Without much thought, Michelle runs away, screaming. She knows it will be miles until she reaches the town, but there has to be someone out here in the woods, someone to save her from this... monster.
Michelle screams loudly and then feels a hand on her shoulder. She jumps and then looks at her shoulder. She sees Eric there, no hair, no claws, just Eric. His expression is now worry and the setting has suddenly changed.
“Are you ok?” Eric asks, his velvety voice shaken.
Michelle looks around and sees that she is in a movie theater, a girl on the screen is staring at her lover, who is now a were-wolf.
“N-n-no. I w-w-want to g-go home.” Michelle says.
“It’s just getting good, though!”
“Well you can stay, I’m leaving.” She replies stubbornly. She gets up and heads out, looking back at Eric. He’s smiling at the screen just as everyone else jumps and some scream. After a while, he decides to get up and catches up with Michelle. He puts his arm around her and laughs.
“You were scared.”
“No I wasn’t.” She replies, folding her arms.
“Yes you were, ahh!” He says, mimicking her screams.
“I wasn’t that scared.”
“Sure, next time remind me not to take you to a thriller.” He replies with a laugh.