Werewolf Skin

5

I stumbled back against the birch tree. My camera banged against the trunk, but I didn’t drop it.

“Hannah-?” I choked out. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

But before she could reply, two boys burst out from behind a tall evergreen shrub. They tossed back their heads and howled like wolves.

“Hey-you guys!” Hannah exclaimed, making a disgusted face.

They were both short and thin, both with straight black hair and dark brown eyes. They finished their howls, then gazed at me, gazed at me hungrily, like wolves.

“Did we scare you?” one of them teased, his dark eyes flashing excitedly. He wore a dark brown sweater pulled down over black denim jeans. He had a long purple wool muffler wrapped around his neck.

“You two always scare me!” Hannah joked. “Your faces give me nightmares!”

The other boy wore a baggy gray sweatshirt and baggy khakis that dragged on the ground. He tossed back his head and let out another shrill wolf howl.

Hannah turned to me. “They’re in my class,” she explained. “That one is Sean Kiner.” She pointed to the boy with the purple muffler. “And he’s Arjun Khosla.”

“Arjun?” I struggled with the name.

“It’s Indian,” he explained.

“Hannah told us you were coming,” Sean said, grinning.

“You’re a city kid, right?” Arjun asked.

“Well, yeah. Cleveland,” I murmured.

“So how do you like Wolf Creek?” Arjun asked. It didn’t sound like a question. It sounded like a challenge.

They both stared at me with their dark eyes, studying me as if I were some kind of weird fungus.

“I–I just got here,” I stammered.

They exchanged glances. “There are some things you should know about the woods,” Sean said.

“Like what?” I asked.

He pointed to my feet. “Like you shouldn’t stand in a big clump of poison ivy!”

“Huh?” I jumped back. And stared at the ground.

They both laughed.

There wasn’t any poison ivy.

“You guys are about as funny as dog puke,” Hannah sneered.

“You ought to know. You eat it for breakfast!” Sean replied.

He and Arjun laughed and slapped each other a high five.

Hannah sighed. “Remind me to laugh later,” she muttered, rolling her eyes.

For some reason, that started the two boys howling again.

When they stopped, Sean reached for my camera. “Can I see it?”

“Well…” I pulled back. “It’s a very expensive camera,” I told him. “I really don’t like anyone else touching it.”

“Ooooh. Expensive!” he teased. “Is it cardboard? Let me see it!” He grabbed for it again.

“Take my picture,” Arjun demanded. He pulled his lips apart with two fingers and stuck out his tongue.

“That’s an improvement!” Hannah told him.

“Take my picture!” Arjun repeated.

“Give Alex a break,” Hannah snapped. “Get out of his face, you two.”

Arjun pretended to be hurt. “Why won’t he take my picture?”

“Because he doesn’t take animal photos!” Hannah sneered.

Sean laughed-and snatched the camera from my hands.

“Hey-come on!” I pleaded. I made a grab for it and missed.

Sean tossed the camera to Arjun. Arjun raised it and pretended to snap Hannah’s photo. “Your face cracked the lens!” he exclaimed.

“I’m going to crack your face!” Hannah threatened.

“It’s a really expensive camera,” I repeated. “If anything happens to it-”

Hannah swiped the camera out of Arjun’s hands and handed it back to me.

I cradled it in my arms. “Thanks.”

The two boys moved toward me menacingly. Their dark eyes gleamed. Again, watching them approach, their faces so hard, their eyes so cold, I thought of wild animals.

“Leave him alone,” Hannah scolded.

“We’re just goofing,” Arjun replied. “We weren’t going to hurt the camera.”

“Yeah. We’re just kidding around,” Sean added. “What’s your problem?”

“No problem,” I replied, still cradling the camera.

Arjun raised his eyes to the darkening sky. Through the trees I could see only gray. “It’s getting kind of late,” Arjun murmured.

Sean’s smile faded. “Let’s get out of here.” His eyes darted around the woods. Shadows deepened, and the air grew colder.

“They say some kind of wild creatures are loose in the woods,” Arjun said softly.

“Arjun-give us a break,” Hannah groaned, rolling her eyes.

“No. Really,” Arjun insisted. “Some kind of creature tore off a deer’s head. Tore it clean off.”

“We saw it,” Sean reported. His dark eyes glowed excitedly in the dimming light. “It was so gross!”

“The deer’s eyes stared up at us,” Arjun added. “And bugs crawled out of its open neck.”

“Yuck!” Hannah exclaimed, covering her mouth with one hand. “You’re making this up-right?”

“No. I’m not.” Sean glanced up at the moon.

“It’s almost a full moon. The full moon makes all the strange creatures come out of hiding,” he continued, speaking so softly, his voice just above a whisper. “Especially at Halloween. And the moon will be completely full that night.”

I shivered. The back of my neck tingled. I suddenly felt cold all over.

Was it the wind? Or Sean’s frightening words?

I pictured the deer head lying on the ground.

Pictured the shiny black eyes staring up blankly, lifelessly.

“What are you going to be for Halloween?” Arjun asked Hannah.

She shrugged. “I don’t know. I haven’t decided yet.”

He turned to me. “Do you know what you want to be, Alex?”

I nodded. “Yeah. I want to be a werewolf.”

Arjun uttered a near-silent gasp. The two boys exchanged glances.

Their smiles faded. Their faces turned solemn.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

No reply.

“Hey-what’s wrong?” I repeated.

Arjun lowered his gaze to the ground. “We have enough werewolves in Wolf Creek,” he murmured.

“What do you mean?” I cried. “Come on, guys-what do you mean by that?”

But they didn’t answer.

Instead, they turned and vanished into the woods.