The Call of the Moon

“Things happen in the woods all the time. Couples surrender their virtue, people go missing and their bodies are left to decay beneath the foliage-but in this town, people become werewolves. I never expected to be one of them as I had everything mapped out in front of me at some point. My entire existence through high school was gone through with every single social acclimation being met. Everything from getting the crown of Prom Queen to the label of Valedictorian. For my future, I imagined going to the state college and majoring in journalism and marrying by my late twenties, having kids soon after. But those two canine teeth would flip my entire world I thought I knew upside down. And to think...it all began on the night of high school graduation and a full moon.” “You can’t really believe they exist.” Noelle Wright spoke as she sat in a circle of peers also celebrating their graduation from high school while clutching illegal alcohol in their grasps. “You can’t tell me that you haven’t heard the stories of this town?” An annoying jock challenged Noelle as she threw her long blonde hair over her shoulders and glared at him. “I’m not a kid anymore, Felix. I don’t believe in werewolves anymore than I believe in the tooth fairy! Now let’s do something fun...how about spin the bottle?!” She suggested as Aurora, a girl of more timid nature despite her popularity nudged her best friend. Aurora was a girl who excelled in absolutely everything she has ever been a part of, everything except relationships. She had only ever had those that lasted through the social event such as prom but never a full relationship; only done for pictures or to not be the only one left without a date. “It’s not fair, there are more guys than girls.” A high pitched voice whined as Aurora found herself to blush as she was being stared at by her childhood crush, Troy Hannlin. He was a guy that every single girl in the school had either kissed or wanted to-even those who liked girls as he was just THAT attractive. It was almost as if he stepped out of an Abercrombie and Fitch poster with his perfectly quaft and styled hair that was shaved on both sides with his center being applied with more mousse than necessary. A set of baby blues were often the selling point to his consistent dating life, however, along with his charming speech that he had acquired from his politician father. “We can always just watch you girls make out.” Felix commented as the girls all groaned at him. For a moment, Noelle teased the boys as she leaned closely to the high pitched whining girl and pulled away at the last second as all the boys groaned. All except Troy whose gaze was focused on the only girl in the entire school he hadn’t conquered yet. As Noelle placed an empty wine cooler bottle on the ground, Troy moved towards Aurora, having set out his hand to help her up. “Want to take a walk with me?” He asked as she nodded while watching as Noelle’s brows shot up in a “finally” type expression. She then disregarded the couple as they ventured away from the group and deeper into the woods-using their phones for light. “How is it that we never went out?” He asked as she found herself to blush before nervously placing a section of her bang behind her ear. “I don’t know…” “You are far the most beautiful girl in school...and...yet I could never quite get you.” She nervously chuckled as he stopped them just far enough away from the group to be given enough privacy. “You are the only girl in the entire school to not fall at my feet.” He noticed how she kept averting her gaze from him and commented his findings to her. “Do I make you nervous?” “The woods does.” She lied as she found it impossible to sit still as she he was standing so close to her. There had been many lust filled dreams that began with scenarios such as this, but even though it was happening-it still seemed to be fantasy. “So if I told you how sexy you are…” She let out a nervous laugh as she always knew herself to be attractive to the point of being able to get a date but never really noticed by Troy. She always thought herself to be more average as she never forced herself into tight clothing or even wore heavy makeup-but she found her heart to flutter upon him thinking such things about her. “That wouldn’t make you nervous if I wanted to kiss you?” She swallowed hard as her mind immediately thought if she would be good for anyone who had the amount of practice that he had. Aurora could only bring herself to blush as she grew thankful for the moonlight having concealed them. “I would see you all the time in class just biting the tip of your pencil...I always hoped you were thinking about me.” Aurora found her heart to beat incredibly fast as Troy placed his body against hers, having then pinned her against the tree with his hands stopping at her waist. “Am I right? Were you ever thinking about me?” “Maybe…” She said upon turning away from him until he pulled her gaze back towards him. His hand fell onto her cheek as he locked gazes with her. “I’ve always had this major crush on you.” He said just before pressing his lips against hers. For a moment, Aurora didn’t know how to respond as she was surprised at this amount of attention she was getting from him. Due to this, she was sort of unresponsive to his kiss for the first portion of it. This changed when she brought her hands to his shoulders and he deepened this kiss which made her respond against his powerful kiss. He wasted no time in bringing his hand over her shirt and moving to cop a feel without subtlety. Afraid that she would disappoint him or make him angry, she allowed him to touch her in a way she had never had before even though her mother’s warning of teen pregnancy began with such actions. She ignored the warnings of her mother for a moment as she enjoyed the feeling of his lips now on her neck and his hands pulling her shirt from her body and revealing her stomach. His hands wrapped around her until meeting at her back, where he dropped one hand further than the other in grab hold of her butt. Aurora began to feel as if the kiss was escalating too quickly but was also terrified he would lose interest in her so she kept her thoughts inside. This steamy makeout continued until he began to push up against her with his erection as she felt this to be too much for a first makeout. She felt her stomach instantly feel sick as she thought of how her first time would be and it would definitely not be with some aroused jock in the middle of the forest as a cliche start to a horror movie. As this was her thought process, she brought her hand to his chest to stop him but found him to move directly to her belt and go to pull it from her waist. “No-” She whined before finding him to cover her mouth. At first, she thought it was a joke or even his way of being sexy in the moment, but as she tried to break away from him-she realized it was anything but funny. His hand lingered upon her mouth, almost covering her nose as well, as she tried to wiggle free. “You are the only girl I haven’t had that I want!” He said as he disposed of his own pants and left only his boxers to keep himself withheld from her. “If you try to scream, I will make sure my dad keeps yours behind bars.” He said as she thought of the horrible situation her father was in as he was currently sitting in the county prison for yet another drunken stooper. Fearful of what would become of him, she tried to close her eyes tight and imagine he would be quick, but when she felt his fingers draw to her pants and gain access to her underwear, she felt nausea to rapidly approach. She could feel bile rise in her throat as she could have sworn she would vomit if he were to touch her further. The chance was not allowed to the potential rapist, however, as a simple grown was heard before the jock was torn onto the ground and ripped into by a hairy creature. In the moonlight, it as difficult to make out but had obvious attributes of being a wolf-a guess found to be correct due to the growl. Troy tried to scream for help for those nearby, not caring of anything but his own life as Aurora stood in a daze. She couldn’t tell exactly how she knew this, but she felt that the wolf was protecting her. Due to this, she didn’t help Troy or even assist when his friends moved towards him after finally hearing them. Instead, she tried to collect herself as she watched the wolf move away after having stones thrown at him. A slight wince could be heard from the canine creature before he disappeared in the darkness and left a boy on the brink of manhood crying as if he was a two year old. It was a moment of relief for Aurora as she knew it could have become something so much worse that it actually was. But as she followed Noelle who tried to calm a frantic Troy as they made their way towards their cars in hopes of better cell signal, she felt something sting her arm. She realized in that short moment by the special flicker of the full moon and having passed the fire once used for celebration around a shared life milestone and saw the marking of three scratch marks. She brought her hand to outline the scratches and although it appeared as though it was done by a simple domesticated house dog, Aurora could of sworn in that moment she knew something was amiss. But as most people who become scratched do, she neglected it as she thought it was just a wound caused by being in the way-unaware at that time just how powerful that scratch would make her.