First Full Moon

~Fender~

I still remembered what Frank had told me that morning, ‘tonight is going to be a full moon. Come and get to my house immediately after dusk and don’t be late’. After I heard that, my mind was thrilled and restless. There was a question in me, what will happen to me during the full moon. I was scared. I might be having little knowledge about werewolf, but if I referred to some movie I had watched, being a werewolf was not an easy thing. It was lot of pain and stress. Furthermore, I was going to lose my mind and I didn’t want that to happen.

I walked slowly through the crowded corridor, in my version. My step was fragile, while I looked down all the way since I couldn’t get rid of that werewolf thing in my mind. Somehow, suddenly I remembered about the ghost girl I saw two days ago. Lucky me, she didn’t show off to me anymore and I was glad with that. But I tried to forget about it, forget about the miserable life I’d been through.

Sometimes I thought why this thing ever happened to me. All I did was complaining all the time about my life.

I was shocked when I nearly bumped a girl when I met the junction. All the steps I heard made me not aware of the steps in front of me. And also, I was not focus. She also seemed a bit surprised, but then she laughed when she saw me.

“Mr. Fender again,” she said.

That was the cute girl I had saw after the first time that ghost female haunted me. What’s her name again? Norah, yes, it’s Norah, I recalled.

“What a coincidence, meeting with you in the same situation. But don’t ever try to suddenly hold my hand again,” she joked while chuckling a bit.

“No, no, no. I won’t do that again,” I said, “Promise,” I raised my two fingers.

She chuckled again, “Just kidding, Fender.”

“Have you decided yet if you’re going to go to Moonlight High?” I asked, “This is the best school in this small town. You won’t regret it, I promise,” I promoted a little.

She chuckled a little, “So far I like this school. But I haven’t decided it yet. My uncle calls me again this morning. By the way, I heard from my uncle that you are a superstar in a field. When will the next tournament be held? I want to make sure I got the front seat,” she said. Is she wooing me now, I figured but I thought I was going to like it.

I smiled widely. She must be very curious that she was asking about me to his uncle. I bet that it was a good sign. But then I remembered that I wouldn’t participate on that tournament until I can manage the wolf inside me. I shook my head, “I think I won’t be the part of team next time.”

She winced, a bit astonished, a little disappointed, “Why?”

“It’s because…it’s…just because of my parents. They…want me to study more for facing the exam. You know, I’m in senior year now and I get to have a high grade to get a better college,” I excused.

Norah sighed, “Don’t you think it’s too bad to miss the match?”

Yes. I wanted to answer that it was absolutely bad if I missed the match. But I didn’t have any choice. Frank told me to draw out, and it was not a wise idea to be a rebel now. Again, I felt sorry about my miserable life.

“Fender!” I heard a very familiar girl calling my name from my back. And when I turned, I saw Susan quickly approached me. She looked angry, not to me but to Norah. Her eyes were looking into her deep in the eyes. “What are you doing with my boyfriend, Bitch?” she offended.

I grabbed Susan’s hand and whispering sorry to Norah. Then I brought her away where I could speak to her more privately. “You give me no choice, Susan. You are too much. We’re over, now!” I said with a low voice.

She took her arm out of me, “You said I gave you no choice? You give me no choice! You’ve changed, Fender. You’re not the one I used to love,” she sniffed and began to cry.

“Yes. I have changed. So why do you insist to stick on me? Don’t love me! Just find another guy!” I yelled. I realized that suddenly the air was a bit more silent and the people were looking at me curiously. But I didn’t care.

Susan cried more and more, sniffing like child. Oh, God, it’s my wolf thing, I realized. In normal condition, I wouldn’t treat her that way. That was my fault anyway. But feeling sorry might give a high hope to Susan. I just wanted her to hate me then, so I pretended to be that way. She ran away then and I just didn’t do anything.

“That’s him!”

I turned back again since I believed that that one was calling me. I just said ‘oh God’ when they walked toward me. I tried to think about any excuses, whatever it was to make them believed that I didn’t have any idea about Angelica’s whereabouts.

“Fender, I believe you were the last person who ever been with Angelica. You know where she is now? She’s been missing from that night,” Gladys asked me.

I hummed for a while, “Really?” pretended to know nothing, “So…that’s why I’ve never seen her lately?”

“Please, Fender. Tell us what you know about Angelica. She’s really missing,” Melanie forced me to speak.

I hummed again, “Guys, I don’t really have any idea.”

“But she was with you,” Melanie insisted.

Oh, God, what do I have to tell them now, I wondered. “Yeah, she was with me. But I didn’t take her home. We went back to town since she wanted to meet someone,” I talked anything that crossed my mind.

They seemed to think hard about it.

“Girls, there’s something I want to take care of now. Please inform me if there’s something about her. Bye,” I quickly ran off while they were still thinking of what I had said to them about Angelica. If I just can tell you that maybe Angelica is dead now, I thought. But there was no way I could speak that out loud.

Still, something came to my mind after talking with Melanie and Gladys. Somehow, I remembered that Angelica’s family was founder of this town. They might have a clue about Angelica’s disappearance. Perhaps Frank already told them about what happened to Angelica. So Fender, I talked to myself, just forget about that thing and focus on your own problem.

I slowed my step when I reached the toilet and entered it. Nobody was in the toilet, but I still didn’t think of anything besides my problem. I went to the sink and washed my face. The water was felt so fresh on my face, cooling down my stress. I took a deep breath after that, seeing my face in the mirror.

“You can pass it through, Fender,” I told myself. But when I turned around, I suddenly felt my knees were shaking.

That girl with her intangible body was waving her hand, smiling at me and I felt that creepiness of her struck my head very hard.

Once again, I screamed out loud. I couldn’t even feel my legs so I couldn’t run. I just cowered on the area where floor and wall met. I kept screaming and begging her to leave, “Please, go away! Don’t disturb me! We even barely know each other!”

I heard her sighing, “Fender, why are you scared of me? Do I even look scary?” she complained, I thought.

She’s right. Actually, she’s not scary at all. She just looks like any normal girl I’ve ever met, yet she can’t be touched or felt or anything that I can do to human, I tried to calm myself. I opened up my eyes, forcing my mind to dare looking at her. Yeah, she’s not scary at all. She even can’t hurt me, I thought.

I tried to get up, but my body was still trembling.

“Hey, I won’t hurt you. And I can’t do that, believe me,” she said, “All I want to do is just to greet you. That’s all. That’s what I want to be able to since I died, to talk to you, to converse with you, to have a little chit-chat.”

“So…Ms. Ghost…”

“My name is Eve,” she told me.

I nodded, still pressing my body against the wall, “Yeah, Ms. Eve. Can I do you a favor?” I offered. I even didn’t know what I was talking about.

She chuckled, “You’re adorable even if you’re afraid.”

Oh my God! I began to think that that ghost liked me so much. Somehow, I felt a little bit cocky, even a female ghost attracted to me. But it couldn’t be helped. I was handsome anyway.

Suddenly, somebody opened the door. We both looked at who appeared. That pale-looking guy was sighing and so did I.

Frank closed the door again, “I thought something happened with you, Fender. You know that your idiocy just makes me freak out for several seconds?”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Damon. It’s all my fault,” Eve said.

Frank shook his head quickly, “No, no! It’s not your fault Ms. Denver. I’ve told him that he supposed not to be afraid with wandering spirit. He’s a newbie werewolf so he can see you now. Sorry that my friend wasn’t polite.”

“It’s okay. I better leave now,” she said. Then she disappeared just like a wind blowing off.

Frank sighed, “God! Do you know that you’ve been a fool in this school because of this? I just can’t stand that they are laughing at you,” he said.

“Who?” I asked.

“All the vampires here, you idiot! Every single vampire in this school can hear your scream. You’d better think about it before you act any further, Fender,” he finished his words and wanted to go out, but then he turned to me again, “And don’t forget! Tonight’s a full moon. You may be in the edge now and don’t make any trouble. Don’t ever ruin everything, Fender!” he warned me and went again.

I took a deep breath and sighed, “Got it,” I muttered.

He was right. Vampires hated werewolf, and they got to be hating me. I pretended that I didn’t care about that. If I did scare of a ghost, then so be it. But Frank did care about me. As his friends, I got to understand what he felt. So I told myself, no more afraid of ghost or wandering spirits just like they called it.

I sighed again and went out the rest room. Some pale-looking guys were chuckling while they had a peek on me. But I turned around and didn’t think about it. I walked slowly, feeling like I bore all that problems alone. That night was a full moon and I was in the edge. So I told myself to never cause any trouble even though I felt very angry inside.

But suddenly, I heard something that tickled my mind. I looked at two vampire males murmuring about something, something that might be the answer to solve my problem.

“I saw him. I still remember that face. 10 years ago, he was still here. But he looked the same now. You know that even though werewolves aged, they aged slowly,” he whispered to his friend. His face was so serious, full of hatred. He continued again, “He went to the forest. Maybe he went to the abandoned Dale’s mansion.”

Dale? One of them is back in town? Is he the murderer and the one who make me like this? I must get the answer, I told myself.

Quickly, I approached those vampires and they gave me a cynical look in the eye.

“Look who is coming. A brand-new dog in town,” he, the taller and paler one mocked me. Another, the guy with a pale mole in his nose only laughed a bit.

“Don’t call me dog, you bunch of sick people!” I almost yelled, but only a lower but deep and angry voice came out of my mouth. Then I realized that I didn’t want to fight, so I tried hard to calm myself down and not to punch them on the eyes. I took a deep breath then talked, “Please, Guys. We never have any problems before, so don’t create any. I know you guys hate werewolf, but please, only this time,” I begged them.

One of them cleared his throat. It seemed that my words affected him, “So, what do you want with us, Fender?”

“I heard you talked about the Dale,” I whispered.

He, the one who told his friend that he saw one of the Dales in town, nodded slowly, “Yeah, I saw him yesterday. Carter Dale, he is the second child of the latest generation, maybe the last one of his family. I saw him in The Tavern, and then he went into the forest,” he explained.

“Do you think he is the murderer?” I asked.

He shrugged, “I have no idea,” he told me.

“Where can I find him?” I asked again.

He paused for several second, “Maybe you can find him in his old mansion. It’s a few blocks north from Park Avenue. You can enter the broken gate into the edge of the forest. There’s where Dale’s mansion will be,” he explained, “But, Fender, if he is the murderer, you’d better be careful. Maybe you can talk to Frank about this,” he suggested.

“No,” I replied, “No need to tell Frank, please. I don’t want to be a burden to him. I’m a werewolf anyway. I think I can protect myself,” I said, “Thanks anyway,” I smiled a bit. They didn’t smile back. But I began to think that being nice to vampire wasn’t bad at all.

***

The sun was down on the west, and the skies were orange and beautiful. I entered the broken gate made by wood just like those vampires told me. The situation was eerie, feeling like you were in a horror movie like the nightmares on Elm Street where drying leaves were scattered over the ground and cracking when you stepped on them. I walked slowly, passing through the edge of the forest. No wonder Dales family took this place as their home since that area was a bit far from anything. I began to figure that they used to howl in this place and no one could realize that they who were howling.

I kept walking deeper and deeper, until I found a big, old, creepy, and abandoned mansion in front of me. The mansion was not broken, everything was all right, just very old and rusty, and...spooky. What can you expect to the werewolf’s house?

Damn! I just realized what was I doing there, standing and acting like I was the bravest person in the world. This must be my wolf! I’m on the edge now, and I think I can do it on my own. I’m screwed, I thought. I didn’t know what I was thinking about, going alone to the nest of everything scary. I got to be crazy.

I told myself to get out of there as fast as possible, so I turned back. But what happened next was that I almost screamed when I saw a middle age guy standing in front of me. I didn’t know who he was, or why I couldn’t feel him got near me. I began to wonder that he was a ghost.

No, I told myself, no need to be afraid of a wandering spirit. But when he suddenly moved fast toward me and punched me in the face until I was thrown away, I knew that he wasn’t a wandering spirit. He was the werewolf I was looking for. But I was too late to save myself. Everything was black out and I couldn’t remember everything after that.