Chapter 9

Grandma?" I said loudly. "Grandma are you home?"

"Yes child yes, do come in." That… was not Grandma…

I started walking down the hall. "Where are you Grandma?"

"I'm in my bed, got really tired." The voice said. Funny, Grandma doesn't get tired. That woman has been working day in and night out for years. She slept when everyone else had first.

I entered the room to see the wolf sitting in her bed. No sign of Grandma. I knew Woodsmen was outside waiting for a scream but why does the wolf think this would work? Did he really think I was that dumb? How pathetic of a trick did he think I'd fall for? I indulged the game, thinking I could beat it…

"Are you feeling alright?" I came closer to the bed.

"Oh yes my child." He was wearing her glasses and a pink nightgown and cap. I got closer inching to the side of the bed.

"Are you sure 'Grandma'?" I emphasized.

"Why of course don't you believe me?"

"Well you do look a little sick." I grimaced.

"Come closer so you can get a good look." I came closer trying to conquer the fear I had that this wolf had possibly killed my grandmother and four children.

"Yeah 'Grandma' I see," I snarked, "my, what big ears you have!" I said sarcastically.

"I think they help me hear you better."

"And Grandma what big eyes you have!" I tried to sound convincing that time.

"The better to see your lovely face."

"Oh but Grandma what a big nose you have."

"All the better to smell you with."

I paused, the wolf had an answer to everything but it wasn't going to discourage me.

"You're not my Grandma." I said to the wolf.

"How could you accuse me Red? Of course I'm your Grandma."

"No you're not."

"How?"

"Because 'my-oh-my Grandma'," I mimicked, "What big teeth you have!" I grabbed hard on the stick.

"All the better to-- EAT YOU WITH." The wolf came flying at me. I took a mighty swing at the beast and the stick broke in half. I screamed but was quickly devoured head first into the belly of the beast. I couldn't see or hear anything but I could feel gross slime around my body. It felt like I was there for days, trapped. Everything was black, dark, and smelly. I heard clattering and felt my weight shifting. Then I saw light. I felt air and someone pulled me.

I coughed violently from air loss and I heard Grandma's voice in the distance calling my real name. I came through trying to open my eyes.

"Wh-what happened?" I said quietly.

"Oh thank god Sydney you're alive!" Grandma hugged me tightly as I peered at the ground. The wooden floors were covered in blood and my hood had yellow slime. I saw a pair of hiking boots that belonged to a man as I followed from the ground up. I peered high to see James with the axe, he was as pale as a ghost with red blood along his face and hands.

"What happened?" I said again more alarmed.

"That Monster ate you!" Grandma pointed over my shoulder. I turned around to see not exactly a wolf on the ground but… Iggie.

A gruesome scene was displayed behind me. His stomach was cut open with this guts spilling across the floor boards. There were sheds and sheds of fur flowered in the pools of blood surrounding the body. "That's… my friend." I pointed discouraged.

"That man killed Mason…" Grandma said.

"What about the girls?"

"He has them trapped in the woods…" James replied.

"That was… my friend." I began to cry.

"It's over Red, it's all over."

"He was a- a what!- a werewolf?"

"We don't know…" James and Grandma said together.

"Where were you Grandma! I was so worried." I hugged her tightly.

"I left and came right back, I thought you two had gone to the search party. When I came to get my truck it was gone!"

"How did you get here?"

"The sheriff dropped me off then left, I came in finding James cutting open the belly of that thing. It all happened so fast I can't remember all that happened." She was shaking and was definitely struggling with words.

James opened his mouth trying to fill in Grandma's missing memory. "I heard you scream and came in. I creeped quietly into the house and the wolf had fallen asleep. When your grandmother came in he awoke and I took my chance to get you out… I knew you were in there by the size of his unnatural tummy." James was covered in blood from his hair, onto his hands. Yet the only thing in my head was that person was Iggie… James killed Iggie.

"Iggie was my school partner and neighbor… he would hit on me a lot… but he was a, psychopathic werewolf? I… he called me in the woods? I don't understand." Flashing lights began to appear outside, red and blue. Grandma helped me off the ground as James stayed behind. He dropped the axe and put his hands on his head. We walked to the front door of the house when the police burst through the door. Grandma began to explain that I was eaten alive and the man in the next room had cut me out of the stomach. She fully claimed that the person who ate me also killed Mason.

"Wait Grandma, how do you know he killed Mason?"

"He told us when he was dying. He said, that the girls were in the forest by some tree, James would know, and that he ate Mason. Mason is dead." The police a little in awe confronted myself and Grandma.

"If you don't believe us, there's a dead man in the back of the hallway."

Police invaded the home with guns cocked and loaded. They arrested James and the rest is in federal hands.

What I know is that the missing girls were found and returned home. As for Mason he was proclaimed dead after Grandma and myself testified the incident. James didn't get off scotch free. He still murdered someone and surprisingly Iggie's relatives wanted justice. However the act was justable under self defense. His bail was at 3,500$. For some reason Grandma bailed him out. When I asked why she simply replied that she was saving the money for a rainy day. He got out in a month and was basically homeless. James moved in with me… and I've never been happier.

As for the rest of my story, I tried to get on with my life. I took off the red hood.