Chapter 7 - Waiting Around for Nothing

WARNING: MIGHT HAVE SOME DISGUSTING DESCRIPTIVE WRITING INVOLVED - If you don't like it then just miss the first few paragraphs. THANK YOU

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Matt arched his back in the living room and gave a howl of pain as he was ripped apart from the inside out. Yes, it was as nasty as it sounded. It made him cringe even when he thought about it. He thought by now that he would have got used to the pain but it always seemed to be as bad as the last time. He hated the fact that he had to change every single night. Wasn't a werewolf supposed to only change on the full moon? He was obviously different there as well.

Typical.

He struggled as the clock chimed and his eyes widened and narrowed before stretching into a dog like shape. He arched again and it looked as if he was almost about to throw up. He definitely felt like he was going to throw up. His claws ripped off his fingernails and he screamed, panting and crying with pain. Hair grew all over his body and he dropped to all fours, slowly becoming the monster he’d rather not be.

Once done, he blinked and stretched out his paws. Great. His stomach gave a growl and he shook his head, his hair waving in the process like a head-and-shoulders advert, Matt thought humorously.

Now, what to do first? He’d already decided that he would look for the misty stuff and find out what it was. It was starting to annoy him not knowing and he wondered yet again whether Kristen was behind it all or whether it was all just coincidence.

Of course, it would only be coincidence because Kristen was a weak little human and, as far as he knew, the only thing that really existed was werewolves and he only knew that because he was one himself, though he'd never seen another one before.

That didn't surprise him much, considering as he hardly moved around much.

So either he'd go searching for the thing and probably never find it or he'd go hunting and fill his rumbling stomach. He was hungry. He had just ripped out of his skin after all. Things like that needed energy. Even if he hadn't, he would probably still be hungry, Matt thought and smirked.

His stomach gave another growl as if trying to encourage him. He whimpered back at it and sat down, itching his ear with his left foot. No, he would be strong. He needed to find that misty thing and find out what it was otherwise he may not have another chance...

That’s if he could find whatever it was. He was gathering that it wasn’t going to be easy. It had escaped pretty quickly last time and so this time he was prepared for it. He knew what he was looking for this time. So what if it was smoke and see through? He was sure that if he got his paws into it, it would be easy to discover what it was. There was always the chance that he wouldn’t be able to grab it but everything he’d tried so far at being a werewolf had worked so maybe because of what he was he would be able to capture it.

It was worth a shot anyway. He shook himself again then jumped to his paws and sprinted out into the road, the wind whipping his hair back from his face. Where was there to look though? He didn't even know where to start. Even if the thing was out tonight, it could been anywhere. Matt knew nothing about it, after all, and so he had no idea on it's behaviour or it's goals when it roamed the town.

He glanced from left to right and hesitated for a moment, wondering where to start. Maybe it was best if he started from where he had first saw it. That was the most logical starting point.

Matt shot himself down the road and into the trees, rushing to the place where he had last seen the stuff. His tongue hung out of his mouth and he didn’t even bother to curl it in. No one was going to see him so he didn't need to. Even those who saw him wouldn't recognise and would probably think they were seeing things. Who would notice a stuck out tongue instead of a huge monster of a wolf roaming the streets at night?

Trees blurred past him and his paws stormed across the soil and grass. All too soon he was at the place where he had seen the misty stuff. He didn't even know what to call it and calling it 'misty stuff' wasn't exactly making him feel very mature and adult-like. There was nothing in sight of his vision. The catch the night before must have been eaten by the animals around the place because there was nothing left of it, as if it had never happened.

The smoke wasn’t there either. Matt couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he hadn't spotted it immediately. He wished catching this thing was as easy as catching his food. Now he had to wait for it to turn up, if it ever did turn up. This was going to be a long night.

He could hardly wait.

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Matt waited for hours. He sat. He thought. He breathed. He blinked. He stared. He sat some more. That’s all he did. Every so often he tapped his foot impatiently and shook his head to get rid of an itch. Other than that he stayed still, listening to the wind, the trees, the rustles of leaves and the company of the animals. His stomach grumbled and soon became a dull ache which he whined about quietly under his breath every few minutes. He wasn't used to waiting for so long.

Matt was growing into starvation mode. The smoke still hadn’t appeared and he was bored now. He got up and stretched his legs. It obviously wasn’t going to appear tonight, which disappointed Matt more than he thought it would. He was looking forward to finding out the truth by the morning but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

On the bright side he had had lots of time to think about things.

Kristen had got him thinking about how much he had changed since the incident with his family. He had changed dramatically but it was only because of what he had become. The thing had changed the way he was to protect the secret from getting out to other people. He had become stronger and tougher, braver and smarter than he originally had been, even though he'd obviously been destined to be a werewolf his whole childhood.

He was more careful about what he said and more aware of what others said and their actions towards him. Also, all of his senses had intensified and so he could sense things so much better than the rest of the people now in his college. He noticed things others didn’t and smelt things before he saw them. In a way it was a good thing but he still wished that the curse never existed.

He was more weary too. There were too many risks and trouble around and it was best to try and stay away from it as much as possible. Though he loved the excitement, risking exposure wasn't exactly a laughing matter.

Tell no one anything and no one can find your weak points. That’s why no one knew about his family and Aimee, his gorgeous sister who he missed so much.

Matt whimpered and lay on the floor, putting his head under his paws. Poor Aimee. His heart thudded in his chest and he closed his eyes. He hated feeling all of this guilt but he guessed he deserved it. He had done it to her. He had done it to his whole family. He had no one left and no one to turn to and it hurt at times knowing that he was on his own with no one to support him, though he'd never trust anyone else about his secret.

Maybe Kristen was right. Not about the friend thing, of course. She could never be his friend. Not when he changed into a wolf at night or when he got angry and lost control and ripped everything on sight. It was too much of a risk and she would end up getting hurt, as well as his secret being blown and he definitely couldn’t risk that.

No, she was right about how he couldn’t be alone forever. At some time in his life he was going to fall in love and would have to tell the girl, whoever it may be, what he was and how much danger he was going to put her in. It would risk his whole relationship and so if he ever actually found the girl of his dreams he would have to make sure that he knew that she truly loved him.

Hah. Fat chance.

Matt shook his head and buried his face against his paws. He would never find love because of the monster that he was. No one would ever love him for who he was. Once they found out, they would freak out and leave him and never see him again. Then he would be a heartbroken werewolf and who knows how he’d react to that.

That was if anyone ever got that close. It was unlikely. He kept people at a distance and never let anyone close. Everyone who had been close enough had paid for it. His family had died. His whole world had been torn to shreds as if he’d ripped it apart with a swipe of his claws…

Actually that was exactly what had happened.

He dug his nails into the soil and gave a howl of misery, feeling it vibrate in the air and ruffle up the leaves in the trees. It wasn’t fair. Why hadn’t he had a normal father? Why did he have to be different, different than all of the others? He supposed some would call it cool and would love to see what it felt like.

To him it was just like a disease. He would never let anyone take his curse if he, for some miracle, found a girl who loved him enough. He would refuse to have kids. He wouldn't be able to see them make the transformation, his own flesh and blood, being tortured by something they had no control over...

There was a rustle in the leaves and Matt’s ears pricked up straight. He sat up and stared into the trees at where the noise came from. The branches waved in the wind of the night. His eyes sparkled and he slowly got to his feet, sniffing the air. All he could smell was the nature around him. Nothing unusual. Nothing had changed.

Maybe it was just an animal.

It was. A small rabbit. Matt narrowed his eyes and watched as it nibbled the grass behind a nearby tree, obviously not noticing that there was a very large werewolf sitting in the clearing in the dark. He moved slowly to the floor and moved a step forward. The rabbit didn’t seem to realise that there was danger right next to it and continued nibbling on the grass.

It was dead before it even realised it. Matt bit through it's neck and killed it instantly. It wasn’t enough to fill him up but it would keep his stomach from rumbling for now. He stripped it from it's fur and swallowed the hot bloody meat in one go, spitting out the bones cleanly licked. He licked the blood from his paws and then toyed with the remains, pushing the bones around in the soil to make little patterns.

He was bored. He was hungry. He wasn’t cold but he wasn’t enjoying the cool wind ruffling his hair around like a hairdresser causing it to flick into his eyes in an irritating manner. The smoke obviously wasn’t coming and he was wasting his time. This put him in a foul mood. All of those hours he could have spent hunting and feeding and it was all for nothing. He was starving, especially now that he had rabbit blood on his tongue, teasing his senses.

Everything seemed to go quiet again and Matt rolled his eyes. He had to feed otherwise he would end up killing half the school in the morning, wolf or not. He needed a really fat slow cow, pregnant if possible. It held more fat and more meat if it was, even if it wasn't morally right. He couldn’t hunt several animals now. He didn't have enough time. He’d cut down his food supply and now he was going to be moody and grumpy, worse than normal really.

Good luck to the people he was going to make contact with tomorrow.

Someone screamed.

Matt jumped to his feet and pricked his ears. Something had happened. Something was wrong. He had to find out who that was that had screamed. What had happened? He’d said just today that he was the protector of the town, could take down criminals quickly and could disguise it as an animal attack. He knew he could do this. It made him feel less of a monster, doing something for others, even if they did scream at him later due to the size of him.

He faced in the direction of where the scream came from and began to run towards the houses. He needed a sign... Another scream... Anything that would give him some indication as to who or where the person was who needed help. They wouldn’t know it was him if he appeared. All they’d see would be a wild animal and then they’d be dead or knocked out and the victim could run for cover and say that an animal attacked the attacker and they were fine.

There was no sound, though, so when he reached the roads he was relying on his other senses. He sniffed the air but there were no strange smells except the usual meadow where people had walked all day. He switched on his radar but everyone was in their houses asleep in their bed except one or two people who were walking up the stairs to go to bed. There was hardly any movement at all except sleepy rolls and murmurs.

Matt sighed and panted, his tongue sticking out as he tried to taste. There wasn’t any strange tastes in the air, maybe just a hint of some blood but it wasn’t enough for it to be a stab wound or a killing or something like that. More like a scratch or a spot or something minor. It didn’t worry Matt too much.

Whatever or wherever the scream had come from, it wasn’t around here. He sighed and shook his head. It was probably nothing. Now that he thought about it, he wondered if he’d actually heard it at all or if it had just been his imagination because he was so bored. Yes, maybe his mind was playing tricks on him and really there hadn’t been a noise. Or maybe it hadn’t been a scream and it had just been a strange noise.

Well, whatever it had been, it wasn’t making a noise now. Matt sniffed the air one last time then shrugged his shaggy shoulders and blinked slowly, glancing around him. He wasn’t far from his house, really, just two blocks away. He never normally explored much further than his road and the route to classes, except when he hunted, but even then he didn’t pay much attention to the people in their houses and the roads they lived on.

This particular road was very pretty. There were flowers in every garden, in every porch, on every window shelf on the ground floor. Then there were loads of evergreen trees and perfectly weeded concrete pathways. Each house was brick work so they all looked similar and there wasn’t a messy corner in sight. It was very posh compared to his road. Only the best people would live in these houses.

He wondered if Kristen lived in one of these houses, or Laura for that matter. He knew Laura liked to boast about how much money she had and stuff but was it true? He listened to see if he recognised any voices. When he didn’t get any familiar scents, he sniffed upwards and concentrated, trying to widen his distance of smell. If Kristen was there he would smell her, surely. Her smell was so strong that he would probably smell it the instant he went looking for it.

There was a hint of raspberries but it was very faint. He licked his lips and stepped to the right. The smell faded even more. He stopped and moved left. It strengthened. She’d been down this road recently. Out of pure curiosity, he wanted to know where she lived. He followed the smell step by step as he moved along the pavement. It moved along the side of the road and then unexpectedly disappeared.

Matt frowned - if a wolf could frown that is - and backtracked. No it definitely stopped. That was weird. He lifted himself onto his back paws and sniffed the air harder. There was no other trail to her scent. It was as if she just…disappeared. How could someone have just disappeared into thin air? It wasn’t possible.

Maybe his nose was playing tricks on him and it wasn’t raspberries that he was smelling.

One sniff proved that wrong. It was definitely Kristen’s smell, but it was only a few steps long and then it ceased to exist. He wondered how and why. Maybe she was the one who had screamed. Maybe she had been attacked and dragged somewhere or put in a bag or something extreme like that. Maybe it was her blood he had smelt.

His heart lurched and he shook his head. No it couldn’t be because surely he would have smelt other stronger smells nearby and would have seen them drive away with her if something had happened to her? He would be able to smell her if she was in a bag, right?

No it wouldn’t have been her. It couldn’t have been. It would help if he knew where she lived but he was completely clueless so he couldn’t even check to see if she was okay.

Not that he cared… Why would he care about a new student that wasn’t even his friend? She was just an annoying girl that stank of fruit, followed him around and wouldn’t leave him alone. She was a pain and was a risk to his secret. No way did he care for her when she could ruin everything he'd worked so hard to keep to himself. She butted in on things that didn’t involve her and made him think about things he shouldn't be thinking about.

No, he only wondered about her because he was the hero, the protector of the town, and so he had to make sure everyone was okay, even if that included Kristen. She was part of the local people now and so it was his responsibility that she stayed safe.

There was a noise to the right and Matt pulled back his lips, bouncing to face the intruder, growling quietly in his throat, his eyes diluting. He stopped when he realised what it was, moving back into the trees as the two drunk girls walked down the road, laughing and tripping over the curb with drunken steps and giggles. They hadn’t noticed that there had been a very large wolf growling at them from only a few metres away.

They had to be really, really drunk.

Matt watched as they stumbled along, gripping each others arms and laughing loudly, their backcombed hair hair-sprayed into a rock, jewellery hanging from their ears, neck and wrists, jingling as the accessories clattered together and echoed down the road. Matt rolled his eyes and watched in the dark through the trees. They didn’t have a care in the world. Life was good for them. They didn’t need to worry about changing at night, like he did.

Another thing he would never be able to do: go clubbing. He supposed not having any friends helped because he would never go clubbing on his own, but if he wanted to, he wished he had the opportunity to do it if he felt like it. Being what he was stopped that choice and he hated that. He wouldn’t want to anyway. That was life. Life was unfair.

He continued to stay where he was, crouched down behind a tree, pushing soil through his toes. It was a good feeling but his feet would be dirty when he got into his house. Still, it was enjoyable so he did it anyway. Maybe if he stayed long enough, he’d be shown why Kristen had disappeared so suddenly without a trace. Maybe these girls would disappear too.

No. They went straight past the place Kristen had evaporated from and carried on stumbling and singing in a loud voice. Hmm. Maybe he was mistaken. It wasn’t possible. Though, he thought werewolves didn’t exist until he became one.

Maybe it was possible. Did it link to the smoky stuff that he’d seen the other night? Did it link Kristen to the smoke? It wasn’t proof but it was a hypothesis and there were a few things that didn’t make sense, all that had happened when Kristen had come to town. It couldn’t all be coincidence.

The girls disappeared down the next road and Matt rolled his eyes before standing up and turning to go back through the trees. He was hungry but didn’t want to eat. He’d be cranky in the morning, sure, but he’d eat double tomorrow night, he promised himself. He’d cope. He’d refused to eat the first night or so when he’d turned so he could definitely cope a year on, even if it was slightly painful.

The night was closing and he still hadn’t spotted the misty stuff, eaten a proper meal or found out where Kristen had gone, whether it was her who had screamed or someone else, or no one at all! His mind was getting more confused as the days progressed and it was all because of Kristen who had suddenly entered his life and had disrupted his routine. He'd ended up going out, trying to find solutions, only to come back with more questions than he started with.

He slowly made his way home, a hungry wolf, and entered his house, ready for the pain to start. He put on the TV and waited. His stomach rumbled as he lay down on the carpet and put his head on his paws. There was so much to think about, too much stuff that he shouldn’t care about and too much of the past catching up with him. All this weird stuff was getting to his head. He’d had enough action in his life time and just wanted to live the rest of his life peacefully, trying to get over the fact that he was always going to be a werewolf.

His back arched as he started to change back and he closed his eyes for a moment before letting out a large howl of pain.

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Sorry for the filler chapter but it had to be done! I know it's very descriptive but it was like that for a reason!

I hope you're enjoying the story!

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