First he felt the cold, hard ground beneath him. Then he felt shivers run down on his skin and he realised he was naked. He had a killer headache, he could tell it without even opening his eyes or sitting up. His whole body was aching and he smelled a fresh outdoor air and for a moment he wondered where the fuck he was.
Then he remembered what the fuck had happened and why he wasn’t in his own bed wearing comfy clothes but instead lying on a cold hard ground butt naked.
Ronald’s eyes popped open in a flash and he sat up so fast that a striking pain shot through his head and for a moment he had to close his eyes and whimper, holding his head. When the pain eased he opened his eyes again and looked around.
He was alone in some sort of a cave. He looked around and for the first time in forever he hoped he would see Ramsey Barlow. Unfortunately the older man was nowhere to be seen and Ronald felt disappointed.
He would’ve loved to ask questions, like what the fuck happened last night.
He had turned into a werewolf. That’s pretty much all he could remember. That, and the paralysing pain before turning. It had really happened. Ronald couldn’t deny it, he had had his time of denial and now he had to face the cold hard facts: he was a werewolf.
“This can’t be happening”, he muttered.
“Yes, it can and it is”, said a voice behind Ronald. He turned around and saw Ramsey Barlow entering the cave. He tossed something at Ronald and he barely caught it.
Clothes. Ronald muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ and quickly got dressed. As he was pulling the last shoe on he heard that Ramsey was talking.
“What?” Ronald asked.
“I said get up, I need to get you back home.”
“Hold on a second”, Ronald said, refusing to stand up, mainly because he was afraid he would pass out since his head was hurting like a bitch. “I think we need to have a long conversation before you ditch me anywhere.”
Ramsey sighed in annoyance. He clearly didn’t want to just sit around and talk but he also realised Ronald wanted– no, neededit.
“Alright then”, he finally said. “Talk.”
“What happened?” Ronald asked.
“You turned, just like I told you you would.”
“But I can’t remember anything”, Ronald said.
“You don’t remember anything?”
“No. I mean yes. I mean… I remember the pain, I remember running out of my home, I remember you telling me ‘not here’ and then suddenly we were here in the woods– Where are we exactly?”
“Far away. Continue.”
“I, eh… I remember basically everything until the moment I turned. I can’t remember anything of it. Why?”
“That’s normal”, Ramsey said. “First time is always like that. It will get, how could I say it… sort of easier the more you turn.”
“So the pain will eventually go away?” Ronald asked hopefully.
“No”, Ramsey said like as if Ronald had said something stupid. “But you will remember everything eventually, even when you are in your… other form.”
“Oh...” Ronald looked at Ramsey. “I will turn every full moon?”
“Obviously.”
“Can I… control myself?”
“Depends.”
“You’re not giving me much to work with”, Ronald said, furrowing his eyebrows and Ramsey sighed.
“Look, kid”, he said. “I’m no babysitter but I kind of have to look after you, I wouldn’t be any better than the man who did this to you if I would just abandon you.”
Ronald thought about it for a moment. Was Ramsey really just looking after him? The more he thought about it the better he realised that that’s what Ramsey had tried to do from the very beginning.
“Thank you”, Ronald said. “For looking after me. And getting me out of my yard before I turne– wait a second. How did you get us out of there?”
“I purged our atoms and materialised us elsewhere – here”, Ramsey said like as if it was obvious.
“You can teleport?”
“Call it whatever you like”, Ramsey said.
“What are you? You’re not a… werewolf”, Ronald said, still finding it hard to say out loud that word.
“I’m a warlock.”
“A warlock?” Ronald frowned. “Can you please explain a little bit because I’m completely lost here.”
“You don’t know what warlocks are?”
“No, I do know what warlocks are, it’s just that this whole situation… What are you doing here, who are you, who attacked Lucas and I and–“
“Shut up”, Ramsey said sounding bored. “I got it.”
Ronald shut his mouth and looked at Ramsey with a waiting look on his face. He had forgotten his headache completely.
“I am here because of the werewolf who attacked you and your friend. I have been hunting him down for months and tracked him here, in this town. For some reason he likes it here, he has stayed here for months. I have been following him, tracking his every move and when he attacked you, I was the one who saved your asses”, Ramsey told, sounding like he couldn’t care less. “It’s hard to beat him because I can’t harm him when he’s in his human form. Warlocks can’t harm humans. We can create illusions, hallucinations, put them in sleep like I did to your friend but we can’t physically harm them.”
“A question”, Ronald said hesitantly because he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to speak yet. When Ramsey just stared at him he continued, “Do all warlocks hunt werewolves?”
“No. Just me”, Ramsey said.
“Are you going to kill me too then?”
“Kid, if I were to kill you, you’d be dead by now.”
“Why won’t you? You hunt werewolves”, Ronald asked, feeling like an idiot for asking someone why they didn’t want to kill him.
Ramsey shrugged. “You’re just a kid. Besides, my mission is to find that bastard, kill him and move on with my life.”
“Why? Why are you hunting him? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t, he attacked me for God’s sake, I just try to understand.”
“I have tiff with him”, Ramsey said.
“So it’s personal”, Ronald concluded.
“He killed my family”, Ramsey snapped. “I lost my brother that night.”
Ronald turned his gaze down. “I’m sorry.”
“Can I continue”, Ramsey said but it wasn’t really a question. “After I saved your asses I fought with him but he got away. I hope I managed to injure him at least.”
“How did you save us? I remember the green fire coming out of nowhere– whoah!” Ronald’s eyes widened as he watched the green fire playing in Ramsey’s hand. “That… is… so cool!”
Ramsey kind of pushed the fire off of his hand and it hit a tree near the cave’s entrance and the tree snapped in half and fell down.
“Never mind, that was scary as fuck”, Ronald said, changing his mind faster than what Lucas runs when he sees food. “What else can you do?”
“Manipulate atoms, lift stuff with my mind… a bunch of things really”, Ramsey said vaguely. He clearly didn’t want to share the information about his powers with Ronald.
Ronald was quiet for a long time, wondering and eventually Ramsey asked that did he already run out of questions.
“I’m just processing all of this”, Ronald said defensively. “It’s a lot to take in.”
Ramsey huffed with disdain.
“You would have had a lot of time to process this if you would have listened to me when I tried to warn you”, he said. “I even came into your dreams but even there you refused to hear me out.”
“So they were not just dreams!” Ronald yelled. “I knew that I wouldn’t be able to remember normal dreams that well!”
“You humans are pathetic”, Ramsey groaned. Ronald could tell he was getting tired of talking and tired of Ronald’s company. But Ronald wasn’t done, not even close.
“Is there any other magical creatures I should worry about?” he asked but he was not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. “I mean, there’s a werewolf that likes to attack innocent people, a warlock who hunts said werewolf… what else? Vampires?”
“Don’t be a fool”, Ramsey said and Ronald almost sighed in relief but then Ramsey continued, “There’s no vampires this far in the south.”
“Oh great, fantastic”, Ronald muttered.
“Now that’s enough chitchatting”, Ramsey said. “You need to go home before your parents notice that you’re missing. We don’t want any attention on us – on you.”
“Wait, what about the next full moon?” Ronald asked, a small trace of panic in his voice. “I don’t know what to do! I can’t handle the pain again, I–”
Ramsey lifted his hand up, silencing Ronald and sighed, annoyed and angry at the same time. “I will take care of it.”
Without another word Ramsey stepped closer to Ronald, took a hold of his shoulder and swirled his finger in the air, Ronald felt the pulling feeling and suddenly he was standing on his home street.
He looked around in awe and then turned his eyes on Ramsey.
“Thank–“, Ramsey disappeared right in front of him, “–you. Damn it.”
Ronald walked to his home and got inside. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was twelve o’clock.
“Where have you been?” Mrs. Quinn asked from the kitchen, not bothering to look at Ronald which was good because he was dirty and just a complete mess.
“I took a walk around the neighbourhood”, Ronald lied smoothly.
“When have you ever taken a walk just for fun?” Mrs. Quinn asked.
“Today”, Ronald answered and walked to his room. He took a shower, changed his clothes and then cuddled his pillow.
Now that Ramsey wasn’t there to distract him with all the talking, the aching feeling took over his whole body and he got his headache back. Ronald stood up and went to the kitchen, asking for painkillers.
“What for?” his mother asked as she handed a few pills to Ronald.
“Headache”, Ronald replied and went back to his bed. He fell asleep and saw no dreams.
When Ronald woke up he felt much better. It almost seemed like nothing had happened, that he had just dreamt it all.
But he knew now that that wasn’t true. Even his imagination couldn’t come up with crazy shit like that. Ronald stared at the ceiling and tried to understand everything he had learned in the morning but nothing came really out of it. He was still just as confused as he had been before.
Then he realised what he should do. When in doubt, google it! Google knows the best. Ronald took his laptop from the floor and sat crosslegged on the floor. He tried to open the laptop but it wouldn’t open, the screen stayed black. He tried to charge it, thinking that the battery was empty but it didn’t help.
“Come on”, Ronald groaned. “Don’t make me go to the library.”
He could ask to borrow his mother’s laptop but he already knew she wouldn’t allow it. She loved her laptop too much. And at Mr. Quinn’s laptop Ronald didn’t even have a permission to look at.
He realised he had no choice but to go to the library and use their computers. Ronald changed his clothes, took his phone and was just about to step out of the house, his hand already on the door knob when there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, he saw Farrah Livingstone.
“Hey”, she said smiling.
Oh shit, Ronald had forgot the tutoring session with Farrah. His mind had been preeetty occupied.
“Am I early?” she asked when Ronald just stared at her in a shock.
“No, no!” Ronald said. “You’re right on time… But I’m really sorry, I have to cancel… something came up.”
“Oh”, Farrah said sounding disappointed.
Ronald felt bad for letting her down but he really needed to go. He needed to do something to help him wrap his head around the whole werewolf thing.
“I’m really sorry”, Ronald said and stepped outside, closing the door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay”, Farrah said and then Ronald turned and started running, leaving very confused Farrah standing alone in front of his home.
He ran all the way to the library, busted in and saw that no one was using the computers and there wasn’t even that many people in the library. Finally some luck.
One hour later Ronald leaned back in his seat and sighed in frustration. He hadn’t learnt anything new or useful. He deleted his search history out of pure paranoia and then he left the library.
He wandered the streets and thought about the mess he was in.
He was a werewolf.
Ramsey was a warlock.
Supernatural things in general existed.
“Didn’t see that one coming, Ronald, did you?” he muttered to himself. He looked around and realised he had walked in the park. He sat in a swing and just stared into nothing as the darkness slowly creeped around him.
Then he realised something.
Lucas.
What should he do with him? Tell him everything? Not tell him anything? He knew Lucas had joked about Ronald turning into a werewolf but would he actually believe him if he would tell him that he had transformed into one? He wanted to tell everything to Lucas, after all he was Ronald’s best friend and they usually told everything to each other.
Ronald made his decision; he would tell Lucas first thing on Monday. He needed his best friend by his side otherwise he wouldn’t be able to handle it all; the pain, the transformation, any of it.
Then he remembered what the fuck had happened and why he wasn’t in his own bed wearing comfy clothes but instead lying on a cold hard ground butt naked.
Ronald’s eyes popped open in a flash and he sat up so fast that a striking pain shot through his head and for a moment he had to close his eyes and whimper, holding his head. When the pain eased he opened his eyes again and looked around.
He was alone in some sort of a cave. He looked around and for the first time in forever he hoped he would see Ramsey Barlow. Unfortunately the older man was nowhere to be seen and Ronald felt disappointed.
He would’ve loved to ask questions, like what the fuck happened last night.
He had turned into a werewolf. That’s pretty much all he could remember. That, and the paralysing pain before turning. It had really happened. Ronald couldn’t deny it, he had had his time of denial and now he had to face the cold hard facts: he was a werewolf.
“This can’t be happening”, he muttered.
“Yes, it can and it is”, said a voice behind Ronald. He turned around and saw Ramsey Barlow entering the cave. He tossed something at Ronald and he barely caught it.
Clothes. Ronald muttered a quiet ‘thank you’ and quickly got dressed. As he was pulling the last shoe on he heard that Ramsey was talking.
“What?” Ronald asked.
“I said get up, I need to get you back home.”
“Hold on a second”, Ronald said, refusing to stand up, mainly because he was afraid he would pass out since his head was hurting like a bitch. “I think we need to have a long conversation before you ditch me anywhere.”
Ramsey sighed in annoyance. He clearly didn’t want to just sit around and talk but he also realised Ronald wanted– no, neededit.
“Alright then”, he finally said. “Talk.”
“What happened?” Ronald asked.
“You turned, just like I told you you would.”
“But I can’t remember anything”, Ronald said.
“You don’t remember anything?”
“No. I mean yes. I mean… I remember the pain, I remember running out of my home, I remember you telling me ‘not here’ and then suddenly we were here in the woods– Where are we exactly?”
“Far away. Continue.”
“I, eh… I remember basically everything until the moment I turned. I can’t remember anything of it. Why?”
“That’s normal”, Ramsey said. “First time is always like that. It will get, how could I say it… sort of easier the more you turn.”
“So the pain will eventually go away?” Ronald asked hopefully.
“No”, Ramsey said like as if Ronald had said something stupid. “But you will remember everything eventually, even when you are in your… other form.”
“Oh...” Ronald looked at Ramsey. “I will turn every full moon?”
“Obviously.”
“Can I… control myself?”
“Depends.”
“You’re not giving me much to work with”, Ronald said, furrowing his eyebrows and Ramsey sighed.
“Look, kid”, he said. “I’m no babysitter but I kind of have to look after you, I wouldn’t be any better than the man who did this to you if I would just abandon you.”
Ronald thought about it for a moment. Was Ramsey really just looking after him? The more he thought about it the better he realised that that’s what Ramsey had tried to do from the very beginning.
“Thank you”, Ronald said. “For looking after me. And getting me out of my yard before I turne– wait a second. How did you get us out of there?”
“I purged our atoms and materialised us elsewhere – here”, Ramsey said like as if it was obvious.
“You can teleport?”
“Call it whatever you like”, Ramsey said.
“What are you? You’re not a… werewolf”, Ronald said, still finding it hard to say out loud that word.
“I’m a warlock.”
“A warlock?” Ronald frowned. “Can you please explain a little bit because I’m completely lost here.”
“You don’t know what warlocks are?”
“No, I do know what warlocks are, it’s just that this whole situation… What are you doing here, who are you, who attacked Lucas and I and–“
“Shut up”, Ramsey said sounding bored. “I got it.”
Ronald shut his mouth and looked at Ramsey with a waiting look on his face. He had forgotten his headache completely.
“I am here because of the werewolf who attacked you and your friend. I have been hunting him down for months and tracked him here, in this town. For some reason he likes it here, he has stayed here for months. I have been following him, tracking his every move and when he attacked you, I was the one who saved your asses”, Ramsey told, sounding like he couldn’t care less. “It’s hard to beat him because I can’t harm him when he’s in his human form. Warlocks can’t harm humans. We can create illusions, hallucinations, put them in sleep like I did to your friend but we can’t physically harm them.”
“A question”, Ronald said hesitantly because he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to speak yet. When Ramsey just stared at him he continued, “Do all warlocks hunt werewolves?”
“No. Just me”, Ramsey said.
“Are you going to kill me too then?”
“Kid, if I were to kill you, you’d be dead by now.”
“Why won’t you? You hunt werewolves”, Ronald asked, feeling like an idiot for asking someone why they didn’t want to kill him.
Ramsey shrugged. “You’re just a kid. Besides, my mission is to find that bastard, kill him and move on with my life.”
“Why? Why are you hunting him? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you shouldn’t, he attacked me for God’s sake, I just try to understand.”
“I have tiff with him”, Ramsey said.
“So it’s personal”, Ronald concluded.
“He killed my family”, Ramsey snapped. “I lost my brother that night.”
Ronald turned his gaze down. “I’m sorry.”
“Can I continue”, Ramsey said but it wasn’t really a question. “After I saved your asses I fought with him but he got away. I hope I managed to injure him at least.”
“How did you save us? I remember the green fire coming out of nowhere– whoah!” Ronald’s eyes widened as he watched the green fire playing in Ramsey’s hand. “That… is… so cool!”
Ramsey kind of pushed the fire off of his hand and it hit a tree near the cave’s entrance and the tree snapped in half and fell down.
“Never mind, that was scary as fuck”, Ronald said, changing his mind faster than what Lucas runs when he sees food. “What else can you do?”
“Manipulate atoms, lift stuff with my mind… a bunch of things really”, Ramsey said vaguely. He clearly didn’t want to share the information about his powers with Ronald.
Ronald was quiet for a long time, wondering and eventually Ramsey asked that did he already run out of questions.
“I’m just processing all of this”, Ronald said defensively. “It’s a lot to take in.”
Ramsey huffed with disdain.
“You would have had a lot of time to process this if you would have listened to me when I tried to warn you”, he said. “I even came into your dreams but even there you refused to hear me out.”
“So they were not just dreams!” Ronald yelled. “I knew that I wouldn’t be able to remember normal dreams that well!”
“You humans are pathetic”, Ramsey groaned. Ronald could tell he was getting tired of talking and tired of Ronald’s company. But Ronald wasn’t done, not even close.
“Is there any other magical creatures I should worry about?” he asked but he was not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. “I mean, there’s a werewolf that likes to attack innocent people, a warlock who hunts said werewolf… what else? Vampires?”
“Don’t be a fool”, Ramsey said and Ronald almost sighed in relief but then Ramsey continued, “There’s no vampires this far in the south.”
“Oh great, fantastic”, Ronald muttered.
“Now that’s enough chitchatting”, Ramsey said. “You need to go home before your parents notice that you’re missing. We don’t want any attention on us – on you.”
“Wait, what about the next full moon?” Ronald asked, a small trace of panic in his voice. “I don’t know what to do! I can’t handle the pain again, I–”
Ramsey lifted his hand up, silencing Ronald and sighed, annoyed and angry at the same time. “I will take care of it.”
Without another word Ramsey stepped closer to Ronald, took a hold of his shoulder and swirled his finger in the air, Ronald felt the pulling feeling and suddenly he was standing on his home street.
He looked around in awe and then turned his eyes on Ramsey.
“Thank–“, Ramsey disappeared right in front of him, “–you. Damn it.”
Ronald walked to his home and got inside. He looked at the clock on the wall. It was twelve o’clock.
“Where have you been?” Mrs. Quinn asked from the kitchen, not bothering to look at Ronald which was good because he was dirty and just a complete mess.
“I took a walk around the neighbourhood”, Ronald lied smoothly.
“When have you ever taken a walk just for fun?” Mrs. Quinn asked.
“Today”, Ronald answered and walked to his room. He took a shower, changed his clothes and then cuddled his pillow.
Now that Ramsey wasn’t there to distract him with all the talking, the aching feeling took over his whole body and he got his headache back. Ronald stood up and went to the kitchen, asking for painkillers.
“What for?” his mother asked as she handed a few pills to Ronald.
“Headache”, Ronald replied and went back to his bed. He fell asleep and saw no dreams.
When Ronald woke up he felt much better. It almost seemed like nothing had happened, that he had just dreamt it all.
But he knew now that that wasn’t true. Even his imagination couldn’t come up with crazy shit like that. Ronald stared at the ceiling and tried to understand everything he had learned in the morning but nothing came really out of it. He was still just as confused as he had been before.
Then he realised what he should do. When in doubt, google it! Google knows the best. Ronald took his laptop from the floor and sat crosslegged on the floor. He tried to open the laptop but it wouldn’t open, the screen stayed black. He tried to charge it, thinking that the battery was empty but it didn’t help.
“Come on”, Ronald groaned. “Don’t make me go to the library.”
He could ask to borrow his mother’s laptop but he already knew she wouldn’t allow it. She loved her laptop too much. And at Mr. Quinn’s laptop Ronald didn’t even have a permission to look at.
He realised he had no choice but to go to the library and use their computers. Ronald changed his clothes, took his phone and was just about to step out of the house, his hand already on the door knob when there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, he saw Farrah Livingstone.
“Hey”, she said smiling.
Oh shit, Ronald had forgot the tutoring session with Farrah. His mind had been preeetty occupied.
“Am I early?” she asked when Ronald just stared at her in a shock.
“No, no!” Ronald said. “You’re right on time… But I’m really sorry, I have to cancel… something came up.”
“Oh”, Farrah said sounding disappointed.
Ronald felt bad for letting her down but he really needed to go. He needed to do something to help him wrap his head around the whole werewolf thing.
“I’m really sorry”, Ronald said and stepped outside, closing the door. “I’ll see you later, okay?”
“Okay”, Farrah said and then Ronald turned and started running, leaving very confused Farrah standing alone in front of his home.
He ran all the way to the library, busted in and saw that no one was using the computers and there wasn’t even that many people in the library. Finally some luck.
One hour later Ronald leaned back in his seat and sighed in frustration. He hadn’t learnt anything new or useful. He deleted his search history out of pure paranoia and then he left the library.
He wandered the streets and thought about the mess he was in.
He was a werewolf.
Ramsey was a warlock.
Supernatural things in general existed.
“Didn’t see that one coming, Ronald, did you?” he muttered to himself. He looked around and realised he had walked in the park. He sat in a swing and just stared into nothing as the darkness slowly creeped around him.
Then he realised something.
Lucas.
What should he do with him? Tell him everything? Not tell him anything? He knew Lucas had joked about Ronald turning into a werewolf but would he actually believe him if he would tell him that he had transformed into one? He wanted to tell everything to Lucas, after all he was Ronald’s best friend and they usually told everything to each other.
Ronald made his decision; he would tell Lucas first thing on Monday. He needed his best friend by his side otherwise he wouldn’t be able to handle it all; the pain, the transformation, any of it.