As the days passed by and the night of full moon came closer Ronald became more and more anxious. From time to time his brain slipped a thought in his mind that maybe, just maybe, he had dreamt everything but then he remembered the awful pain and he understood that it had been real – no matter how hard he wanted it all to be just a dream. He didn’t want to experience that pain again. He couldn’t handle it, he was sure of it. He would die the next time.
Probably the worst part was that he couldn’t even share his anxiousness with Lucas because he hadn’t had a chance to tell him about the whole ‘hi I’m a werewolf’ thing. He had wanted to, sure, but every time he tried to tell Lucas, something else came up and he never really managed to just blurt it out.
He tried his best to concentrate on school and acting normal, especially now when he and Farrah were kind of...dating? He wasn’t sure but Farrah came to talk with him at school, kissed his cheek always before leaving and smiled at him across the hallways and Ronald was really happy about it. They usually walked out of school together and Farrah would hug him before leaving.
Ronald kind of wanted to ask her what’s up, but he didn’t know how to do it. Were they just casually seeing each other or were they heading in the direction of a relationship? Ronald hoped it was the latter but he couldn’t know for sure.
One day at school Ronald suddenly realised something out of the blue.
“Lucas”, he said. “I just realised that I haven’t met your boyfriend what-ever-his-name-was and I think I should meet him before you two become serious so that I can give you my blessing!”
“His name is Ransley”, Lucas said.
Oh, right, Ronald thought. He was still sure that the name sounded familiar but he still hadn’t figure out why.
“And”, Lucas continued, “he said me yesterday that he would love to meet you. Actually when I think about it he might have said it at least five times already. I have told him everything about you and he knows you’re my best friend so he really wants to meet you.”
“Then why”, asked Ronald, “haven’t you introduced us?”
“I’m scared you won’t like him.”
“Oh please”, Ronald said. “If you like him then he can’t be that bad.”
Lucas laughed.
“Alright, I will text him and ask if he can meet us at Poppy’s today”, he said and took his phone out.
Poppy’s was this diner close to their school. It was a really nice place which served hamburgers and pizza, smoothies and basically everything you could dream of.
Ronald grinned happily as his best friend typed on his phone. He was kind of socially awkward but still he was just happy that he had something else to think about than the full moon.
“Hi, Ron”, Farrah said as she walked past him.
Ronald smiled.
“Hi”, he said and watched how Farrah walked towards her friends. Ronald thought it was absurd that he was casually greeting Farrah Livingstone when just almost a month ago he couldn’t even breathe normally around her.
“Earth to Ronald!”
“What?” Ronald asked, turning his attention to Lucas.
“Ransley answered, he’s up for it.”
“Great! Now I have to figure out how to not be socially awkward when I meet him”, Ronald said and Lucas laughed.
“He knows you’re a geek who doesn’t know how to socialise so no stress.”
“Jeez, Lucas, is there anything you haven’t told him?”
“Yeah, lots of things.”
“Like?”
“Like our camping trip accident.”
“Why didn’t you tell him about the attack?” Ronald asked, curious.
Lucas shrugged nonchalantly.
“I didn’t want to make him worry”, he said.
“Aw that is so sweet I might throw up”, Ronald said honestly.
“Ah, shut up”, Lucas groaned and pushed Ronald away from him because he had came closer making gagging voices.
After school day Lucas and Ronald headed towards Poppy’s and the closer they got, the more nervous they became. Lucas because he was afraid Ronald wouldn’t like Ransley and Ronald because he was afraid he would make a fool out of himself.
All he knew about Ransley was that he had a cool appearance and fancy style. That’s pretty much all he had seen at the mall and he had no idea what Ransley was like as a person.
“What if hedoesn’t like me?” Ronald asked when he saw the sign of Poppy’s.
“Then I’ll dump him.”
“I’m being serious, Lucas!”
“I’m sure he’ll like you”, Lucas sighed. “Stop worrying.”
They entered Poppy’s and while Lucas looked around for his boyfriend, Ronald stared at his shoes like as if they were the world’s most interesting thing.
“He’s over there”, Lucas said and pulled Ronald with him and started walking towards the corner table on their right. Ronald recognised the boy sitting there, after all, he had seen him once before. But he did look so much different from close distance.
He had his brown hair pushed back again and he had big, grey eyes which looked straight through Ronald and made him feel restless. Ransley had a small smirk on his face all the time and he stood up when Ronald and Lucas stopped next to his table. He was taller than Lucas and Ronald and very lanky. He smiled at Lucas and then he offered his hand to Ronald.
“Hi, I’m Ransley”, he introduced himself.
Ronald shook his hand.
“Ronald.”
“Splendid to finally meet you”, Ransley said and sat back down, pulling Lucas down next to him. “Lucas has been talking about you a lot.”
“Pleasure is all mine”, Ronald said and sat down on the opposite side of the table. “Lucas has a bad habit of talking much.”
“Hey, don’t start slandering me”, Lucas said and Ronald could see by the way they were sitting that Lucas and Ransley were holding hands under the table.
I’m gonna throw up, he thought and smiled at them.
“Did you already order?” Ronald asked from Ransley.
He shook his head. “I waited for you two.”
They ordered milkshakes and then Ransley put his arm around Lucas’ shoulders and looked at Ronald with his piercing eyes.
“So, what can you tell me about Lucas?” he asked. “I want to hear all his glory and dirty secrets!”
“He has a lot of those”, Ronald said and looked at Ransley. Something about him didn’t feel right with Ronald. Ransley was too… too smooth-spoken. Too glib and polished; nothing about him didn’t seem off and that was exactly what made Ronald so restless. He had a feeling that Ransley was hiding something. Covering something he didn’t want others to see with perfectness.
Ransley laughed and squeezed Lucas closer. “Hear that, baby? I get to hear your darkest secrets.”
“No you won’t if Ronald wants to keep his head”, Lucas said and stared at Ronald intensively. Ronald smiled innocently and shrugged.
They proceed talking about other stuff and Ronald just hoped he wasn’t being too visible about the fact that he felt uncomfortable. At one point Ransley got up and squeezed his way past Lucas, saying he needed to go to the toilet. As soon as he was gone Lucas leaned closer to Ronald, smiling widely.
“Well?”
“Well what?” Ronald asked, knowing damn well what Lucas wanted to hear.
“Do you like him?”
Ronald looked at Lucas’s happy face, wide smile and brown eyes which were filled with attachment. Aw, shit. He couldn’t tell Lucas how he really felt, he didn’t have the heart for that. Ronald faked a smile.
“He’s great”, he lied.
“Seriously?” Lucas asked, smiling even wider.
“Absolutely”, Ronald assured.
Lucas leaned back and looked at Ronald triumphally.
“I told you you had nothing to worry about”, Lucas said. “I can tell that he likes you. He would’ve suggested that we would leave already if he didn’t.”
“Great”, Ronald said, fake smiling so wide his cheek were hurting. “Look, as fun as this is, I really should get going. You know, homework and extra work that Farrah makes me do so that I will pass my math exams.”
“Oh, okay”, Lucas said, sounding disappointed. “Well, we can always meet up some other time! We can have a double date.”
“Who can have a double date?” asked Ransley who had came back and looked at Ronald who had stood up. “Are you leaving already?”
“We can have a double date with Ronald and Farrah”, Lucas said.
“Yes, I have a lot of homework to do, I’m so much slower than Lucas with them”, Ronald said and offered Ransley a small smile. “It was nice meeting you, though.”
“Ditto”, Ransley said and shook Ronald’s hand again, squeezing it a bit harder than what was necessary. “I suppose we will meet again.”
“Definitely”, Ronald said even though he was not looking forward to it. “Bye.”
“Bye, Ron!” Lucas said and then he and Ransley continued talking about something that Ronald didn’t hear because he was already at the door. When he walked out of the Poppy’s and passed Ransley and Lucas’s table, he made the mistake of glancing inside from the window.
Ransley was staring at him, not blinking or having a smile on his face. His face was completely empty and eyes pierced right through Ronald.
A horrified look spread on Ronald’s face when he suddenly realised where he had heard Ransley’s name before.
“Ransley is the one who did that to you.”
That’s what Ramsey had told him when he had busted inside Ronald’s home. Ronald turned his gaze away and started running. He ran all the way to his home, locked himself in his room and called Ramsey.
“What?” Ramsey answered.
“Lucas’s boyfriend’s name is Ransley!” Ronald breathed out immediately.
The line went silent as Ramsey ended the call. Ronald stared at his phone with a shocked look. Had Ramsey seriously hang up on him?
“Did you see him?” said a voice behind Ronald.
Ronald jumped and turned around. Ramsey had materialised in his room without making a sound.
“Ronald, did you see him? What did he look like?” Ramsey repeated.
“He had brown hair which was pushed back, very big, grey eyes and he was tall and lanky and–“
“That son of a bitch”, Ramsey muttered and started walking back and forth while Ronald sat on his bed and tried to understand what was going on.
“It’s him, right? Lucas’s boyfriend is the werewolf who attacked me?” Ronald asked quietly.
“Yes”, Ramsey said. “That son of a bitch had it all planned. It wasn’t a coincidence that you were in the woods when he transformed and attacked you. I bet you my powers that he gave that idea of going camping on that weekend to Lucas in the first place. I have been so blind, how didn’t I see it?”
“Wait, wait, wait”, Ronald said. “Why did he want us in the woods when he transforms? Why did he want to–“
“Because he’s a killer, Ronald!” Ramsey shouted. “He enjoys the hunting, especially if the victims are scared. He obviously thought you would be perfect victim since you’re...”
“A pussy who will scream and cry and beg for him to save my life?”
Ramsey shrugged his shoulder.
“Something like that”, he said and it didn’t boost Ronald’s ego at all. “Listen kid, I have been alive for 300 years, I know a thing or two about how a werewolf’s mind works and–“
“300 years?” Ronald asked and his eyes widened. “You look thirty!”
“Warlocks don’t die or age that easily”, Ramsey said. “As I was saying, I know how he’s thinking, I know him. This is all just one big game to him.”
“What do we do?” Ronald asked. “Lucas is with him! We have to warn him!”
“Wedon’t do anything. You stay far away from him while I figure this out”, Ramsey said coldly.
“But what about Lucas?”
“If he wanted Lucas dead, your friend would have died months ago”, Ramsey said. “No, he needs Lucas to get close to you. He will be fine for now.”
“For now?” Ronald yelped.
“We need to keep our cool, Ronald. Tomorrow is full moon and I need to look after you every time you turn until you can control yourself, then I can go back to hunting him when I don’t have to babysit you anymore.”
“But–“
“No buts!” Ramsey shouted. “You will do as I say!”
“Promise to me you won’t let anything bad happen to Lucas!” Ronald yelled back.
“Fine, whatever”, Ramsey said. “Stay here. Go to school tomorrow and stay surrounded by people, I will come get you in the evening before you turn, got it?”
“Got it”, Ronald muttered defeated. “But could you explain me what it means that I can control myself?”
“You still have that anger inside you which you get from the pain of turning but you will be able to control it. Like for example Ransley, he can control it but he loses control easily because he’s so unstable. You will have better chances of controlling fully yourself. Maybe you’ll even go as far as to never kill anyone if you try hard enough.”
“Oh”, was all Ronald managed to get out of his mouth.
Ramsey disappeared from his room and a second later he heard the front door open and then his mother’s voice.
“Ronald, I’m home!”
“I’m in my room!” he yelled back.
His mother walked in and looked around.
“You should really clean up a little bit”, she said. “I will make dinner, what would you like to eat?”
“I’ll eat anything”, Ronald said, trying his best to smile and not show his mother how worried and stressed he was.
“Mashed potatoes it is”, she said and walked away.
Ronald fell on his back and put a pillow on his face. He screamed into the pillow. He would have to go through that pain tomorrow, a psychotic killer who liked to attack teenagers was dating his best friend and his mother was making mashed potatoes.
Life was weird and hard.
Probably the worst part was that he couldn’t even share his anxiousness with Lucas because he hadn’t had a chance to tell him about the whole ‘hi I’m a werewolf’ thing. He had wanted to, sure, but every time he tried to tell Lucas, something else came up and he never really managed to just blurt it out.
He tried his best to concentrate on school and acting normal, especially now when he and Farrah were kind of...dating? He wasn’t sure but Farrah came to talk with him at school, kissed his cheek always before leaving and smiled at him across the hallways and Ronald was really happy about it. They usually walked out of school together and Farrah would hug him before leaving.
Ronald kind of wanted to ask her what’s up, but he didn’t know how to do it. Were they just casually seeing each other or were they heading in the direction of a relationship? Ronald hoped it was the latter but he couldn’t know for sure.
One day at school Ronald suddenly realised something out of the blue.
“Lucas”, he said. “I just realised that I haven’t met your boyfriend what-ever-his-name-was and I think I should meet him before you two become serious so that I can give you my blessing!”
“His name is Ransley”, Lucas said.
Oh, right, Ronald thought. He was still sure that the name sounded familiar but he still hadn’t figure out why.
“And”, Lucas continued, “he said me yesterday that he would love to meet you. Actually when I think about it he might have said it at least five times already. I have told him everything about you and he knows you’re my best friend so he really wants to meet you.”
“Then why”, asked Ronald, “haven’t you introduced us?”
“I’m scared you won’t like him.”
“Oh please”, Ronald said. “If you like him then he can’t be that bad.”
Lucas laughed.
“Alright, I will text him and ask if he can meet us at Poppy’s today”, he said and took his phone out.
Poppy’s was this diner close to their school. It was a really nice place which served hamburgers and pizza, smoothies and basically everything you could dream of.
Ronald grinned happily as his best friend typed on his phone. He was kind of socially awkward but still he was just happy that he had something else to think about than the full moon.
“Hi, Ron”, Farrah said as she walked past him.
Ronald smiled.
“Hi”, he said and watched how Farrah walked towards her friends. Ronald thought it was absurd that he was casually greeting Farrah Livingstone when just almost a month ago he couldn’t even breathe normally around her.
“Earth to Ronald!”
“What?” Ronald asked, turning his attention to Lucas.
“Ransley answered, he’s up for it.”
“Great! Now I have to figure out how to not be socially awkward when I meet him”, Ronald said and Lucas laughed.
“He knows you’re a geek who doesn’t know how to socialise so no stress.”
“Jeez, Lucas, is there anything you haven’t told him?”
“Yeah, lots of things.”
“Like?”
“Like our camping trip accident.”
“Why didn’t you tell him about the attack?” Ronald asked, curious.
Lucas shrugged nonchalantly.
“I didn’t want to make him worry”, he said.
“Aw that is so sweet I might throw up”, Ronald said honestly.
“Ah, shut up”, Lucas groaned and pushed Ronald away from him because he had came closer making gagging voices.
After school day Lucas and Ronald headed towards Poppy’s and the closer they got, the more nervous they became. Lucas because he was afraid Ronald wouldn’t like Ransley and Ronald because he was afraid he would make a fool out of himself.
All he knew about Ransley was that he had a cool appearance and fancy style. That’s pretty much all he had seen at the mall and he had no idea what Ransley was like as a person.
“What if hedoesn’t like me?” Ronald asked when he saw the sign of Poppy’s.
“Then I’ll dump him.”
“I’m being serious, Lucas!”
“I’m sure he’ll like you”, Lucas sighed. “Stop worrying.”
They entered Poppy’s and while Lucas looked around for his boyfriend, Ronald stared at his shoes like as if they were the world’s most interesting thing.
“He’s over there”, Lucas said and pulled Ronald with him and started walking towards the corner table on their right. Ronald recognised the boy sitting there, after all, he had seen him once before. But he did look so much different from close distance.
He had his brown hair pushed back again and he had big, grey eyes which looked straight through Ronald and made him feel restless. Ransley had a small smirk on his face all the time and he stood up when Ronald and Lucas stopped next to his table. He was taller than Lucas and Ronald and very lanky. He smiled at Lucas and then he offered his hand to Ronald.
“Hi, I’m Ransley”, he introduced himself.
Ronald shook his hand.
“Ronald.”
“Splendid to finally meet you”, Ransley said and sat back down, pulling Lucas down next to him. “Lucas has been talking about you a lot.”
“Pleasure is all mine”, Ronald said and sat down on the opposite side of the table. “Lucas has a bad habit of talking much.”
“Hey, don’t start slandering me”, Lucas said and Ronald could see by the way they were sitting that Lucas and Ransley were holding hands under the table.
I’m gonna throw up, he thought and smiled at them.
“Did you already order?” Ronald asked from Ransley.
He shook his head. “I waited for you two.”
They ordered milkshakes and then Ransley put his arm around Lucas’ shoulders and looked at Ronald with his piercing eyes.
“So, what can you tell me about Lucas?” he asked. “I want to hear all his glory and dirty secrets!”
“He has a lot of those”, Ronald said and looked at Ransley. Something about him didn’t feel right with Ronald. Ransley was too… too smooth-spoken. Too glib and polished; nothing about him didn’t seem off and that was exactly what made Ronald so restless. He had a feeling that Ransley was hiding something. Covering something he didn’t want others to see with perfectness.
Ransley laughed and squeezed Lucas closer. “Hear that, baby? I get to hear your darkest secrets.”
“No you won’t if Ronald wants to keep his head”, Lucas said and stared at Ronald intensively. Ronald smiled innocently and shrugged.
They proceed talking about other stuff and Ronald just hoped he wasn’t being too visible about the fact that he felt uncomfortable. At one point Ransley got up and squeezed his way past Lucas, saying he needed to go to the toilet. As soon as he was gone Lucas leaned closer to Ronald, smiling widely.
“Well?”
“Well what?” Ronald asked, knowing damn well what Lucas wanted to hear.
“Do you like him?”
Ronald looked at Lucas’s happy face, wide smile and brown eyes which were filled with attachment. Aw, shit. He couldn’t tell Lucas how he really felt, he didn’t have the heart for that. Ronald faked a smile.
“He’s great”, he lied.
“Seriously?” Lucas asked, smiling even wider.
“Absolutely”, Ronald assured.
Lucas leaned back and looked at Ronald triumphally.
“I told you you had nothing to worry about”, Lucas said. “I can tell that he likes you. He would’ve suggested that we would leave already if he didn’t.”
“Great”, Ronald said, fake smiling so wide his cheek were hurting. “Look, as fun as this is, I really should get going. You know, homework and extra work that Farrah makes me do so that I will pass my math exams.”
“Oh, okay”, Lucas said, sounding disappointed. “Well, we can always meet up some other time! We can have a double date.”
“Who can have a double date?” asked Ransley who had came back and looked at Ronald who had stood up. “Are you leaving already?”
“We can have a double date with Ronald and Farrah”, Lucas said.
“Yes, I have a lot of homework to do, I’m so much slower than Lucas with them”, Ronald said and offered Ransley a small smile. “It was nice meeting you, though.”
“Ditto”, Ransley said and shook Ronald’s hand again, squeezing it a bit harder than what was necessary. “I suppose we will meet again.”
“Definitely”, Ronald said even though he was not looking forward to it. “Bye.”
“Bye, Ron!” Lucas said and then he and Ransley continued talking about something that Ronald didn’t hear because he was already at the door. When he walked out of the Poppy’s and passed Ransley and Lucas’s table, he made the mistake of glancing inside from the window.
Ransley was staring at him, not blinking or having a smile on his face. His face was completely empty and eyes pierced right through Ronald.
A horrified look spread on Ronald’s face when he suddenly realised where he had heard Ransley’s name before.
“Ransley is the one who did that to you.”
That’s what Ramsey had told him when he had busted inside Ronald’s home. Ronald turned his gaze away and started running. He ran all the way to his home, locked himself in his room and called Ramsey.
“What?” Ramsey answered.
“Lucas’s boyfriend’s name is Ransley!” Ronald breathed out immediately.
The line went silent as Ramsey ended the call. Ronald stared at his phone with a shocked look. Had Ramsey seriously hang up on him?
“Did you see him?” said a voice behind Ronald.
Ronald jumped and turned around. Ramsey had materialised in his room without making a sound.
“Ronald, did you see him? What did he look like?” Ramsey repeated.
“He had brown hair which was pushed back, very big, grey eyes and he was tall and lanky and–“
“That son of a bitch”, Ramsey muttered and started walking back and forth while Ronald sat on his bed and tried to understand what was going on.
“It’s him, right? Lucas’s boyfriend is the werewolf who attacked me?” Ronald asked quietly.
“Yes”, Ramsey said. “That son of a bitch had it all planned. It wasn’t a coincidence that you were in the woods when he transformed and attacked you. I bet you my powers that he gave that idea of going camping on that weekend to Lucas in the first place. I have been so blind, how didn’t I see it?”
“Wait, wait, wait”, Ronald said. “Why did he want us in the woods when he transforms? Why did he want to–“
“Because he’s a killer, Ronald!” Ramsey shouted. “He enjoys the hunting, especially if the victims are scared. He obviously thought you would be perfect victim since you’re...”
“A pussy who will scream and cry and beg for him to save my life?”
Ramsey shrugged his shoulder.
“Something like that”, he said and it didn’t boost Ronald’s ego at all. “Listen kid, I have been alive for 300 years, I know a thing or two about how a werewolf’s mind works and–“
“300 years?” Ronald asked and his eyes widened. “You look thirty!”
“Warlocks don’t die or age that easily”, Ramsey said. “As I was saying, I know how he’s thinking, I know him. This is all just one big game to him.”
“What do we do?” Ronald asked. “Lucas is with him! We have to warn him!”
“Wedon’t do anything. You stay far away from him while I figure this out”, Ramsey said coldly.
“But what about Lucas?”
“If he wanted Lucas dead, your friend would have died months ago”, Ramsey said. “No, he needs Lucas to get close to you. He will be fine for now.”
“For now?” Ronald yelped.
“We need to keep our cool, Ronald. Tomorrow is full moon and I need to look after you every time you turn until you can control yourself, then I can go back to hunting him when I don’t have to babysit you anymore.”
“But–“
“No buts!” Ramsey shouted. “You will do as I say!”
“Promise to me you won’t let anything bad happen to Lucas!” Ronald yelled back.
“Fine, whatever”, Ramsey said. “Stay here. Go to school tomorrow and stay surrounded by people, I will come get you in the evening before you turn, got it?”
“Got it”, Ronald muttered defeated. “But could you explain me what it means that I can control myself?”
“You still have that anger inside you which you get from the pain of turning but you will be able to control it. Like for example Ransley, he can control it but he loses control easily because he’s so unstable. You will have better chances of controlling fully yourself. Maybe you’ll even go as far as to never kill anyone if you try hard enough.”
“Oh”, was all Ronald managed to get out of his mouth.
Ramsey disappeared from his room and a second later he heard the front door open and then his mother’s voice.
“Ronald, I’m home!”
“I’m in my room!” he yelled back.
His mother walked in and looked around.
“You should really clean up a little bit”, she said. “I will make dinner, what would you like to eat?”
“I’ll eat anything”, Ronald said, trying his best to smile and not show his mother how worried and stressed he was.
“Mashed potatoes it is”, she said and walked away.
Ronald fell on his back and put a pillow on his face. He screamed into the pillow. He would have to go through that pain tomorrow, a psychotic killer who liked to attack teenagers was dating his best friend and his mother was making mashed potatoes.
Life was weird and hard.