Chapter #4Head... somewhere by: rugal b.   You head on over to the edge of the forest, back to blessed civilization. You realize, however, that you can't really just trot back into the city as a wolf. However, though, you don't really want to be outside of a body as earlier that left you feeling helpless and vulnerable. Luckily, there's a McDonald's near where you are. If you can exit the wolf closer to there, you can slip in, go into the bathrooms, and take someone as they come in. You don't even really care who, as they'd likely be a jumping spot to getting out of Saratoga Falls for a little bit. That's an idea, you think: body hop across the country.
A little piece of you wonders, however, if maybe you're just running away from your problems and not actually confronting them. You shake it off, though, as you head up close to the fast food joint. Right now, you have to concentrate on trying to get out of this wolf. It takes considerable effort since you've never done anything like this but with enough will, you're able to vomit yourself out of the wolf's body into the grass behind the parking lot. The wolf seems to be unconscious for a moment before coming to, dazed, and running back into the forest.
You make your way under a back door and manage to slither through the restaurant. You're lucky, you think that you're not slimy or anything since it doesn't seem like you leave any kind of wet trail. You eventually make it, with no one spotting you thank god, to where the bathrooms are. You're too low to read which is the men's and which is the women's but you don't care. You want to be human again. You decide to hide in the drain of the sink, springing up on whoever comes in and washes their hands. Not the cleverest plan but it'll get the job done, you hope.
You get your opportunity soon enough as you hear someone come in and use the bathroom. A minute or so later, they're washing their hands and as they finish, you use this opportunity to strike, coming up out of the drain and lunging at the person, going in through their mouth as they gasp in surprise. You can feel them fighting you, their body rocking and as soon as it started, it stops. You're looking out of another set of eyes, into the bathroom mirror. You see a man who looks to be in his late-30s with a slightly receding hairline, dressed in a light blue polo shirt and khakis. He looks like a fairly average businessman type.
You remember that when you were in the wolf, you could get a sense of his memories. Not quite as easy here and you wonder if there's a way to easily take in his mind and learn about him. As you think this, you suddenly lose control of his body. You can still see, you can still hear... but he's back in control, wondering what happened. You freak out but then notice that his mind is more open to you. You learn that his name is Andrew Chamberlain, a 37-year-old middle manager at a tech firm that works in the area. He's married to a pretty woman about 3 years younger named Denise and the couple live a fairly typical middle class life with their two daughters Christine (11) and Hannah (17). You're actually fairly certain you've seen Hannah Chamberlain around school and that she was a tall, slender, pretty girl who was good friends with Kristy Carlson (though you've seen her in the company of Diana Lord and Darcy Whitehead as well).
Andrew, in fact, is taking Christine to see a concert the next city over being put on by Haley Solomon. You (and Andrew for that matter) didn't really know anything about her except that she was some big teen pop star with a show on one of those various, interchangeable kids networks. Still, Christine had wanted to see her really badly and at Denise's insistence of a little father/daughter bonding time, Andrew bought a pair of tickets (and even a backstage pass) for Christine for her birthday. Now, a couple of weeks later, the father/daughter pair were headed over to Mountridge (which was about an hour drive) to see her.
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As the concert keeps going, you find that you're enjoying yourself. There are plenty of other people (parents or older cousins or siblings) here with kids to mingle with inbetween songs. Christine, you can tell, is having the time of her life. She's a sweet girl, albeit with an ability to talk your ear off as you found out on the ride over here. In fact, Andrew's whole life seems rather nice. It might be nice to live it for a little while but at the same time, you feel a twinge... maybe you shouldn't. Andrew's a man that works hard to keep his family happy and a part of you feels like it'd be wrong to deny someone like that the chance to spend time with his family, as opposed to being a puppet for you to manipulate.
Besides, there are plenty of other people you could become if you wanted to get a way for a little bit: a girl in her late-teens (probably in college) here with a young girl and that young girl's friends, a good-looking man in his 20s presumably here with a cousin or sister. Heck, there's Hannah: the Chamberlains seem to have a pleasant life and being her would allow you to keep a tab on what's happening at school, as well.
Or there's Haley Solomon. At school, you had always hoped to eventually be on the A-list, but now... now, you could take Haley and be on a higher plane of popularity and respect than the high school A-list. You could live the life of a pop star: looks, money, fame, the ability to see the world... you'd have it all. And if life ever got to hectic, you could just pop out into some other celebrity, or a fan halfway across the country. Or the globe for that matter. The only problem would be getting to her but as you look at Christine, you know exactly how you'd do it.
You want to give Andrew his life back, but in the process, who's will you take you wonder?
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