The Bond: Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Sean had fallen asleep as soon as he had gotten back to his motel room. He couldn’t even remember having walked over to the bed, and in fact, as he was waking up, he realized that he still had his shoes on. He must’ve just collapsed almost as soon as he walked in. He laid there a minute enjoying the feeling of being well rested and not having had any nightmares plague his sleep.

Suddenly, he heard a loud honk just outside his door. He jumped to his feet focusing on the green digits of the motel’s alarm clock. It was twenty minutes past ten, and he realized who it was that must’ve been leaning on the car horn.

Sean rushed over to the door and tried to open it, but was surprised to find it locked. For a split second he was amazed that he had remembered to have even done that much last night before he fell unconscious. He hurriedly unlocked his door and opened it only to be blinded from the late morning light. He held his hand up to his eyes to help shield them from the daylight as he adjusted to the sudden contrast. In front of him came the soft sounds of a truck’s engine in idle and he could smell the exhaust of the vehicle as though it had been running in the same spot for a while. In no time at all Sean’s eyes were able to see normally again, and there in front of him, right next to his own car, was Craig ‘s truck. He had the driver’s side door open and was standing there with his hand over the steering wheel which he gave one more honk just to be sure that Sean was fully awake.

“I’m sorry! Did I wake you?” Craig teased his friend.

From within the vehicle Sean heard the indistinct sound of laughter, and realized that there were two other people sitting in the truck. Sean mumbled a curse under his breath and could feel his face warm up in embarrassment. It was bad enough for his friend to wake him up, but even worse for him to make a first impression like this.

Sean held up a finger indicating to Craig to give him a second, and he went back into his room. He hurried over to the bathroom and rinsed his face with cool water from the sink. He grabbed a little bottle of Listerine from the counter that was a complimentary sample from the motel, popped the top off, and poured it into his mouth. As he swished it around he gave himself a once over look in the mirror, hoping he didn’t look too disheveled. He spat the green minty liquid into the bowel of the sink and leaned in closer to get a better look at his hair. He frowned at the reflection when he discovered he could see more than a few hair roots turning white.

“Hey bud you ready?” Craig called as he leaned into his room. “Come on man! You look fine. Get your stuff and let’s go.”

“Alright! Alright! I’m coming,” Sean retorted. He left the bathroom hoping that his hair wouldn’t be that noticeable and swiped his backpack from the foot of the bed. He was using it as his overnight bag and it was half full now since he had used one set of clothes. He followed Craig out the door and locked it behind him.

“Just a second. Let me get something out of my trunk.” Sean went around to the rear of his car and pressed the button on his keys to remotely open the trunk. It popped up and he dug around in one of his luggage bags for about half a minute before finding a bathing suit and a couple of towels. He managed to shove everything into his backpack with the exception of one towel, which he slung over his shoulder with the pack.

Craig’s truck was a black Ford and had an extended cab with four doors. The body of it shined and the tires looked new, like he had just bought the vehicle recently. Seeing that the front passenger seat had someone else already sitting there he opened up the back door and climbed into the seat. The interior was light brown leather and it looked spotless, exactly like a showroom car should be. Sean had caught a glimpse of the girl that was in the front, but was surprised when he realized another one sitting in the back seat too.

“Oh… hello,” Sean stammered.

She gave Sean a little laugh and said, “Hi!” as he set his bag down on the floor between them and put his seatbelt on.

Craig turned in his seat and gave a quick introduction for Sean’s benefit before he did his own seatbelt and pulled out of the parking lot. Jeanine, who was sitting in the front seat, was Craig’s girlfriend. She had long blond hair and a pretty face with a little bit of makeup to highlight her already attractive appearance. He could see that she was wearing a blue sleeveless shirt and bathing suit material underneath that.

In the back seat next to Sean was Jeanine’s best friend from college, Rose. Her wavy red hair came past her shoulders and framed her heart shaped face. She was wearing a white T-shirt with the middle of it pulled up and knotted in the front, so it showed her flat stomach and tan skin. She was also wearing blue denim cutoffs which had plenty of loose threads that were trimmed back and white sneakers with black and red stripes.

“So,” Jeanine began, “Craig tells me you guys were best friends since before I knew him.”

Sean looked at Craig wondering what he may have told them already. As if reading his mind Craig responded, “Don’t worry man, I only told ‘em your name and that I knew you from way back when. I figured anything else you could speak for yourself.”

Sean didn’t know what to make of that. On the one hand he was glad that Craig wasn’t telling everybody that his best friend from childhood was back from the dead and that he had amnesia, but on the other hand Sean now felt like he was on the spot and had to tell them something. He supposed that he should be grateful that Craig had left it up to him to give as much, or as little, detail as he wanted. If he wanted to live beyond his uncle’s manor and interact with the rest of the world he would have to let some people get to know him one way or another.

“Well, since it worked so well with you, Craig, I guess I’ll tell them the truth.”

Craig smiled and shook his head slightly while keeping his eyes on the road. “You do what you want.”

Knowing that Jeanine and Rose were waiting for him, Sean started. He gave them the abridged version of the accident that gave him amnesia and made him an orphan. He maintained the same story that Craig and his mother believed about the accidental explosion, and told them everyone that knew him as a child thought he hadn’t survived the explosion. When in actuality he was being cared for by his estranged uncle that no one knew he had. Only recently did he find the courage to try and get back in touch with his former life. When Sean finished talking there was a quiet moment that seemed to hang in the air where nobody said anything, and the two girls digested what they had just heard.

Rose finally broke the silence with, “Wow! I can’t imagine what it must be like for you.”

“You’re that Sean?!” Jeanine exclaimed. “I can’t believe I didn’t pick up on that when you told me this morning,” she said, looking at Craig.

“Yea, and now that you both know, don’t give him a hard time if he acts a little strange.” Craig said defensively. “The place we’re going to is where we used to hangout as kids. I don’t know if it’ll do anything, but I’m hoping it might bring back some memories for him.”

“This little camping trip seems like it’s getting better and better,” Rose said.

Craig used his rearview mirror to get a look at her and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Jeanine was trying to scare me last night by telling me how these woods are haunted. On one Halloween night some girl took a dare to go into this spooky part of the woods and no one ever saw her again.”

“Hey look,” Jeanine suddenly announced looking out her side window, “Isn’t that the place right there.”

When Sean looked out his window he was shocked to see that they were driving right pass the very location his old house had once stood. His breath got caught up in his throat, and he froze, staring blankly out the window.

“Shit!” Craig cursed. “Sean… man, I’m sorry. I didn’t even realize I was going to be driving past here. It’s been so long since I came this way.”

Craig waited a few seconds for Sean to respond, but his best friend just continued staring out the window.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Craig yelled as he punched the ceiling with his right hand

“Whoa!” Jeanine shouted at her boyfriend. “Craig, calm down! You’re driving!”

“I’m okay.” Sean broke himself from his brief comatose state. “It just surprised me. That’s all.”

“Are you alright?” Rose asked Sean out of concern.

“Yea it’s nothing. Guess I was hoping that I would’ve felt something.” Sean forced himself to smile, trying to put everyone at ease and push the moment behind them. Craig tried apologizing again and Sean reassured him that he was all right.

In truth, however, Sean did find himself wondering about the sandy clearing and the incident he had the other morning. As soon as Jeanine had pointed out where they were and he recognized the place his mind seized upon the moment of terror he had experienced the other day. He wanted to bury the memory of it and not spoil everyone’s spirit, but the brief recollection gnawed at his stomach as he tried to ignore it.

Sean distracted his mind by asking about the camping gear and what all they had with them. A glance through the back window told him that they had at least three tents, sleeping bags, a few backpacks and a cooler. Sean was glad to hear that Craig had brought an extra sleeping bag for him as well as air mattresses for the comfort of all.

Craig also eluded that they were going to meet another friend at the site, and that “Jason” was someone else that had hung out with them when they were kids. Jason had only known Sean for about six months before his accident. Since that time Craig and Jason had become good friends and had gone to the same college using the same football scholarship they were awarded their senior year.

Sean couldn’t deny a pang of jealousy he felt at hearing about Jason. He wondered if that could have been him if things had turned out differently. It was a brief and innocent feeling, and he didn’t have any mal intent toward anyone, so he let the thought go.

It only took them about ten more minutes before Craig slowed the truck’s speed and took them off-road. The trail had to parallel tracks of packed earth evenly spaced for a vehicle’s tires, and a strip of tall grass growing down the center. Old trees and a decent layer of underbrush filled either side with their rich green leaves. The path was rough, and in a couple of places Craig sped up taking the bumps hard making everyone else in the truck bounce around wildly. Jeanine was the only one that complained since she wasn’t wearing a seat belt, and wound up sprawled all over the front seat. She made sure she had her seatbelt on before Craig could get her with the second one. About a mile down into the woods they came across a deep red truck much like Craig’s and it was pulled over to the side.

“Guess Jason beat us here first,” Craig announced as he parked his truck and got out. He walked over to the other vehicle and peered inside the bed. “He must’ve just got here, or he’s being lazy, cause he still has most of his gear back here.”

Everyone else piled out of the black truck and looked around. Now that everyone was standing he could see that Jeanine was about his own height, maybe a bit shorter, and Rose was petite. She probably stood just a couple of inches above five feet.

“Which way sweetie?” Jeanine asked Craig.

“I don’t know,” Craig replied, smiling mischievously. “Think you can remember Sean?”

Sean looked around, not feeling the slightest sense of familiarity, and said, “How about this way.” He pointed to the side of the path that the trucks were parked on.

“Did you remember?” Craig asked, feeling hopeful for his friend.

Sean couldn’t hold back a bubble of laughter. “Nope. There are only two sides of the path to pick from, so I had a fifty-fifty chance of picking the right one. The side the trucks were parked on seemed like a good bet.”

Craig had to laugh, and so did the two girls. As they saw how Craig accepted Sean, Jeanine and Rose grew more comfortable with him too.

Craig lowered the tailgate of his Ford and everyone grabbed something to carry. They all slung a backpack onto their shoulders and between Craig and Sean they shared the load of the cooler.

They moved through the woods on a much narrower path than the one they had driven on. It was only wide enough to walk comfortably in single file, which they managed easily enough. The ground gradually sloped downward while they traveled about a thousand feet from where they had parked the cars. In the distance Sean could hear the sound of a small waterfall, and he could see through a bend in the path a spot of orange.

“I can see it,” Sean said, nodding in the right direction

“Hold up guys!” Craig insisted as he stopped and set his side of the cooler to the ground. “Maybe you should let me go first to give them a heads up. You know, for the sake of decency.”

“Oh, come on Craig,” Jeanine protested. “We’re all adults here. Besides, it’s not like they’d be doing anything we haven’t walked in on before. I swear those two must like getting caught.”

Jeanine continued on pass Craig, leading the way, while he adjusted his pack and grabbed the other end of the cooler again. He shouted ahead to warn Jason and his girlfriend, Heather, who was undoubtedly with him inside the orange bubble tent. As they approached they could hear giggling coming from the tent and it shook with them rushing about to get dressed. For Rose, the giggling was contagious, because she couldn’t help herself from stifling a laugh by covering up her mouth. Sean also couldn’t resist grinning, and he could tell his face was getting flushed from the uncomfortable situation. The four of them set their gear down noisily, just to make sure Jason and Heather understood that they had company, and Sean looked around more closely at the area.

The trail opened up into a wide, almost circular clearing with only a few narrow trees scattered here and there. The ground had wild grass that was kept short from constant activity and there were patches of dirt that had a dark rich color. In most places the ground had leveled out, making it an ideal place to set up a few tents. In the center of the campsite there were a ring of stones creating a fire pit and a couple of logs along with a half buried boulder that made great seats around a campfire. About fifty feet from the center of the clearing the ground appeared to drop away at a steep incline, almost cliff-like, and then there were a thin wall of trees. Beyond that Sean could see water. It looked as though the creek widened into a lake making it an excellent place to go swimming.

“We’ll be right out,” came a male’s voice from the tent, accompanied by some feminine laughter.

“You two got no sense of decency!” Craig reprimanded. But he too was smiling. “We’ll be right back. We’re going to the trucks to get the rest of your stuff.”

All four of them headed back to the trucks while looking around at the forest. Jeanine admired the natural beauty of their surroundings and Rose talked about how she had never gone camping before, but always wanted to. Craig watched Sean closely hoping to see him show some sign of recognizing the area. Occasionally Sean let his hand brush up against the leaves of the brush and touched the skin of the trees as he kept on walking. The woods undoubtedly held a peaceful attractiveness that Sean could not deny, but nothing about the place brought any memories to the surface of his thoughts. He tried relaxing, and allow his senses to take in his surroundings, but nothing seemed familiar.

As they got the last of their gear from Craig’s truck, and whatever else Jason and Heather left in theirs, Craig asked Sean how he felt. Everyone was quiet, anticipating what Sean would say.

“Well… the place feels inviting, but I don’t recognize anything. I wish I could say I felt something,” he shrugged, “but I don’t.”

Craig put a free hand on Sean’s shoulder. “Don’t force it. It’ll come to you when it comes to you.”

“You know,” Sean said as they started their trek back to the campsite, “I’ve been told I may never get my memories back. It gets frustrating trying to recover things that I know I should already know. Sometimes I feel like I just want to give up and let my life start anew.”

“Maybe that’s what you should do,” Rose suggested.

“What do you mean?” Sean asked.

“I’m just saying that maybe Craig’s right and that you’re trying too hard. I bet that as soon as you just let it all go and give up you’ll start recalling what you’ve forgotten. You could get a bunch of random bits of knowledge that won’t make sense at first, or certain things might all of sudden look familiar, but you think you’ve never seen it before. My advice to you is: don’t worry about it anymore.”

“I hate it when she does that,” Jeanine said. “She’s majoring in psychology and uses that techno jumbo on me all the time.”

“I do not!” Rose protested. “I haven’t done that to you in a long time.”

“My first semester of rooming with you, you did.”

“That was almost a year ago,” Rose said defensively, and then she directed her voice at Sean. “Sorry if I offended you, I thought I was being helpful.” Her apology wasn’t so sincere, and sounded more like she was irritated at Jeanine.

“Actually,” Sean interjected, “Thanks. It feels good to hear that.” Rose smiled at Sean, and he couldn’t resist feeling his face heat up again.

By the time they got back to the campsite Sean had learned that Rose was 23 and working on her third year of college as a psychology major, and Jeanine was 21 in her second year and was trying to major in computer science. Craig had started college the same time as his girlfriend, but didn’t know what he wanted so he was working toward a liberal arts degree.

Jason and Heather were out of their tent and Sean was finally able to meet them face to face. Jason was Sean’s height with short blond hair that was very light in color. He was bare-chested with nothing on his feet and only wearing a brand new pair of dark Levi jeans. Jason had a very athletic build and as near as Sean could tell not a hair on his back, chest or arms.

Heather was a brunette that stood taller than Jason by six inches, but with a narrower frame, she probably weighed less than he did. She didn’t look so thin that you couldn’t see her feminine curves, but compared to the other two girls her chest was flat. Heather’s hair was straight like Jeanine’s and she had big brown eyes. She was dressed in a black one piece bathing suit and ready to go swimming.

“So who’s this?” Jason announced as he stepped up to Sean offering to shake his hand. “Is this Rose’s boyfriend?” He asked with a grin.

“No!” Rose objected. “I just met him.”

“Is he going to be?” Jason teased her.

Rose mumbled a “shuddup” as she hid her face by kneeling over one of the tent bags, and began opening it up. Sean wasn’t sure but he thought that she might be hiding a smile and wondered if Craig was be trying to set him up with her.

Before anything else was said Craig quickly interceded. “Do you recognize him?”

Sean and Jason clasped hands and held them while Jason evaluated more closely a face that looked unfamiliar to him. Sean gave him a few seconds to consider who he was and then he finally said his name. A few more seconds passed by before Jason’s mouth and eyes abruptly popped open and his grip went slack with shock. He wore a dumbfounded expression on his face that made Sean and Craig laugh.

“No way!” He yelled. “Sean Anderson?” He asked just to be sure he had guessed right. Sean nodded his head in response. “Holy crap! God Damn!” He shouted, as if one curse wasn’t enough to express his amazement.

“Hey!” Heather yelled at Jason. “You promised you wouldn’t swear anymore.”

“I know, and I’m sorry, but do you know who this is?”

Before Jason could tell her she said, “No. Is he famous?” It was evident to Sean that she was teasing him, but Jason was so surprised that the affect was lost on him.

“I use to know this kid when I was growing up. Everybody had thought you died.” He let go of Sean’s hand and gave him a friendly jab to his shoulder. “I can’t believe it’s you!”

The next half hour Sean filled Jason in on his story and how he didn’t share the same recognition that Jason had with him. While they talked they set up their tents, air mattresses, and sleeping bags. They tried to setup a fourth tent so that Rose and Sean wouldn’t have to worry about sharing, but unfortunately it was missing some vital poles so they couldn’t even rig it to work. Craig apologized to his friend and Sean told him not to worry about it and that they would figure out something later.

With Heather insisting they go swimming they all took turns in the tents to change into their bathing suits with the exception of Jason. He said he hated swimming and Heather tried to cajole him, but he resisted and decided he would busy himself with setting up a tarp over their campsite because he heard it might rain for a little while tonight. Before they headed down to the lake Craig warned him to not set it up over the fire pit, and he protested that he wasn’t stupid enough to do that.

Down at the lakeside Craig showed them a rope that they used to swing from. He confessed it had been a long time since they had done that and he wasn’t sure if the rope or the branch would still be strong enough to hold their weight. Since he was the heaviest out of all of them he volunteered to go first, and everyone agreed if it held him it would be safe enough for the rest of them to try it.

He gave the rope a couple of sharp tugs, and even let it suspend his full weight with him just hanging there. Believing that it would be safe enough, he carried the end of it up to a nearby ledge describing that it was the spot they used to always swing from as kids. Without any reservation he jumped forward. Jeanine gave a startled shout as he yelled “Geronimo” while holding onto the rope with both hands. He let go as his momentum slowed and he was fifteen feet over the lake. He landed with a big splash, and everyone else, feeling the thrill of it, cheered for him.

Sean went next, making a cannon ball splash, and the girls all followed him. They swam around for a while splashing water at each other and making small talk. Craig asked Sean if swinging from the rope or being in the lake seemed in the slightest way familiar to him. Rose told him to stop pestering Sean, and Sean agreed. Using his own words against him, he told Craig, “It’ll come to me when it comes to me.”

They spent a little more time swimming around, but eventually grew tired and got out of the lake to dry off. The cool water felt good against the warm air of summer, so Sean was content to let himself dry off naturally. Back at the camp they found Jason had gotten the tarp up and was sitting on the cooler enjoying a cold Budweiser.

“Toss me one!” Craig demanded, and Jason responded in kind.

“You want one too?” Jason asked Sean.

Sean declined. The one time he tried it he hated the taste of beer and at the rate his body healed itself he could never get a buzz from the stuff. He knew, because Carlos at one time had convinced him to try a drinking game with him at his uncle’s bar when Gregor was away. Sean lost terribly and never once did he slur his speech or his vision get blurry. He probably drank enough to kill a person two or three times over from alcohol poisoning.

Craig and Jason tried to pressure him into drinking, but the girls told them to stop, and that he didn’t have to if he didn’t want to.

They all had lunch which consisted of sandwiches made up of their choice of cold cuts and condiments, including cheese, lettuce, and tomatoes. After eating, everyone that had gone swimming changed out of their wet bathing suits and hung them up to dry on one of the tarp lines. Craig had finished getting dressed before the girls and he motioned for Sean to walk back with him to the trucks under the pretense that he had forgotten something there.

“How you doing?” Craig asked Sean.

“Craig,” Sean said, feeling exasperated that he kept on asking him, “I’m fine. I’m having a good time, and so is everyone else. Just let it be and stop worrying about me.”

“No, no, no, that’s not what I mean.” Craig paused to see if his friend could pick up on what he was hinting at. “I mean how do you feel about Rose being here.”

“You are trying to set me up with her aren’t you?” Sean fired off his accusation, and Craig chuckled at Sean for taking so long to catch on.

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. She was going to come along whether or not you came. I was just curious if you liked her?”

Rather than going defensive, Sean laughed it off thinking the whole situation with only the one extra tent was amusing. He didn’t know exactly how this evening was going to turn out when it came time for them to retire, and he couldn’t ignore the anxious feeling that instantly knotted up his stomach. Perhaps his laughter came more from him being nervous than anything else.

Once they got to the trucks Craig opened up his glove box and handed Sean a package. Sean took a second to realize what he had in his hands. It was a box of condoms. Sean’s eyes involuntarily went wide and he just stared at them feeling stunned.

“Jesus, man! You don’t have to freak out,” Craig teased him. “Like I said you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to, but you have them just in case. You never know how the night is going to turn out and I want you to know that I’ve got your back no matter what.”

Craig closed up his truck, re-locked it and started walking back. Sean followed him mindlessly, still getting over the unexpected shock, which made Craig chuckled at him all over again.

“You should stuff those in your pocket before we get back. I don’t want to give anyone the wrong idea.” Sean responded by doing what he was asked and Craig couldn’t help but to still feel amused. Before they stepped back into camp he turned to Sean and asked in a low enough voice so the others couldn’t hear, “You’re not a virgin, are you?”

Sean felt like he had just been stunned all over again and his response was equivalent to when he realized what the box was. He remained silent and dead in his tracks while Craig assumed the truth.

“You are, aren’t you? Chicks dig that.” Craig walked back into camp leaving Sean at the perimeter to compose himself. At least he maintained a whisper when he made his comment.

“Hey, where’s Jason and Heather?” Craig asked the other two girls that were sitting around the fire pit.

Jeanine pointed at their tent. “Where do you think?” she asked, suggestively, with her face showing her annoyance.

Craig made fun of her reaction, but not without saying they should make an escape by going to collect some firewood. They left Rose and Sean there with a warning that if they decided to wander off to not go alone and to not get lost.

Sean felt bashful and very much on the spot. Rose was sitting on one of the logs dressed in the same outfit he had seen her in earlier with the exception of her shirt being loosely tucked into the front. Her rusty red hair was now wet and had lost a lot of the fluff it had earlier. If anything it made her look even prettier in an exotic way. She was drinking a bottle of Evian water, and Sean became aware of how dry his throat had become. He tried to ask her where she had gotten the bottle of water from, but he couldn’t speak until he coughed to break up some of the dryness he felt in his throat.

Since she was only a step away from the cooler she opened it up and tossed him a bottle. He twisted the top off and chugged the water, feeling the relief as he swallowed it.

“I guess it’s not so bad if we hang out here,” Sean said. Before the last words left his mouth they heard a disturbing, quivering moan come from the orange bubble tent, and they both stared at each other in astonishment.

Rose jumped to her feet and rushed over to Sean to take his hand. “Come on let’s get out of here,” she suggested while she tugged on his arm. Without another word they quickly walked off before they could hear another sound.

“I can’t believe how those two are,” Sean remarked after they moved out of hearing range of the camp. “Are they always like that?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Rose replied. “Jason is Craig’s friend. I’ve really never hung out with them before this.”

Sean felt unnatural walking alone with Rose and he had trouble coming up with anything to say. He was thankful for the bottle of water, but he drank the last drop too quickly. The silence between the two of them seemed to stretch on before Rose attempted to strike up a conversation again.

“I say we walk around for a bit, and give Heather and her boyfriend time to cool off, and then maybe we can head back with some firewood.”

“Sounds like a good plan to me. Let’s see if we can find a way to walk up to the top of the waterfall.” Sean recommended and Rose agreed, letting Sean lead the way.

“Sean, let me ask you a question that I’m sure has been bothering you...” She paused making sure he was listening to her, “are you uncomfortable with sharing a tent with me?”

“I…uuuh…,” he stammered. He could feel his throat go dry again and immediately regretted having finished his bottle of water so quickly. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest and hear the blood rushing through his ears. He was embarrassed and ashamed at how poorly he was acting.

Before he could respond Rose darted forward and pulled his head down to kiss her.

Sean was frozen. He couldn’t breathe. His eyes were open, but he couldn’t see anything.

It took him a second before he could feel her soft lips lightly grazing his. Her breath tasted sweet, and there wasn’t a lot of strength in her arms. Despite how rapidly Sean thought she moved on him, she wasn’t being forceful. Gradually he closed his eyes and relaxed as he wrapped his arms around her small frame. Time felt like it had no meaning and he was suspended in the moment.

Slowly she pulled away from him to get a breath of air. Her beautiful green eyes looked up at him and she laughed. Not to make fun of him, but because she felt good to be able to share in Sean’s innocence. Sean still held onto her and continued to look into her eyes with a sense of bewilderment.

“That your first kiss?” she asked

Sean felt his face turn red as he imagined he must’ve been horrible, and somehow a “yea” escaped his mouth. He felt out of touch with his body as his head kept swimming around in a pool of emotions he had always known he had, but had never actually felt before.

“Not bad.” she said, and that simple compliment assuaged any self conscious fears he had. “Do you feel better?”

Little by little Sean’s mind came back into focus and he considered her question. He was still confused as to why she spontaneously kissed him, but he no longer felt afraid of her. She was so small standing this close to him. He was amazed at how her mere presence had been able to make him feel so nervous. She stood there for a while enjoying the comfort and security of his arms, and he found his hand spontaneously come up to brush her tenderly along her jaw line.

Rose pushed gently on his arms and he responded by letting her go. Sean let out a sigh of regret of having to release her, but he was also relieved at how much more relaxed and confident he now felt. She didn’t completely let go of him as she let her fingers glide down his arm and fall into his hand.

They walked together in silence, somehow making their way through the rough terrain until they reached the top of the waterfall. From the ledge their view opened up wide into a vast expanse of a green forest, lush with wild beauty. They could see over the tree tops that stretched out into the distance, and the sound of the water cascading down below amplified the moment.

Sean looked away from the natural scene of wonder to gaze upon a different one. He still held her hand in his, and she was standing upon a rock so that their height was even. There was a mild breeze that maintained a constant current and its flow made her hair dance about over her shoulders. Sean personally felt that her smile was more wondrous than the view beyond the waterfall.

“I think I like camping,” Rose said

“I think I do too,” Sean decided.

As they worked on their return they started picking up sticks and branches they could use as firewood. Feeling more at ease with Rose, he found it wasn’t so hard to strike up a conversation. Sean tried to tell her what his life was like growing up with his uncle, but he found it difficult to say much without touching upon topics he felt would be too bizarre for someone normal, like Rose. She basically did most of the talking, telling him about her family, college, hopes, and dreams. Sean listened attentively and asked an occasional question so that she felt he was engaging in the conversation too.

When they got back to their campsite they could hear soft snoring coming from the orange bubble tent, and there was a large pile of firewood stacked near one of the log-seats. They put their feeble contribution with the rest and headed back into the woods to get more. After three more trips they found Craig and Jeanine back at the camp. Jeanine was at the fire pit making a teepee-like structure with the wood they had collected, and Craig was in the process of setting up a portable camping grill further away from the fire pit. They delivered their armloads next to Jeanine and Sean went over to where Craig was to see if he needed a hand.

“So, how do you feel now?” Craig asked, with his head facing away from the girls and giving Sean a wink.

Sean met his question with a quiet grin, and Craig playfully ruffled his friend’s hair.

“If you don’t mind, you can unfold the other side to this stove and start cutting the steak and peppers that are inside the cooler,” Craig instructed. “You’re going to be in charge of making the shish kebob and the corn on the cob, while I grill the hotdogs and hamburgers.”

Sean and Craig talked while they prepared the food with Craig trying to pry as to how he and Rose spent their afternoon together. Eventually he told his friend how they kissed, and he was pleased when Craig didn’t mock him, but instead looked at Sean with a quiet, fond expression. The two girls were carrying on their own conversation, but, just like Sean and Craig, they were keeping it hushed at certain points so particulars weren’t overheard.

As soon as the first piece of food was beginning to cook and the aroma drifted through the air, they all heard the zipper to the orange tent being pulled back and Jason and Heather emerged. Jeanine was quick to tell them that if they wanted to eat then they had better at least go and collect some wood for the fire. She warned them that they had about an hour before it got dark so they best not fool around. Last thing anyone wanted to do was wander around in the night trying to find two lost people.

The two returned with only a couple of sticks the first time, and Craig chased them away telling them that they would have to better than that. To add a little encouragement he took a bite of the first hamburger fresh off the grill and told them how great it tasted. They made two more trips, both times Jason was carrying an impressive arm full of dry wood and Heather was right behind him picking up everything that he dropped.

While that was going on Sean had taken the bits of food he had cut up, under Craig’s guidance, and speared them onto metal shish kebob sticks. Craig sprinkled some salt and basil on them and Sean wrapped them up in tinfoil. He then buttered the corn on the cob and wrapped it up similarly, and carried everything over to the fire which Jeanine and Rose had gotten started. Sean had never used a campfire to cook food before, so Jeanine gave him some tips.

It wasn’t long before they were all sitting around the campfire, eating, drinking, and laughing at shared jokes. Rose and Sean sat near one another on a log-seat, and it was quite apparent to everyone else the two of them were becoming friendly. A couple of times she playfully rocked her shoulder into his, and when she smiled at him he could feel his heart skip a beat.

Sean couldn’t believe the contrast of how he felt compared to how he was when he was living with his uncle at the manor. His spirit was soaring. He had discovered hard evidence of his past and that he was in fact somebody before his memories were wiped. His good fortune further increased when he rediscovered Craig and was able to revive his friendship with him. Not only that, but Craig also introduced him to some of his friends, and now Sean found himself sitting in a circle of young adults and feeling accepted. He was even elated that it was possible for a good-looking girl like Rose to find him attractive.

As it got darker Heather encouraged everyone to tell scary ghost stories. She tried to inspire them by starting off with one that turned silly at the end, and they all had a good laugh. Jeanine told one about a mummified monkey’s hand that granted three wishes, and how a man wished to have his son brought back to life. She carefully told the tale to build up tension, until at the very end she yelled, “BOO!”, and startled everyone.

Craig tried telling a story similar to Jeanine’s but they all saw where it was going and he apologized for not having story telling skills as good as his girlfriend. After Craig’s stellar performance, Jason declined his turn, claiming he didn’t have much skill in telling a story either. When it was Rose’s turn she told them a spooky tale with a psychological twist that left them all stiffly quiet when the last word was spoken.

Finally it was Sean’s turn and he warned them that he better not, because if he did, no one was going to get any sleep tonight. Of course such a proposal only made them want to hear his story even more. Eventually he agreed, and he took his time staring into the red and orange fire as he gathered his thoughts. After a moment he reminded them of the sandy clearing of where his home used to be, and he told them about a dare that a little girl had taken one dark and spooky Halloween night.

Jeanine tried to help his story out by saying the girl’s name, but before she could Sean interrupted her, saying that she shouldn’t speak it aloud, because true names held a certain power. If she were to speak the name then they would all run the risk of sharing the same fate of that unfortunate little girl that disappeared in the very woods they were spending the night in.

No one made a sound for quite some time after Sean told his ghost story. It had gotten so quiet they were all able to hear Heather whisper into Jason’s ear that she wanted to go home. Steadily, smiles crept over everyone’s faces and they all started laughing at how scared they had gotten.

Jeanine got out graham crackers, chocolate, and marsh mellows, and she and her boyfriend showed all those that didn’t know how, how to make smores. It was delicious, and entertaining to watch as they got sticky from failed attempts.

Once they all had their fill and washed up any of the sticky residue left from their fireside treat, someone randomly yawned. Before they knew it the one yawn had started off a chain reaction, and they all couldn’t resist imitating each other.

Jason and Heather were the first ones to head into their tent, and Craig threatened that if he heard a single indecent sound come from their direction, then he was going to collapse their tent with them inside of it and drag them all the way back to the trucks whether they were dressed or not. His comment only provoked more laughter when they started to make exaggerated sounds of a sexual nature. Once Craig was able to recover his serious face he told them that he meant it, and for them to try and remain appropriate for a change.

The rest of them sat around the campfire for less than a half hour making small talk about camping, animals and other outdoor topics. Eventually Jeanine whispered something into Craig’s ear and tugged on his shirt leading him to their green tent. Rose and Sean told them goodnight and then sat there silently watching the fire for a few minutes.

The fire was burning lower and only a few flames licked the night air as it consumed its remaining fuel. Sean turned his head slightly so he could look at Rose. Her face was outlined in the soft glow of the flames and the dancing light flickered in sync with the sparkles in her eyes. She smiled, feeling his gaze upon her, and she lifted her head to let him know she was thinking about him too. Sean felt an unwilling smile spread across his face in response to her, and he ducked his head to look at the ground feeling silly with his reaction.

She stood up and put her hand on the center of his back. Then bent her head close to his ear and whispered, “Just give me a minute to change before you come in, okay?”

She headed off to the tent leaving Sean to continue staring at the fire. He listened to the zipper of the tent flap open then close as she completed her departure. Sean’s imagination started to go wild with thoughts of what might happen to him once he entered the tent too. And what exactly did she mean when she said she was going to change? Was she flirting with him and said that to entice him into following her? What did he really know about this girl?

Sean reflected on how Rose had a sensitive and sophisticated way of expressing herself. She moved with a certain gracefulness that implied conviction and she was sure of whom she was. She had a sense of direction and knew what she wanted out of life. They were qualities that Sean admired. Maybe that’s why he felt a connection to her?

He closed his eyes and recalled in vivid detail the intimate kiss they shared. She felt so soft and warm when his skin met hers and he couldn’t deny how delicate she seemed in his arms. When they separated she looked as though she had an ethereal glow and her smile basked in the presence of his wonderment. She made him feel empowered, and he felt he had to restrain his strength so he didn’t crush her inside his arms. There was no hiding the fact of how his own body had responded to her, and she didn’t falter in the slightest. She was confident in her actions and understood fully what she was doing.

Sean’s mind started to move away from his memory of the innocent moment and onto what the future might hold for him once he entered the tent. He envisioned holding her in his arms and feeling her tender lips pressing against his once more, and how good it would feel to run his fingers through her hair. He desired to be close to her again and to inhale deeply her sweet scent. His imagined scenario continued with them undressing and the two of them becoming entangled in each other’s arms.

Sean could feel his body burning up with what he imagined to be the anticipation of sharing his passion with Rose, but when he opened his eyes he realized it was for a different reason all together. He was looking into the night with the vision of a wolf. The black shadows were now lit up with his enhanced vision, and the forest was alive with the sounds of the nocturnal animals. His mouth was starting to feel swollen as his teeth grew slightly bigger and sharper. His clothing was feeling tighter and he was worried that the back of his shirt might rip if he was careless with how he moved. Even his fingernails were darkening and their round edges were halfway into becoming talons.

His heart was pounding against his rib cage and he felt like he was on the brink of losing himself to the change. Fear of so many different possibilities assaulted him and for a split second he gave up hope that he would be able to contain his alternate form. He concentrated on his breathing and in his mind’s eye, ran through the vision of a tumultuous sea becoming the surface of a calm pond. The years he had spent developing a focus and relaxing himself paid off as he halted the transformation and slowly reverted back.

“Sean, are you alright?” Rose’s voice came less than a foot away from his right ear. He had been so enveloped in getting a hold on himself he completely ignored everything else, including Rose’s approach. For an instant he felt his control slip and he could feel the transformation resurface, but he stood up with deliberate movements and forced himself to maintain his rhythmic breathing as he confronted her.

“I waited for you, but you were taking too long. When I looked out I thought I saw you shaking.” She looked him over, and studied his face the best she could in the dim light. “Do you feel okay?”

She had changed her pants into sweats that had the legs unprofessionally cutoff to make them into shorts. Her shirt was a dark orange T-shirt with pictures of various kinds of candy that were in different stages of peeling. On her feet were a pair of white and pink flip flops that could easily be removed as she went in and out of the tent.

He wanted to say he was fine, but he didn’t think it would be if he stayed with her. He wished he could just smile with reassurance, take her hand and guide her back to their tent, but he feared what the outcome of that would be. The beautiful flower standing before him had unknowingly found a new way to instill fear in him, and Sean felt lost again.

“Rose,” he started to say, “I’m not so sure I can go into that tent with you.” He let his statement hang there, knowing he needed to say more but completely at a loss with what else to offer.

“What?” she asked. He knew she heard him. He had spoken loud enough. He even worried that the others might have overheard. Her question wasn’t harsh with any hint of being offended. It came more from her struggling to try and understand Sean’s apparent trepidation.

The tension on her face eased as she thought she figured him out, and she stood up on the log-seat so she could be eye level with him. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt with both of her fists and pulled him aggressively toward her face. She wasn’t trying to kiss him like Sean was afraid of at first, because he saw that she was trying to put on a serious face and act stern. The corners of her mouth were gradually turning up into a smirk and he could tell she was straining to maintain her façade.

“You look here mister,” she began, “If you think you’re going to let me sleep in that tent all by myself after you have the nerve to tell a ghost story like the one you just did then you have another thing coming. I swear I will find a way to drag you back with me even if I have to incapacitate you to do it.”

“Incapacitate me? How are you go…?”

Sean never got to finish his sentence. She somehow grabbed his hand with both of hers and twisted. Sean was keeping himself so relaxed that he was completely taken off guard and the forceful grip made him rollover, practically flipping in the air to get his knees bent under him and to keep his wrist from being dislocated. Realistically he doubted she would push hard enough to damage his hand, but the pain his nerves fired up to his brain were powerful enough to make him instinctually move to avoid the danger.

Her effectiveness must’ve surprised her too, because in the short time it took her to render him helpless she started to apologize and to let up on the pressure. Sean couldn’t help himself from laughing. He was amazed yet again how this tiny woman could be so daring and how she so thoroughly undermined his fears. He subdued his laughter to a quieter level and Rose laughed with him as she helped him get back to his feet. She told him that she wanted to speak with him after they got inside the tent, and towed him helplessly behind her. She didn’t force him to follow her. He just thought it would be futile to resist.

Sean couldn’t get rid of feeling apprehensive, but went inside after he took his sneakers off and zipped shut the entrance way. The tent had a round ceiling which allowed for only one person to stand straight up in its center. There was a large queen-sized air mattress in the middle with two sleeping bags unrolled on it and two pillows resting at their openings. There was a duffle bag and a backpack lying on the tent floor off to one corner. The mattress dominated the tent floor so it was more convenient for them to sit on it and talk rather than to continue standing.

Before she could say anything Sean’s nervousness got the better of him and he blurted out in a panic how he was feeling. “Rose, I can’t sleep with you. I thought that maybe I could, but I can’t. I’m just not ready for something like that yet.”

Rose could barely hold back a giggle that contained relief and admiration, “That’s good that you feel like that, because I didn’t want to have sex either.” Sensing that she potentially made an insulting remark she quickly added, “I mean I find you attractive and you’re definitely my type, but I’d want to get to know you better first.”

Sean sighed with relief. Some of the tension he was feeling lifted from his shoulders and neck. Maybe he’d be able to survive the night with Rose after all.

“You’re not like other guys I’ve met. Most would be trying to get into my pants, and that’s kind of what I expected from you. Why don’t you want to?” she asked suspiciously.

“I…,” Sean struggled to think of a good reason without telling the whole truth, “I guess because I think I like you a lot and I don’t want to mess up with you.”

Rose couldn’t keep an “Awww” from spontaneously escaping her mouth. She cut it off short, because it wasn’t very characteristic of her to act in such a way.

Sean didn’t exactly recognize how she received his comment, but he felt much better knowing that there were going to be no undesired expectations placed on him tonight.

“What did I do to deserve you?” Her voice came out as barley an audible whisper. She coughed and cleared her throat. “Don’t get to embolden by this remark, but I think I could really fall for you too.”

She pulled him down to the mattress and they stretched the length of the bed.

“Would you be alright with just holding me and not trying anything else?” she asked Sean

He responded with a yes and she found a comfortable place to rest her head between his shoulder and neck. Sean folded his arm around her body and held her securely in place. He felt like he was balanced on a very fine line of control, but as long as she didn’t push his buttons he could stay happy right where he was.


Sean woke up to the sounds of harsh whispering just outside his tent. It sounded like two people arguing, but they were trying to be discreet and keep their voices down. He realized that the voices belonged to Craig and Jeanine and concern for them brought his mind fully awake. He focused his listening and tried to get a sense of what they were talking about, but their conversation was reaching its conclusion and the last words he heard were from Jeanine asking where he was going and Craig declaring that he was heading to his truck.

Sean didn’t understand what they were fighting about, but it disturbed him enough to keep him from falling back to sleep. He felt like he had only rested for a few minutes, because it took him forever to settle down. Having Rose laying so close to him, trusting him, made him feel energized and restless, and the more he considered her the more his body kept on wanting to transform. Eventually he found a state of equilibrium that left him feeling tight in the chest and his senses augmented.

He enjoyed being sensitive to every minute detail of her. Her body felt so relaxed and molded itself to his form perfectly, like she was always meant to be there. The sound of her breathing was slow and peaceful, and reminded Sean of listening to the gentle waves of an ocean lapping at the shores in the middle of the night. Her hair drifted about every time he exhaled and it stirred the scent of strawberries that tickled his nose when he inhaled.

The sounds of muffled sobbing came from the fire pit area and Sean figured it was from Jeanine. Disturbed by her distress he thought he should do something and carefully slid his body out from underneath Rose. He regretted leaving her small frame there. The area seemed so empty without him to fill the space, but something was wrong between Craig and Jeanine and it was important to him to see if he could help.

As he opened the tent flap he could see that the sky had a dark blue hue as morning was drawing nearer, and he heard Jeanine abruptly cease her crying. She tried to disguise the reason she was out there by busying herself with setting up wood to build another fire. Sean did his best to quietly slip his sneakers on and to close the tent behind him, so as to not wake up Rose. He walked over to her looking for signs that would hint at the reason for her and her boyfriend fighting.

“I’m sorry if we woke you up,” she said with a sniffle. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and kept on piling wood in an orderly fashion.

Not much for subtlety, Sean asked, “What were the two of you arguing about?”

“It was nothing,” Jeanine said, trying to dodge the topic. “Don’t worry about it.”

“If you say so,” he responded and then knelt down near her and began helping her with what she was doing.

“Sean, if you don’t mind, I’d like to be left alone.”

“Nope. I’m not going to do that.”

Angered, she grunted with frustration, stood up kicking the pile of sticks she had made, and stormed off toward the trail leading back to the trucks. She stopped short of just leaving the camp and stood there with her arms wrapped around her like she was cold. Her head bent downward and her upper body started quivering like she was silently crying. Sean couldn’t help himself and went over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder letting her know that he was there for her.

“I think Craig wants to break up with me,” she managed to say between sobs.

“Why?”

“Because he wants to have sex and I don’t.” Sean didn’t say anything and let her gain more control over her crying. “I want to wait until we get married, and I don’t think he can.” She gave a shuddering breath and managed to get control over her tears so that she could talk more clearly.

“I was even willing to compromise with him a little,” she continued, “and I asked him if he could at least wait until I was done with college. I’ve got so much pressure on me to do well. I don’t want to be like my mom. She had me when she was nineteen and it kept her from doing all the things she wanted to do.”

Sean wasn’t used to anything like this, and had no idea of what to say. He did what was natural and stood by her side with an arm around her for comfort and whispered to her that everything would be okay.

“I love him and I don’t want to lose him. What should I do?”

“He’s a guy and I’m sure he’s just feeling a bit frustrated. Give him some time to cool off and I bet things’ll be okay.” He tried to console her

“You love him, right?” Sean questioned

“Yea,” she answered, now in more control over her emotions.

“And I can tell he loves you, so everything will turn out alright. You’ll see.” He stood there for a while longer wishing he could offer more support. In the distance they could hear the sound of the trucks radio blaring, but with the surrounding trees and bushes the sound was dampened tremendously. “If you want I can go talk to him for you,” Sean offered.

“No,” she insisted. “That’s alright. You don’t have to do that.”

Another minute went by and they both turned around taking a few steps back into camp, when all of a sudden Sean stopped. Jeanine stopped as well and looked at him trying to understand what had gotten Sean’s attention. He tilted his head to angle his ear better in the direction of the trucks. The music had ceased and the car alarm was blaring. Not even a second went by and the alarm slowly died within two beeps as though its power had faded. Sean was tense and he felt like something wasn’t right.

Jeanine picked up on how tense Sean was and asked him what was wrong. He didn’t answer. He was afraid to give voice to his fears. Sean went to the mouth of the path leading into the camp and shouted Craig’s name. Jeanine started to panic and asked more insistently what was wrong, and he looked at her telling her he wasn’t sure. She tried to listen as well to see if she could pick up on whatever it was Sean had heard.

She didn’t hear anything, and neither did Sean. There were no crickets. No early morning birds chirping. Not even a breeze to make the trees rustle their leaves and branches. It was unnaturally silent.

They both heard something flying through the upper branches as if it had been thrown, and then something landed with an ugly thud near the center of their camp. They turned around to see what had fallen from the sky. Sean stared in disbelief, and Jeanine started screaming hysterically. Lying on the ground about twenty feet from where they stood was a bloody human leg torn off about midway between knee and hip, and a very familiar shoe on its foot that should’ve belonged to Craig.

The two tents with people in it began to shake as Jason, Heather, and Rose woke up abruptly to the terrified screaming they heard. Rose was the first one out while Jason was cursing as he told Heather to hurry up and get dressed. Before Rose could take any more than two steps, Sean had rushed over to her and used his body to block the grizzly sight. She tried to move around him to get to Jeanine all the while screaming over her asking her what was wrong. Sean tried to pace her and block her from looking at the center of camp, but she saw where Jeanine had her eyes transfixed and she ducked around Sean to see what it was. The gruesome display stopped her dead in her tracks and she stumbled backwards in shock. She fell to her knees and her hand covered her mouth as she sobbed uncontrollably.

Jeanine jumped to her feet and started to scream Craig’s name over and over again as she took off running in the direction of the trucks. Sean leaped after her trying to tell her that they needed to stay together, but before he could catch up something huge swept across the path so fast he couldn’t make out what it was. The thing slammed into her and snatched her off her feet carrying her up into the air at forty-five degree angle. She screamed as her body crashed through the upper branches and disappeared. Even her horrified sound ended abruptly, as though she just ceased to exist.

Sean thought he knew what it was, but his mind was having trouble accepting the reality of what was happening. Inside, pass all the terror he was feeling, he was blaming himself. The giant werewolf had come for him and now his friends were paying the price for his naivety.

Sean fell backwards scrambling to reverse his direction and get inside the camp. He and Jeanine had only gone down the trail less than twenty feet and the others had all seen glimpses of what happened to her. A new string of curses was flowing through Jason’s mouth as he started to understand that their lives were in danger. Sean rushed over to Rose and caught a glimpse of something sparkling on her chest. Everything froze as he realized why this was happening.

Around her neck Rose was wearing his pendant.

Sean grabbed Rose by the shoulders and lifted her to her feet. “Why are you wearing my pendant?” Sean asked as anger, unbidden, entered his voice. Rose ceased being hysterical and looked up at Sean with a tear streaked face and disbelief. She obviously had no idea why such a question could be important to him at a time like this.

Her mind was in shock and she answered automatically. “You were asleep, and it was pressing into my face. I took it off to look at it and then put it on so I wouldn’t lose it.” She was shaking with fear and looking at him. Sean imagined his angry demeanor was the new focus of her anxiety and a dam of emotions broke inside of him flooding him with so many confusing sensations.

He was angry that she had unknowingly jeopardized them all, and angry that a giant monster was destroying his life. Pangs of guilt shot through him as he realized how scary he must’ve looked to Rose. There was also sadness that everything might end tonight and that he was responsible for having brought this death sentence on everybody. He felt horrible for Jeanine and Craig, but if Rose died he would be absolutely devastated. Fear gripped him in its clutches and he knew he had to do everything in his power to protect her.

Sean could feel his own inner beast clawing at him to get out. His body felt like it was catching on fire, and he knew he had denied the transformation for too long. He didn’t want it to stop. He welcomed it, and he hoped that he could direct all his fears, anger, and hatred at the enormous creature that threatened them.

He set Rose down, not realizing he had actually picked her up off her feet, and he could feel the rate of the change rage through his body with exponential speed.

“Rose,” he said while struggling to maintain his human form long enough to talk to her, “keep the pendant on no matter what, run, and don’t look back.”

Rose took off sprinting at full speed in a blind panic down the trail to the trucks hoping that it would somehow lead to her salvation. Jason and Heather followed immediately behind her. He prayed that if there was a God, that he would at least let Rose escape with her life.

Something stepped out of thin air through a thin wisp of dark purple and light blue. A portal suddenly appeared out of nowhere and this huge form stepped out crashing its foot down like a steel pylon with Jason disappearing underneath it.

Sean couldn’t wait for the change to be completed. The stench of death and the wrenching heartache in his chest was too much for him to bear. A roar that combined all the horror and rage that he was feeling pent up inside him erupted from his mouth and it vibrated throughout the dark woods. He ran full force at the giant werewolf’s back right as the beast within him exploded from within. His muscles and joints stretched and popped to fast for him to register the pain. Fur burst out of nearly every pore of his body and his clothes fell away with the sudden increase of mass. He was so intent on killing the colossal figure in front of him that he didn’t even know at what point his mouth became a muzzle filled with sharp teeth.

The last thing he could remember was his taloned hands penetrating deeply into either side of the giant werewolf’s spine. He tried pulling the thing’s insides out without regard to its howl of pain or the seething growl that promised Sean an agonizing death.


Sean woke up and he was disorientated as to where he was. He couldn’t see and his eyes hurt from the brightness of the light. For a moment he wondered if had died and was in the afterlife, but then he started to feel the aches and pains of his body and he knew he wasn’t so blessed. His head pounded with the worst headache he had ever known. His limbs felt raw like they had freshly healed from being broken in too many places and he knew that he was probably completely naked since he ripped through all his clothes during the transformation. Something with his right hip felt wrong, and he couldn’t tell exactly how it had been mangled. He also felt weak and could barely lift his arms. There was a weight on his chest like something was resting on top of him, but he couldn’t determine what it was. When he tried to roll over off his back his middle sparked to life with frightening pain, and he laid there paralyzed with the intensity of it.

The shock brought him fully awake, but he still struggled to get his eyes to work against the brilliance of the high noon sun. When he could finally see and make sense of his surroundings, he was horrified and his spirit was crushed into despair.

He had a broken tree stump about eight inches wide and three feet high sticking out of his stomach just below his ribcage. That was bad, but it wasn’t the worst of it.

Lying on top of him sharing the same appalling fate as Sean was Rose. She was laying face down so that he was looking up into her dead eyes that were open wide in dismay. A trail of dried blood was left over on her face from when it still flowed with her ebbing life. The only other apparent damage that Sean could see was her right arm was missing just above the elbow. It matched perfectly the injury he had suffered eight years ago, except that she would never grow it back with only a scar as a reminder.

His Rose was dead.

The pendant was still around her neck, its presence taunting Sean. He realized he was foolish believing it would save her. Gregor specifically said that it would only work for him.

He couldn’t breathe deeply enough to allow himself to cry, but tears fell freely from his eyes. The physical and emotional pain overwhelmed him and he passed out wishing he could die and never wake again.


Sean’s body had been so damaged his regenerative ability had been slow to overcome the wood passing through its center. It wasn’t until night fall when the stump had been sufficiently weakened that he could finally break it off of him. He freed Rose’s body and held her mangled form in his lap while he cried properly giving into his misery. He rocked back and forth not knowing how he would be able to go on living his life now. Anyone he came into contact with would have their lives put into jeopardy merely by association. He had no way to express the deep depression he had fallen into. He had no idea what he was going to do now.

After a while of holding onto Rose, he got up and reverently laid his flower down upon the ground. In a mindless stupor he found his way back to their camp, which was mostly intact, and he rummaged around until he eventually found his cell phone. He called Gregor and told him in a monotone voice what happened. Gregor’s immediate desire was to know exactly where Sean was and for him to promise to remain where he was until he got there. Sean agreed to his demands and dind’t move an inch. He didn’t even press the disconnect button as he let the phone fall away from his ear.

He sat there for a long time. Even though he was hungrier than he had ever been in his entire life he couldn’t find the motivation to eat anything. There was a cooler just a few feet away from him that had food, but he lacked the will to go over to it. Eventually he leaned back onto the earth, and stared blankly up at the star filled sky. He had no idea how much time had gone by before Gregor showed up. All he knew was that it was the same night.

Gregor had two other people there with him that Sean didn’t recognize. One of them was a man wearing a dark color hooded cloak that was the length of his body. His thick beard was splashed with grays and whites and his bushy eyebrows reflected the same. His face appeared to be old and leathery and incapable of offering any other expression than the same severe look he gave everything else. He also carried with him a plain narrow wooden staff that was thinner on the bottom than the top and had a large emerald embedded at the head.

The woman that was there didn’t look like any woman Sean had ever seen. She was beautiful and curvy in the ideal sense of the word and her skin looked as though it were made of some kind of smooth bark. Her hair was long and had the same quality and texture of moss. The little bit of clothing she was wearing consisted of green leaves and scented flowers.

These guests of Gregor’s would have amazed Sean if he wasn’t feeling so dead inside. He heard them talking and felt them moving about, but couldn’t find anything worth caring about to focus on. At some point his uncle lifted him up into the air and flew him back to where his car was at the Pine Motel. Somewhere in his mind he distantly heard him ask if he could drive, and Sean stared at him blankly trying to think of a reason why he would want to. Gregor growled at him as he put Sean into the front passenger seat, and then disappeared into the registration office.

He came out a little while later, positioned himself in the driver’s seat, and got the car moving. Sean let his head rest against the window and he watched without really seeing the night time scenery pass by. The view changed from countryside to highway, and back to countryside again. When the vehicle finally stopped they were surrounded by tall pine trees and a small old style log cabin sat in front of them. Gregor forced Sean to get out of the car and inside while he grumbled that he couldn’t believe he was doing this. He helped Sean find an old sheet-less mattress on a rickety metal bed frame that stood in a room barely big enough to fit it. He gave Sean some instructions that he forgot as soon as he heard, and disappeared from view.

Sean laid there lacking the will power to do anything else as the day light filtered in through the dusty window he didn’t notice was there before. Periodically the exotic plant woman came into his room and sat down next to him on the bed. She whispered soothing words to him while she gently coerced his body to take in some food. She provided a sweet broth substance that dripped from her fingers into Sean’s mouth, and he didn’t know where she got it from. The more he ingested the less hunger he felt gnawing at his insides and a feeling of euphoria gradually swept over him. It was a false happiness. Sean knew that somehow, and in the distant corner of his mind he still didn’t care. He knew in truth he had nothing to be happy about.

Later that evening when Gregor came to check up on him the plant woman was there too, and he could over hear his uncle yell at her in anger. “How dare you feed him your nectar! Are you trying to claim him as yours!? I’ve a mind to destroy you for such an attempt!”

“The child is deeply wounded. He needs to heal.” The woman spoke as though she were cowering from Gregor in fear, but after a moment she continued. “He needs sustenance and he needs to be purified.”

Sean was slightly intrigued by their conversation, but she and Gregor left, and went outside where he couldn’t overhear them. The trauma of everything that had happened left Sean feeling shattered and he didn’t know if he would ever be able to get over what he went through.

He rolled over onto his side, and as he did so, he felt the weight of the pendant shift under his shirt. He had been feeling so disconnected with reality he never even realized at what point clothes had gotten put on him, or the protective pendant replaced around his neck. The crystal felt a lot heavier on him now then it did before, and it only made him think of Rose. He was sure he would’ve felt tears streak down his face if it wasn’t for the liquid the plant woman had given him.



Cyrus sifted through the site of the abandoned campsite. The local reports said that the teenagers had been ravaged by some kind of wild animal. He didn’t bother reading it thoroughly, because he knew it would be mostly false information any way. Someone had gotten here before the Veil could mobilize a team to investigate and had done their best to cover up the truth of what really happened. That major fact interested Cyrus more than anything, and he wanted to desperately find out whom.

The dirt road leading to here had been blocked off by road barriers and black and yellow crime scene tape encircled the camp. Since town officials had already been through the area and a suspicious unknown before them, Cyrus didn’t believe he’d find any hard evidence of what actually occurred. Feeling frustrated He used his mind to telekinetically lift up one of the log-seats and hurled it with an audible grunt as far as he could over the lake. It blasted through the thin barrier of trees, cleared the water, and landed somewhere over the next hillside. He admired the distance in which he had thrown the log and went over to where Edward was standing looking over the edge of the steep incline.

“Did you want to knock me over the edge Cyrus? Because if you did, you missed me by almost a foot,” Edward said in a very dry tone as Cyrus stood next to him.

“Please!” Cyrus said in exasperation, “If I wanted to hit you do you really think I would miss?”

Edward was an eco-path he was able to sense very specific things about the planet and all of its myriad forms of energies. He was the same average height as Cyrus and they both worked for the Veil, but that’s where their similarities ended. Edward had lengthy black hair that he would cut occasionally using a hunting knife and he preferred to wear natural clothing like cotton as opposed to anything synthetic. He also had the eyesight of a bat and needed to wear thick prescription lenses just so he could see more than a foot in front of his face.

Cyrus had short blond hair that was combed back and looked devilishly handsome. He had a charming appearance and could be easily mistaken for someone you might see modeling men’s apparel in a magazine. He had an expensive taste in clothing and preferred to wear custom made suits, minus the tie. There was a scar around his neck that made him feel constricted when anything touched him there.

“Tell me again what you felt in this place,” Cyrus demanded.

Edward sighed as he tried to explain to his team leader for the third time what his psychic ability had picked up. “It felt like the Earth split open here and spewed forth some kind of poison.”

“I need you to describe it in more detail to me,” Cyrus insisted. “Be creative. Perhaps you can find something to compare it with.”

“Well, let me see…” Edward pushed his heavy glasses back up the bridge of his nose as he thought about it. “You know when there are nuclear bombs being tested out on those islands over the Atlantic; I get a feeling similar to that right here. Although the experience with the bombs is slow and dragged out. Here it was all contained in a pinpoint of sickness. Like the Earth had gotten punched from the inside out by laser of disease.”
Edward snapped his fingers and pointed at Cyrus finally realizing what he wanted to hear. “It was like a well of disease overflowing from within the Earth,” he said excitedly.

“Ahhhh…” Cyrus closed his eyes with a sigh and his face peeled back in a smile. “A well of disease overflowing from within the Earth. That was the description that I was looking for.”

“That’s what the shaman from that report used to describe that werewolf demon, right?” Edward asked making sure he was correct. Cyrus was silent and continued reflecting on his thoughts. “If I’m right then why would it show up here and kill these five kids?”

“That’s a very good question,” Cyrus replied. “One I hope our sheriff friend here can answer.”

Cyrus turned his attention to the sheriff of (town name), Sergeant Bennington and the woman standing next to him, Margret. The sheriff was round and heavy set with a neck that reminded Cyrus of a turkey. The fellow was standing there with a stupefyed look in his face, completely unaware of everything going on around him, and doing everything he was told, because Margret had control of his mind. He considered the man to be distasteful in appearance and cared little if anything happened to him while they were out here.

Margret was a young protégée to Cyrus, and it was his job to train her and to give her field experience. She had straight blond hair that went just above her shoulders and was almost bleach white. She had definable grey eyes that emitted an icy cold stare no matter how she looked. Like Cyrus she too had acquired a taste for fine clothing, and wore a duplicate outfit. Although, with her clear-cut figure, the suit didn’t make her look the least bit tom-boyish.

Cyrus liked her. They were cut from the same cloth and were both ambitiously driven toward power. She coveted the strength that Cyrus had with his mind and yearned to be more like him.

Unfortunately Margret was only a telepath. She was stronger than most but not near as strong as Cyrus was. He had both telepathy and telekinesis a rare and powerful combination. But where Cyrus had strength, she had finese, and was able to maneuver within a persons mind fluidly. He had promised Margret that as long as she stayed with him he could show her how to improve upon her mental ability and that the possibility even existed that he could assist her on triggering any dormant telekinetic powers she might have. Cyrus wanted to nurture her and to help her attain her goal. He had big plans for Margret. Plans that he kept secret for now.

Right now he needed to focus on finding that werewolf and trying to discover if there was a way they could summon it from where ever it hid. Something in these woods or the teenagers contained a critical ingrediant for triggering that unnatural force of nature to show itself and he desperately wanted to know what it was. He needed to know as much factual information as could find, and that’s where sheriff Bennington came in.

Most of the people from (town name) had already had their memories altered. Who ever had done it had done an seamless job. The mysterious someone had spliced and melded the thoughts and memories of everyone involved so perfectly Cyrus couldn’t tell, and he had scanned everyone himself. If it wasn’t for Margret being there he would have never known. He had to acknowledge that it was her sensitive touch that had felt the alterations. With her recommendation, the sheriff’s mind seemed like it had resisted the changes better than the others, and that he would be their best bet to get information.

Between the two of them they had manipulated him like a puppet, bringing him here to this location. They passed control of his mind back and forth, and he made sure that Margret was getting a good workout. By now the sheriff’s mind had been so exhausted that his will was practically nonexistant, which would make it easier for them to use their combined telepathy to surgically strip away the false memories and find out what really happened. Normally Cyrus would be doing this himself, but he couldn’t feel the edges of where the real memories and altered ones met, so he needed Margret to guide him.

She stood there holding the sheriff by his shoulder, like a predator that was proud to make her first kill and looking at Cyrus for approval. He admired her with a grin and she smiled back, knowing that she was making him proud. This was her first time getting to try a psychic surgery like this one and he was going to show her how.

He stepped up to the fat man and felt disgusted as he put a hand on top of his head. “Show me,” he demanded of his partner.

He sensed her mental connection and rode it to where she directed him. Cyrus swept his awareness over the memory she was showing him, and he didn’t feel the slightest discrepency. It was frustrating that he couldn’t sense what she had picked up despite the fact he was more experienced and stronger than she. The feeling was fleeting and he relaxed his search letting her to bring him to where she identified the beginning of the tampered memory.

Carefully he focused his thoughts and showed her how to slice into an artifical memory. As soon as he pulled it open he could easily tell where the false one was so artfully blended into the sheriff’s mind. Who ever had done this earned an all new level of respect from him as he marveled at their work. He let his awarness sweep back and forth through the altered section filtering it further with each pass, all the while knowing Margret was watching and learning. Finally satisfied that he had cleared everything up he invited her consciousness in so that they could both view the reality of what really happened.

Cyrus and Margret found themselves standing at the perimeter of the camp with a very different Sheriff Bennington. The sheriff was scanning the area from where he stood and had a very intent look on his face as he analysed everything he saw. The two Veil agents surveyed their suroundings and saw at least a dozen or more people investigating the scene. There were people of various professions, from park rangers to phorensic specialists, and even a civilian who appeared to be some kind of animal specialist. Half the people here were not on the investigative report, and it opened up a whole new group that they would have to find and interogate.

The sheriff moved forward with parts of his body moving right through Margret like she wasn’t even there. She gasped and was startled by the sight of it. Cyrus laughed at her reaction and told her that they weren’t actually there. They were more like visiting ghosts looking at the past and they could do nothing here but watch and listen to all the things the sheriff had seen and heard. He advised her to not wander to far from the man or else she’d find herself pulled back to whatever he was focused on, and if she wasn’t careful the jolt could cause her to slip out of the memory.

They followed their subject over to the center of camp where he was approaching a thin man kneeling on one knee who l ooked like a ranger or a park official. “Hey, Tom, what do you make of all this?”

He was looking at a human severed leg with a disposable rubber glove on and was carefully poking and prodding it without disturbing its position. “Well,” he started off slowly, “it looks to me like an animal with big teeth bit down here where the leg was seperated then something grabbed the leg, crushing it in its grip and pulled it away from the body. It bothers me that I don’t see any signs of it being dragged here or carried, or for that matter where’s the rest of the body?”

“Jesus, Tom! What could have done this?”

“No idea yet. We’ve got a bunch of corpses, some whole, most not and we’re still trying to figure out what killed them. My opinion: somebody murdered these kids and failed miserably in making it look like a wild animal did it. I mean look at this…,”Tom got to his feet and took the sheriff over to the mouth of the trail, “this kid right here had his whole body pressed into the ground. He died from being crushed with something huge,” Tom said shrugging his shoulders at loss with how to explain what they were looking at. He gestured around the camp making the sheriff look around. “Do you see anything around here remotely large enough, let alone heavy enough, to do this?”

“What about that rock over there?” Bennington pointed at the boulder that was used as a seat near the fire pit.

“That?! Oh come on Bennie, even you gotta be able to see that boulder is more than half buried and hasn’t been moved from that spot in decades.”

“How many deaths are we talking about here?”

“Four confirmed, maybe five if we find the body parts don’t match up and a probable sixth, but no one has been able to find him yet.”

Margret looked at Cyrus with sudden understanding. “Didn’t their report say that there were only five kids that went camping?”

“Yes,” Cyrus mused while he stroked his chin. “I wonder who that sixth could be?”

Margret thought that he had his suspicions, but she knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t share it with her unless he was able to confirm it. It was the way he liked to solve problems. He preferred to let other people come to their own conclusions, and to not polute their ideas with his own. Sometimes his technique would offer more information in the end.

“We need to look around here for someone who ultimately caused this deception,” Cyrus suggested. “But, first I need to show you how to slide your consciousness backwards and forwards through the memory. I fully expect that the individual who is trying to hide the truth from us has laid a trap, that will most likely trigger if we can identify him here at this scene. I’m going to have to incorporate myself deeper into this mind so that I can sense things in greater detail, and you are going to be my anchor to pull me out at the first sign of danger.”

Cyrus instructed her on how she had to let herself sway back back and forth from the beginning to the end of the altered thoughts as though she were on a swing moving in slow motion. Since he would be moving about within the memory he told her not to be disturbed. Each sweep she made would feel slightly different, like the swing she was on was slowly rotating. He made it absolutely clear to her that the second she felt him tense or there was a spike in her path that she had to yank them both out. He let her practice a couple of times sweeping her awarness back and forth before he poured more of his essence into the sheriffs mind.

Cyrus moved about within the former campsite looking for the identity of the individual responsible for making him do this. He looked closely at every officials face and behind every tree within the short distance, but he couldn’t find anyone with the slightest hint of a psychic residue. He checked up on Margret several times just to make sure her attention remained sharp and that she would be ready at a moments notice.

It wasn’t until the fifth time through of watching people move backwards and forwards that he finally saw what he was missing. Everyone was avoiding one of the tents. They had looked through the other two, but the one green one they left alone. He conveyed to his partner to be ready, because he believed he had found exactly where to look. Cautiously he went up to the tent, put his hand on the zipper and readied himself.

He pulled the zipper back in one quick motion and let the tent flap fall away. There in front of him sat a very familiar face. His long black hair was slicked back and his neon green eyes bore into his like daggers with deadly precision. The memory of the camp had been in the daylight, but all of a sudden everything turned to night more quickly than someone turning off a light.

Too late, Cyrus realized his mistake. The altered memory actually spanned a far greater time span than he had thought to look. The seams they found were deliberately placed there where only another telepath could find them. It was all part of the trap, and he had blind to it.

Everything happened within an instant. From the very moment he he saw those extraordinary penetrating eyes his mind instinctively cried out to Margret to pull him out faster than words could convey.

He felt his awarness slam back into his body and he actually stumbled backwards a few steps. He had no idea what sort of trap the clever devil had set but he was certainly glad he hadn’t found out. Margret was so startled by the suddeness and the fear that spiked from Cyrus that she momentarily lost her control over the sheriff. Before he could completely become self aware she mentally attacked him and wrestled his will back into the recesses of his mind.

Cyrrus had composed himself by the time she was finished regaining control of their unwilling volunteer. “What happened?” she asked. She wasn’t used to seeing her mentor so disrupted and it had her concerned.

“It was Gregor!” he scowled. “That bastard was involved in all this for some reason, and I will scour every city, countryside, and remote place until I find him.”

Margret wanted to know more about who this Gragor was, but before she could ask she was interrupted by their fourth and final team member, Elowin. She was a spellcaster, and she specialized with necromancy, a magic art frowned upon by most spellcasters. She was originally part of the Arcanus, but left because she felt they were holding her back and accusing her of being too ambitious.

She didn’t look anything at all like Margret thought a spellcaster should look like. She had no hair and kept her bald head hidden under a Cincinnati Reds baseball cap. She knew nothing about baseball, and chose the hat simply because she liked the color. She wore a baggy plain t-shirt, jeans, and leather hiking boots. She would have had a pretty face if it wasn’t for the purple bags that seemed to be permanently etched under her eyes. The only thing that made her look wizardly was the short walking staff she carried with her that looked like a spine with a minature fanged human skull at the top, and a disturbing necklace around her neck that consisted of a collection of teeth from various creatures, including human. She claimed she was seventy-two and insisted that she was young, but she looked more like an eighteen year old and hardly anyone believed her when she told them her true age.

She came bounding into the camp with a bouyant attitude, bouncing up and down speaking too fast for anyone to understand her. Cyrus had to grab her by both shoulders to get her to hold still long enough to calm down so that they could make sense of what she was saying.

“You guys wont believe what I’ve found!” She was still speaking so fast it was hard to tell where one sentence ended and the next began. “I found a spirit shard intact enough so that I could talk to it. She said her name is Rose, and she can tell us what happened here. It took me a while to get her to talk, but if you guys hurry you can hear her too. She said that there was this big monster that attacked them, and there was this boy that she liked named Sean, and he became a monster too, and they started fighting each other…“

“What did you say?!” Cyrus instantly became focused on Elowin and his face lit up as though he were excited. No one was used to seeing him like this, so when he actually looked happy it made him appear creepy in a maniac sort of way. Elowin’s rambling ceased immediately with Cyrus’ question. She looked up at him fearful that his happy expression was directed at her, and she couldn’t comprehend what he wanted to hear.

“The name! What was the name!?” he shook her in his enthusiasm.

“Rose,” she offered in a meek voice.

“No!” he shouted with anger tainting his excitement. “The other name!”

“Sean,” she said in the same meek voice.

“Hurry,” he set her down and pushed her in the direction she had come. “I need to know if this is the same Sean.”

Margret looked at Edward to see if he understood what was going on but he just shrugged and followed after them. She hesitated not sure what she should do with the sheriff, and wondered if she ought to leave him there.

“Hey, Marge!” Elowin’s jubilant voice shouted. “Bring your puppet! I might need his blood!”