THE CALL | W. LYKENSEN

HOWL'S IT GOING?

Wexton

"WEREWOLVES ARE REAL!" Bucky yelled as the townspeople gathered in city hall " I always, ALWAYS, said the stories of monsters in the forest were real, and no one believed me" the dark haired boy pouted.

"I'd believe you" I muttered wistfully as I stared over at the cheer captain.

"Dude, seriously? Besides, I don't think he can hear you" Zed sassed, whacking me lightly on the arm with the back of his hand.

"Um, ow. Also I was totally kidding, I know he can't hear me... it was like totally one hundred percent a joke" I replied, nodding my head in confirmation as if bobbling my head like bobble head till it popped off, would convince Zed I wasn't just drooling over a guy who didn't know I existed.

"Keep telling yourself that bro" Zed chuckled as I let out a defeated sigh. Bucky and his stupidly cute face :1. Wexton: 0.

"Please can I get one?" Zoey interrupted as she looked over to our dad with puppy dog eyes. Hah, puppy dog. "I'm the only zombie in my class, a werewolf friend would be great! I'll feed him, and walk him!" the greened haired girl continued her reasoning.

"Werewolves ain't class pets Zoey" dad tried to reason "and they certainly ain't friendly!" he added on for extra measure. Zoey's face fell at dad's words and I smiled sadly at her.

"I think a were-friend would be great" I whispered in her ear, making sure dad didn't hear me as a smile grew back on Zoey's face.

"We should try and find one!" Zoey whispered back excitedly.

"Totally, I'm in" I grinned back, reaching my hand over to do our secret hand shake. Zoey and I sat quietly discussing our were-friend making plans as everyone grumbled unhappily amongst themselves. I didn't understand what the problem was, how bad could werewolves be? They couldn't be much different to zombies.

The sound of the Mayor (Addison's mom) banging the gavel interrupted Zoey and I's planning as she prepared to speak to the crowd of concerned citizens.

"By order of city council, effective immediately – all anti-monster laws are reinstated!" the blonde women announced with a final bang of her gavel.

"You've got to be kidding me" I exclaimed, looking down at my family. We'd worked so hard to get where we are and now we're almost right back at square one. My dad rubbed my sisters shoulder softly in comfort but he looked just as upset as the rest of the zombies.

"Zoey! Wexton! Come on home, it's not safe out here with these werewolves on the lose!" dad called out. I rolled my eyes lightly as I stood outside by the bus stop with Zoey.

"Just one sec!" Zoey called back as I held up the sign she was hammering up onto the wooden bus stop post. I smiled back at my dad so he knew I'd make sure to bring Zoey inside safely but I still didn't understand what everyone was so panicked about.

"Have you seen a werewolf? I'm looking for a were-friend" Zoey's excited voice broke me out of my thoughts as I turned back to her. There was a power plant worker standing next her, although he looked pretty young to be working at the power plant.

"Silly kid, there's no such thing as werewolves" the man replied, a small smile on his face.

"But we heard it howl!" Zoey argued back.

"Maybe it was a hiker saying, 'howl's it going?'" the worker attempted to convince her. I let out a small scoff and chuckle at the guy's words. I had to admit, the guy was pretty funny. I think the guy's eyes shifted to look up at me for a second but they'd focused back on Zoey quickly.

"But it was a werewolf!" Zoey argued again "what big eyes you have" she continued, trailing off slightly at the end. I laughed lightly, looking over at the guy as I wrapped my arm around Zoey's shoulder.

"Go inside Zoey, otherwise dad will get mad" I told the younger girl, nudging her in the direction of our house. "Sorry about her, she's stubborn and excitable... maybe she gets that from me" I apologized to the guy as Zoey ran off. I tried giving him my most charming smile in hopes he wasn't irritated with Zoey, I hated confrontation.

"It's all good, I get it" the guy replied with a slight shrug of his shoulder before letting his gaze fall back to me. I gasped quietly as the workers eyes met mine through the glasses on his face. His eyes had light bags under them and I could see the faintest of lines near his eyes, showing the boy clearly smiled a lot, but that wasn't what really caught my attention. It was the colour, a soft, warm brown that reeled me in instantly. I didn't get to revel in the warmness of his eyes for long however, as the minute his eyes really seemed to lock on mine they began to glow a light amber like the wolf in the woods. I felt a fluttering feeling my stomach as my breath caught and I stumbled back a bit. The man in front of me seemed equally as startled, a soft smile gracing his face as he looked at me before quickly falling into a concerned frown.

"I uh, I better get inside" I muttered, offering him a small wave as I ran off towards my house. What had just happened?