DARK CRESCENT

Executive Decisions

            Later on, that night, I left Maggi sound asleep in her bed. I kept thinking about what she said about her dad, so I decided to check on my mom. It had been a while since I saw her, and I wondered how she was doing. I’d taken off my clothes and left them on Maggi’s windowsill.

         Once I got down to the ground I changed and made my way behind houses, keeping as far in the shadows as I could. But I was a huge wolf, so it was very hard to hide. I made it to my parent’s yard, quickly walking past dad’s Dodge Challenger V.P. I went into the back yard, keeping behind the tall hedges on the side of the house. I could see a light coming from the living room window. I stood up a little looking in the window.

         Mom was sitting on the couch in her pajamas. In her hand she was holding a glass of red wine and she was looking down at some papers on the table. A few feet beside her, in the recliner, was dad. He seemed deep in thought as he was leaned forward with his hands over his mouth.

         I followed mom’s free hand as she picked up a pen. She seemed to be crying as she wiped tears from her face. She leaned down to the papers on the table and began writing on them. I narrowed my eyes to try to see what they were. As I zeroed in, I realized that the documents on the coffee table were papers to file claim for my death, and divorce papers.

          Mom was giving up. She was giving up on me coming home and giving up at her marriage as well. She was crying hard, while just a single tear slowly crept down dad’s face. This was awful, my parents were getting a divorced and my mom was proclaiming me dead. Maybe the death thing was for the better. But to the people who have seen me, it was going to be weird to see them at my funeral knowing they just saw me yesterday. After this I’m definitely going to have to get off the grid. Dad looked about the same, but the worry in mom’s made every crease in her face double. Other than that I was glad to know she’s okay.

“Enjoying the view?”

I quickly spun around. No one was there.

The smell of sap, moss and blood surrounded me.

The new wolf. As I looked around the vacant back yard a terrifying thought crossed my mind. What if we weren’t closing in on him? What if he was closing in on us, and almost has us right where he wants us? The disturbing thought made my skin crawl, and my fur stand up. I looked around once more, before retreating back to Maggi’s.

            Two days. There were two days left until Christmas. The town of Juneau was buzzing with excitement about the Christmas carnival coming back this year. I remembered it from my sophomore year in high school. Mason went with his girlfriend Topanga, who was named after some stupid nineties show. Roland was solo as usual, and I went with my date Rochelle. I remembered it being so much fun, the food, the rides, the games, the contests. It was the highlight of the Christmas season. People actually traveled from different states to check it out. This year Maggi and I made sure that we were going since it made a comeback.

        I sat diligently on the floor of the den, wearing wireless headphones as I wrapped Maggi’s present. The silhouette of the light from the fireplace danced along the rustic style walls. It was soothing. Just as I was putting the last touches on the box, someone pulled my headphones from my head and tossed a small, wrapped box at me. It was beautifully clothed in glistening blue paper, securely sealed with a silver bow.

“Merry Christmas you filthy animal.”

Ada was standing over me, with an accomplished smirk on her face. She was dressed in a pair of red and black, flannel pajamas pants, along with a matching shirt. It was gray in the center and the sleeves mirrored the design of the pants. In the center of the gray was a green wreath with small red berries.