Saturday morning.....
Jake and Diana were already in Alisha's room. She had confirmed that there was infact something recorded in the camera but she couldn't bring herself to watch it alone.
Now, things were really starting to get scary, especially for Diana whom her whole belief was about to get thrown out the window.
Alisha then played the recording of that night through her laptop. It started when she left her car and went into the woods. The full moon made everything in the video almost clear.
They watched as she recorded the same tree with claw marks and from that moment, things started to get alot scarier.
They heard low and faint growls from the background, something whooshes past her.
"Stop, rewind that," Jake said, he could've sworn he saw something, it moved faster than the eye can blink but he managed to get a glimpse of it.
Alisha started to rewind, frame by frame.
"Stop," Jake said, and there it was, something.... whatever that is, it's definitely not a bear. But they couldn't figure out what exactly it was, all they was was glowing eyes and a creature's head that was hard to identify.
"That's scary, maybe we should watch more," Diana said.
Alisha resumed the video. It proceeded to show when she picked up her pace and started running at a random direction. The video got shaky from that moment, given the camera hung from her neck as she ran. It continued to shake as Alisha came falling down the slope.
However the video steadied when Alisha came to a stop, and by chance, it was in the perfect angle to capture the..... whatever it was that was in front of Alisha. In landed right into the frame and the three of them from behind the screen felt fear so much that they fliched backwards. Diana shutting the laptop immediately.
"What the fuck was that?" Diana asked, her breaths ragged, at any moment, she might have a heart attack.
"Whatever it was, it's definitely not a bear," Jake said.
"We all saw that right? Tell me I'm not going crazy," Alisha was both scared and relieved. Now she knows she's not loosing her mind. All this time, she's been hallucinating, it should be a normal response for someone who saw that.... thing, whatever it was.
"Guys, let's just finish the video, we should know how the hell Alisha survived that.... thing," Jake suggested.
"I'm not going anywhere near that laptop, you do it yourself," Diana said.
"Fine," Jake said and went to turn on the laptop, resuming the video.
The creature was slowly coming closer to Alisha, it's fangs and claws drooling. They took their time to study it's appearance. It matched everything Alisha told them. So she wasn't lying all these while?
Fast forward to when she screamed, it made the creature cover it's ears like it was about to burst, but after a while, the noice stopped and Alisha passed out. Then, it went closer to her.
The creature, after getting a bit closer in the frame, crouched down, sniffing Alisha, it did that for a while and the next thing that happened shocked all of them.
The creature instantly started to shrink, it's bones crushing and transforming until it bacame..... human.
Human?
They had that look on their faces; the confused look.
They couldn't see it's face, but it was obvious that it was male. His third leg dangling in the video.
"Oh my God, please don't sleep with her," Diana prayed, saying exactly what was on Alisha's mind.
The..... whatever. His face was not visible in the frame, only his torso and downward. He ran his hand through Alisha's hair before he then stood, turned and immediately changed into the beast and ran off, it's speed incomprehensible.
"What...the ....actual...fuck?" Diana said. She stood up and paced a few steps before turning to them, trying to comprehend everything she had just watched.
"Now y'all can see from my own point of view, that's clearly not a mountain lion, or a bear, that's a fricking ....." Alisha tried to explain but Jake took the words right out of her mouth.
"..... werewolf, a fucking werewolf, it all makes sense," jake said.
"Does it?" Diana asked in annoyance.
"I mean, the full moon, didn't you watch anything in the video, that thing changed into a man and later transformed back into a wolf like creature, that's definitely a werewolf,"
"We don't know for sure," Diana argued.
"Ignore her Jake, it's no use arguing with her, what are we gonna do with this now, do we tell someone?" Alisha asked.
"Tell someone, there's probably a good reason people don't know, it might be living with us. Interacting with us and we might not even know. If people knew about the possibility of its existence, they might start to look for it, and once they start getting closer, it might start killing them all. let this stay between the three of us and hopefully we forget about it in the future," Jake suggested.
"That doesn't make any sense, we should go talk to the cops or animal services right now," Diana shot back.
"Listen to yourself D, did you see that tree, I'm sure we all saw it, did you see how deep that claw marks went, even the most dangerous animal on earth can't do that," Jake tried to explain.
"Yeah, and it took that guy's head off with one bite," Alisha added.
"Do you really wanna endager the lives of the police or animal services by sending them after that thing?" Jake asked.
"Good point,"
They all agreed that it stays between them, and live their lives like they didn't just watch a horror show, except it's based on real event.
However, Jake began to dive deep into bestiaries, all the free times he spent in the library, he was reading about mythical creatures, he had one thing in mind; why did that creature spare Alisha.
He was the only one that felt something else was at play. According to books and movies, these creatures were apex predators, they eat anything and anyone, so why the hell is Alisha still alive.
Even though Alisha had told him to dismiss the topic and never bring it again, he still didn't give up and felt like he was getting closer to uncovering the truth.
One day, he was at the library all by himself, he came across something that covered the "mating" process of a werewolf. Where male wolves imprints on a female similar to the way humans develop crush or feelings for each other.
He was fully immersed in it, consuming every knowledgeable detail he came across. He didn't even notice Danny standing beside him.
"Well what do we have here? Nerd doing nerd things," Danny said, he immediately grabbed Jake by the shoulder, sitting him down in place as he was about to stand.
"Sit," Danny ordered.
He then sat in front of him.
"Why are you reading this?" Danny asked.
"Reading about werewolves? I don't know, why would one read about werewolves? Oh that's right, curiosity," Jake answered sarcastically.
"Very funny, you shouldn't be reading that though, it'll get you in a lot of trouble," Danny warned.
"You suddenly care about me now?" Jake asked, earning and absurd laughter from Danny.
"Fuck no, it's just, some knowledge are better off not having," Danny explained.
"Yet they say knowledge is power," Jake replied.
"Did you, see anything? Hear anything?" Danny asked drawing closer, looking at Jake eyeball to eyeball with seriousness.
Jake swallowed hard, Danny's aura was now overwhelming.
"No, what could I possibly have seen or heard?"
"You hear that?" Danny asked earning a confused look from Jake, this was a library, what could he possibly have heard?
"Hear what?" Jake asked.
"Your heart, it's beating faster, you're hiding something, whatever it is I'm not interested, just don't get caught reading this shit, it'll get you in a lot of trouble," Danny said and left, leaving Jake contemplating about how he knew his heartbeat rose.
However he decided to dismiss the topic and soon, the bell rang signaling the end of break, he then returned to class.
*********
It was closing hours.
Alisha, Diana and Jake was walking in the school hallway, meanwhile, Jake decided to bring up the issue about the "mating" stuff. He earned a few disapproval from both Diana and Alisha, urging him to forget it as it was all in the past.
Alisha moved faster and came in front of them.
"Look Jake, if it wasn't for you, I'd still be battling with PTSD or something, but you told me to face my fears and it worked. My hallucinating stopped and I think I'm getting back to my usual self. Please, don't set me back by bringing up these stuffs about...." She looked around before turning back to them.
"Werewolves," She whispered.
"You're right, what's important is that your fine," Jake said and they resumed their steps. However, they were stopped when Danny called Alisha.
He rushed over to them, adjusting his bag while putting on a smile.
"I uhh.....I wanna officially ask you out on a date with me today," Danny said. Diana quickly grabbed Jake and walked away giving them some time alone.
"An official..."
"Yes, an official date.." Danny took the words right out of her mouth.
"Okay then," She replied.
"Cool, I'll pick you at 7," He replied before walking off.
Alisha then quicken her pace to catch up with Jake and Diana.
*****