When Nate awoke the next morning, he was surprised to find himself in bed again. The sounds of birds chirping wafted in through his open window as he slowly sat up and marveled at the incredibly vivid dream he was sure he had just had. Of course it was a dream, he told himself as he shifted to the side of the bed. Werewolves aren't re....his heart dropped as he saw it. From the window, across the hardwood floor to the bed were large paw prints. It had really happened and somehow he found his way back home last night. He slid out of bed and ran to the mirror. He was completely back to his human self. Well, his improved human self that he was yesterday anyway. He wondered what he was going to do now. How can I tell them, he wondered.
The events of the past night slowly started to come back to him. He remembered running through the woods last night until he came across a large party at the lodge. A party he didn't realize his parents were attending as he ran out of the woods, howling and growling as he chased terrified party goers around the grounds. He had no intention of hurting anyone but just wanted to give them a good scare before disappearing back into the woods.
Meanwhile, his parents had run from the party and went immediately back to the cabin, scaring Eric half to death as they ran inside. They locked the doors and windows on the first floor in a hurry. Eric asked what was happening as he watched them run around the cabin.
"There was a large animal that attacked the party. I'm not sure what it was. A large wolf or skinny bear..." said Sarah, shrugging. "We need to be careful and probably stay indoors at night."
"Where's your brother?" asked Doug.
"He's upstairs." Eric gestured to his brother's bedroom door. Both parents walked up the steps and knocked on Nate's door.
"Nate, honey, are you awake? We need to talk to you." Sarah knocked on his door. "He's not answering."
Doug knocked on the door louder. "Son, can you please open up, it's important."
He tried the doorknob and found it locked. He looked to Sarah, who looked worried. He pulled out a key ring from his pocket that had the keys to the cabin on it and unlocked the bed room door. He slowly opened it and quickly realized the room was empty with just the bedside table light illuminating the room.
"What did he do? Climb out the window?" asked Sarah. She walked over to his discarded t-shirt and jeans and threw them on the chair in the corner. She looked back to Doug. "What do we do?"
Doug was just as perplexed. He knew he had to be the calm and rational one here. "Honey, he's fine. I'm sure he's fine. We'll just have to wait until he gets home."
"We should go looking for him," replied Sarah.
"If he's not back soon, we will, I promise. Come on, I'm sure he'll be home soon." Doug and Sarah exited his bedroom, closing the door behind them. They went downstairs, passing Eric on the way as he headed for bed. They sat down on either end of the couch as they silently waited for Nate to return, scrolling through their phones as the hours of the day caught up with them and they both drifted off to sleep.
Sarah awoke several hours later to the sound of creaking floorboards from upstairs and an odd scraping sound against them as well. She looked over to Doug, still fast asleep on the couch. She was sure it was nothing but then remembered that Nate's bedroom window had been open. She quietly stood up and walked over to the fireplace, grabbing the fire poker from the rack of tools. She walked up the steps to the second floor as quietly possible. She walked down the hall and peeked into Eric's room first and was relieved to find him sound asleep in his bed. She turned back to Nate's room and noticed the light from his bedside table shining from underneath his door. She took a deep breath as she walked back to his door. She turned the knob and slowly opened the door. She expected to see her son in bed but much to her shock instead saw sprawled in the bed was the very beast that had terrorized the party she was at earlier.
She stumbled back until her back was up against the wall. Fast asleep on the bed, she took it in, a mix of both animal and man. She could hardly believe her eyes. It was even more shocking as she watched as the beasts form slowly shifted. It's digitigrade paws slowly reformed back to human feet as the claws and fur seemed to retract. The fangs shrank away as the snout pulled back in and the ears shrank and reformed. He heart beat rapidly as she watched the fearsome beast slowly turn back into her eldest son. She was shaking as she walked over to her sleeping son and slowly put him into bed properly and pulled the blankets over him. She turned out the light and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.
And later that morning, it slowly dawned on Nate that when he had gotten home in the wee hours of the morning the light on his table had been on and now it was off. He knew someone had been in his room and was struck by a sudden sense of terror as he wondered what all they saw.