Melissa was enjoying the attention for her werecow form, but she heard the nearby grandfather clock chime. After nine rings, it stopped ringing, indicating that it was 9 o'clock. Harold frowned and said, "It's getting late, and it's a school night."
Mel frowned and said, "Aw do we have to? I was hoping to stay a bit later and, um, you know...chat?"
"Chat, huh?" Harold asked with a bit of a smirk on his lips.
"It's alright," Trevor interrupted, "We do have school tomorrow, and I don't want to keep you all night." He leaned in and whispered something into Melissa's ear. "Besides, there's always tomorrow after school for us to have some...fun."
Mel giggled and said, "Fiiiiine...but I'm holding you to that, mister." She turned to Harold and said, "Just give me a moment to get my clothes on and stuff." She grabbed her clothes and went to an empty room to revert back and dress. After about five minutes, she walked back into the living room fully dressed and ready to go. "Ready?" she asked her father.
"Sure," Harold replied as he got up. He turned to Irma and Jacob and said, "Thank you again for inviting us for dinner. It was great meeting with you and it was a delicious dinner."
"Our pleasure," Irma said in reply, "And, please, do come again. We so do love having guests, and you guys are practically family now." Harold turned to Jacob and the two of them shared a nod and a firm handshake. Irma whispered to Melissa, "Guys just don't say much, do they?"
Melissa shrugged and whispered back, "I guess they have some secret language." The Jenkins soon moved from the Tyson home to their van and drove back home. The rain had stopped by then, but the roads were still wet. Once they got home, the two of them soon got ready and turned for bed.
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The Van Direstag family was enjoying some pizza from Moe's Pizza. Richard was commenting on how good the pizza was especially since it tasted like homemade. After they finished off the pizza, it was time for the family to turn in. Rose, the mother of the group, told Rachel and Robert that they were going to school tomorrow, much to the groans of both of them.
The furniture for the family hadn't come yet, so the family was sleeping in sleeping bags for the time being. Rachel was coming out of the bathroom. She still had that same book near her sleeping bag. She quietly thumbed through the pages. "Wow," she said to herself, "whoever wrote this sure put in a huge amount of detail." It wasn't long before sleep crept up on her and she closed her eyes.
She dreamed that she was in a featureless white room. The only thing that she could see was a wolf-like creature standing before. "H-hello?" she called out. The creature turned around and Rachel could see that it had wolf-like features, including being covered with grey fur, having a pointed snout and sharp teeth, and ears that peeked up above its head. Rachel could see that it had feminine features, such as the wide hips and prominent breasts.
The wolf creature looked at Rachel and said, "Finally. I was starting to wonder when you'd show up here."
"You were waiting for me?" Rachel asked. "Who...who are you?"
"Ah, well, you see," the werewolf grinned as she replied, "I'm you."
"What?" Rachel replied.
"Well, I'm you that decided to become a werewolf."
"But...I...Werewolves aren't real!" Rachel protested.
"Oh, they're very much real, as you'll soon find out. I'm the you not only accepted were life, but joined in...as a werewolf." The werewolf version of Rachel smiled at her, her fangs gleaming under her mouth. "You see, this place...is a sanctuary for people like me. And since you and your family moved here...well...you're a part of it now."
"I...don't want..." Rachel mumbled rather weakly.
"Well, it's not about what you want," werewolf Rachel said, "As I said, you'll learn to accept it soon enough. Although, depending on how you choose, it could be hard or easy."
"What...this...ugh!" Rachel cried out as she held her head in her hands. She then felt something scratch her arm. She looked on her arm to see a single scratch on her right arm. She could see her blood oozing out of the scratch. "Ah, why did you do that?" she asked her werewolf self.
"Just marking you, before, you know, choose something else," her werewolf self said as she held up a clawed paw. Rachel looked at her arm again and saw grey fur starting to grow where the scratch was and spread across her arm. She screamed.
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Rachel sat up from her sleeping bag. She could feel her heart pounding as she tried to calm her breathing. The first thing she checked was her arm and found no scratch or fur. It was just a dream. Right? Her eyes looked around the room in the low morning light. She found the book from last night not too far away, and she quickly closed it. It was just a dream, right?
A knock on her door surprised her as she quickly jumped up and looked at who was at the door. It was her older brother, Rick. "Rach," he started, "Mom wants you to get up and start getting ready. You and Rob are going to be walking to school today along with mom."
Rachel fell back into her sleeping bag groaning. "Why today of all days?" she groaned.
Rick shrugged his shoulders and said, "You know how mom feels about school."
"Yeah," Rachel said with a sigh, "Tell her I'll be down in a half hour. Just...let me get some clothes on, get my hair brushed, and all that."
"Kay," Rick said as he left the doorway. Before she got up, her mind shifted to the dream from last night. It was just a dream, right? There's no way that werewolves are real. Right?