It was a Friday morning at school. Peter had just arrived at school, and he was walking by the basketball court, when he spotted a classmate who was sitting on a bench besides the court, all by himself. It was Andrew, one of the more quiet guys in his class.
“Hey Peter!” the boy said, just when Peter walked past the empty basketball court.
“Hi Andrew! What’s going on?” he said, as he grabbed a seat on the bench next to the lonely boy. Peter noticed that he seemed tired and hungry. Andrew was a few inches shorter than Peter, he was very shy and reserved, and he never really said much in class. But he was always very friendly and he has never said anything bad or negative about Peter.
“Oh I like to roam around at night, you know?” Andrew replied. At first Peter didn’t know what to think of it.
“What do you mean? Do you stay up late in order to get a lot of studying done?” Peter wondered out loud. Peter was just wearing his usual basketball sweater and high tops, but he was wearing jeans instead of his shorts.
“I think about a lot of things at night. I get up at 4 in the morning and I think about school, life, studies, and teachers, just whatever… I would like to be able to get out at night, but it’s really hard, you know?” Andrew asked Peter.
“Not me! I’m asleep at 4 in the morning! The only thing that can get me out of bed at that hour is a fire alarm!” Peter answered with a chuckle.
Just at that moment the bell rang and the boys stood up, grabbed their backpacks, and stumbled off to their first classes.
When Peter walked out of his last class that afternoon, Andrew waited for him by the entrance to the school’s parking lot. When Peter walked through the gate, he called out his name, and the two boys strolled on the sidewalk together.
“Hey Peter, can I ask you something?” Andrew asked him.
“Sure…”
“Do you… do you believe in magic?”
Peter looked at him with a surprised look at his face. He wondered what Andrew wanted, why he was asking him this. Did Andrew know about his powers? Was Andrew going to ask him to change him?
“Well yeah, I guess… Why do you ask?” Peter wondered out loud. Peter hated telling people about his own magical talents, and he wasn’t sure what Andrew knew or didn’t know about him, so he decided to play along for the time being.
“I was hoping I could tell somebody about something weird that I go through every night…” Andrew replied.
“Huh? Every night?” Peter asked him. Peter became curious and started to probe his mind. He saw that Andrew would get up very early in the morning, he would get dressed in his school clothes, and he would walk through the park on the way to school. Then he would see the light of the moon, and the next instant he is stumbling on to the basketball court in front of the schoolyard. But there was something missing in between, and Peter became very curious.
“Yeah, I just can’t tell you what happens, though. I really don’t know…” Andrew said. Peter found it very odd that there was a period of time in his life that seems to be missing from his mind. Every night, it seems like Andrew would do something that he would not remember that morning.
When Peter got home from school, he made a plan to go to the park around 3 in the morning. He set his portable radio alarm clock on his dresser to wake up to his favorite radio station at exactly 3 o’clock. He then switched on his laptop and checked his emails. He went to the gym and worked out for about an hour-and-a-half, and then he came home to have dinner and to take a shower. He checked his alarm clock one more time, and then he grabbed a book and read in bed until he dozed off with the book on his chest.
Peter was startled when the alarm went off. It was Saturday morning, which was normally his only morning in the week to sleep in late. But he wanted to find out what was going on with his buddy, Andrew, and he decided to investigate the matter.
He put on his sweater, jeans and his basketball shoes, and he quietly walked out of the front door of the house and made his way to the park, which was located between the house and the high school. Andrew lived right down the street from him, and he figured that there would be a chance that he would find his buddy walking around the park somewhere.
Peter walked in the park and strolled by the familiar basketball court. He loved coming here because the court reminded him of the first time he met his cousin, and this was also where he met Ryan and Cory and several others. He loved the park, and the basketball court had a special place in his heart. He walked on to the court, but he was alone. There were lights on in the park, although the court itself was not lit at that moment.
He then proceeded on to the fountain, while walking on the cobblestone sidewalk, which took him around the parameter of the outer wall of the park. It was very quiet, because he was the only person there at that hour. While he was walking, he suddenly noticed someone else who was walking around with a flashlight in his hand. Peter tried to hide away from him, but the man had already noticed him and began to shine the flashlight in Peter’s direction.
“Hey kid, what are you doing here at this hour in the night?” the man said. He was shining the flashlight in Peter’s eyes, blinding him at first.
“I’m supposed to meet someone here this morning, sir!” Peter replied. The man then came closer to him, and Peter noticed that it was a security guard.
“Oh yeah? Why are you meeting somebody here for? Are you buying or selling drugs?” the security guard asked him.
“No sir, it is nothing like that. He hasn’t been sleeping well at night and he told me at school that he comes here early in the morning to hang out. Do you mind if I stay here and wait for him?” Peter asked the officer.
The security guard was as tall as Peter, he wore a dark blue uniform, and he had a badge on the front shirt pocket of his uniform as well. He also had a gun and a radio, so Peter knew he had to be very careful with him.
“You ought to be at home right now, and in bed. Alright, you can stay here for a few minutes. But next time I run in to you again, I will need to ask you to go home. It’s not right for a kid like you to be up and out here at this hour, do you understand?” the security guard said in a strict tone of voice.
“Yes, sir…” Peter replied politely, as he came to the realization that there was no point into telling the security guard that he was actually looking for another student, who liked to prowl around the park at 4 in the morning.
Peter continued to walk down the cobblestone sidewalk until he came to a large fountain. The area around the fountain was all made of hard tiles, and there were tall trees that were standing around the fountain. It was then that Peter sensed that there was something wondering around the park. He heard the leaves shake, and it seemed like there was something or someone walking in between the trees and the bushes.
Peter decided to proceed with caution, and he made himself disappear. A few seconds later, he appeared standing on a branch of one of the taller trees, overlooking the area of the park where the fountain was located.
Suddenly he saw a light brown animal crawl from out of the bushes. Since Peter was standing on a branch, from above it seemed like there was a stray dog walking around the park. When Peter took a closer look, he noticed that the animal had pointy ears on top of its head, he had a short, pointy nose, and his eyes seemed blue and yellow. It seemed to him like his eyes had two colors!
When the dog walked back into another bush, Peter decided to leap down from the branch where he was sitting, landing on the sidewalk on his two feet.
He carefully looked around, and decided to walk down the sidewalk as quietly as possible. He began to wonder if the dog would show up again.
After walking for a few minutes, he came to an area in the park where there were few trees and there was just a large open field of grass and a few bushes. Further down was a lake, and he knew that they often had ducks that swam in the lake.
Suddenly he heard a growl, but he didn’t know what it was or where it came from. Then it jumped in front of him. It wasn’t a dog, but a wolf! Peter looked up and saw that there was a full moon out, and he was shocked when the animal appeared before him.
With pointy ears and nose, the brown animal made a light growl as it carefully walked closer to Peter. Peter realized that this was no dog, but a wolf!
When the wolf came closer to him, Peter was about to turn around and run, when he picked up something familiar about the wolf. As the wolf walked closer, Peter continued to stare the wolf in the eyes, and he was able to hear Andrew’s voice in the back of his mind!
“Andrew?” Peter wondered out loud. But before he could say anything, the wolf appeared to kneel down his front legs for a moment, and he then made a leap straight at Peter!
Peter thought fast and reacted immediately, changing himself into a bird that quickly flew away.
The wolf landed on its four paws and immediately looked up at the bird. It flew to another bush that was just a few yards away, where the bird quickly transformed back into Peter.
“Andrew! Are you a werewolf? Come on out, Andrew!” Peter shouted at him!
But the wolf tried to jump at him again, and Peter immediately shrunk down and turned into a raccoon. His body shrunk down, a hairy black tail grew out of his spine, as his arms and legs grew shorter and hairier. He ran up the stump of a tree, and stopped when he was clearly out of reach of the wolf.
The raccoon waited for the wolf to walk away, before he dashed back down the branch and the stump, until he was back on the ground again. Then he quickly began to grow back again, where his tail disappeared, his arms and legs grew longer, he lost his hair, and his raccoon face then flattened out until he had regained his human facial expression again.
Peter saw several branches on the grass, and he wished for the branches to merge together and to then be transformed into a long, thick rope. He then grabbed the rope and disappeared, making himself appear on another branch in one of the tall trees again.
As soon as Peter noticed the wolf again, he made a large loop out of the end of the rope. He swung his rope around over his head, and he carefully aimed for the wolf’s neck with the loop at the end of the rope. The loop slid exactly around the wolf’s neck, and Peter pulled on the rope until it was tightly secured around the neck of the werewolf.
As soon as Peter landed back on the ground, he tied the other end of the rope around a tree, as he watched the wolf as it struggled to pull the rope off of him. Peter then walked close to him, shouting his friend’s name.
“Come on out of him, Andrew! It’s me, Peter! I want you to change back to Andrew!” he shouted.
The wolf growled for a moment, as it tried desperately to get the rope off from around his neck, using its paws and its teeth.
Peter got even closer to him, and concentrated on the werewolf, as he used his magical powers.
“I want you to turn back into Andrew right now!” he shouted at the wolf.
The wolf struggled for a few seconds. Then it suddenly froze up. It tilted its neck completely upwards, facing the stars, as it let out a long, deep howling sound.
It howled once, took a deep breath, and it howled again. Then a few moments of silence went by, when it howled a third time. This time, its back legs grew thicker and longer, lifting up the front as it grew. His back then slowly went pointing straight up, as the front legs became more thick, longer and flexible. Paws turned to hands, wrist and fingers. His tail began to shrink and the hair began to disappear from his body. Finally, the face of the werewolf began to stretch out longer, as the pointy nose and ears began to shrink. Human ears formed on either side of the face, and light brown hair began to grow on top of the human head once more. Within just a few seconds, the werewolf had transformed into Peter’s friend Andrew from school.
Andrew looked tired and hungry, just like he looked when Peter found him at school this morning. He was completely naked, and Peter realized that his clothes must have been around the park somewhere. Peter quickly wished for Andrew’s clothes to appear before him and to allow his friend to stand before him completely dressed in his clothing, so that he would not catch cold.
“Hi Peter… Thank you for coming! Now, do you understand why I get up early in the morning?” Andrew asked him.
“Yes, I do! You’re a werewolf, Andrew! That’s incredible! How long has this been going on?” Peter asked him.
“This has been going on ever since I turned sixteen, which was a few months ago…” Andrew said.
“Well, I might be able to remove the spell, if you want…” Peter offered him.
“Can you? This is driving me crazy. I can’t sleep at night and I have this need to get out of the house, just so that I can roam around the park as a werewolf. I just don’t know how to stop it from happening!” he replied, as he pulled the rope off from around his neck.
“I got an idea! I know something we can try…” Peter said to him. Peter grabbed Andrew by the arm and pulled him along until they were back on the open field. Peter then turned Andrew towards the full moon. He told Andrew to get on his knees and to sit down on the grass, facing the moon. Peter then sat right in front of him as he witnessed how the boy’s body slowly began to transform back into a werewolf.
Andrews face began to change, as his nose became longer and his ears started coming out of the top of his head.
“No! Do not turn into a wolf! Stay Andrew… Don’t change…” Peter said, while he continued to concentrate on his friend.
Andrews face had now completely changed into the head of a wolf, as it began to change the rest of his body as well.
“Stay here, Andrew… Stay with me… Fight it! Come on! Fight hard!” Peter shouted at him.
The wolf began to lift up his nose, pointing it straight up to the air, as he began to howl out loud. Then the wolf’s head began to transform once more, and the nose, ears, eyes and mouth of the wolf disappeared for the last time as Andrew gained his face and his head back.
“Welcome back, Andrew! You’re here to stay, buddy!” Peter said to him with a smile.
Peter and Andrew embraced each other, just when they heard voices of someone walking closer to them.
“You two kids! Time to go home, you guys! It’s almost 5 in the morning! Go home and get some sleep!” the security guard ordered the boys, as he was shining the flashlight in to the eyes of both Peter and Andrew.
“Yes sir, we’re leaving… We’re going right now!” Peter replied.
“Thank you so much, Peter! You saved my life…” Andrew said to Peter, as the two boys walked out the park’s main gates.
“How did you know I could stop the curse that you were under?” Peter asked Andrew out of curiosity.
“Because I realized that you’re psychic. I’m a little psychic too, but I am nowhere as powerful as you are! I sensed that you were psychic and I figured you could help me get over this by casting some sort of magical spell or something” he said.
“Awesome! Well, go on home. Hopefully I’ll see you at school on Monday! I don’t get up so early anymore, okay?” Peter said to Andrew.
Both boys parted ways, as each walked back home. But Peter was glad he could help out a friend in need, and he was happy that his buddy Andrew no longer had to spend his early mornings roaming around the park as a wolf.