One Last Hurdle
Werewolf Hollow was named for its original first inhabitants. Home, now, to several different Werewolf Hollow packs, it was a small town that became a haven for the rejected, the outcasts, and the lost. It wasn’t just the weres that were its inhabitants: humans, too, flocked here for a more private, quiet life.
My parents had settled in Werewolf Hollow a few years before I was born, despite being human. They weren’t the only ones to do so. Property values were low when they moved in on account of the very high werewolf presence, but they had nowhere else to go. They, too, had lost everything, and mom had been heavily pregnant with Marie at the time.
They bought a beautiful house with two stories. In any other town, they’d never have been able to afford it. Their neighbors were werewolves, and so many other houses in the town belonged to those whose lives had been completely changed forever. Most were multi-generational... but not all.
When they’d all died abruptly and suddenly, that house was willed down to me. I was 18, and I’d just been given two small babies that I was too scared to send into the system on the off-chance that the werewolf virus was now hiding, undetectable, in their DNA. After all, the entire power of the werewolf was not just transformation, but camouflage; even the virus itself could lie dormant and hidden in disguised genetic material.
Back then, I’d been too heart broken to move into the house. I’d been too upset to go back home. Too many memories, too much loss, too much trauma. I’d chosen to run, escaping to California, because there was supposed to have been a pretty strong movement for werewolf rights, even eleven years ago.
Not enough, it seemed.
If we hadn’t had such a staunch supporter in Rudy Rodriguez, there was every chance we would have had to leave things behind in order to make that 24 hour deadline. Besides being absolutely dogged by belligerent paparazzi and a shocking amount of protesters- who the flying fig protests an eleven year old?- getting everything shoved into boxes and somehow renting a large enough moving van would have just been… impossible.
“I’ve got it,” Rudy said, when I tried to offer him the money for the van. “You focus on getting the kids out of here. I’ve got the van. I’ll help you drive, too. I’ve relocated more than a few families out to Werewolf Hollow; this is no different.”
“You don’t drive them there personally,” I said quietly, watching him move around and help Lucy pick up all the clothing for her dolls.
“No, but your family’s always been different to me,” Rudy said, smiling as Lucy happily dropped her dolls into her backpack. “Your kids remind me of mine.”
“Sans the fur, I imagine.”
“Nah, they’re all the same underneath. The rest of the country will figure that out, eventually.”
Collin now wore a sweatshirt, one of his biggest ones, and it still barely fit. The hood was all the way up to try to conceal the fur that now covered his face, and his new canine features.
“You guys got everything packed up?” I asked, looking between the two of them.
“I’m sorry, Mom,” Collin said, possibly for the thousandth time since waking up.
“That doesn’t answer my question, sweetheart.”
“We have everything,” Dylan said, nodding at me. “I made sure we kept a few shirts and pants out for traveling, but everything’s in boxes.”
“Atta boy,” I said, ruffling his hair. “Collin, you got some stuff to keep you busy?”
“Apart from trying not to drool all the time?” He muttered.
“Yes, apart from that.”
He fished around in his backpack. “Fully charged game, my cell phone, and… a few books.”
“Nice.” I grabbed him in a hug. “Everything’s going to be all right.”
“Why didn’t we go live in that house, if we’ve had it all this time?” Dylan asked. “You’ve been sleeping on a couch so Lucy could have her own room, and we could have ours. We could’ve been sleeping in a fully paid off house this whole time?”
I winced. “I wish I could explain it, kiddo.”
“Try,” Collin said.
“How about this,” I said, already hating the idea of talking about it because I knew I was going to cry. “Let’s finish packing, we’ll get in the car, and then we can talk about it.”
“Fine,” Dylan and Collin said together. “But don’t think we’re going to forget about it,” Dylan added.
“The only thing I can count on either of you forgetting is brushing your teeth,” I muttered.
“I got everything, Mama!” Lucy held up her bag triumphantly. Her red hair was pulled into little pigtails, courtesy of Rudy. “My bag’s got all of my dolls, plus their outfits, and I made sure Mr. Rodriguez was careful with the ones you made.”
“Good girl. Do you have some books? Something to color?”
“Yep! Mr. Rodriguez picked out some coloring books for me.”
“I had kids too,” Rudy chuckled, when I shot him a grateful look. “I’ve got Grandkids, now. If I didn’t learn anything from that, I’d be quite the failure.”
“All right,” I said, looking around. “Now… we brave the media.”
Collin shrank back.
“You guys stay here,” I said, pointing to the three of them. “Rudy and I will get the boxes into the van, and when that’s done, I’ll get you guys and we’ll get in fast.”
“You sure your car’s going to make it all that way?” Rudy asked uncertainly.
“Neither I nor it have a choice.”
Rudy sighed and rubbed his face. “I wish we had more time.”
“Don’t we all,” I muttered, glancing out the window. Mr. Lee just happened to be walking past, saw me look at him, and tapped his non-existent watch threateningly. “Cinderella’s bells are about to start ringing,” I said, clapping my hands together. “It’s now or never.”
It was sheer chaos.
Our story had made it to the big leagues, it seemed. The streets were swarming with cops trying to maintain peace and calm, but it just added to the bedlam of news outlets big and small that had come to point fingers.
A barrage of police officers and field agents had to form literal human shield walls to allow Rudy and I to start moving boxes; much to my relief, a few of Rudy’s agents silently jumped in, and we were like a trail of ants moving back and forth. I was pushing so hard to meet that 24 hour deadline, I didn’t even have energy to listen to what the reporters were trying to shout at us.
Finally, it was time.
Rudy took the lead, with several FBI field agents pulling up the rear. Two were on Collin himself, on the off-chance that someone actually tried to hurt him, a fact I did not point out to him. He was a jumble of terrified nerves, pulling the hood down as far as he possibly could- but he was nearly the size of a fully-grown adult.
“Here we go, guys,” I said, gripping Lucy’s hand tightly. “Stay close, whatever happens. Lucy, do not let go of my hand no matter what.”
“Okay, Mama,” she said, nodding. Her expression was uncharacteristically serious.
“Dylan, stay close to Collin,” I said, turning to him. “And no matter what happens, do not respond to anyone. No butts, either,” I added quickly. “The faster we get through with this, the better.”
“Shame,” Dylan sighed, and I playfully thumped his shoulder, trying to hide my very real anxiety.
“You guys ready?” Rudy said, expression grim. “Your old landlord looks like he’s about to combust.”
“The police are already here, what more does he want?” I said, exasperated. “Come on. Let’s get moving.”
If I’d thought it was bedlam before, the second the kids appeared, everyone went mad.
I picked out, for the first time, two warring chants. One was shouting “Werewolf rights!” and the other was shouting “Protect human lives!”
“This is madness,” I said in total shock. I hadn’t realized just how out of hand this had gotten.
“This may have been a tipping point,” Rudy shouted back. He seemed unphased and unsurprised. “We need to get the kids in the car, fast!”
Perhaps my adrenaline was making me more hyper-aware of my surroundings, but suddenly, I was hearing everything around me in near perfect clarity.
“Did you realize you were putting the lives of human children at stake when you sent your child into school?”
“Are the rumors that you purposely slept with a werewolf to give birth to a second-gen true?”
“People have reported sighting you at local werewolf-friendly bars, are these accusations true?”
“The hell?” I muttered in disbelief. “Are we just making crapup, now?” When would I have ever had time for bars?
We had finally reached the car. Collin scrambled in first, ducking his head low when Rudy ordered him to. The car was fully surrounded on all sides by police officers and FBI field agents. Lucy went in next, strapped down in her car seat, which she was still just small enough to fit. Dylan scrambled in after her, and we threw the door shut.
“Get in, fast!” Rudy shouted, and I was moving to the driver’s side when one particular question broke through.
“When are you going to be removing that thing from putting the rest of your children in danger, Ms. Lake?”
I saw red.
Rudy just barely grabbed me in time as I flung myself around, searching for the person who’d spoken.
“Who the hell said that?” I shouted, and several cameras tried to push forward. “Call my son a ‘thing’ again, let’s see if you have a face after that!”
“Get in the car, Sylvia!” Rudy shouted.
“My son is not a thing!” I screamed. “He is a child! You’re all a bunch of insane sickos! Perverts, the lot of you, profiting off of the suffering of an eleven-year old! We are not here for your amusement, and my son will not be made a martyr! Get the hell away from my family!”
Rudy finally managed to shove me into the driver’s seat, gripping my face.
“Stop letting them get to you,” he shouted. “Turn that key, shut them out, and follow instructions. Keep your windows closed, and everyone, keep your heads down!”
He made it sound like it would be an easy thing, but it took a severe amount of energy to get the reporters, the protesters, and the onlookers out of the way. Seconds ticked by like hours, and the minutes melted away like seconds. It was a strange, surreal feeling; it all blurred together, paying close attention while my heart raced, and my adrenaline simultaneously slowed things down and sped the whole experience up.
And then the road was clear at last, and Rudy was leading the way in the moving van, with us following behind.
A Police escort followed close. It seemed as though there were many who wanted to follow us, but the heavy police presence quickly put a stop to that.
Finally… finally… we were free.
“Well,” Lucy said, finally, when I said as much out loud. “Those people were not nice.”
“No,” I said, already exhausted even though we had nearly a 14 hour drive North ahead of us. “No, they were not.”
“Does that mean you can tell us why we haven’t lived in Werewolf Hollow until now, then?” Dylan piped up.
I groaned. “How come when I ask you to remember stuff, you instantly forget it, but when I don’t want you to remember something, it gets tattooed on your brain?”
“Payback for not telling us about the whole werewolf thing,” Collin said immediately.
“Ugh. Fair.” I drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. “It’s complicated and sad.”
“Try anyway,” Dylan said.
“I grew up there,” I said. “My whole life was in Werewolf Hollow. I went to school there, had friends there, crushes- a whole life. I attended college one town over so I wouldn’t have to move out. I actually loved it there.”
“I don’t understand,” Collin said, a frown in his voice. “Why leave, then?”
“The memories,” I said softly, my eyes stinging. “I would’ve been raising my sister’s babies in a house where she could never step foot in again. My parents would not be walking down the hallway toward my door to help me. The house would become horribly silent at a time when I wasn’t ready for that yet. I would’ve had to see all my friends and family pity me, judge me, remember for me- and I couldn’t deal with that. It hurt worse than death.”
“Oh,” Dylan and Collin said, though I could tell they didn’t really understand.
“I couldn’t bear going to all the places where my sister and I used to hang out,” I said. “I couldn’t bear seeing people who knew my family and seeing the depression in their faces. I couldn’t handle it. So… I ran.”
“But you would’ve had help, right?” Dylan asked. “Wouldn’t that have been better?”
“Maybe. I don’t know,” I said. “It wouldn’t be my first- or last- mistake as a mom.”
“No, that’s for sure,” Collin snickered.
“Mama makes good mistakes, though,” Lucy interjected, obviously listening, even if she couldn’t totally follow along. “Like when she accidentally put maple syrup in our sandwiches.”
I groaned. “Those tasted awful, like diabetes in between two slices of bread. Your teachers must have thought I was insane.”
“I still dream about those sandwiches,” Collin said wistfully. “They were super good.”
“Not on your life. Soggy white bread soaking in a baggy of maple syrup?” I shuddered. “Disgusting.”
“Or that time when Mama accidentally wrapped my doll up in wrapping paper last Christmas, so we got to open our presents early,” Lucy added.
I groaned again. “Please don’t remind me about that, I felt so bad. I couldn’t find her anywhere. I don’t even know how I did that.”
“You were too tired,” Dylan said pointedly. “Maybe you can get a better job out here.”
“Why did you lose your job?” Collin asked suddenly.
“Because my boss was a major jerkwad,” I said flatly. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all in the past, and we just… keep going forward. That’s all we can do.”
Even so, I couldn’t help but feel… overwhelmed. I still needed to get the kids registered at their new school, I needed to make sure I paid Rudy back eventually for the van… and then, there was the house.
God, the house.
There was no way it was going to be livable. It’d been eleven years since I’d last been there, and the whole thing was probably rotting into infinity with mold pouring out of its pores…
One step at a time, I thought, trying to take a deep breath. Let’s just… get there, first. One step at a time.