The Moonwalkers

A little scare

"Thank goodness this werewolf thing isn't just about howling and hunting poor animals," I remarked as I tagged behind Chris. "I have to admit, this is actually kinda fun, running around on a peaceful night."
"Poor animals? You're the one who walloped a deer in one go," Chris added gruffly. "Even I didn't do that during my first time!"
"There's nothing even here to hunt!" Charlene said, annoyed. "Mom! Anything strange?"
Mom stopped in her tracks and sniffed the air. "Nope. It isn't the full moon yet, after all. There isn't that much lunacy for now."
"So what do we do now?" I asked. "Go home?"
"Not when we've only just started!" Chris protested. "Mom! Sense anything at all?"
Mom sniffed the air again. "I do sense some bad guys roaming around."
"Let's end them!" Chris excitedly said.
"Hey, no killing humans," Charlene firmly said behind me. "But yeah, we can try to stop them."
So we followed Mom, the leader of the pack, and went to a very isolated part of the city. There seemed to be no one until we heard the sound of glass breaking.
"Mobs..." Mom growled and turned to us. "Chris, Charlie, go on. Char and I will keep watch."
"Wait-" I uttered but before I could finish, Chris pulled me away.
He motioned me to keep quiet and snuck ahead of me, towards an alleyway. We could hear laughter and loud voices from it.
"Alright, I'll count to three and we both jump at them," Chris instructed. "Some of these guys aren't scared on the first try so growl or something. Make it menacing, okay?"
I nodded.
"Good," Chris grinned, showing his sharp fangs. "Let's go."
He held his fingers up, raising his index finger, then his middle finger, and finally his ring finger. Time to pounce.
Chris and I jumped forward, doing our best to snarl and growl. Maybe I overdid it a little because Chris looked like he was trying not to laugh when his gaze caught me.
The mob ran away, leaving behind a skinny youth. Must be a college student who got unlucky.
I took a step towards him to see if he was okay. "Are you-" but before I could finish the sentence, he screamed at the top of his lungs and scrambled out.
"Wow..." I said, raising my eyebrows in surprise.
"Don't worry, he's gonna be okay," Chris snorted. "We already scared away the bad guys."
"And the good one too. But that was fun," I admitted, getting onto my feet. "You guys always do this?"
"Only to bad guys," Chris said as we returned to Mom and Charlene. "Guys, they've left!"
"We saw," Charlene smirked.
"We also saw how the victim ran away screaming too," Mom frowned. "What did you guys do?"
"We scared the bad guys off and I just wanted to see if he was okay but he ran off before I could even finish my sentence."
Charlene shrugged. "Always happens. Anyway, come on. Let's get another snack before leaving."
But we just had a whole deer!
"But I'm not hungry," I pointed out.
The others started laughing. I gulped and just followed them.

"Wasn't that fun?" Chris grinned when we got home.
I put my bag down on the couch and shrugged. "It was cool, and the fresh meat was good too."
I wasn't lying, it was actually quite fun, we even got to save a poor cat stuck up a tree too. Mom came over to me, placing her hands on my shoulders with a proud smile on her face. "Your very first hunt with us. Honey, I'm so proud of you." Then she frowned. "Now, get to sleep, you have school tomorrow."
"But Mom, it's three!" I pointed out. "How will I get enough sleep?"
Mom chuckled. "We werewolves were built this way, honey. We're meant to be awake at night and function throughout the day. But of course, we still need sufficient sleep."
I nodded and kissed her Goodnight before making my way up to the room.
I groaned as I sat on my bed and laid down, immediately going to sleep without even bothering to change into pyjamas.

***

I entered my classroom and sat down on my seat next to Barbara, straightening my uniform skirt as I did. I think Barbara somehow sneaks some makeup onto her face, seeing how she looks. Either that or she's just that flawless. Who knows? I'll just give her the benefit of the doubt.
"Hey, Charlotte!" Barbara greeted.
I smiled. "Hey, Barbie."
"Your party was amazing the other day," Barbie smiled back.
"Thank you. I appreciate that you came."
"Yeah. Also, I thought I didn't see your mom after cutting the cake. Why's that?"
Shoot... Charlene had to take her upstairs since she was crying thanks to someone. I can't tell her that, that's a lot of drama!
I just smiled at her. "She had a headache. Terrible migraine." 
"Oh..." Barbara nodded understandingly. "Ouch... poor her."
"Yeah..." I nodded. "Poor her."
I heaved a sigh of relief as soon as she turns back to her phone. I pull out mine too and take my earphones out, plugging them into my ears.
The teacher arrived so I had to take them off and put them away again.

I sit in the foyer and stare at my phone as I wait for Mom to arrive. Usually, it's 'waiting for Dad' but we all know how that ended. Gosh, I still have no idea how he has the heart to abandon us like that. It's not like we chose to be werewolves or anything, right?
His face appeared in front of me, his smile whenever he would call me Cupcake, and even the times he would give me piggyback rides. I was very small when he last did that, but the memory rings clear like it happened only yesterday.
And then his face, contorted into a snarl, his voice bellowing at Mom as she begged on her knees for him to not leave her. To not leave us, his family, his own blood and flesh.
Tears rolled down my face, dripping off my chin and falling onto the smooth red surface of the picnic table I'm sitting at.
How could he do this to us? Never mind us, Mom was the love of his life, someone he would always refer to as his better half. They were made for each other, he said so himself but yet. He left her just because she was something he was not.
A werewolf.
Even so, she stayed loyal to him till the end, never once betraying him and never once abandoning him. Just because she hid the fact that she was a werewolf from him, he just threw her out.
A strangled cry escaped my lips as I tried my hardest to not bawl. I gripped onto my pleated navy skirt and tried to get ahold of myself. Tears streamed out of my eyes like a rushing waterfall.
"Charlotte?" I still, my eyes growing wide. I turned to my right and saw Barbara standing beside the table. I just stare like an idiot until she speaks again. "Are you... okay?"
I nodded, quickly wiping my tears off. "I'm fine, I'm fine."
"Yeah, like I did not just see you cry silently and alone," Barbara frowned and sat down in front of me. "Charlotte. Are you okay? Tell me, what's bothering you?"
I shook my head. "Everything's fine." I caught sight of Mom's blue car passing the gate and got up, grabbing my stuff. "See you tomorrow, my Mom's here. Bye!"
With that, I ran out of the gates and got into the back of Mom's car, next to Chris.