Return to New Arden

It runs in the family

When I was younger I was just itching to get off the mountain. Most of my friends were too. We all lived in the tiny town of Applewood. We knew that there was a wider world out there and we wanted to be part of it. My name is John B. Henry and I wanted to be a doctor, which meant getting off the mountain and going to college. My parents weren't exactly keen, I put it down to the fact that no one in our family had ever been to college before. I promised I would write often and headed off.

I chose not to live on campus at New Arden College but rented nearby with a guy who I went to highschool with. He was pretty cool although some of his habits disgusted me. We didn't spend a great deal of time together, we were like two ships passing in the night. It was amazing the apartment ever got cleaned but I guess both our parents raised us that way.

Just because I was off campus didn't mean I wasn't part of the life there. I had gotten in on a track scholarship so there were a lot of mornings spent running with the team. There were also nights spent partying and somewhere in between I studied. I told myself I needed balance in my life and that socializing was important.

I wasn't a very experienced drinker at first. When people find that out about you they become so eager to ply you with anything and everything. Which meant some very bad mixes. The first time I got absolutely plastered I couldn't even remember half the night. I woke from violent dreams lying naked with a shoe in my hand. It wasn't my shoe. It was a man's trainer, streaked and stained, I didn't think I wanted to meet cinderella. I threw the shoe in the trash.

When I got to school the atmosphere was unusually subdued. I asked my friend Liza what was going on.

"It's terrible, someone killed Tyrone"

"Wasn't he at the party?"

"Yeah but no one saw him leave."

I tried to recall if I'd seen Tyrone. He was one of the lead runners on our team so chances were high but I couldn't remember. When the police came round later that day I couldn't give them much.

There were a few days of shock and then things seemed to get back to normal. There was still speculation about Tyrone's killing and occasionally disturbing littles details would emerge but mostly people relaxed again.

Then there was a second killing. I had been out to a party again, my first in about a month. We were all friends of Tyrone and it seemed vital that after mourning we celebrate life again. Memories of my earlier hangovers had faded just enough for me not to restrain myself in my drinking. Fortunately I had my friend Liza with me and she looked after me while I threw up in the gutter on the way home. Above us hung a beautiful full moon but in my shakey state I paid it no mind.

I woke in a sorry state curled up on my bed with a woman's shoe in my right hand. I did a quick scan for other clothing but there was no sign of any other garments. Did I secretly have a shoe fetish that I wasn't aware of and only emerged when I was drunk? I wondered what had happened the previous night and if somewhere a girl wandered without one shoe. It struck me that the shoe might be Liza's because she was the last person I could remember seeing.

I got dressed and took the shoe with me over to her place. I found her house mate Katie in a terrible state. She looked drawn and tired and had obviously been crying.

"What is it?"

"Oh John it's terrible, Liza's in hospital, it looks like she got mauled by a dog."

"Did she say what happened?"

"No she must have hit her head she's in a coma."

"Well I found this" I lamely offered her the shoe, "I can't remember anything with a dog though"

I visited Liza later that week and talked quietly to her about how much all her friends cared about her, they say people in a coma can hear you. I heard from Katie that she woke up later that month but things took a weird turn because the story she gave was about me turning into a wolf. They did find animal hair on her clothing. The police came to see if I owned a dog and I clearly didn't. We all shook our heads sadly over the fact that Liza was now destined for the psych ward.

By now it was the end of term. I packed up and headed home to Applewood. I felt deeply troubled. I didn't want to paint a picture of the city as dangerous but I had to tell my parents of my first experiences at college. My parents seemed most concerned with the timing of the attacks, "Was the moon full?" they asked. When I said it was they exchanged knowing looks. That's when it all came out, ancient family stories about wolf men, a caged room hidden in the backwoods of the property. I was doubtful but I agreed to spend the next full moon there. Mydad showed me the footage afterwards, he said he was sorry that they'd never told me, they were hoping it had died out in our family.

That's how my college life came to an end. I live quietly in the hills and study via correspondence. Every full moon I head over to my family and they lock me up. I could be bitter about the hand life has dealt me but I choose to be glad that I have found this out before causing more carnage. Anything is better than waking up with another strange shoe in my hand.