Misery County

Chapter 20 - Part 4

Eric was blindsided.

"You ever have one of those really foggy dreams?" Aaron said. "You know the ones where everything is distorted and muddy? And you know that feeling when you wake up and suddenly everything becomes clear? That's what rising as a wolf is like. Now you tell me, why would I want to go back into the dream world?"

"Because you're not a killer. You're a good guy, Aaron. You were always there for friends and family for any problems big or small. This. Isn't. You." Eric spat out the last words.

"Naw, see, that guy who busted his ass for a pitiful wage – that wasn't me. That guy who was a doormat for everyone and anyone – you included – that wasn't me. This guy right here, Eric..." Aaron's eyes burned with an unprecedented intensity. "This is me."

"That's just the werewolf in you talking, not the man."

"I'm not a man. I am a werewolf."

"No, there's humanity left in you – I know it. I know you're still in there."

Aaron let a chuckle escape the corner of his mouth.

"I'm not living in a foggy dream," Eric continued. "You are."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, think about it. When you're in a foggy dream, you don't realize it's foggy. It's only on reflection after you wake up that you see it that way, but what's to say that the dream wasn't clear and your waking moments are foggy, thereby giving you the illusion that the dream was foggy?"

"My man, you're taking this analogy way too far."

"Do you remember your mother?"

"What?"

"Your mother, Aaron. Do you remember your mother?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"Do you remember one of the last things you said to me regarding her?"

Aaron said nothing.

"It was right after she passed away," Eric continued. "You said that you're better off keeping busy than ruminating."

"And?"

"Don't you see? Being... what you've become has taken your worst thoughts and put them on infinite loop inside your mind. You've let it twist you, but it's not real. It's all inside your head."

"Man, you don't know what the fuck you're talking about." Aaron's words told one story, but the expression on his face told another. He knew exactly what Eric was talking about, even if Eric didn't.

"When you were with your mother before she passed, do you think she would have wanted this for you? Do you think she would have wanted you to become a monster?"

"It's what I am," Aaron said firmly, but his poker face was beginning to break.

"It's not what you are. It doesn't have to be what you are. I can save you, Aaron. I can cure you of this curse, make you human again."

"And – and what? Everything I've done just gets erased?"

"You can help me stop it. God knows you know more about what's going on here than I do. Then you've got a clean slate. No one has to know."

Aaron's bestial eyes stared at Eric through the darkness.

"We were friends," Eric said, his own voice wavering. "We can bring things back to how they used to –"

Eric was interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the mortuary's reception area. Aaron must have heard it too, since he threw what was left of this cigarette onto the ground and stamped it out.

It was now pitch black, but Eric didn't need light to tell him who had just walked in.