The Pensieve

Alpha

Rhett Knox heaved a sigh of relief. It had been a long, tiring and stressful day at the retail store where he worked as a security guard and all he wanted to do was go home and have a drink. It all started that morning when he arrived for work at 7 o'clock. "Good morning, Ed." he said as he pushed open the door to the security office. Ed was a rather large man with graying hair and a bushy moustache. Edward merely nodded in return. Rhett reached for a walkie talkie without thinking. The next thing he knew, Ed was whining, "My walkie! My walkie!" Rhett rolled his eyes and gave the baby his walkie talkie. When he reached for another one, Maryann snatched it and forced the taped up, broken walkie in his hand. Having just about enough of his coworkers selfishness, he loudly said, "We don't label things in this office. We share everything." "Who said?" Ed scoffed just as loudly.

Later in the afternoon, Rhett noticed three suspicious teenage boys going in and out of the store multiple times. Instinctively, he reached for his walkie. Before he could call for help, he noticed AP lurking nearby and breathed a sigh of relief. Soon, the teenagers left. A couple minutes later, Dan, one of the AP members, walked past. "I was about to call you about them but then I noticed you...over...there..." and trailed off. Dan just kept walking without acknowledging Rhett at all and acted like he wasn't even there. "Whatever, asshole." Rhett muttered under his breath and continued to stand guard.

At the end of his shift, Rhett punched out, said goodbye to his coworkers and made his way to the exit. As he neared the door, he set off the security alarm. "Ooooooh. You stole somethiiiiiiing!" a fat, middle aged man crowed gleefully, taunting him. Rhett snapped. He grabbed the front of the man's jacket, hoisted him up in the air and pinned him against the wall. "What did you say to me, asshole?" Rhett snarled. "I...I...I didn't say anything." the man stammered. "That's what I thought." he snapped and set him down. Suddenly, his skin began to tingle and itch. "Oh no, not here. Not again." he muttered and ran outside. "Freak." the man said, straightening his clothes.

Rhett ducked behind a dumpster just as he started to transform. He lay on the cold wet ground convulsing uncontrollably and waiting for the pain to subside. When it was finally over, he got to his feet wincing. He gingerly walked over to a puddle and peered into it. A large black wolf looked back at him. As he stood there, his ears swiveled toward the sound of a man loudly complaining. He recognized the voice immediately; it was the man who taunted him. The next thing Rhett felt was rage; raw, uncontrollable rage coursed white-hot though his veins. Before he knew it, he was running toward the man and tackled him. The man let out a strangled cry of terror as he fell. "HELP!!" he screamed as Rhett pinned him to the ground and slashed with his claws. "What's going on out here?" Dan, from AP asked, running outside with Edward close behind. Rhett turned his attention to his boss. Dan screamed and plunged his hand into his pocket for his phone. "911 what's your emergency?" the operator asked calmly. "There's a wild animal in the Union Square parking lot!" Dan screamed. Before he could say another word, Rhett lunged. Ed screamed and waddled away as fast as he could while Rhett sunk his teeth into his boss's throat. As they fell, his phone clattered away across the asphalt. "Sir? Sir, what happened? Sir?? Stay on the line, sir. I'm sending help right away." came the operator's voice. Rhett smashed the phone with one of his huge paws then took off sprinting down an alley.

Early the next morning, Belle Watkins sat in her office in Forest Creek estate, reading the morning papers. She tossed USA Today aside and reached for the New York Times. Immediately the headline caught her eye. "WILD ANIMAL KILLS 2 IN SHOPPING CENTER PARKING LOT." "Jeremy!!" she shouted as she read the article. "Yes?" Pack Alpha, Jeremy Danvers asked calmly, entering the room. "Look at this." she said, holding up the paper. His eyes skimmed the article. "Do I even need to tell you what your assignment is?" he asked, setting the paper down on the desk. "Already packing." she responded. "Good. I'll book your ticket." he said and left the room. As Pack Researcher, it was Belle's duty to scour newspapers, magazines, news stories and other sources to look for any werewolf sightings or attacks. She closed her laptop and went upstairs to start packing.