Topic 7--A Werewolf That Turns Human During a Full Moon - Twenty Four Hour Short Story Contest

I was out in the snow last night enjoying a good howl at the full moon, snow accumulating on my freezing werewolf body, when I saw a bullet speeding towards my heart. My rage was halted as I focused on the sheen of the bullet as it grew larger. This was no ordinary bullet like the thousands that I have dodged in the mountains before.

This was a silver bullet.

This would be my undoing. I had no defenses against it. I had no time to duck, it was already ripping my fur open on my chest, carving my flesh like a paring knife and squirting warm, red blood into the snow as I fell down. I had enough strength to land on my knees in the snow, and watch as my claws turned into fingernails, and my hair on my hands began to vanish. I was reverting back to human form.

I was doomed to become an ordinary man, where cathartic temper tantrums were no longer acceptable. I would have to hold in my emotions during the full moon like every other man on earth. Screaming on the inside and smiling on the outside.

Instead of attacking my prey and ripping it open with my sharp teeth and strong jaws, I will be relegated to sitting in an armchair with a channel changer in hand, watching it play out on a football field. It was only before half time when I could let out a howl and appear normal if my team scored a touchdown, and get away with devouring a whole hot dog whole.

I would have to learn to adapt to my new environment quickly, or I wouldn’t survive. When the ski patrol approached and asked what happened, I said I was struck by a falling branch in the chest, and it ripped me open. Within ten minutes I was loaded onto a rescue toboggan and taken down to the bottom of the hill. The wound had healed nicely, and all I needed was a dressing over it.

I needed money to get what I needed, and a woman to help tame the beast that lurked inside. There was a 5 dollar bill under the dirty plate on my table in the ski chalet, likely a tip for the waitress in the orange skirt, but I grabbed it and tucked it into my back pocket and headed across the road to the casino.

I plopped it down on the blackjack table and won $200.00. I walked back to the ski chalet, and handed a 50 dollar bill to the girl who I stole the 5 dollars from, and asked her if she wanted to grab a bite to eat after work. “Maybe” she said, in a cheeky tone. “Come back at 7 and I’ll see how I feel”, she said, looking sideways at my long hair with a grin.

I had five hours to learn about women. My first stop was a barber shop in the ski village and I asked the barber to cut my hair like the man on the poster on the wall.

“That’s Brad Pitt” he said.
I needed a name, I thought, a name like that would be good. She would surely ask me my name when I go back at 7. I am going to call myself Chad Ritt.

The haircut and the shave cleaned me up nicely and set me back another 20 bucks. I saw a free computer with wifi in the lobby, and I went on Youtube to watch a video about what girls like. The guy said girls like trucks. I needed to get a truck before 7, and I only had $130.00 left.

I hated being a man because there was so much thinking. There was so much pressure always having to be the leader in every situation. Always having to know all the answers, and predict what was going to happen in every situation, instead of being a scary badass werewolf that everyone feared.

It was harder trying to outsmart everyone to survive.

As I walked by the stores in the village, I saw a museum exhibit called “Hungry Like The Wolf”. There was a shiny red truck in the lobby and a vocal booth beside it. There was a contest you could enter for $10 to win the red truck. The winner had to howl like a wolf, and if the audience judged your howl the best, you won a year’s lease on the truck.

The next show was on in 20 minutes, so I handed $10 to the usher and filled out an entry form and took my seat at the front of the theatre and stared at the truck. About 10 people entered the contest, and after about 5 feeble wolf calls it was my turn. I turned up the volume and howled as if the moon was full and the sky was dark.

I could see the chandeliers shaking and the dust falling off of them onto the crowd with the harmonics of my howls! The row of people behind me were looking up at me with their mouths wide open. Everyone stood up and cheered! I got the keys to the red truck, and a quick lesson on how to drive it and headed back to the ski chalet.

“Hi, I’m Chad, I said.

“Brandy”, said the girl with the orange skirt.

“Where do you want to go eat?” I said.

“I want to go to the football game,” she said. “They have the best nachos with guacamole” she said. “The stadium is at the foot of the mountain, we can take the shuttle so you don’t have to worry about parking.”

“Yes!” I said.

Relieved that she didn’t have to witness me drive a truck for the first time.

The two tickets for the game and the nachos and drinks came to $65.00 and I still had $65 left to put some gas in my truck in the morning and apply for the job of conservation officer to protect wolves and coyotes in the forest beside the ski hill.

Brandy said someone was trying to intentionally poison the wolves and they were desperately in need of a conservation officer to protect them. I told her I was the perfect man to catch the culprit.

When I applied for the job, Mr. Radler agreed. He gave me a nice uniform to wear and a red ball cap with the name “Chad” stitched on.

I took Brandy out to celebrate, and she liked my new truck. I think everything is going to be okay with being a man. At least I get to protect the wolves from humans, and no one notices if I let out a little howl now and again when I am with them. And to be honest, I don’t really want to turn back into a werewolf, because the nachos with guacamole at the game are the best!!

If you want to enter this contest, sponsored by @mctiller, here is a link:
https://steemit.com/twentyfourhourshortstory/@mctiller/writers-win-5-steem-twenty-four-hour-short-story-contest-for-march-6-topic-7-a-werewolf-that-turns-human-during-a-full-moon