Tal looked through her dining room window out into the cold, dark blackness. The stars winked cheerily from beside the shining moon. Its brightness gave a warning of the coming nights of the full moon – the wolf moon.
It was strange, to live one’s life by the cycles of the moon. She remembered a time when she was young and the full moon was a wonderful surprise once a month, something to be admired. Back then, children in schools weren't taught to fear its coming. It was a time before they lived in suspicion of their neighbours, before the werewolf curse became an epidemic.
Tal looked away from the moon. It had always been a symbol of insanity, now it was so much more, and staring at it for too long would do no good. Looking into the sky brought no happy memories, just dread.
She turned back to the meal in front of her. It was just an easy thing she’d thrown together and reheated in the microwave, as she usually did whenever she worked late.
It was strange, to live one’s life by the cycles of the moon. She remembered a time when she was young and the full moon was a wonderful surprise once a month, something to be admired. Back then, children in schools weren't taught to fear its coming. It was a time before they lived in suspicion of their neighbours, before the werewolf curse became an epidemic.
Tal looked away from the moon. It had always been a symbol of insanity, now it was so much more, and staring at it for too long would do no good. Looking into the sky brought no happy memories, just dread.
She turned back to the meal in front of her. It was just an easy thing she’d thrown together and reheated in the microwave, as she usually did whenever she worked late.
The phone rang and she looked up, glad to have something to distract her from thinking about the moon while she ate. The screen told her it was Mike. She grinned as she picked up the phone.
“Hi Mike!” she very nearly yelled into the phone in her enthusiasm.
“... Hey babe.” The response came after a slight pause. She imagined the surprised blink of his eyes at her reaction and grinned. “I guess I caught you at just the right time.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
“I was just having dinner, but I’d prefer to chat, you know.”
Mike chuckled. “I know, babe. I bet it’s one of those awful microwave dinners again.” He paused for a moment, waiting for her to deny it. “I don’t know how you can stomach those.”
Tal shrugged. “It’s food. And you'd be surprised how good it is.” She took another mouthful of microwaved broccoli. “So … I guess you’re finally calling to schedule in our date night?”
“Yeah, I finally have time off work the day after tomorrow.”
Tal stopped with a new forkful of food halfway to her mouth. “Mike, you know we can’t do that night.”
“Because of the full moon? Babe, it’s the only free time I have. Who knows when I’ll finally get another night off.”
“Yes, but it’s … it’s not safe.”
“You could stay at my place?”
Tal frowned into the phone. “You know I don’t like staying there. I wouldn’t feel safe on the wolf moon.”
“Well I could–”
“Don’t even try it. We're just going to have to make another date.”
“Okay, Tal. How about a compromise? We'll have our date in the afternoon. You can be home and in bed before the moon is even out.”
“You’re serious then, this isn’t a joke? That’s the only night you have?” Tal tapped her fork on the side of her plate, potato making its way back into the mushy pile.
Mike sighed. “Tal...”
Tal put her fork down. “Fine. It’s fine. We'll do the afternoon. We can’t go another month without a date night. This is ending up like a long distance relationship.”
“I’m glad you understand, babe. I'd hate to go that night without seeing you...” He seemed like he wanted to say more, but an uneasy silence stretched between them.
“I’ll see you then, Mike.”
Tal sighed as she hung up the phone, her eyes drawn once again to the moon.
Figured that the only night Mike would have free was the full moon. Mike was a truck driver, working early and returning home late, and his free time at this point in the year was rare, but no-one worked on the full moon. It was the night the city stopped, leaving the wolf sensors to alert the populace to danger.
Tal didn’t dress up too much for her date. She wouldn’t admit it, but she was still annoyed at Mike for only having this night free. It wasn't a proper date, anyway, she told herself as she stepped out of her car into the afternoon sun. She gave the small yellow convertible a pleased pat as she left it behind on her way to Mike’s front door.
She didn’t get the chance to knock before Mike pulled the door open, a giant, eager smile on his face. Before he even greeted her, he reached off to the side of the door and pulled out a champagne flute with a flourish, presenting it to Tal with that excitable grin in full force. He was awaiting a bit of praise for his thoughtfulness, and Tal bit back her aggression to give it to him. She gave her best smile in return, taking the offered drink and leaning in for a kiss.
Mike gave her a chaste kiss and pulled her inside the house, not wasting any time. His enthusiasm made Tal laugh; she allowed herself to be pulled along and tried not to spill the drink.
At the door to the dining room, Mike stopped and swept his arms out in a grand gesture. The room was dark, heavy curtains shielding the room from the afternoon sun. He'd set the table with candles and a flower centrepiece. No wonder he was so excited, having gone to so much trouble. Tal felt momentarily guilty for having made next to no effort, but as Mike turned back to her with his infectious grin, his eyes shining, she knew that it didn’t matter to him at all.
After the main meal, when Mike left the room to retrieve dessert, Tal noticed the world was slightly fuzzier than normal. She frowned at her champagne glass. At the beginning of dinner, she'd told herself to only have one, she had to drive home. But without realising it, she'd drank so much more. It was difficult to say no to Mike when he was in a mood like this. It was fun to giggle along with his deep laugh as he poured glass after glass.
Tal was washing her hands when she noticed something was wrong. It had been dark in the dining room because the curtains were drawn, but it was dark in the bathroom, too. She burst out of the room.
“Mike, take me home now!”
Mike looked lost, his sad gaze moving down to the plates of cake and cream he held.
“Look out the window! It’s already dark, the moon will be out soon.” Tal clenched and unclenched her hands, feeling more anxious with every passing second.
Mike pulled the curtains back and looked dumbly up at the sky. “I … Tal … I can’t take you home. Not now.”
Part of Tal’s brain registered that he was scared of the werewolves after all, but a bigger part of her brain was scared and had been plied with alcohol all night.
“Mike, your neighbourhood doesn’t have proper werewolf sensors. I want to go home where it’s safe.”
“But–”
“Now!” Tal growled. “Take me or I’ll drive myself.”
Mike gave a heavy sigh and turned to look back out at the sky. “Whatever you want, Tal. It is your date night, after all.”
The car ride was silent apart from the relentless tapping beat Mike was playing on the steering wheel. Tal wasn’t happy at having to leave her car at Mike’s. She was tempted to make him drive it to her place and then find his own way home. But even in her irritation and alcoholised haze, she wasn’t going to put Mike’s life in danger.
Tal had calmed down a lot since she was at Mike’s, and she'd be a lot less antsy when she finally made it back to the safety of her own neighbourhood. Mike’s lack of wolf sensors unnerved her. She didn’t know how anyone could feel safe without alarms and warning systems, but Mike wasn't home a lot, so she supposed it made sense. The car didn’t have wolf sensors, either, but it was easier to outrun a werewolf in a car than on foot.
She looked out at the sky, then at the car’s clock. They were cutting it so fine. Mike was looking somewhat edgy, too. He kept glancing sideways at the clock as he tapped the wheel to his own silent beat.
Staring out the window and trying to keep her breathing even, it was a while before Tal realised that the tapping had stopped. She only really came back to reality when Mike pulled the car over. The next thing she knew, she was running. She'd probably fumbled with Mike’s sticky car door, fallen out of it and screamed, but she couldn’t remember anything but the sudden contortion of Mike’s features and the instant instinctual flight reaction that it caused.
Tal took in a deep breath, finally getting her thoughts back in line. She glanced at her surroundings as she sprinted down the road. She'd chosen the right direction to run in, at least, and wasn’t far from her home estate. Trees lined the road, and the houses past them weren't even lit up. All she could do was pelt down the main road and hope she made it to the guard house and the wolf sensors before she was caught by the fear-inducing monster that her boyfriend had just turned into.
The road in front of her lit up in bright light, and she was tackled to the ground. The last thing she saw before her head hit the road was the glittering of the full moon through the trees.
“Talitha Simmons. 28. No history of violence. She should be safe.”
“Yes, her background seems fine, now we're just waiting on those tests for that scratch, then we'll know where to move her.”
Tal could hear two men talking somewhere close to her, but she couldn’t muster up the energy to open her eyes. Was she dead? She was pretty sure she'd be dead after being attacked by a werewolf.
She listened to their voices for a few more moments before the words sunk in.
“Scratch?” Jolted into reality and an upright position, Tal quickly realised she was handcuffed to the bed. Her brain jumped from the previous thought to that fact, and she stopped to tug on the chain on her right hand before actually catching sight of her surroundings.
She stopped her panicked yanking on the chain to see that she was in a hospital room, the moon glaring in through the window menacingly. She couldn't have been out for too long. She shied away from it before realising there was a hand on her shoulder.
“Talitha," a male voice said soothingly. "You've just had a major shock and concussion. We need you to lie back down.”
Tal let them push her back into the pillows as she took deep breaths to slow her racing heart and speeding thoughts. Shock: yes, of course. Concussion: clearly, she'd hit her head. Scratch? She lifted her left arm, which had a bandage wrapped around it. Before she was able to think about it, her hand was on the bandage. A gentle, but firm touch stopped her from ripping it off.
“The results of tests will be back tomorrow morning. We can’t worry about what it might mean until we know for sure. You should get some sleep.” The soft voice was reassuring, and her brain finally slowed down from panic mode so that she could think rationally.
Tal let her line of sight drift from the hand on her arm, up to the face of the hand’s owner. He was a handsome young doctor, dark hair framing a soft face and kind eyes. He gave a genuine smile as their eyes met, and Tal was reminded of another man she had found handsome, reminded of his long blonde hair, puffed in a poofy mess on top of his head ... She scowled and turned her head away from the doctor.
Mike was a werewolf. How long had he been one for? Did he even know about it until that night, when he'd changed on their way home? She thought about the afternoon, his piercing blue eyes pleading for validation when he handed over her first glass of champagne at the door. She shut her eyes, then all she could see was his pointed chin morphing into an animal, and she could hear her own scream as she scrabbled to get out of the car ...
When she opened her eyes again, Tal was alone in the room. She sighed and slumped backwards into the pillows, trying to get comfortable with her right arm handcuffed to the side of the bed.
