Never Let Success Get To Your Head
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A long, low laugh sounded from the shadows. “The sun will be rising soon.”
“That’s good,” I said with a smile. “I was hoping it would be light out.”
“You are very observant, little wolf. But no, there is still much work to do. You must stay awake and alert, as we have some time before the sun rises.”
He turned his head to look at me. The bright yellow eyes were nothing like what I’d seen in the alley. They were golden, and beautiful, and seemed to glow. He stared at me for a moment longer, then turned back to the shadows and started walking toward them.
“What did you mean about me being observant?” I asked after he was gone.
My companion smiled and stepped into the light of the street lamp. His skin was a deep shade of red, and his hair was an unnatural black. The two were so dark they almost seemed to absorb the light. But when he moved, they reflected it back at me in a way that made me feel as if I’d just stepped out of the darkness and into the light.
“I meant that you’re smart enough to know you need to keep your eyes open,” he said, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms over his chest. “You seem to understand things quickly, which is good. But you also seem to want to be told how to think. It’s a common problem with humans, and one that you need to overcome. The best way to do that is to learn on your own.”
“So I should figure things out for myself?”
“Yes.” He looked away from me for a moment and studied the shadows. “But you’ll never figure anything out unless you get past your pride.”
I nodded. “Okay, so what do I do now? I mean, I’ve got this guy, or whatever he is, and he’s telling me I can’t go home until I’ve figured out some way to kill him. So what do I do?”
He laughed again. “You really are observant, aren’t you?” He turned back to me and shook his head. “We’ll start by getting rid of your wolf form. I can do it, but you’ll have to stay still while I do it. You’re too big to shift on the street, and there are too many people around. And it won’t work if you’re running around doing everything in your wolf form.”
“I’m not sure I could do that. I mean, I can try, but—”
“No, no, no.” He held up his hands. “That’s where you’re wrong. There’s a simple trick to getting out of your wolf form. You just have to want it badly enough. But first, we need to get you into the right frame of mind.”
“And how do I do that?”
“Well, for starters, you need to relax.” He walked over to a bench and sat down. “Come sit with me.”
I hesitated, then stepped over to him and sat down next to him.
“Good,” he said, patting the seat next to him. “Now, tell me about your family.”
I nodded and told him everything I knew about my father. About the man who had taken him, and why. And when I was done, he said, “I see. And you want to go back home, but you’re afraid they’ll take you back and force you to do things you don’t want to do.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s pretty much it.”
He nodded. “There are ways to stop them, but we’ll worry about that later. For now, let’s get you out of your wolf form.”
“How do I do that?”
“You have to think about the person you really are. Your wolf is a part of you, but it isn’t all of you. And you know this because you’ve been able to think clearly even while you were in wolf form. You know what I’m saying, right?”
I nodded. “Yeah, but I haven’t tried to think like that before.”
“Then we’ll start now. We’ll begin with a simple exercise. Think about the person you want to be. Imagine yourself as you would like to be, and then try to live up to that image. Now, focus on being human.”
I took a deep breath and thought about my father. I pictured him standing tall and proud, smiling at me, and holding out his hand. I pictured myself taking it, and walking toward him. I saw myself smiling back, and walking forward to hold his hand.
But instead of taking his hand, I reached for his belt and yanked him down. I put my hands around his neck and pressed my thumbs into his windpipe. Then I looked up at him and smiled.
“You were always the smart one,” I whispered.
The wolf stood there staring at me, his eyes wide and confused. I stared back at him, then closed my eyes and breathed out. I opened my eyes again and felt my body relax.
My wolf stood still, frozen in place. His ears laid flat against his head, and he stared at me with fear-filled eyes.
“What happened?” I asked, my voice soft.
“I… I can’t…” He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“Do you remember what you were doing when I snapped your collar?”
“Yes, but—”
“And how did I snap it? I mean, I was only thinking about how you hurt me. Did I think about killing you or something?”
“No, no. I mean, yes, I think so. But I was just trying to get away from you. I didn’t know I could do that.”
“So, if I hadn’t snapped your collar, would you have killed me?”
He hesitated. “I don’t know. Maybe. I mean, I’m not sure. You’re stronger than me. And you’re bigger.”
“Well, I guess we’ll never know.” I patted him on the shoulder. “We need to go back home. Do you want to walk or run?”
“I think I’d rather run. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an opportunity to stretch my legs.”
We headed out of the park, and I ran ahead of him. I wasn’t much of a runner, but I figured that was probably for the best. If I kept up too fast, he might try to get away. I tried to keep him close by, and I felt like I was moving faster than normal. My legs weren’t used to this kind of work.
We reached my house without incident. I turned toward the front door and said, “Can you open it?”
He looked at me and nodded.
“Okay, then, we should be able to get inside. Come on.”
I opened the door and held it for him. We stepped inside and I closed the door behind us. The house was dark, but I could see well enough. I locked the door behind us and said, “Now, I want you to stay here while I find some clothes.”
I went upstairs and found a pair of sweatpants. I took off my pants and put on the sweatpants. Then I went back downstairs and picked up my wolf. I carried him over to the couch, laid him down, and covered him with a blanket.
“You should get some rest,” I told him. “I’ll come back and check on you later.”
“Okay.”
I left him there and went back upstairs to find something to wear. I grabbed a shirt and pulled it over my head. I grabbed a pair of sweats and put them on. Then I went into the bathroom and took a shower. After I got dressed, I went downstairs and checked on my wolf. He was still asleep, but his eyes were open. I reached out and touched his cheek.
“How are you feeling?” I asked him.
“I feel fine.”
“Good. Then we’ll start making plans.”
***
The next day, I drove to the hospital. I walked through the front doors and went to the information desk. The woman working there looked up at me and smiled. “Hi, do you have an appointment?”
“No, I just need to see someone.”
She frowned. “Are you sure? I can look up your name, and then if you don’t have an appointment, they’ll probably want to know why you’re here.”
“It’s okay. I’m not hiding anything. I’d really like to talk to Dr. Ransom.”
“All right, I’ll page him. You can wait over there.” She pointed to a waiting area.
I sat down in a chair and waited for her to call me. It didn’t take long, and when she came back, she said, “Dr. Ransom will see you now.”
I followed her back to a small room that looked like it was made for one person. The door closed behind us, and Dr. Ransom motioned for me to sit down.
“Mr. Cain, thank you for coming. I’ve been expecting you.”
“You were expecting me?”
He nodded. “Yes. I believe you had something important to discuss with me.”
“Yeah. I do. I need to know how to cure my wolf.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know.”
“Why not? Do you know?”
“No, I don’t. But I can tell you what I think.”
“Okay.”
“I think you have to find the cause of your wolf’s condition.”
“What do you mean?”
“Your wolf is changing, but it isn’t natural. If he were changing naturally, it would be much more gradual. He wouldn’t suddenly change overnight.”
“So, you think that whatever happened to him has something to do with his transformation?”
“I don’t know. I can only speculate. But I think you need to try to find out what’s causing the change.”
“How am I supposed to do that? I don’t even know where to start.”
“Well, we can work on that part later. For now, you need to go home and try to figure out what caused it. If you can determine the cause, you may be able to reverse it.”
“What if I can’t? What happens then?”
“Then, we’ll have to work on finding another solution.”
“And what if I can’t find a cure?”
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to try something else. I’m not sure what that will be, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
“Can you tell me anything about the other wolves who changed? Are they all like me?”
“I’m sorry, I can’t say for sure. I’ve only seen two of them so far. You’re the first one who changed completely, and I’ve never heard of any of the others doing this.”
“Could you talk to them?”
“Maybe. But it’s hard to say until we get to know them better.”
“All right. Well, thank you for your time. I appreciate it.”
“No problem. I hope we can help you.”
“We’ll see.”
I left the hospital and went back to my house. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Dr. Ransom had said. I was going to have to try to figure out what had happened to my wolf.
The only thing I knew for certain was that he had been attacked by someone, and whoever it was had done something to him. The question was, did they do it on purpose or did they just happen to attack him while he was transforming? It didn’t really matter, as long as I could figure out what had happened to him.
I drove back to the house and parked in front. I got out of the car and went inside. I walked up to my room, grabbed my laptop, and carried it down to the living room. I sat down on the couch, plugged the computer into the TV, and turned it on.
I opened the lid of the laptop, clicked on the Internet icon, and typed in the address for the Werewolf Forum. I signed in, and then I searched for anything that had to do with wolves changing. After a few minutes, I found the topic, and I read through it.
There were dozens of posts from people who had also been bitten by wolves, but most of them didn’t have any answers either. Most of them just asked the same questions I was asking myself.
“Okay, so we’re all screwed,” I said to myself.
I read more posts, looking for anything new, and I saw one post that seemed different. “This is it!” I thought. I clicked on the link, and it led me to a private message board. I opened it, and it had a message from someone named Denny.
Denny: Hello,
I’m glad you’ve joined us. I don’t know if you can help, but I would be willing to pay you for any information you might have.
I looked at the forum rules and saw that anyone could reply to a private message. I sent him an email explaining my situation and saying I would like to talk to him. I checked my email several times over the next few days, and I finally received a response from him.
Denny: Hi,
I apologize for taking so long to respond. I wanted to get to know you first before we talked. I’ve read your email, and I’d like to talk to you more about it. Can you call me sometime this week?
I replied that I could and that I was free all day today. He sent me his phone number, and I called him as soon as I got home from work.
“Hello?” he said.
“Hi, Denny. It’s Chris.”
“Chris, hi. I’m glad you called. I think we can help each other out. Do you mind coming over tonight? I’ll make us some dinner, and we can talk.”
“Sure, that sounds good. What time should I come over?”
“Eight o’clock is fine. You can bring your laptop with you. We’ll have plenty of time to go through it then.”
“Okay. I’ll see you later.”
I hung up the phone and went upstairs to pack my laptop in its carrying case. I was really looking forward to seeing what Denny knew about this. I also hoped he could help me figure out what was happening to my wolf.
The End