Chapter Three ★ Doc

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

“Ah. There you are.” Doc flashed a light in my eye as he pried one open. He did the same to my other eye. Ugh. Nothing like having a light shined in both eyes after the world went dark.

I batted his hand away. “Get off.”

He stepped back and clasped his hands behind his back. Then turned to Pearl who was in the room with us. He muttered, “Are you sure the kid was in his wolf form when he bit Luna?”

She nodded and whispered, “Absolutely.”

My hand? Oh yeah, that’s right. Pearl must of dragged me back to headquarters after I blacked out. My hand got bit earlier tonight by that dang kid. Maybe he was a werewolf or maybe he wasn’t but one thing for sure mermaids cannot get cursed. I know that’s a fact.

Speaking of which… I glanced down at my right hand to see it wrapped up in green kelp. Under the sea we use organic stuff like kelp and seaweed. It has better healing nature than human’s manufactured nonsense. Yeah sure cotton can help stop the bleeding but the nutrients and other essence have long been leeched out by their process.

We mermaids have better stuff. Of course we got better stuff because we work with nature instead of against it. Nurture our mother Gaia and she’ll nurture you back. Thieve from her and well… you can only guess what’ll happen to you. All mothers don’t take kindly to brutes.

Pearl asked, “How’s the hand?”

I jumped a little for she was on the other side of the room with Doc whispering nonsense about when I got bit and if the kid was in wolf form or not. I replied, “It feel numb. Guess Doc shot it full of pain killers. Ya know his usual motive.” I winked.

Doc was on the other side of my bed. He picked up my arm and took my pulse. I rolled my eyes and took a gander out the window. A school of fish swam by in various patterns and the sun from above reflected off their silver scales. The plant life rolled with the rhythm of the sea swaying with the ebb and flow of each current. We mermaids were lucky to be able to enjoy both worlds.

A cool metallic disc pressed down on my chest. “For Triton’s sake, that’s cold!” I complained and wiggled away from it.

Doc chuckled, “I need to hear your heartbeat. Will you sit still long enough for that, Luna?”

“How do I know that you’re not trying to feel me up old man?” I leered back at him.

He waggled the stethoscope in his hand and said, “I promise this is for your own good.”

I crossed my arms, cocked an eyebrow and said, “Suuuuure.”

Pearl jumped in, “Look, Luna. You either let him finish up or you’ll have to stay here overnight.”

Ick. Stay here in HQ’s medical wing, overnight? Uh, no thank you. I’ve heard too many spooky stories to even want to stay here overnight. Guess, I’ll need to cooperate. I let out a breath and said, “Fine. You can finish what yer doing Doc.”

He clapped his hands together, “Excellent.” Then approached me with the cold stethoscope. He told me, “Now take a deep breath.”

I obliged and he then plastered that freezing disc on my back. Eep. Doc chuckled, “You can let go of your breath now.”

What is with this dude? He’s like a hyena always chuckling and laughing. Especially around me. It’s like he has some inside joke that I’m not privy to know. Ack. What is he prodding me with now? I glanced down to see him tapping my knees with a hammer. Yes, I know it’s not really a hammer but dang it I’m not a doctor. Doc is but I’m not.

“Hmmm.” He said and tapped my other knee. His hand absent mindedly twisted his wispy thin beard on his chin around his finger.

I bent forward, “Hmmm? What’s hmmm? It’s only a bite. I don’t know why y’all are so frazzled about it. Can I go now?”

A deep basso voice answered my question, “Because you were bit by a werewolf, Luna.”

My heart sped up and thundered in my ears. That voice. It was unmistakable.  I turned my head to see the outline of his shadow hanging outside the doorway.

He stepped forward and entered the room. His white teeth flashed in a smile before he spoke, “And no you can’t leave. Got to make sure my little girl’s boo-boos are all fixed up before she can go back and play.”

Heat flushed my cheeks. I shrunk down in the bed and pulled the covers over my head. I whined, “Daddy!”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Two ★ Caught Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

If that wasn’t ominous then I don’t know what was. I knew who wrote the note. My stomach lurched and tied itself into knots. The palms of my hands became slick from all the sweat. Ugh. Gross.

I placed the plant back on the clay dish and tried to think of other ways to get inside the house. There was no way in heck that I was going to go ‘around back.’ No. I’ll sleep outside before I give in to his demands.

My hands fiddled with the pieces of lint in my hoodie’s front pouch as I circled around the one story house to mine and Pete’s room. Pete is my little brother. He liked to sleep with the window open during the spring. Heck, he would do it in the middle of winter if we’d let him.

He was always hot natured and complained of the heat down here in Savannah, GA. Poor kid. I’d tell him at least we weren’t in the desert. Pete would roll his eyes at me, huff at my comment and go right back to complaining that he’s hot.

I peered down the side counting the windows. The third one was opened. Bingo. As I crept down the side of the house my heartbeat intensified. The crickets seemed like they went silent. The only sound was my breathing and the crunch of the dried leaves within the pea gravel.

The broken pieces of my camera jingled as my hands shook. I paused and took a deep breath. I’ve done this thousands of times. So, why do I feel on edge tonight? What is different?

Well, I’d be lying if the idea of what those perverted girls did while I was out didn’t bother me. But what really got me was they said I was a werewolf. Last I checked… werewolves don’t exist. They’re only in movies and books. That’s it.

They were just saying that to get my goat. Probably because they thought I was snapping nudie pics of them… which I wasn’t… I swear. I was cutting across their yard to snap pics of the abandoned amusement park.

Their place had the best view. And last I checked that house was vacant. I don’t remember the last time there was someone living there… they acted like they’ve been there all along. Weird.

I shook my head and took another deep breath then ventured forward. The tall grass under the window squeaked under my feet. I looked up at the window sill and closed my mouth to moisten my dry tongue. Gosh, I’m thirsty. Maybe I can grab a coke from the fridge once I get in alright.

“Okay, just a simple jump and we’re in.” I said to myself to chase the jitters that were still lingering around. I stuffed the brown paper bag into my hoodie’s pouch to free up my hands. I needed both to climb into the window. I crouched down low to the ground and got ready to jump.

I whispered, “Just like in gym class… sink low… chest up… heels up… toes spry… butt almost touching… and… JUMP!”

When I felt my but touch my heels I launched myself upwards toward the opened window. My hands reached upwards and sought purchase of the worn faded white painted wood. The cool rough wood greeted my fingers as I latched on and bolstered my feet on the side of the wall. Success.

Using the rest of the momentum I swung myself up into Pete and my room. A last minute thought crossed my mind, “Did he pick up those legos?”

Gritting my teeth I braced for impact but landed silently like a black cat at midnight during a new moon. I stood back up and congratulated myself, “Man, smooth like butter.”

The taste of success turned bitter sweet when the lights flickered on in the room. Pete was not in his bed. He wasn’t even here.

No. Instead my Dad sat on the edge of my bed hunched over his knees. In one of his hands he held a cold beer bottle. He pulled a drink from his beer then wiped his chin with the back of his hand.

His beady dark eyes watched me as I stood there frozen like a deer caught in the headlights. A shit eating grin grew from his lips going from ear to ear and peeled away from his yellow stained teeth. Uh-oh. I’m in for it now.

He said, “Gotcha.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – Chapter 2 :: Caught Done – Stay tuned for Chapter 3… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Two ★ Caught

｡☆✼★━ Daniel ━★✼☆｡

Good. The lights were off. It was late when I finally turned the corner on to my street. I glanced over my shoulder to make sure those girls weren’t following me.

Last thing I needed right now was for my Dad to hear I was so called peeping on naked chicks. Which for the record I totally was not doing at all.

Most of the house had already gone dark. My house would have been the only one lit if my Dad chose to wait up for me. I let go of the breath that I held. Whew. Now time to sneak in… if I can.

I don’t like arguing with my Dad. But he just doesn’t see things from my point of view. Never has.

The small pebbled of our dirt walkway crunched under my feet as I got close to our small front patio. It wasn’t that big. Nor was our house. A mere 1100 square foot house with two bedrooms and one bathroom.

Most of the houses in my neighborhood were small. They were built in the late sixties early seventies when people didn’t need those ginormous mansions that people now live in today.

Standing before the big wooden yellow door, with the two teal curtained slander windows on each side of it, I reached into my hoodie pouch in the front to grab my house key. My hand grasped nothing. It was gone. 

Lint played with my fingers along with some loose change. I checked my other pockets. My heart sped up when I realized my wallet was missing too. Those thieving brats… I’m gonna so call the cops on them.

First, I needed to get back inside without waking everybody up. Maybe they left the door unlocked? I can only hope. I licked my lips, readjusted the paper bag in my other hand, and reached out to the battered doorknob.

My fingers wrapped around it and felt the several battle scars it received over the years of abuse. A moment ticked by as I stood there and stared down at the knob hoping that Casey left it unlocked for me.

“Okay. On three…” I breathed and tensed up. “One. Two… and three.”

With a quick twist of my wrist I felt the knob refuse to turn in response. “Crap.”

The door was locked. I rattled the knob a few more time because it did have a history of getting stuck even when it was unlocked. Nope. It’s locked. Dang it. Okay… plan C it is.

Off to my right on the small covered patio was an old rocking chair that use to belong to my grandma. Beside it sat a small potted plant. I ambled over to the plant, stooped down and moved it off its clay watering tray.

Normally there would have been a key waiting for either Pete or me to use in this instance. But nope. The key wasn’t there.

Instead there was a yellow note that said, “Go around back.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter One ★ Bitten :: Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

“Luna,” Pearl continued, “You can be so dense. I swear you’re brain was swapped with a jelly fish.”

“Hey!” I snapped back. Yeah I know not the best comeback but I am still confused as to what Pearl was gabbing at. How would the kid’s wallet ensure a promotion?

Pearl hustled up the wooden steps of the porch to lock the door to the house. She rushed back down, wrapped her arm around my neck and pulled me along with her, “C’mon we gotta get back to headquarters.”

Urk. My feet dragged along the pea gravel in the garden pathway. She was going to fast for me to keep up with her so I fell backwards on my butt. Using my injured hand I slowed my fall just a wee bit. Ouch. Pearl ran back to where I sat on the ground. She tapped her foot and huffed.

My hand twinged… okay not twinged. It throbbed. It throbbed like a mother sending out manic waves of intense burning pain. Man, I hope it isn’t infected. Of course merpeople don’t get infections often. Pearl offered her hand to me and I graciously grabbed a hold of it with my good hand.

With her hand clasped firmly in mine I yanked her down to the ground. Hard. She fell face first into the gravel with a satisfying yelp. Good. She deserved it. She mumbled, “Wha’cha do that for?”

“Payback.” I winced as another throb burned around the bite marks in my hand. Landing on it did not do it a world of good. Of course all the adrenaline from tonight’s events had worn off so I gather it did hurt this bad but I didn’t notice ’til now.

Pearl propped herself up on her elbows and glanced at my bloodied hand. She pursed her lips and said, “You really need to get Doc to look at that… it might be infected.”

I glared back at her. “No, it’s not infected. It just twinges that’s all.”

She pushed herself up to her knees and stood up. With an arched eyebrow she asked, “You’re not gonna pull me back down again if I help you up, are you?”

“Depends.” I replied.

“Depends on what?” She asked. Crickets chirped in the background. The evening air cooled down with a breeze carried in by the ocean. In the distance I could hear the waves crashing against the shoreline. Pearl was right on one thing we needed to get back to headquarters to give our reports.

“Fine.” I offered my good hand again. “Help me up, would ya?”

“Sure,” She grinned and grabbed my hand. With a solid yank I was back up on my feet. I did not let go of Pearl’s hand. She tried to walk away but I pulled her back and asked, “So do ya mind telling me what yer planning?”

“We have to go back.” She answered.

“Duh,” I rolled my eyes. “Obviously. But what about the kid? Standard protocol says we should do a mind wipe on him.”

Pearl glanced towards the ocean. I could tell her mind was on something else. She said, “We’ll deal with him later.”

“Are ya sure?” I asked. “Cus I don wanna get my butt handed to me by my own dad ’cause you wanted to do it later.”

She waved her other hand at me in a dismissive manner. “Yes, I’m sure. C’mon we’ve gotta get your hand looked at… it’s bleeding again.”

I didn’t notice it nor did I feel it. Looking down at the blood soaked towel droplet of blood stained the ground from where I stood. The bite surged another burning sensation throughout my entire being. I breathed in and gasped when another wave of pain pulsed throughout my body. The world begun spinning about me as the edges started to fade to black.

With one last gasp I said, “Oh for Triton’s sake…”

Pearl called out, “LUNA!”

The world spun sideways and my head bounce off the gravel path before everything went dark.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ – Chapter 1 :: Bitten Done – Stay tuned for Chapter 2.. –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter One ★ Bitten :: Cont’

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

He sat up and rubbed his eyes. He groaned, “Ow, my head… where am I?”

The kid face went pale as he reached up around his neck. He called out, “My camera. Where’s my camera?”

Pearl and I looked down at the ground close to the kid. He looked down too. The sad remains of his camera littered the dirt. Are camera’s really that fragile?

“Oh no.” He said and the corners of his lips turned downward. Looked like he was about to cry. Instead he smacked the ground with the palm of his hand and turned away from us.

His shoulders shuddered and I did hear the faint sniffle come from him. I tried to go to him but Pearl snatched my arm and hissed, “Didn’t you learn from the last time?”

“C’mon, Pearl. He ain’t no werewolf. He’s just some kid whose having a rough night.” I shot back.

She arched an eyebrow and kept a firm grip on my arm… it almost pinched a bit too much if you’d ask me. Her gaze went down to my hand wrapped in a bloodied towel. “Some kid, huh? Then what the heck bit you tonight?”

Pearl did have a point. A dang good point. No matter if I wanted to believe this kid wasn’t a werewolf… the truth of the matter of fact is… that he was one. And there’s no telling if he’ll transform again if he’s angered. Alright then we’ll just take this nice and slow.

I called out to him, “Hey kid. Sorry bout yer camera. Ya got some parents we can call fer ya?”

His arm moved up and over as he wiped his nose with a loud sniff. He hunched back over his knees and answered, “I’d prefer if you’d both leave me alone.”

Pearl jumped in, “Well, I got some bad news for ya kid. You have three choices… one you vamoose right now, two we call you parents or three we call the cops. Which one it’ll be?”

He pounded the ground with his fist. He growled, “I said leave me alone.”

“You’re in my yard.” Pearl pointed out. “You need to leave. Take your camera and go or I will call the cops.”

“Are you nuts lady?” He shouted. “Can you not see my camera is busted to bits? It’ll take me forever to pick it all up.”

“Not my problem.” She replied. “Maybe you should have thought twice before trying to take perverted pics of us.”

I could feel the heat rolling off the kid as stood up. His hands clenched into tight fists as he breathed in and out and his shoulders tensed. If I let Pearl continue to beret this kid then things were gonna get ugly and ugly fast. With a roll of my shoulders I pulled my arm out of Pearl’s tight clutches I approached the kid like I was walking on eggshells.

In a small voice I said, “Look. I don’t know what you were doing and I don’t want to play the blame game. So let’s agree that tonight didn’t go as planned.”

His shoulders loosened and his breathing was slowing down. Good it seems like I might be getting through to him. I continued, “Is there someone we can call?”

The kid stiffened at my question. Uh-oh. Time to back peddle a little. I added, “A friend, maybe? It doesn’t have be a parent…”

He let out a sigh then answered, “No.” A few seconds later he asked, “Do you have a bag that I can use?”

With a nod towards Pearl she went back into the house to get a plastic bag. I asked, “So, what’s your name kid? Mine’s Luna.”

“Daniel.” He replied still looking down at the busted camera. It was one of those digital ones. Not cheap. Most of the damage appeared to have happened to the lens and not the camera body. He might be able to salvage it. Hey! Just because I’m a mermaid doesn’t mean that I don’t know about human technology. Give us merpeople some credit. Sheesh.

The door slammed shut as Pearl came out with a paper bag. She held it out to Daniel. He looked up and took it then begun picking up the pieces to his camera. He mumbled, “I don’t remember falling on the camera. What happened? Why can’t I remember what happened?”

I answered his question, “You don’t remember because you’re a werewolf Daniel.”

He stopped midway on picking up another piece. His jaw hung open as his eyes widened. He stood still with his mouth wide open that I feared that bats might roost in it.

“Daniel, was it?” Pearl asked.

Daniel blinked and closed his mouth. He placed the shard of glass into the paper bag and replied, “Yes.”

“It might be a shock to you but it’s totally normal.” Pearl continued, “Our record told us that there were no werewolves in the south however they are a few years out of date. You’re living proof.”

“Normal?” His eyebrows shot up. “What’s normal about being a werewolf? And how the heck do I know y’all didn’t rufy me?”

He pointed at Pearl and me, “You’re the new ones here and I’ve never seen y’all before. So who are you?”

“I’ve already told you my name,” I replied. “My name is Luna and her’s is Pearl.”

“So.” He glowered. “Still doesn’t explain how y’all suddenly showed up.”

“I can explain.” I stepped forward and motioned with my arms in a welcoming gesture.

He shot his hand out and said, “Stop. Don’t come near me or I’ll call the police.”

Daniel swiped a few more pieces of his camera lens from the ground before snatching the body and tossed it into the paper bag. He folded the top several times then held it at his side. Before he took a step he threw a menacing glare at each of us and said, “Don’t follow me. I don’t trust you. If I see you again then I will call the police.”

Both Pearl and I stood where we stand and watched the little punk leave our yard. I doubt that he actually believed us about him being a werewolf. Heck, if I was him then I would have a hard time swallowing that nonsense too. But it was true… and the truth is always the hardest to believe.

The crunch of gravel faded as Daniel’s tennis shoes carried him out of earshot. He went south and away from our house. I was about to follow when Pearl said, “No. Don’t follow him. We don’t need to this time.”

I cocked my head to one side. That’s odd so I asked, “Why not this time? Isn’t standard procedure to wipe their memory?”

She shook her head and held up a tan leather wallet between her fingers. I smacked my forehead and exclaimed, “That’s what yer where looking for earlier.”

Pearl held a smug smile on her face and merely replied, “Yup.”

“So, what are going to do? He knows about us.” I leaned towards the garden exit. “We can’t risk him blabbing about us being here…”

Pearl waved the wallet at me, “By all means this might work in our favor. If my hunch is right this might mean a promotion for me AND you.”

“A promotion?” I blinked.

‧͙⁺˚*･༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙