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It all started the night of the new moon. Benny saw a huge dog outside, looking like it had gotten into a fight. It’s fur was matted and coarse, and weirdly damp. It looked hungry, spine peeking through the thick fur. So in true Benny fashion, this weird dog needed a slice of hot pizza.
Benny pulled a slice from the box and went outside. He crouched in front of the thing, much bigger than he thought it was from a distance. He reached out the hand with the pizza, moving it left to right. The dog stared at the cheese slowly slipping off the crust. As soon as Benny realized the freakishly human eyes it had, it was too late. It had ripped the pizza out of his hand, almost taking off a finger. The teeth cut through his skin like it was butter. It scampered off quickly and silently. Benny sat in disbelief staring at his now bloody and torn up hand.
He went home with wide eyes and a stomach of panic. It was fine, he was just going to wrap it up and go to bed. With shaky hands he took the white cloth and wrapped up his hand. The blood soaked through 2 layers, by the third it was fine. Benny climbed into bed, staring at his wall. Eventually he fell asleep.
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The next morning he almost took the fridge door off. Peeling off the bandages revealed scar tissue that had already formed over the fresh wound. He had definitely been bitten by a werewolf.
It really wasn’t so bad at all, cool scars and cool new speed and strength. He could hear and smell everything. Every single little molecule that made up his breakfast. The buzz of electricity flowing through the house drove him nuts. He could hear as Ethan shut his door and walked down the driveway of his house. Even hearing the slight clinks of coins in his back pocket.
Benny threw open the door before Ethan’s knuckle could even make contact with the door. Ethan jumped back, “What the hell Benny! Where’d you go last night?” As to not rip his arm off, Benny gently pulled Ethan into his house. “Dude. Look.” Benny said as he pulled up a sleeve to reveal his horrendously hairy arm. Ethan’s face scrunched up, “Ew. What spell did you mess up this time?” Benny simply shook his head quickly replying, “I got bit by a werewolf!” Ethan grinned, huffing out a little laugh and rolling his eyes. Benny wasn’t laughing at his own joke, oh my god he was serious.
Ethan found it strange that Benny wasn’t worried in the slightest. Ethan was a werewolf for a good 2 hours and it was the worst 2 hours of his life. Benny was obviously excited about it. He would laugh as he picked up Ethan off the floor by the collar of his shirt. He would order 5 pizzas and could eat all of it. It was out of control, he was having too much fun with it. That’s what everyone besides Benny thought.
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The vamps were confused on what was going on with Benny. He was clingy, he wasn’t usually affectionate at all, but now he needed to be near friends that paid attention to him. He’d rest his head on Ethan’s shoulder, Ethan would occasionally return the gesture with a pat on the head. Sarah especially couldn’t tell if the disease was homosexuality or lycanthropy. Erica knew after a few signs, she was the most observant. Benny seemed to get overwhelmed by the cafeteria, only something she’d do due to vampiric hearing. The way his eyebrows were bushier, his teeth seemed much pointier. He carried himself differently, he was proud of something. Obviously something supernatural was the cause, these are the same type of things Erica went through.
The group was fine with werewolf Benny, sure he was obnoxious, but that’s how he always was. They made fun of him constantly for not being able to grow facial hair, even with the help of wolf genes. He seemed happy and that’s all his friends could really ask for.
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2 weeks till the full moon.
His body ached all over, maybe he was growing, maybe he slept wrong? It didn’t bother him too much. Being sore for no reason was a normal human thing he went through.
His grandma had yet to know about the full thing, he was scared that if he told her it’d be taken from him. He finally felt good, he liked this life much more than his past one. She did give him her knowing glance occasionally. She was waiting for it to become a problem she had to fix like always. Except it wasn’t a problem it was more of a solution and a gift to Benny. He would be fine living like this.
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1 week till the full moon.
Benny woke up to the soft snores of his grandma’s. This whole super hearing thing was getting frustrating. He threw his blankets off aggressively, being stopped by a sharp pain. His skin felt tight to his bones it was suffocating. The moment he threw his blankets it felt like his skin was going to rip off his body. That was new. That was terrifying. The thought of him being able to pull himself out of his skin like it was clothes that were too small made his gut twist under the already tight skin. He took note that it would only be small movements from now on.
Everyone stared at Benny at school that day. He was neurotic, scratching, rubbing, and tugging on his skin constantly. The geek had lice or something. Gross. Ethan would smack him whenever he started scratching, he didn’t know what the deal was and it was worrying. This is definitely something he didn’t do in the short time he was wolfed out.
At lunch he was worse, the noise was driving him crazy more than usual. He put his forehead on the table and covered his ears. Scrunching his whole face to see if it could somehow deafen the sound. He jumped at the feeling of something in his hair, then relaxed when he realized it was just Ethan. It was nice being pet stupidly enough, god the dog brain rot has got him.
Erica and Sarah sat down at the table observing the scene in front of them. Ethan was petting, genuinely petting, Benny as he had some sort of freak breakdown. Rory appeared out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of the two girls. “I found my noise canceling headphones does he want them?” Rory said and Benny uncovered an ear, reaching out in Rory’s direction. Rory handed over the headphones, the little beast immediately took them and put them on without lifting his head. You could see his chest rise slowly and then fall with one big breath out. His hand grabbed Ethan’s free one, Ethan could see his face just by the grasp on his hand. He was definitely red but hard to know if he was flustered or pissed off.
Lunch went normal, eventually Benny’s face came up into the light. His eyes were red and puffy, he had been crying. At this point the vamps had decided to leave the two alone. They said they were going to go outside for ‘fresh air’. Terrible liars, it was an extremely sunny day, they’d be suffering. All Ethan could do was sit next to him and run his fingers through his hair. Talking would probably only make things worse.
The school week went better with the headphones. His skin only got worse. Too bad there’s no sensory cancelling device.
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18 hours till full moon.
Benny was at Ethan’s house for the night, it was Friday so Sarah was over. He was in an even worse mood than usual. It wasn’t Sarah’s fault in the slightest, he knew he was being irrational. Just the whole her being a vampire and in his vicinity pissed him off. Pissed him off so much that all his hairs were standing up. Ethan laughed at him, crouching next to him on the floor. “You should get into bed, the floor is uncomfortable c’mon.” Ethan pulled Benny’s arms. Benny didn’t budge, stubborn bastard. Ethan got into bed, usually to be annoying, Benny would’ve come lay on him by then. He continued to just sit at his window, staring and listening carefully to the outside world.
Ethan must’ve fell asleep, he woke up a few hours later to being cold. His window was wide open, obviously a certain guy had crawled out and left. Ethan’s heart sank.
He tried to sleep, tried to give Benny the space he wanted. He had a terrible feeling in his gut. The day at lunch, when Benny touched his hand he got a vision. It was a quick one, but of a Benny in complete distress and pain. No good.
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12 hours till full moon.
Benny should’ve called grandma long ago, everything would be fixed and fine. He wouldn’t be suffocating in his own skin. At this point his skin was completely rubbed raw. No longer itchy, just a constant burn all over his body. The best way he could describe it was being wrapped in plastic wrap that also doubled as sandpaper that was also covered in hot sauce.
He flipped the pages of his book, skimming for anything related to being a werewolf, literally anything. He could barely even read the runes and latin without the eye fogging migraine he had. It was pointless. He just had to sit and suffer until Grandma got home in a day. Had to sit with the fact that he won’t be in control of his mind or body in 12 hours. He could do terrible things, he could come back to Ethan dead due to his own hands. He really wished he would’ve thought even a little bit about the consequences of lycanthropy. They always tell you to think before you speak but never to think before you feed a feral animal. Maybe that’s because it was common sense.
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6 hours till full moon.
A few hours ago he had finally locked himself in the bathroom. Sitting in an ice cold bathtub fully clothed. It soothed a lot of the pain. At least made it manageable. Ethan had now left his 15th voicemail after his 24th call and 78 texts. Benny physically couldn’t reach out and grab the phone, afraid of ripping through his skin. Ethan would’ve axed down the door by now, but he was stuck at one of his great aunts or something’s funeral.
Benny was exhausted, if only he had been bitten by a fish, being a merman doesn’t seem to have any struggles. Benny is too attached to land and walking though. How was he thinking this while his body is fully breaking down and rebuilding itself because of some dumb moon cycle? Too tired to have a panic attack, it had to sit patiently in his gut.
Benny drifted off. Skin numb from the cold water.
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Ethan was going to flip his shit if he couldn’t leave this funeral. Some lady he never even knew is dead, why should he care? His best friend is somewhere out there freaking the fuck out. Ethan glared at the casket, hoping she was in hell for interrupting an emergency situation. Okay, maybe that was far.
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2 hours till full moon.
Benny burst out of the water, throwing his head to the side of the tub. Spewing chunks of somewhat digested food. Organs squeezing and twisting. Retching and heaving, begging his guts to let it all out. He went limp over the wall of the tub, followed by heavy breathing. He stepped out of the tub, fabric completely soaked and heavy. Avoiding the puddle of vomit he reached for his phone, quickly rubbing his hands on a nearby towel. Frantically sending a text to his grandma. A simple ‘SOS’.
As soon as the car pulled into the driveway, Ethan unbuckled and got out. “Ethan! Where are you going?” His mom shouted after him. “Benny’s house! He got a new.. wii.. thing!” His lying skill was going downhill quickly. Seemed to work though, not a single peep as he ran across the grass.
He banged on the door. No response. He wiggled the handle, it was unlocked. He probably should’ve tried that first. Inside the Weir household was the same as always. It was cozy and all the furniture was well-loved. Ethan took off his shoes, placing one foot on the stair carpet. It was wet, not damp, wet, what the hell. So was the next step and the ones after those. At the top of the stairs to the left was the bathroom. He peeked cautiously inside, gagging at the sight. There was puke on the floor, side of the bathtub, and all of the floor was wet. Obviously Benny had been there, he even left behind his phone. Something you’d never find him without. Ethan swallowed down the panic in his gut. Quickly making his way to Benny’s room, avoiding the sight of the bathroom at all costs. No damp trail on the carpet and no Benny in sight.
After a good 10 minutes of running around every room in the house, checking under every bed. He finally found Benny, well he heard him so he was in the house. Ethan shouted out to him, no response. Truly how can he lose a panicking Benny, he’s like a very large chicken with its head chopped off.
Ethan felt the floor creak and bend beneath him. He totally forgot about Grandma Weir’s weird witchy bomb shelter. Definitely the best place to go for any transformation of any kind. He tugged the rug, it was stuck beneath a cabinet.
Felt like forever he was pulling on that cursed rug. He was tired, his scrawny arms ached. He laid on the floor on his side, trying to listen for anything. Tears blurring his vision. “How the fuck did you even get down there, bastard.” He angrily hit the wooden floor. Ethan laid there, watched the light slowly leave the room, the sun was setting. He had to get to Benny but he had no idea how.
He felt around in his pockets, surely a vampire was free and willing to interact with a freaked out wolf. Finally finding his phone he dialed up Sarah. “What’s-,” Ethan cut her off before any questions could be asked, “Full moon. Benny’s house. Please.” He was still out of breath from the rigorous workout from the rug. “Uh, yeah I’ll be over as soon as I can. Hang in there okay? I’ll bring Erica.” There was concern in her voice. Ethan hung up, Erica was going to kill him for interrupting her ‘Saturdate’ with Sarah. He might be willing to get killed if it means this stupid fucking rug will move.
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45 minutes till full moon.
Sarah burst in, dragging a grumpy Erica along with her. Finding Ethan by his weak sob in the distance. He was on the floor, gripping the rug in fists. Hot tears running down his face. Sarah rested a hand on his back, “Hey, it’s okay, move Erica will move it.” Ethan reluctantly let go, backing up off the rug. Erica did it like a magic trick, perfectly ripping it from under the cabinets without tipping anything over. She crouched over the trapdoor; pulling it open without much force.
Ethan was immediately stopped as soon as he went to crawl in. Sarah held him by the shirt, “Hey I really think we should handle this, we are the super-powered ones here.” Ethan shook his head spewing words out, “No, no, no. You’re vampires that won’t work. I have to go, I have to.” Sarah looked up at Erica, she shrugged. Sarah let go of Ethan, he immediately started down the ladder.
He pulled up his phone flashlight. To the left of him were storage cabinets, different things encased in jars. Everything was covered in cobwebs and dust. Ethan inhaled much too quickly, and there came the dust. He coughed until his throat was dry and sore. “You okay?” Sarah yelled down. “Yeah. Just lots of du-“ Ethan was cut off by a bang. The bravery all disappeared within that bang. He was in some dusty, dark basement completely alone. What had he gotten himself into.
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Benny had thrown himself against a bookshelf. Each book fell with a loud thud. He flipped through pages, stopping when a pain shot up his spine. He wailed, falling back to the floor. It was starting, he was too late. His skin ripped up his spine, as if he was being unzipped. Soon enough a seam opened up on his arm, he could see damp sticky fur sprouting from under the flesh. He used his hands to peel off the large chunks of flesh, he had to get out. The pain was nauseating, the room was spinning, but he kept tearing. He started to take it off with his teeth, two hands just weren’t enough. That’s the last thing he remembered doing before the moon came.
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Ethan was tiptoeing around the basement, finally making it to the room the sounds came from. He held his breath. Turning the handle slowly and pushing forward. Lifting up his phone shakily, revealing the shadow of his best friend.
It was horrendous. It was huge. He was huge. This was Benny, he thinks. He was sitting, looking at the floor. The light caught his attention. Looking up the light reflected off his pupils, creating a glowing effect. Ethan stood there paralyzed with fear. His eyes were still Benny. His arms and legs were long and gangly like Benny’s, except covered in fur of course. Ethan wouldn’t tell this to Benny ever, but this form was demented. It looks like someone took the pelt of a wolf and stretched it over human bones. Like something you’d see in a silence of the lambs but for wolves.
He finally took his eyes off the thing that stood in front of him. Immediately going towards the piles of flesh and red. Ethan gasped, covered his mouth, and gagged all in that order. He could see Benny’s ear and nose on the floor. He could see the cheeks he’d press secret kisses against. Ethan had to turn his back to the creature.
“B, it’s me, I need you to uh. Not kill me,” Ethan said trying not to scream. He could hear it get up on its haunches. Knees popping and joints cracking with the movement. He could hear it coming towards him. There was a heat on the back of his neck, the thing, the Benny thing. Ethan kept his hand over his mouth, taking a shaky breath out. He turned to Benny, eyes meeting and never leaving. His fur was covered in blood, his own blood. It made Ethan’s stomach sink. Benny wasn’t showing any aggression towards him at all. Ethan reached out with the hand that was covering his mouth. It hovered over the snout.
Ethan was pulled out of the way, a powder aggressively was thrown onto Benny. It was Benny’s Grandma, coming at the last minute. She muttered some words Ethan couldn’t grasp for the life of him. It all happened so fast. At one point he was staring into its eyes, and now it had returned to geek boy form.
Benny shook the powder off his head with a sneeze. He stumbled as he looked around. The flesh pile caught his eye first, you could tell by the instant gag and the ‘oh my god is that my skin. Is that MY SKIN.’ He was lucky there was nothing left to throw up, because he totally would’ve. He was forced into an aggressive hug from Ethan. Still disoriented, it took him a minute to wrap his arms around Ethan.