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“Hello?”
“Hey, Orel!”
Tommy sounds cheerful and awake, unlike Orel, who had just crawled out of bed to answer the phone all the way in the kitchen. What time even was it?
“Whatcha need, Tommy?”
“Wanna go to the church's Halloween party? I heard there’s gonna be cake and stuff!”
“Oh, I’d like to, Tommy, but I can’t.”
“What? why not?!”
“My dad says I gotta stay in the house on the full moon because of all that werewolf stuff.”
“On Halloween? He’s nuts!”
“Rules are rules!”
Tommy rolls his eyes. It’s so like Orel to say that.
“Come on, we gotta celebrate!”
“Didn’t you hear? The mayor moved Halloween to November first this year because of the full moon! Nobody’s even giving out candy tonight.”
“It’s just not the same. November first candy has a different taste to it. Besides, the church is calling it the “Safe and Secure Halloween Bash.” That werewolf can’t be around crosses and stuff, we’ll be plenty safe!”
“Well… I guess if it’s safe and secure…”
“Great! Get on your bike and meet me outside the church, fast!”
“O-okay, Tommy! See you there!”
Orel Puppington was not a rule breaker. Especially not spoken rules. “Don’t you dare step one foot outside of this house on Halloween, young man! No one’ll be giving out candy anyways.”
That’s what his father had said about a week prior, before promptly getting a call from his “stinking dead-end job” telling him that he would need to work overtime on that Halloween in particular. His mother was out… somewhere. Orel didn’t like to think too much about where exactly. Shapey and Block were fast asleep upstairs, leaving Orel free to run about as he pleased. Bringing his bike out of the garage as quickly and quietly as possible, he clicked his helmet on and sped off towards the church.
The rush of fear cycling in Moralton on a full moon was oddly thrilling. It was weird to see so many dark houses on Halloween night. The church was a fair distance away, but Orel made it as fast as he could, seeing Tommy leaning against the sign proudly reading “God’s Favorite Protestant Church.” Underneath that it read “Safe and Secure Halloween Bash: Stay Safe From The Werewolves!” Tommy’s face lit up as Orel hopped off of his bike.
“Great, you made it! I thought about going in and eating all of the cakes myself without you, I’m such a good friend.”
“You sure are! I’m still a little spooked from all of this werewolf stuff, though. Almost as much as I am about breaking the rules!”
“Oh, your dad’ll never find out. Come on!”
Inside the church, it looks like the last unsold stragglers from the bake sale were frosted over with some generic Halloween decorations and put out for the few people of Moralton who had chosen to stay out late. Not many. Stephanie and the Reverend talk near a table, before the Reverend suddenly notices Orel and Tommy.
“Hey, Orel, Tommy! Good to see you boys here.”
“Glad to be here, Reverend Putty!”
Orel gives him an award-winning smile.
“Yeah, cool pastries!”
Tommy’s mouth is full of brownie.
“Frosted ‘em myself.”
Stephanie smiles proudly.
After gorging themselves on baked goods, Orel and Tommy find themselves sitting in one of the pews.
“And this one ought to knock your socks off-”
“Orel, how many bible quotes are you gonna keep firing off at me?”
“Oh, I dunno. I thought we were having fun!”
“I was, but now it’s getting kinda boring.”
“ Nothing’s boring about the bible! Uh, I could read you the story of Issac again!”
“Hm…”
Tommy smiles.
“I got a better idea!”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
He lowers his voice, whispering to Orel.
“...Tommy, I dunno about this. I don’t think that's a good idea.”
“Come on, don’t be a scaredy-cat! We’ll be doing this whole town a favor, I promise.”
“...Then my dad won’t make me go to bed early on the full moon anymore?”
“He won’t have a reason to!”
“That rarely stops my dad. But… let's do it!”
The forest on the outskirts of Moralton is dark and dense. The sounds of birds and distant animals are… Unnerving, to Orel at least. Tommy seems fearless, holding the gun proudly, though not quite correctly. They’d snuck back to Orels house to build their arsenal. A small pistol, filled with silver bullets. Orel thought the gun had been for werewolf hunting, but his father certainly wasn’t around to do it this month. That’s how Orel had rationalized the plan to himself: If his dad was going to do this anyways, they were just being helpful. Saving the lives of people all throughout Moralton. Still, the longer they trekked around and made a ruckus in the forest, the more on-edge Orel felt.
“Tommy, I’m not sure how good of an idea this is anymore. What if the wolf sees us before we see it?”
“That won’t happen, Orel. There’s two of us and only one wolf! We just wait for it to smell us, then I’ll heroically take it down with this cool pistol.”
“If you say so…”
They walk the edge of the forest, occasionally dipping into backyards by mistake. Orel was just glad he wasn’t the one holding the gun.
“Man, this blows. Come on, you stinking wolf! We’re here to save Moralton!”
Just as Tommy makes the proud declaration, Orel hears growling in the forest behind them.
“Tommy, behind you!”
The wolf jumps out. It’s huge. A dark brown coat with dark eyes reflecting the moonlight, staring down Tommy as its paws hold down the boy's arms. Tommy throws the pistol across the grass with a flick of his wrist, and it slides right to Orel.
“Orel, quick, kill it before it eats me!”
The wolf just… stares. Into Tommy’s soul. As if debating whether or not the boy would make a filling enough snack to be worth the kill. Orels hands shake as he holds the pistol. The wolf turns its attention to Orel, then slowly turns from Tommy, stalking towards Orel painfully slowly. He holds the gun up, right in the wolf's face, in front of his own. But the wolf is unafraid, and Orel just can’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Not even for his own life. The wolf gets close, and right as he’s sure it’s about to pounce, it… Sniffs his face. Then his hands, which still hold the gun in an iron grip. The wolf snarls, but does nothing to hurt either of them. It lets out a loud bark at Orel, causing both boys to jump. Then, it… runs off into the forest. Away.
“That…”
Tommy sounds stunned. He quickly remembers himself.
“Orel, why didn’t you kill it?!”
“I… I just couldn’t, Tommy! You know I can’t do stuff like that. It didn’t even try to hurt us or anything!”
“It nearly bit my face off!”
Tommy stands, brushing himself off.
“I’m sorry,” Orel says regretfully.
“...I’m sorry, too. I shouldn’t have roped you into this. Bad move.”
“What now?”
“Um… Wanna go get our bikes? That was…”
He suddenly smiles.
“The best Halloween story ever! Doughy and the rest are gonna be so jealous when we tell them that we actually saw the Moralton werewolf, face to face, and lived to tell the tale!”
Orel smiles, then laughs lightly.
“Yeah, that’ll knock their socks off for sure!”
After biking home, Orel sits down on his mothers knitting chair. The lights were off, the pale moonlight casting a glow into the rest of the house. Orel didn’t want to be outside, but he definitely couldn’t get to sleep. Not after an encounter like that. Just when the adrenaline crash was about to catch up to him, lulling him to sleep, the door opened softly.
“Ah, my back… Stinkin’, dead-end…”
Clay looks exhausted. Orel peeks from behind the chair, not sure if he should make his presence known or not. After Clay puts his coat on the rack, he steps out and his father nearly jumps into the air.
“Oh, hell, Orel!”
He lets out a breath and rubs his eyes.
“Sorry! I… Dad, what's all that around your… face?”
Shit, he’d almost forgotten. He hadn’t bothered to clean up, since he assumed the whole house would be asleep upon his return. He quickly thinks up a lie.
“It’s, uh, fake blood. Office Halloween party, lotta laughs.”
“Oh, awesome! I, uh…”
He looks guilty. Clay waves his hand.
“Save it. I’ll deal with your misadventure in the morning. ”
“...Okay.”
“Night, Orel.”
“Night!”
The boy dashes upstairs and Clay stumbles into the kitchen, turning on the sink. Orel better have put that gun back where he had it…