The Moonlight Club

[RagHound]

Naahhhhooo!!!! Darn internet hackers!!!!! Aww, well. Nothin I can do about it. I'm reposting the story with a bit of polishing and slight revisions. Feedback is appreciated!!! Comment please!!!

-RagHound :P
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The Moonlight Club
By RagHound

Chapter One:
Malcolm Click awoke to his head banging against the glass window of his parents’ car. Speed bump. He groaned in frustration at the unpleasant way of waking up and rubbed the side of his head through his hair, already feeling a bump with his fingertips.

His mom turned around “Oh, I’m sorry Malcolm did we wake you up?”

“Ugh… yeah…” Malcolm said, sleepy and getting a bit of a headache. He was surprised the window of his parents’ car hadn’t cracked. The teenager leaned back in the chair and flipped through the songs on his MP3 player. It was obvious that Malcolm had fallen asleep… the last thing he remembered was listening to was a slow, ballad-like song, and Malcolm had awoken to a screaming guitar riff… and a slight head injury.

“How long was I asleep for??” Malcolm asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Oh wow…” Malcolm’s father said, racking his brain, keeping one hand on the steering wheel. “I don’t even know, Malcolm… I hadn’t been paying attention… but you were out for quite a while. I could hear you snoring.”

Malcolm smiled a bit and looked out the window. “I don’t snore…”

“Spoken like a stubborn sixteen year old…” His father commented back.

“How close are we to Bristol??” Malcolm asked

“We’re already here. We just entered the city limits a few minutes ago.” His mom said. “We should be at the new house in about ten minutes or less.

Malcolm sighed apathetically and leaned the side of his face on his palm, unenthused that he was almost at his new home in a brand new state. He couldn’t believe how this had all happened. His father had gotten a job offer as an accountant in Bristol and was going to get a significant pay raise. However, it was at the expense of moving the family into Bristol, which was quite a distance from Newport, where they had lived up until a few days ago.

Before Malcolm knew it, his mom was bouncing up and down in her seat . “There it is, Malcolm1!! Do you see it?! It’s right there, at the end of the street!!”

Malcolm leaned forward in his seat and looked through the front windshield of the car.

As his family’s van pulled up to the house, Malcolm couldn’t help but admire how large the house was. His parents hadn’t exaggerated THAT aspect of it. The house was three stories in all, with a round, elegant, almost churchlike window on the front of the house, reflecting the afternoon sun. The wooden house was large to be sure, but the wood had greyed with age, and the house was obviously old. Malcolm’s parents had hired an inspector before making the final decision whether to buy the house, and apparently, the house had a foundation that was as solid as the Taj Mahal, and while quite a few decades old, the house was in great condition.

Still, the thought of a small family of three living in such a large house was something that excited even Malcolm. Think of how many friends he could have over when the school year started!! The house was enormous!

A black sign hung underneath the mailbox and it read in gold, faded lettering:

713 WIKKER STREET

Malcolm threw his suitcase over his shoulder and trudged into the house on his achy, wobbly legs to pick out his room. He had been in the car for about six hours.

[Alleycat]

woohoo! It lives again! I assume the updates will be a little more frequent because it is already written?

[NewMoon]

I am so happy you brought it up again and I can see there is improvement in your first chapter. Keep up the good job.:)

[RagHound]

I am so happy you brought it up again and I can see there is improvement in your first chapter. Keep up the good job.:)

Hehe, yup, I thought I should redo it now that I had an excuse to. I will be posting more story as the days go by, polishing bits and pieces here and there. Thanks for all the comments everyone!! More story, enjoy!!!

-RagHound :D
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The movers had already taken care of his bed by the time he had found the biggest room in the house, which he chose as his own. He threw his suitcase on the bed and unpacked some of his clothes and a few other things. He looked outside at his mom and dad. How could they be so happy about all this when Malcolm was so miserable? They kept looking up at the house and smiling, giving each other a kiss once in awhile. They spotted their son in the topmost window right before the attic and waved cheerfully to him. Malcolm shook his head and walked away from the window. He threw himself onto his bed and stared up at the ceiling.

On the ceiling, there was a door at the top of the room that led to the attic. He stood on his bed and pulled it down out of sheer curiosity – and a little bit of boredom – and climbed up the folding stairs to see what was up there.

It was REALLY old… and creaky… and dusty. It was a whole lot like the rest of the house in that respect. Malcolm did like one thing about the attic, however, it was BIG. He could probably have a second room in here if he swept it up a bit.

He felt a chill as the wind blew… But wait –

“How come the wind is blowing inside?” Malcolm said to himself.

He looked at the other end of the large attic and saw that the window had been wide open, and was banging against the house with the draft. On his way over to close the window, he tripped over something and fell on his face against the dirty wooden floor. He propped himself up on his elbows and groaned a little at his clumsiness. He looked over his shoulder and noticed it wasn’t a board like he thought, but a book.

“Huh?” Malcolm got up and picked up the book.

It was a brown little leatherback journal. He flipped open the front pages and it read in handwritten blue ink:

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK FOR:

THE MOONLIGHT CLUB

EVERYTHING THAT ONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT “BIENG A MEMBER”

Malcolm froze. The Moonlight Club? What was THAT? He let the thought roll around in his head. “Being a Member”? What was that supposed to mean? He let the name linger on his mind a little longer… It sounded like a little club that a five year old had in his tree house… but somehow the name made it sound like something much more important…

The Moonlight Club?

The attic was completely empty. He looked around again. What was this DOING here, and who LEFT it? This house had been empty for a few years… that’s what the realtor said. It was left to someone in their relative’s will and they sold it because they never bothered to move into it… Did THEY leave it here?

He felt the wind blow again and remembered the window was still open. He walked over the remaining five feet or so and saw there was a door to a closet sized room at the immediate right of the window, but that isn’t what caught his eye. A blue sleep comforter was on the floor inside of the room covered in… something.

It smelled weird in this room, like some animal had been living in here… what was that comforter covered in, and what was sleeping on it? Why hadn’t anyone moved this out of the house when it was sold a couple of years ago?

Malcolm bent over and picked some kind of soft black thread off of the comforter…

Wait… was that… FUR? WAS an animal living in here?

This is too weird… Malcolm thought to himself. He smelled it and –

Ugh, yeah, THAT’s where the smell is coming from… Malcolm thought as he drew back at the smell. He rubbed the fur off of his fingers and backed out of the room. There was something really odd going on in this house, and Malcolm didn’t like it already… it was all so weird.

The wind blew again and the window banged against the side of the house.

“Dumbass window…” Malcolm said to himself and turned out of the room. The window had a nice view of some dead rickety woods outside the back of the house. Malcolm noticed an elegant metal trellis attached to the side of the house covered in dying plant vines… It probably wouldn’t be that hard to climb if he was ever out late, and the door to the attic would be right in his room…

“Hehe, this might come in handy if I ever need to sneak out…” Malcolm said with a sneaky grin.

“Maaalcolm!!” His mom whined up to him in the way that mom’s usually do. “Where are you, sweetie?”

Malcolm threw the journal into the room with the comforter and slammed the door shut.

“Uhh, nothing… just checking out the attic! I’ll be right down! I already found where the movers put my bed, so I guess this will be my room!” Malcolm shut the window and ran over to the hole in the attic floor with the narrow rickety folding down stairs.

His parents were waiting for their son at the bottom in Malcolm’s new room.

“What were you doing up there son?” Walter Click said, ruffling his son’s brown hair.

“Uhh, nothing really… just seeing some of the rest of the house.” Malcolm said casually, still not fully comfortable with the move to Bristol.

Natalie Click chimed in ecstatically. “Oh, I know… did you two see the size of the kitchen? It’s HUUUGE!” Malcolm rolled his eyes and gave his dad a tired expression. Mr. Click gave his son a similar look. Neither of them was too fond of Mrs. Click’s cooking, though they lied as best they could… and her excitement about a new kitchen didn’t make either of them – or their stomachs – feel better. Mr. Click was much more of a chef than his wife was. Hell, even Malcolm could cook better than his mom in certain cases. At least HE knew how to use the microwave!

The rest of the unpacking took about an hour and a half. Malcolm was taking the last of his things out of the car that were in the back seat. He grabbed his Ipod and Nintendo DS, and on his way back… he noticed someone was walking up to his house.

He was a normal looking kid about Malcolm’s age and height. He had ragged black hair and was wearing a grey t – shirt and a pair of baggy khaki shorts.

“Sup, neighbor!” he said, smiling and extending his arms out on either side of him.

“Uhh… what?” Malcolm said, still being tired from the car trip and exhausted from packing, couldn’t put two and two together.

“Hehe… you look real tired…” the kid said smiling. “Long car trip here?”

“Yeah…” Malcolm said, fighting the sleep from his eyes. ”… unpacking was a real drag, and it doesn’t help that there’s nothing to do here…”

“Nothing to – what are you talking about? You gotta know where to go in Bristol! I know it looks like a boring old town… but seriously, it’s not as dumb as it looks! Oh, I’m Mike, by the way! I live next to you down the street!” The black haired kid said, offering his hand to Malcolm.

“Thanks, I’m Malcolm.”

“Micheal Randolph Stone!!!” A female voice exploded from down the street. “What are you doing bothering those people when you KNOW they are trying to move in?!”

“Mooooom!” Mike whined to a house a little bit further down the street from Malcolm’s new house at 713. Mike was blushing a little bit and balled his hands into fists at the mention of his embarrassing middle name. “I’m going downtown with the new guy… his name is Malcolm! That okay?” Mike called down the street. “Oh, I mean if you wanted to, that is…” Mike said back to Malcolm, remembering he forgot to mention these plans to him.

“Is that okay? Are you kidding me?” Malcolm said, suddenly wide awake.

“Well, yeah. I thought we could hit up Joe’s for a burger and a shake…” Mike said casually, but by the time he finished, Malcolm was already sprinting to his house to tell his parents he wouldn’t be home for dinner.

Maybe Bristol wouldn’t be as bad as he thought it would be…

[RagHound]

Chapter Two
"MOM, DAD!” Malcolm shouted, bursting happily through the front door, his voice echoing through all three stories of the house.

“Malcolm, what the hell??” His dad said, turning around from unpacking some dishes in the kitchen.

“I’m going out for dinner with the next door neighbor! His name is Mike… he’s my age don’t worry… we’re going downtown for some food!”

“Have fun Malcolm!” His dad said turning around and waving.

“Now wait just a minute, Malcolm!” His mom said, halting him, “I don’t know WHO this boy is and I don’t know if I feel comfortable with – “

“Aww, let him go, Natalie…” His dad interrupted “He’s had a rough day. I think it’s great that he met a friend already. Go on, Malcolm, have a good time!”

“Thanks, dad!!!” Malcolm said, grabbing his wallet and bolting out the door.

“If only we all could be so lucky to escape your mom’s cooking…” Malcolm’s dad joked underneath his breath.

“What was that, Walter?” Natalie said with a smile, catching her husbands comment.

“Nothing hon! Uh, what’s for dinner?”

Malcolm ran back out to Mike, who was laughing at him.

“You don’t waste any time at all, do you?” Mike said. “C’mon, let’s go out to my car… sorry about my mom making such a fuss earlier. She… does that sometimes…”

“Don’t worry about it Randolph…” Malcolm said, giving him a friendly shove.

“Hey, don’t push it… all my friends think my middle name is Russell, and that’s how it’s gonna stay.”

“Don’t sweat it… my middle name is Arthur, if it makes you feel any better.” Malcolm said as he and Mike came up to the car. It was a navy blue, nothing-special kind of car with chipped paint and a rather dirty finish too.

Mike looked sadly upon his car and sighed. “Yeah, it’s a real chick magnet huh?”

“Aw, come on. It’s not THAT bad… at least you have a car. My family had to sell mine right before we moved.” Malcolm said, getting in Mike’s car.

Mike drove about five minutes before he got to Main Street in Bristol… it was a small downtown area lined with various shops and places to go that Mike pointed out to Malcolm as he found a place to park. The spot he found was right next to Joe’s Burgers.

“Hmph, simple enough of a name, isn’t it?” Malcolm chuckled out as he got out of the car.

“Yeah… it is kinda cheap looking, but seriously, it’s got the best burgers in Bristol, I’ll promise you that… Main Street is the place to be if you’re looking for the closest thing to a mall here.” Mike said.

As soon as they got into the burger joint, someone shouted to Mike from across the room.

“Hey stranger, what the hell are you doing in here?” it was a kid wearing a white uniform for Joe’s Burgers, and a ridiculous looking matching hat atop a mop of dirty blonde hair. On the right side of his shirt, an old stitching said cheerfully “HELLO, MY NAME IS COLLIN”

“Collin?” Mike said, and gave him a high five. “What are you doing still working? Its 6:45, I thought you got off at 6:00! It’s too bad… you could’ve met the new kid on my block!”

“Oh, really?” Collin said, grinning widely at Malcolm now. “And who might this new face be?”

“I’m Malcolm Click” Malcolm said.

“Collin Torry, glad to meet you!” Collin said, shaking Malcolm’s hand. “So… what can I get you two tonight?”

Both Mike and Malcolm ordered their food and sat down, taking their milkshakes with them from the register and waited for Collin to bring them their burgers.

“Sooo…” Collin began eagerly when he finally brought them the rest of their food. “How do you like living in a creepy old house like 713 Wikker so far?”

Malcolm immediately stopped sipping his milkshake and remembered the strange things he found in the attic.

“Do you think something is weird about it too? I mean, the house is all old and everything for starters, but this really creepy attic I can get up to from my new room… and, well first of all, it’s HUGE… and second of all, there was this blue sleeping comforter in the corner of the attic, and it was covered in FUR or something. It smelled like a dog had been sleeping on it! I found this journal too… Do either of you know what The Moonlight Club is?”

Mike and Collin gave each other an anxious look. Collin’s was a bit more accusatory.

How the hell did he hear about THAT, Mike?! Don’t tell me that you left the book up there? Collin was saying in his head to him. How could he have been so stupid?

They looked back at him. “Where did you hear that, Malcolm?” Mike said, a much more serious tone in his voice.

Malcolm replied, feeling much more uncomfortable now. “I found a journal in the attic too. It said it was the official handbook to tell you everything you had to know ‘being a member’ of the Moonlight Club… Do you two know what it is…?”

“Oh, shit – uh, look at the time…” Collin began hurriedly. “Joe’s gonna kill me if I don’t get back to work in a few… I’ll see you around Mike, good to meet you Malcolm, we’ll all hang out sometime soon!!”

Mike grabbed his burger and took an angry bite out of it. Thanks, Col. You’re a REAL pal when it comes to being there for me in times like this, huh?

Malcolm took a bite of his burger too, and it was GOOD.

“Holy shi – this is really good!” Malcolm exclaimed.

“Hehe… I told you it had the best burgers in town” Mike said, taking another large bite from his own food.

Both the teens sat in silence for a bit, shoveling food into their stomachs. Malcolm eventually broke the silence, the conversation from before refusing to leave his mind.

“You know what it is, don’t you?” Malcolm asked.

“Know what?” Mike said, his mouth full of food.

“What is The Moonlight Club?”

Mike swallowed hard and sighed, obviously very distressed. “It’s nothing that you need to worry about… just forget that you know about it… The only way that you would know about the Moonlight Club is if you were a member already, which I KNOW you’re not…”

“So, I can be a member, can’t I?” Malcolm asked.

“It’s not that simple…” Mike said smiling a bit. It’s not like he could tell him what the club REALLY was for…

“So, why can’t you just tell me what it is?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you…” Mike said, finishing the last of his food and getting up from the table. “I’d have to show you what it is if you wanted to really know”

The car ride home was a little more awkward. Neither of them talked… they both knew what the other was thinking about.

When Mike got them back to Wikker Street, he turned to Malcolm.

“If you wanna know more about the Moonlight Club, you better keep reading my journal…”

Malcolm got out of his car. “Well, thanks for the burger, Mike.”

“Don’t worry about it, Malcolm. We’ll hang out tomorrow… I’ll answer any… questions you have about… you know. Promise.”

Malcolm got back to his house, and couldn’t think there was something weird about what Mike had said.

If you want to know more about the Moonlight Club, you better keep reading my journal…

Wait a second! HIS journal? The journal was HIS?!

[WareW-Believer]

Wait a second! HIS journal? The journal was HIS?!

Actually, it's mine. Looks like someone has put a crayon to it though.

This is my 4th time reading this section, and I still like it. Mehr!

[RagHound]

This is my 4th time reading this section, and I still like it. Mehr!

Awwww, thankies!!! :3 Here's more story!!!! :D

-RagHound :p
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Chapter Three:

Malcolm bolted up both flights of his stairs, without even letting his parents know he was home and pulled the door in his room down from his ceiling in his room and went up to the attic.

He ran over to the far corner where the small room was and found the journal.

On the inside cover, before any writing it said:

THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO:

MIKE RUSSELL STONE

Yep, the journal was his… But what was it?

Malcolm took the book and went back down into his room. His parents would get suspicious if he spent so much time in the attic all the time… they would come looking up here for him.

He lay down on his bed and opened the journal.

OFFICIAL HANDBOOK FOR:

THE MOONLIGHT CLUB

EVERYTHING THAT ONE NEEDS TO KNOW ABOUT “BIENG A MEMBER”

Yeah, yeah… already seen this part… Malcolm thought to himself. He flipped to the next page and began to read the blue handwriting:

“If you have been given this book, it means that you have been brought into The Moonlight Club. The ‘details’ of your membership should have already been explained to by one of the already existing members. If this has not happened, then it means that you already found out what being a member entails. If neither of these statements applies to you, STOP READING NOW.

“The Moonlight Club has been around for 4 years now, and is to help Bristol teens with lycanthropic tendencies to go on living the most normal lives that they can.

“Lycanthropic”? Malcolm thought… when he found his laptop, he would make a point to look that up on Wikipedia. He continued reading:

“This book is the official rules, regulations and guidebook to being a member. It will teach you everything you need to know about being one of us. Remember, you ARE one of us, now.

“Don’t be afraid of this… you’ll be in very good hands as long as you stay with us. We’ll make sure you will stay as normal as possible”

Malcolm began to feel a bit strange reading this… the words seemed oddly reassuring… like you should be scared about being a… what did it say? A teen with lycanthropic tendencies?

“CONTENTS:
RULES OF THE CLUB
NEW MEMBERS:
Bites/Turning
Dreams
Side Effects
Heightened Senses
Hunger
Other Members and Normals
Full Moon and Control
CLUB HISTORY AND PURPOSE

“The following are the club rules…
1. The first rule of the Moonlight Club, is you don’t talk about the Moonlight Club with non members unless they are Normals.
2. No one is to know about the club… period.
3. Everything that happens here stays here.
4. Meetings will be held once every week for all who wish to attend.
5. Meetings on Full Moons are MANDATORY for obvious reasons… If you don’t come on a full moon meeting, you risk exposing EVERYONE in the club… and we WILL find you.”

Malcolm stopped. What the hell was this? He thought of everything he could come to a logical conclusion for. What went on at these meetings? Did they worship the devil or something? What was a lycanthropic tendency, anyway?

Malcolm closed the book, mentally exhausted from the book and physically exhausted from a long day of moving. He lay down on his pillow and stuffed the book underneath it, trying to relax for a little while.

His mom wondered what Malcolm had been doing up in his room all this time. Her son’s door was cracked a tiny bit and the light was on.

“Malcolm…? Are you okay in here sweetie?” She stopped as soon as she saw him.

He was lying on his bed, sound asleep, snoring softly with his mouth wide open.

“Aww… look at you.” She whispered to the sleeping teen. She brushed a strand of his hair away from his forehead and gave her son a goodnight kiss. “You really did have a rough day didn’t you? ‘Night, Malcolm.”


Malcolm woke up to a pounding at his door. “Malcolm! Malcolm, wake up!!! Telephone!!!” his mom shouted through the door.

“Whaaaat??” Malcolm shouted, lifting himself up from his sweaty sheets, realizing now that he slept in his clothes the previous night in the middle of July. “Mom, what the –?”

“Malcolm, someone wants to speak to you on the telephone! Uhh… Michael! That was his name! He’s on the phone for you!!!”

Malcolm got out of bed and stumbled to his door. He opened it and snatched the phone from his mom’s hands, not saying a word to her.

“Well, good morning to you too!” his mom said, now annoyed at her son’s grumpy attitude.

“Mmm...Hello?” Malcolm muttered into the phone, barely awake.

“You figure it out yet?” Mike said, a little too happy so early in the morning for Malcolm’s taste.

“Figure what out?”

“Aw, come ON… like you don’t know what I’m talking about?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah I…” Malcolm paused.

“You… what?” Mike said on the other end of the phone.

“Ugh, dammit, Mike! I fell asleep last night as soon as I started!” Malcolm said, annoyed he couldn’t extract more from the book before his next conversation with Mike.

“Well, I’ll say!” Mike said. “It’s almost noon, Malcolm! Come over to my house, I’m already wide awake.”

Malcolm searched for some clothes and got changed. He went outside and took a good look around Wikker Street. It wasn’t SO bad… since Malcolm had already met someone his own age; it made the move a lot easier for him.

He knocked on the door of 711 Wikker Street, Mike’s house, and was greeted by his mom, who shared his dark black hair, but hers was not nearly as curly or shaggy as her son’s.

“Oh, hello! Are you Malcolm?”

“Yes ma’am…” Malcolm said rubbing his eyes, still a little sleepy.

“Oh well come on in! Mike is expecting you upstairs!!! Long day of packing huh, sweetie?”

“Um… yeah, it was.” Malcolm said smiling a little, being thrown off by Mike’s mom calling him ‘sweetie’.

“Is Malcolm here?” Mike called from upstairs.

“Yes, Mike, he just walked in!”

“Cool!! Where is he?” A different voice said, a younger voice. Did Mike have a little brother?

His question was soon answered as he saw a younger version of Mike with icy blue eyes instead of Mike’s brown eyes came bounding down the steps. “Hi! I’m Jake!!” He proclaimed triumphantly into Malcolm’s face. Jake tilted his head sideways and studied his brother’s new friend a little bit. “My brother told me you live in that haunted house down the street!”

“Jake!!” His older brother called from up the stairs. “Get away from him, okay? Give him some space!!! Malcolm, come on upstairs, I wanna show you my room!!!”

Malcolm ascended the steps and walked down a hallway. He saw Mike standing at the last door on the left side. Mike was smiling, and then his expression turned to extreme annoyance.

“No, you can’t come with us!!!” Mike yelled. Malcolm thought Mike was talking to him, and then he turned around and saw Jake hiding near the end of the hall by the steps.

“Awww… come on! Pleeeaaase??”

“NO, Jake! Where is Robbie today, anyway? Why don’t you go hang out with him?” Mike said, folding his arms.

“Fine!! I bet you guys aren’t having any fun, ANYWAY!” and with that, Jake marched angrily down the steps.

Mike rolled his eyes, “Sorry about him… He thinks I’m the coolest person in the entire WORLD…”

“Oh, you mean you’re NOT the coolest person in the entire world?” Malcolm joked. “Well, damn! I must be at the wrong house!”

Mike led Malcolm into his room. His walls were plastered with posters of movies or bands that he liked, and his large bed lay unmade in a tangled mess. The room was a little bit larger than Malcolm’s, with large window panes on the slanted ceiling, giving Mike plenty of a view of whatever happened to be outside.

“So…” Mike began. “The Club. You wanna know what it is?”

“Umm… yeah. I thought I did.”

[RagHound]

A little bit shorter, but oh well!!! Story is story!!! I'm about a few pages from finishing the first official 'Part' of this story (the part you're reading right now) The first part will be called, 'Initiation', and the second part (which I just started a few nights ago) will be called 'Bristol High'.

Comments are appreciated!! Here's some more story!!!!

-RagHound :p
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“Why? How much do you know?” Mike asked, grinning.

“Just the rules and I read the contents…” He said, taking a seat on Mike’s unmade bed. “It mentioned something about ‘bites’?”

Mike laughed. “Oh, yeah. That section was fun to write…”

“‘To write’? You wrote that rulebook? What does lycanthropic mean, Mike?”

Mike sighed hard, and gripped the bedpost, ready to finally tell him. Mike closed his eyes and paused for a while and then said, “Lycanthropic is a really long word that means werewolf…” He finally spat it out.

Malcolm’s head went reeling. Everything in the book…

Bites… Don’t be afraid of this… Meetings are held on full moons for obvious reasons…

…AND WE WILL FIND YOU…

Malcolm looked at Mike, and saw in his eyes that he wasn’t lying to him.


“You can’t be serious.”

“I AM serious, Malcolm. C’mere, I wanna show you something that will make you see… If you were around a few years ago you may think a little different…”

Mike slid open a drawer and took out an old looking newspaper.

“Read it… It’s why the club was formed. It was originally only a few members… but… well, just read it first and then I’ll explain some other things…”

Malcolm read aloud.

“BEASTS IN BRISTOL!

Animal attacks explored further! VERY FIRST PICTURES!

“The recent animal killings in Bristol have been shocking all of the town and the surrounding area. In the latest attack last night on Main Street, someone was able to capture a picture of the two beasts. Both of them had been described as ‘large dogs’ that walk mainly on all fours, despite having roughly humanoid bodies. The most common one described, one with black fur was spotted again last night. A dog-creature with lighter blondish fur was also spotted along with the black creature. However, others with different markings have been described, leading the public to believe there are more of these creatures prowling the streets after dark.

“The creatures mutilated two civilians and completely destroyed the Butcher’s Shop on Main Street. Frank Palco, the owner of the Butcher Shop took the photo on the following page said the two creatures crashed in through the window and ate out his entire freezer of meat, leaving not a scrap.”

Malcolm stopped. This was for real, wasn’t it?


“This is real? Who did this?”

“Collin and Me.” Mike said, his head hanging low towards the floor, ashamed of his own behavior. “We didn’t really know what we were doing back then, and that was the first night that we had remembered anything about being werewolves…”

“Collin is a werewolf too??” Malcolm asked. Mike nodded.

Mike’s cell phone then vibrated on his nightstand, still plugged in and charging. Malcolm looked at it, and it exclaimed “NEW TEXT MESSAGE” on the tiny little square screen on the front of the flip phone.

Mike grabbed the phone and chuckled a bit when he read the message. He showed it to Malcolm.

From: COLLIN!!!

Full moon 2night, biatch!!! Damn, I’ve been waiting all week for this!!!

Sent: Friday 7/13 12:04PM DST

Malcolm read the message, unable to believe what he was seeing. He looked at Mike, then down at the message again. He was one-hundred percent serious… this was actually happening. The picture of Collin and him looked really legit… It would be hard to fake THAT.

The picture was of two… werewolves, digging into the freezer of a butcher shop. The light furred wolf had a large raw steak in his drooling mouth, and the black wolf was running out of the freezer with the entire leg of a cow in his teeth.

Malcolm couldn’t believe this.

“There’s no way this can be happening… Werewolves don’t exist! How did this even happen?”

“Now THAT…” Mike began, “Is the greatest mystery of the Club. All of the very first original members have no idea how this happened. None of us were bitten.”

“Original members?? What does that mean, Mike?”

“I mean, that one day, I just woke up and this began happening, Malcolm. It is a complete mystery as to why. I’m not the only one, either. It’s Me, Collin, and Peter – some guy you haven’t met yet. All three of us weren’t bitten – or, if we were, we don’t remember it – but all three of us were born and raised here in Bristol. The only thing we can assume is that somehow it was some sort of dormant genetic trait that reappeared somewhere down our family lines. Some sort of trait or an actual curse…I mean, we won’t rule out the possibility that this actually is something that could be… well, magic. We don’t know exactly what this is… we try to stay as open minded as to why we exist, but we really have no idea as to why a bunch of normal kids born to human parents would be a bunch of werewolves…”

Malcolm stared out of Mike’s ceiling windows, hanging onto everything Mike said.

[RagHound]

Hey everyone!! Sorry for the wait. Work at the movie theater has been taking up some time and I gotsta have monies for stuff.

More story for you guys!! Please comment!!

-RagHound :p
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Chapter Four:

The two didn’t speak for a few minutes.

“You wanna see it??”

Malcolm hadn’t been paying attention. “Who? What??”

“Do you wanna see it happen?”

“You want me to do WHAT?!?!” Malcolm shouted.

Mike put a finger over his mouth “Shhh, Malcolm!!! Someone might hear!!”

“Are you actually asking me to do this, Mike?? How do I even know I’m safe with you?!?!”

“Don’t worry about that, Malcolm, Collin will be there too!!!”

“I barely even KNOW Collin!!! I met him for all of ten minutes at Joe’s yesterday!!!! You two might try and EAT me or something!!!”

This sent Mike into a burst of laughter. “Bhahaaahahahaha!!!! Oh, my god… NOW who’s talking crazy, Malcom?” I wouldn’t even know how to get away with it, even if I wanted to!!! Mike was secretly thinking.

“How can you try and ask me this? I’m not even sure I believe you, this is probably some dumb joke you’re trying to pull on me!!!”

“A joke?? Malcolm, come on! Why would I lie about this to someone I met yesterday?”

“I don’t know, maybe because that’s the kind of person you are!!!”

“No…” Mike began, grinning “…the kind of person I am would much rather go hunting in the woods every few nights with –”

“Will you STOP SAYING things like that??”

“Why?? Are you afraid you might believe me, Malcolm?”

“No, I don’t buy into your JOKE.”

“Well, then come out with Collin and me tonight. Prove me wrong. Try and tell me that I’m joking after tonight.” Mike challenged him.

Malcolm said nothing. The truth was, Mike was absolutely right, Malcolm was afraid that he believed Mike, and what it would mean if he was telling the truth.

Could werewolves really exist? In a nowhere town like Bristol?

“Look at that picture Malcolm.” Mike continued. “Tell me how I faked the entire newspaper issue just for a stupid joke on a stranger. There’s more than one article too, if you want me to pull it up on the internet.”

Malcolm looked at it again. Nope. No faking that.

Malcolm couldn’t delude himself any longer. As much as he wanted to tell himself that this was all a joke, that this wasn’t real, that he would wake up in his bed in Newport and he hadn’t even moved yet, he just couldn’t.

Malcolm had made friends with a werewolf on his very first day in Bristol. It made just as much sense as finding a weird journal in his attic, and a sleep comforter covered in dog hair.

Mike was right. If Malcolm had been here a few years ago when these attacks had happened, he would’ve been less reluctant to believe him.

“Why was the book in my house, Mike??”

“Uhh…” Mike said, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment. “When no one ever moved into your house, I kind of used it as a… personal hideout.”

“What, did you just sneak up into the attic and fall asleep there??”

“Hehe, yeah… That’s pretty much what happened” Mike said. “Your house was a good hideout spot, and it was real easy to climb that trellis that leads to your attic. Hiding there was easy. It meant I didn’t have to go home as a wolf around three in the morning – not that I need much sleep anymore.”

“How come you’re telling me this, Mike?? Shouldn’t you be in one of those ‘I can’t tell you or I’d have to kill you’, sort of mentalities?”

“Well,” Mike began. “You asked me and Collin about it, and I hadn’t even realized I forgot to move my stuff out of your attic. I didn’t know how much you had already read out of the book, so I just decided to tell you outright, and make you a Normal.”

“A… what?”

Mike chuckled “I see you haven’t read that part of the book… A Normal is a non-werewolf who knows about the club”

“Uhh… Oh. Are there a lot of those??”

“Not many, but a few”

“So… Let me get this straight.” Malcolm began. “You want me to go out with you and Collin, two WEREWOLVES, on a FULL MOON, and watch you two kill someone?”

“What? Oh no!! Hell, no!!! I wouldn’t ask you to do THAT!!! The reason The Moonlight Club was formed was so we wouldn’t kill anyone anymore!! We hunt things in the woods… I mean, you probably noticed Bristol is completely surrounded by them!! We only hunt for about an hour and a half! The rest of the night we just run around in the woods!! Have you ever spent the entire night just IN THE WOODS?”

Malcolm didn’t know what to say… should he go with them? What if this was a trap? Mike said they wouldn’t eat him – even laughed when he brought it up – but could he be lying? Maybe they wanted to turn him into a werewolf?

Malcolm looked at Mike again. He was smiling hopefully, like he wanted him to say yes... He seemed friendly enough… why would he want to lie to him? I mean, so what if he had a furry itch he had to scratch every month? Malcolm smiled at Mike and put a hand over his eyes.

Does he really just want me to hang out with Collin and him in the woods all night? Yeah… that’s the funniest part. That’s all he wants to do…

Something else entered Malcolm’s mind he hadn’t thought of before. “You don’t really… eat things you kill in the woods, do you?” Malcolm said, a little repulsed by the idea.

“We’ll sneak up to your attic around midnight. We’ll be, errr… done by then.”

Malcolm thought hard about it all. After much thought he finally said:

“Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Really?! You will?!” Mike said, with childlike excitement, his face lighting up like it was Christmas.

“Yeah...” Malcolm said, smiling, a little surprised himself by his answer as well.

“Awesome!” Mike said, hugging Malcolm so tightly that his back cracked. He had a real strong grip…

Well, Malcolm thought lightheartedly, he IS a werewolf…

[NightHowler]

Is this story going to continue?