Half-Moon
It's that time of year again. The dark street corners of the night are prowling with costumed kids, grabbing the candies as much as they can. Their parents had to go with them, just to make sure they were safe. Most of the time, some kids wanted to go on their own, and any parent in the neighborhood wouldn't blame them. But there was one thing that they should be worrying about, and that is the man named Jake Winston. Jake was a pedophile, who just got released from prison a couple of weeks ago. The parents weren't too happy about that.
Sure, no one was happy about it. Not to mention, the cops sitting in their patrol car, watching, and listening, and eating hot burgers that they just got from the newly-opened restaurant, “The Hot Burgers.” Some people were talking about Jake all the time. There used to be protests outside Jake’s home. But those protests ended a long time ago, because the judge had decided that these protests could lead to violence and mayhem, and those worried parents might hurt Jake very badly.
One rookie cop named Dennis Holton never liked Jake too. Even his partner, Wally Henrickson, who worked on the police force for five years. Was it five years? He couldn't remember. He felt like he was getting too old for this job. His wife and kids were probably out this time around. As long they stayed away from Jake's house, it wouldn't be a problem. Well, it wasn't Jake's house of course. It was a home that he was given to, and he was being monitored at all times. He had restrictions not to go out, especially in a time like this. But who knows? Jake may find ways to break the curfew, because he couldn't stand the isolation any longer. That's what it does to a person's mind, after all. For a man like Jake Winston, he was sure tired of it.
Wally looked at his burger, and decided not to eat it. He wasn't that hungry. He just wanted to eat it to pass the time. That is all. He had to wait and see, if Jake was pulling any strings recently. On the other hand, Dennis kept eating the burger. When he finished it, he looked at Wally's half-eaten burger.
"Are you going to eat that?" Dennis asked. Wally looked at his burger again. "No, you go ahead." Dennis took the burger, and ate the rest of it. Then, he sipped the cola.
"Man, the judge should have executed this guy a long time ago," Dennis said. He burped. "It would have been better for the parents. Don't you think?"
Wally had to agree with him, but the justice system doesn't play out that way. Nowadays, it's the judges who make the calls, and if anyone doesn't listen to them, well... they don't want to know what's going to happen next.
For Wally, he needed to keep the job, so he can support his family. More importantly, he worked on the police force for five years? That's a lot to cover the groundwork, he had been doing all this time. Hard work. If he had to kill the son of a gun right now, he would risk his life, and the job. He looked at his young partner, sipping his cola, and burping. Dennis looked at him, and said, "Sorry, I couldn't help it." He looked at the house. "Anyways, the guy needs to be executed. He committed a serious crime, Wally. That's not fair."
"You're right," Wally said. "You're absolutely right." He chucked the half-drinking cola on the trash bin. Then he stepped out.
"Umm..." Dennis was stunned to see his partner getting out of the car. "What are you doing?"
Wally was staring at the house. "We're going to check how our homeboy is doing." He looked at his partner. "You're coming?"
Dennis finished the rest of the cola, and chucked it in the trash bin. He got out of the car. Doors closed, and they walked out through the driveway.
The kids and their parents were passing the house. Some of the parents looked at it, and knew that Jake was still living there. What they didn't know was that the cops were approaching in their direction. They turned and saw them.
"Hello officers," one of the parents said.
"Hello," Dennis said. Wally didn't say anything or didn't even notice the parents, and their kids were there. He just looked at the house. Dennis said, "We're just here to check on Jake. That's all."
The parents were silent, and then they left the cops, murmuring their voices about Jake. The kids probably didn't know what they were talking about. But it's safe not to know than to know.
The cops reached the house. It was too quiet, except for the fact that the parents and the kids were enjoying their Halloween Night. Wally rang the doorbell once, waiting, and looking around the front yard. He also noticed the half-moon in the sky. He looked at the house again. Nobody came. He rang the doorbell again. Nothing.
Dennis shook his head. He knew this thing would happen. Jake might have escaped this time. But Wally had the notion that Jake wouldn't get out of the house. Not yet, anyways. Because if he did escape, someone can notify the police. They can also track him down with the monitor, strapped to his leg.
"It looks like he's not here," Dennis said. "Or he could be showering himself." He laughed.
Wally looked at his partner. He didn't laugh. Again, Dennis felt embarrassed and said, "Sorry." Wally sighed. He expected the door to be locked. He grabbed the doorknob, twisting it. It wasn't locked.
"What the hell?" Dennis looked at the door. "He forgot to lock it? It doesn't make sense. I thought he always locked it." He knew that Jake always locked the door because one of the angry parents might barge into the house, and hit him hard.
They went inside the house, and looked around. The place seemed to be in shambles. There were so many beer cans lying on the floor, not to mention the leftover food. Even, the chairs, and tables were toppled over each other. They called out his name several times. Jake didn't answer them.
"What the hell's going on?" Dennis said. He took out his gun. Wally did the same. He couldn't explain it either. There was no sign of Jake yet. But they heard a rustling sound. It sounded like someone was trying to scrape the floor.
The cops looked all over the living room. They also checked the bathroom. They saw blood, dripping from the wall. On the tile floor, the blood splattered everywhere. Even the bedroom was splattered with blood.
Dennis was breathing heavily. He wasn't sure what to make of it. He thought Jake must be... must be doing something like he always did before. But he still wasn't sure. He was sure that he and Wally had noticed, Jake didn't come out of the house. If he didn't come out of the house, what happened here?
There was a howling sound coming from the kitchen. Both the cops froze, and looked at each other. They came out of the bathroom. They stopped. Something was moving... Like some animal dragging a corpse across the floor.
Jesus Christ, Dennis thought. He wanted to scream. But he couldn't. Wally stared at him, and said, "We better go and check." Dennis nodded, and gulped. He wasn't prepared for this.
The cops moved slowly, still raising their guns. They stopped, then looked around the kitchen. They did see something, but they couldn't make of it, because the kitchen was too dark. Wally tried the switch. When the lights turned on, they gasped.
"Jesus Christ!" Dennis finally shouted throughout the kitchen. The creature looked up after eating half of Jake's face.
Dennis felt like he was going through a hailstorm. He threw up on the floor. Wally stepped back, shivering, and wondering what the creature was doing here. But the creature... It has half of the human features, something like he had never seen before. And rest of the features were wolf-like.
"Oh, Dear God!" Wally said. He wanted to throw up like Dennis. But he couldn't. He had to control himself. He had dealt with sick-minded people like Jake. But this... this was worse.
"Hello officers," the creature said. It spoke! It actually spoke, and it never came to these cops' minds that this thing could happen. The creature's tone of voice sends shivers down their spine.
The creature moved around Jake's body. knowing that the cops were going to shoot. Most likely, these cops didn't expect this situation.
As if that answer came to fruition, Dennis shouted, "Shoot it, Wally! We'll have to shoot it!" But Wally didn't listen to him. He still froze, shaking all over. He couldn't control his own fears. The thing that he was seeing right now, it... it was terrifying.
Dennis fired. The creature leapt on the kitchen countertop. It was quite fast. The creature said, "I did you a favor, officers." Dennis didn't know what it was talking about. Then he realized something. He looked at the body of Jake Winston. He tried not to puke, but he did it anyways.
Wally finally came to his senses, and fired. He didn't know what he was thinking at the time. He was out of place as if he didn't really exist. He fired, and fired. Even his young partner did the same. They fired all over the kitchen. But the creature was too fast for them. However, one bullet scraped the creature's leg. It howled painfully.
"You leave me no choice," the creature said. It leapt upon Dennis, and while Wally was firing, he fell back on the floor. Dennis fell too, and was struggling to get up. The creature bit Dennis' hand, and with full force, tore it off.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Dennis saw his missing hand, blood spurting like a fountain. Wally couldn't help himself. He finally puked, even though he ate half of the burger earlier. He managed to grab the gun, and fired once again, hoping to get the creature this time. But he missed it.
The creature looked at Wally. It pounced on the cop like a normal dog would have done. But this time, the half-man, half-wolf creature bit his right arm. Wally screamed.
Wally tried to keep his fears in check. He was breathing so heavy that he could die at any moment. He saw Dennis shaking rapidly, and then he stopped.
Oh Lord, Wally thought. Oh Jesus Christ. He couldn't get the gun because the creature was still gnawing on his arm. But the cop noticed something else. There was a butcher knife lying on the floor. He tried to grabbed it. But the pain was still there.
After it seemed like an hour or so, he finally grabbed the knife and stabbed through the creature's heart. It howled.
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It's been two years now, that the former cop, Wally Henrickson had managed to live alone in his dreadful apartment. Sure, he had lost everything, his job, and his life. Not to mention, his wife and kids left him. The psychologists deemed him a sane man, since he claimed that a wolf-like creature killed the infamous pedophile, and Dennis Holton, the rookie cop. It was Halloween Night, after all. But there was no creature. Of course, the creature would turn itself back to human form, even though the full transformation wasn’t complete. The police would then realize, it's one of those angry parents, who finally managed to kill Jake Winston. Good riddance.
However, life didn't stop there for the former cop. Oh no. Wally had been too busy nowadays. Nobody knows what the ex-cop is doing right now, since he got divorced. Not even the police department knows about anything.
Wally was looking at the big poster on the wall, which had pictures of released criminals. Each of these pictures were crossed with a red mark.
Next story- Break and Enter
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