Morgan's story began a few nights ago.
She and Roger Nettles, her incredible boyfriend and incredible star player in their school's basketball team, and more importantly, her INCREDIBLE boyfriend, had gone to see a movie about a band of pirates in conflict with an army of undead. It was late into the night when the movie ended, and snow began to drift down from the black sky as they left the theater. They lingered out on the sidewalk, made bright despite the late hour by the fluorescent lights of the theater's entryway, enjoying the sight of pretty, yet fragile snowflakes descending to the earth for a couple of minutes before a chilling wind signaled the time to retreat to the warmth of the car's interior.
"Oh! Did I ever mention that Roger has a car?" Morgan said to Circe, who took careful sips from her hot coffee. "Yes, he has one. A big, red sedan, last year's model with all the latest tech built in. And it's eco-friendly."
Circe was not impressed. And she didn't understand why Morgan was bragging about the car when it wasn't even hers.
Anyway, after getting into the car, the couple drove off to the outskirts of town, following a long, winding road that coiled up a tall, mountainous hill like a constricting snake. The car's interior was silent with its male driver diligently focused on what's ahead while its female rider savored the view of the serious face the driver made while concentrating.
They stopped at the hill's highest point, famous for having the most breathtaking view of the city at night. There, they sat to enjoy the sight of city lights shining from below like stars across a canvas of black parallel to the actual night sky and its actual scarce stars. There, they sat, also, to enjoy each other's company as any boyfriend-girlfriend pair would.
A good solid ten minutes later, Morgan decided that she had seen enough of the scenery and thought that it was high time to do some real boyfriend-girlfriend stuff. What kind of boyfriend-girlfriend stuff? Morgan would not say. She thought it would be too much for someone immature and oh-so childishly innocent like Circe.
As Morgan turned her gaze over to Roger, the clouds above slowly parted ways like the curtains of a stage for the main actor, a big full moon. While still partially shrouded, the moon's light beamed down onto the base of the hill and slowly traveled up to its peak. Morgan saw the light spill onto the hood of the car and spread over its surface.
This was perfect, she thought. Pretty soon, the entire car would be covered in a thin film of shining silver. It was as if the heavens granted Morgan and Roger their own personal spotlight. The hill's viewpoint was the stage, and the city lights below was the audience.
She waited for the veil of light to begin illuminating Roger before she started to lean closer to him. With the light halfway up Roger's torso, Morgan could see that he was tense. A smile played on her face, thinking how cute Roger was for being so nervous despite dating her for a length of two years already before she resumed to move closer to her boyfriend's face. But then she stopped and frowned when her ears picked up on some strange squeaking sounds coming from very close by. In fact, it sounded like those squeaks were coming straight from Roger's mouth.
Pretty soon, Morgan saw that it was indeed Roger making those squeaking noises. The pale light of the moon finally reached his face and revealed he was still staring ahead. But instead of serenely enjoying the scenery like Morgan thought, he was wide-eyed in agony while his mouth hung open in silent screaming, silent save for the bursts of faint squeaks that escaped his windpipe.
"Roger! What's wrong? What's happening? What do I do? What do I do? What to I do?" Morgan panicked, which was understandable. It looked to her like her boyfriend was having a bad health episode. But that was impossible. Roger was the healthiest boy in the entire planet. He's a basketball star, for heaven's sake!
And then an idea hit her. "Oh! I know! Call nine-one-one! That's what I gotta do!"
She frantically reached into her pocket, cursing the tightness of her jeans as she struggled to pull out her phone which kept slipping out of the grasp of her thumb and pointer finger, the only fingers that could fit inside. After a few frustrating tries, she managed to pull the device out. After punching in the six-digit PIN to unlock it, she hit the call app and began to dial the emergency number. But before she could hit on the green button to initiate the call, she was startled by a loud honk from the car's horn. Roger had slammed his hands on the center of the steering wheel.
The noise made her jump and drop her phone, which disappeared into the darkness below that also hid her feet.
Dismayed, Morgan cried out, "No!" And she reached down to retrieve her only means of getting help when a cry from Roger made her stop and turn to look.
He was gripping the sides of the steering wheel while burying his face in the center. His forehead pressed down just over the horn pad, so the car made no noise except for the wheel being strained beneath his weight. "Mmmmmh! MMMMMMMMMH!"
Roger was screaming while his lips were sealed shut and his teeth clenched. And then he threw himself back hard against his seat, causing the whole car to rock. What came out of his mouth next as he faced the ceiling could not be called a scream. Instead, what came out of his mouth was a bestial roar, deep and utterly terrifying.
In the blink of an eye, his nose and mouth stretched out. His teeth fell out and were replaced by pointed and curved fangs. His ears became pointed and every single bit of his skin was covered by a carpet of gray hair. No, not hair. FUR!
Morgan stared, watching the transformation in dumbfounded, jaw-dropped silence. There was heavy guttural breathing from Roger as he continued to look up. And then, when he turned and looked at her, Morgan did not see the face of her boyfriend. She saw the face of a wolf, bigger than any wolf she had seen before and wearing the clothes of her beloved Roger.
Terror rose up within Morgan and she screamed, shrinking away. She pressed her back against the passenger door, too scared to think straight and realize to open the door to escape. As she curled to a fetal position, she could she her cowering form reflected almost clearly on the wolf's back, watery eyes
The wolf's teeth were bared, but he was more puzzled than anything. He looked like he wondered what had the girl so scared and reached out his hand. But that just made her jolt and press further against the passenger door in fright. Seeing her more afraid, the wolf stopped. That was when his own hand, covered in fur with long, overgrown nails curved into a point like the claws of a beast.
The wolf stared in disbelief at his hand and then felt his face. He yelped in surprise upon feeling his snout and then whirled to take a look at his reflection on the rearview mirror. In a panic, he grabbed both sides of the mirror and snapped it off the stand that connected it to the ceiling. He didn't mean to, but also didn't care. Seeing his reflection left him frozen in disbelief.
Cries escaped his throat that sounded almost like words but resembled more the barking of a wild canine which startled Morgan to frightened cries of her own. Her cries brought the wolf's attention back on her.
Again, he watched Morgan cower from him. It didn't take long for the wolf to realize that he was what caused the girl to be afraid. As he watched Morgan's fearful shivering, he let out a pained moan. It was a heart wrenchingly sad one. One that resonated in Morgan's heart and got her to calm down.
Her heart still beat fast, but she eased tension slightly, eyes locked on the creature that was once her boyfriend. No, that still is her boyfriend, she realized. But it was a realization too late.
"Roger."
Just as Morgan uttered the wolf's name, the wolf kicked open the driver's seat door, sending it flying all the way across the viewpoint and against a tree, and tumbled out.
"Roger, wait!"
Morgan gave chase. But Roger, as he was now, was far too fast. By the time she climbed out of the car, Roger had disappeared into the nearby woods and never came back.
Alone, Morgan sank to the ground, on her knees. She stared, dumbfounded by the impossible, crazy event that just happened in front of her. How was she supposed to react to her boyfriend clearly transforming into a werewolf like in a CG-heavy horror movie? What was she supposed to do now? More importantly, where had Roger gone?
Sometime of sitting on the ground later, the night chill sank into her bones and made her sneeze. That cleared her head enough to take action. First, she dragged the dented door back over to the car. Next, she called the police.
She didn't give them a full account of what happened. Only that her boyfriend had gone into the woods for some unknown reason and never came back. And as far as the police were concerned, the car was already in bad condition which was why both the driver's seat door and the rearview mirror fell off.
Some officers were a bit skeptical about that last bit, but they could find no other possible explanation for the door falling off. It wasn't like either the missing guy or the girl before them had the superhuman strength to rip the door off its hinges. That'd be ridiculous.
Morgan was surprised at her own calmness while subjected to the police's questions. She had braced herself for a rather nervous interview but managed to smoothly answer all of the law man's inquiries with more half-truths than complete ones. That said, she was glad the questioning was brief and gratefully accepted the offer to be driven home. She called her parents ahead of time to let them know and prevent them from being startled by the sight of their daughter with a police escort. When they asked what happened, Morgan gave her mom and dad the same answers she gave the police.
After arriving home, she went to her room where she stayed alone. She laid in bed, but remained wide awake all night, unable to stop thinking about the events of the hill's viewpoint. The memory of the wolf's sorrowful moan and the pain in his eyes was especially vivid for Morgan. And it was this memory that made her decide she had to act.
But how? Morgan wondered as she sat up, cross-legged on the bedsheets. She bent down, elbow on her thigh, chin on the back of her hand. Well, first thing's first is to find Roger. That will be daunting enough but what comes next seemed almost impossible to deal with: finding and administering a cure for Roger and his "werewolf syndrome". Morgan doubted it'd be as easy as a quick online search. But just as she was about to try anyway, her phone chimed to let her know she had received a direct message from someone on her chat app.
"Hey, I know it's pretty late," said the message, "but I just found an interesting rumor online that I had to share right away. You know that girl? What's her name? Circe? She's Granny Tsing's grandkid or something. Anyway, I saw a rumor online that claims that she is actually a witch. I don't mean that like an insult. I mean, like, she's an actual, like, witch-witch. Like from Harry Potter with, like, magic powers and, like, everything. Like."
The use of the word "like" was more than a bit excessive for Morgan. It was as if the writer was someone out of touch with today's youth. But that timely message was exactly what Morgan needed. Now she knew whose fault it was. It could only be Circe, that girl said to be able to see invisible monsters. It would not be strange for someone like that to have magic powers too. And Circe had ample reason to do something like curse her boyfriend with a monster transformation (leaving aside the fact that Morgan had given Circe that ample reason in the first place).
So, with fiery resolve, Morgan got out of bed and set off for the kitchen to prepare for her confrontation with the heinous witch and save her boyfriend.
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