Cathleen

15

The sun rose and everything fell-There went a perfect date for Alex the werewolf. She had spent the entire evening chatting up this wolf who vaguely reminded her of Nicholas Cage. (But in a good way, like a refined Nicholas Cage-esque wolf. You know, kind grungy-looking, but with an unnamed redeeming quality that you can’t seem to figure out, but know is there.) They went to this spot in the woods where the trees and stars touched and the moon could be admired in full. For dinner, they both hunted down some lightly marinated rodent and bird a la carte. Her date even had a great sense of humor: ’’Waiter, there’s a hare in my moose’s digestive tract!” She was really enjoying herself. But then, the sun rose and everything fell. She had no other choice but to excrete her fur and fangs upon the sun’s rays and walk the wretched ‘walk of shame’ back to the city. There was no time to tell her Nicholas-Cage-wolf date goodbye. Whenever Alex had been in the same position like this in front of other wolves, they were always repulsed by her humanness. Alex didn’t blame them. Humans kind of grossed her out too.
Alex always knew she would never be perfectly content being even a little human in a post-Twilight existence, stuck with human men who partake in man buns and feelings and low crotch pants. How could she ever find that attractive over a wolf who possessed the musky forest smell of bloody animals, urine, and dead bodies?
But Alex had to fight this inner battle just like her ancestors before had. Being a werewolf wasn’t a choice, neigh, it was her life. She would just have to put up with being human for half the day if it meant she got to be wolf the other.
At the entrance of her human apartment building, Alex stood, staring at the window’s reflection of the other humans walking by.
Alex glowered and thought, "They think they’re so great with five fingers. I bet all they do with them is write with pencils. That and text on the toilet. What a waste."
In Alex’s mind, wolves were the better species. She was even in a club founded by this guy she found online called the K9. They believed in the day of lupus where wolves would dominate the human race. Sure the guy had a criminal record, but Alex respected his ideas. There were few humans who she found worthy of her respect and he and David Letterman were some of them.
On the sidewalk where she stood, a Pomeranian on a pink leash barked at her.
Alex watched the artificially bred pom-pom and thought, "Pathetic excuse for a member of Canis lupus."
In Alex’s mind, dogs were subordinate to wolves. To her, they ‘sold out’ to humans.
“Yo, yo. Alex!” The door-opener of Alex’s apartment complex hollered. With his overweight gut and almost obsessive need to know every tenant’s name, he symbolized the quintessential emotional human. He heaved over to Alex and opened the door, his one job. “Hey, what sup, dawg?”
"I’M NOT A ‘DAWG’, YOU SLIME BALL OF HOMO SAPIEN-NESS. I AM A WERE- WOLF. I DON’ T GO BARKING UP FIRE HYDRANTS; I BARK UP TREES IN THE FREAKING FOREST. " Alex screamed in her mind.
But in response, all Alex did was snarl with her teeth.
“Are you going inside or are you headed to work? Because this door is kind of getting heavy…” The door-opener asked.
Alex was going to go in and change for work, but decided against it. Besides, she liked the smell of the forest that lingered in her clothes. It would remind her of that wonderful, short-lived date she had with the dreamboat wolf. So without saying anything to the door-opener, Alex turned around and walked to work. She wished she could use her arms like front legs and run to work like her wolf-self, but part of being a werewolf was keeping your inner wolf secret. If a human found out you were a werewolf, they might combust from your awesomeness…at least that’s what Alex thought. None of her ancestors ever got around to telling her why. They all had a history of strokes and short life spans. Maybe Alex should look into that sometime.
Alex worked on Wall Street as a secretary. This was the closest she could get to being a wolf on Wall Street. But other than that, there’s not much else to the job she enjoys. Above all, she hated lunch break.
“Where’s the meat?!” Alex growled while clawing at the vending machine.
Brenda took this as an invitation to talk. “We’re trying a more vegan-friendly approach to improve the atmosphere of the work space.”
Alex made a mental note: "Reason why I hate humans number 322: Vegetarians."
Jason giggled. “Like who would even eat meat out of a vending machine, though. That’s gross.”
Alex hunched over to an empty table and watched Brenda and Jason eat.
Alex's inner voice spoke to her. "It’s you versus the humans, remember. That’s the way it’s always been. You’re so much better than them. You’re part wolf, remember? You’re like, awesome. They’re like, not awesome."
She had always been a lone wolf; she just had to remember that.
“Alex, are you sure you don’t want some of my homemade gluten-free humus?” Brenda called over.
Alex growled. “I want protein.” She suddenly felt sick. She couldn’t be around these humans anymore. Any of them.
She got of her seat and began running out of the building, but even she couldn’t stop her super wolf hearing. From off inside the breakroom, now far behind Alex, Jason clucked his tongue. “Looks like someone’s going to be Hungry Like the Wolf, then.”
Brenda squealed. “I love Duran Duran!”
And Alex, already half a mile away, thought to herself: Me too…Me too…

Alex was running on her arms and legs. She didn’t care that anyone would see her like a wolf. In fact, those measly humans and their humus should be honored- they get to see what a real wolf is like. When she arrived at her apartment building, the door-opener started laughing.
“Yo, dawg, just cuz I call you ‘dawg’ don’t mean you need to run like one!”
Alex didn’t bother being nice. “GET OUT OF MY WAY, HUMAN.”
Alex didn’t stop running until she reached her apartment door. She was heaving and wiped her face with the back of her hand to discover it was drenched in a substance lighter than sweat.
For the first time in her life, Alex was crying.
It must have been from the loneliness of being a lone wolf kind of human, from pushing away the humans that interact with her. It must have all added up inside and made her cry. But that was no excuse. When a werewolf cries, they relinquish their wolf-hood. When a werewolf cries, they are subjecting their hardcore wolf-ness to the emotional human state of feelings.
Alex would no longer be part wolf.
Alex spent her first evening as a human in bed, watching Teen Wolf, and eating dog biscuits. To think, less than twenty-four hours ago, she had been on her wolf date, doing wolf things, making fun of sensitive humans.
The next morning the sun rose and Alex got out of bed to examine her human features. There were no visible signs that she had once been a werewolf. After getting ready for work, Alex glanced out the window to see if maybe she had missed the moon.
Nope, just the risen sun.
Alex stared at the door handle and slowly turned the knob.