What Goes Bump In the Night. Chapter Six.
What goes Bump in the Night Chapter Six By Roofles
"What are you talking about?" Kenny laughed a bit looking at him. "It's me. Kenny."
Marco shook his head still looking at him. It had all felt off, more so than ever in the past. Something was just off about him. Wanting to go along with his dumb ass ideas, not the good little boy scout like during their childhood. It was like invasion of the pod people. But with werewolves.
"Come on. It's me." The wolf in front of him offered looking at him. His eyes alone were alien, feral and wild.
Marco just continued to look at him. "You aren't, are you?" He asked in a half dead voice.
When they were young Kenny used to be afraid of the water due to a movie he had seen. Something to do with sharks or maybe squids, Marco had forgotten. Only two weeks ago the two were at the lake skinny dipping due to the lack of swim wear and the fact it was over a hundred degrees out. Kenny was the first one in.
Kenny used to love chocolate. Ordering everything with extra chocolate from dipping his french fries into a chocolate milkshake to triple dipping an ice cream cone. They'd stop by a small sweet shop every day after school, Marco had been worried he'd become a fat ass. These days the man, the wolf... in front of him never touched the stuff. He was fit and trim even though only a couple months ago he was putting on the pounds. His muscular structure could be made out even through that deep obsidian fur.
Before Kenny would argue against it, fight him when he had wanted to do something "fun" and illegal. And now it was Kenny who was coming up with the ideas to do, things to steal or break or vandalize.
"Yes. Well... no." Kenny began standing up a bit before faltering as he looked down at the cement floor. He pressed his front paws together standing tall as if he were but a human. A nine foot wolf in front of him didn't ease Marco tension however. Kenny pressed his fingers together and pointing at him. "No." He said finally as if only coming to the conclusion himself. "I am...not Kenny."
"Dude..." Marco said looking from side to the other as if waiting to hear a laugh track and see an audience. "We've shared the same tooth brush. Y-you slept in the same bed as me. On top of me. Naked. Once." He stammered a bit, flushing as he recalled.
Kenny gave a toothy grin and chuckled a bit. "Yeah. That was awesome." He said stupidly as he recalled the moment. His tongue poked out between his front teeth as he remembered the moment.
"Or the time we shared the sleeping bag and I 'accidentally' spilled beer over your front so you were naked." Kenny chuckled dumbly ticking off the dumb, drunk moments they've had together.
"Then...who are you? What are you?" Marco stepped back but only ran into the dented lockers behind him. He was more embarrassed than he was scared. Or equally both.
"I'm. Kenny." The wolf spoke with a smile. A cruel, twisted one that curved the corner of his lips up like the Grinch. "WAS. Kenny." He corrected himself moving to the side a bit as he paced back and forth, walking on all fours, hunched over as he walked up and down the row of lockers. It looked like he was prowling more than anything else.
"It's not what you think." He went on shaking his massive black fur head his ears were up and he was huffing a bit as if getting annoyed by this, by himself. That he couldn't just come up with a good explanation. Or maybe he was enjoying this a little too much. "Well maybe," he offered shaking his head once more trying to collect his thoughts. His tongue slathered the side of his muzzle and drool splattered the floor. "I am and am not this boy you speak of."
"But we went for taco's. Like a month ago." Marco said trying to draw a time line in his head.
"Those ice cream taco thing?" The wolf sat down under the dim lights. His black fur was like obsidian both reflecting and devouring the light around him giving him a shadowy appearance and though Marco stared at his face he could only make out those glowing emerald eyes. "Those were delicious. You humans have the best kind of food. Oh! Oh! What about those Joe sloppies?" It's tail wagged eyes going wide. "I like this Joe fellow. He was delicious."
"Sloppy Joe's aren't." Marco laughed shaking his head before stopping. "That was... Then what about-," he was cut off though as the beast looked off to the side happily panting open maw.
"Or that time!" The wolf stood up a bit taking a step closer. "When we found that keg and it took us all night to find a tap for it?" Chuckling it shook its head, ears folding back a bit and standing up once more like a man. "You got so wasted."
"You drank more than I did." Marco countered pointing at him, his finger dropped though. "You were faking it? Being drunk." It took him a moment. "You faked it?" He said offended. "I thought..."
"Like the time your cousin forget his hooka at your place?" It rolled its eyes. "Took me forever to get the smell out of my fur. But..." It dropped its head a bit looking up at him with that curled smile on its face. "You were so happy then." It wagged it's tail back and forth slowly.
"Ok... But when then?" Marco asked looking at him now, almost pleadingly as if he just wanted this cruel game to be over. "When did you become...not Kenny?"
Marco voice was pleading and he stretched his hands out begging. His hands were soon filled with that thick, luxurious fur as the wolf walked by, stopped and sat down in front of him. He sat there staring forward like a guard dog. Not moving or saying anything at first.
"I..." His brow scrunched up. "Forget." He said truthfully sticking his tongue out afterwards and rocking its massive skull to the side. Marco was sure he was enjoying this.
"So everything we've...I've done...you've done." Marco was trying to put the pieces in the right place. "Was a lie?"
"A lie?" Kenny lifted his eyebrow and looked at him as if he had just said that chickens were about to fly out of the wolf's ass. "Why the fuck would it be that?" He stood up on all fours, realizing there was little to no room to move with the bench cutting the walk way in half, and just sat back down with a frown.
"Well all of this. I mean it's just-,"
"Just what?" The wolf frowned now growling at him. "Didn't we have fun when we busted into the principals car and buy you that pack of smokes you needed? Or how about when we skipped school and just headed to that old arcade and played games until the cops came to investigate? Who was it that got you out of the window? Or the time," it stood up now on it's hind legs crocuhed over jabbing a finger against his chest. "The time you got sick due to drinking too much cough syrup, trying to get high or whatever? Who was it that stayed up all night with you while you puked your guts out into the toilet?"
It turned and stomped away growling, clenching its fist before punching a locker. It huffed a bit, its large white fangs gleaming in the dim light above as it looked back at him. Snarling it punched the locker again. And again before growling, howling as it punch once more. "Did I do something?" It asked turning to him it's eyes wide with open arms. "Did I piss you off? Was the wolf thing too soon? Should I have waited?" It scratched its chest, biting it's lower lip.
Marco just watched as it tried to collect itself still biting it's lower lip mumbling about what it had done wrong. It's ears jumped up and it looked at him as if the light bulb flicked on over head.
"Who told you?" It asked glaring now at him. Taking a step forward it repeated "who the fuck told you?" The corner of its lip quivered and lifted and it took another step easily closing the distance.
"No one it was just-," Marco began before it took another step, wrapped an arm around him and hugged him tightly still snarling.
"Whoever that fucking bastard was is dead. Dead meat!" It's lips were lifted as it continued to growl trying to think of who it could've been. "Tear their throat out. Feel the blood gush from the neck. Watch as they writher on the floor like the slimy little-,"
"Kenny." Marco said loudly pushing him back. The wolf let go looking down at him. "It was no one. It's not that hard to figure out...once you kind of fur up." Marco said pointing at his bare chest and open, ripped pants. Marco wasn't sure when it was he had removed his shirt and opened his front. "I mean it's not like you just physically changed." Marco said taking a step back. He was a little too aware that when he moved back the paw on his shoulder tightened slightly. "You mentally...matured?" He said the word coming up with nothing else.
"You just did like a one eighty!" He continued turning to his side and trying to lay things out. Kenny's paw slipped from his shoulder but he moved a bit closer afterwards. "I mean fuck. You were up for everything I was. You were into the same shit. I mean you just..."
"So what's wrong?" Kenny jumped onto to that spinning him around, wagging his tail and crouching down so they met eye to eye. "You loved it. I loved it. It was fun! Exciting. Wild. It was awesome! So what's wrong? What's changed?" Before Marco could say anything once more the wolf named Kenny cut him off. "Nothing! Exactly. We can just... keep going on like this. I'll turn back and then we'll never have to worry about this again."
"Kenny." Marco said the name unsure of anything else to say. He rolled his eyes, closing them and shaking his head a bit with a groan. He reached out and grabbed the wolf's arm making it's ears perk up. "Please. Let's just sit down. And explain this to me. How are you not Kenny?"
"Well he's dead for one thing." The wolf said bluntly.
There was an awkward silence and the wolf took a seat. "Ok. From the start then." He offered trying to calm things down, once more, before they escalated into disaster. Marco, seeming to have learned his lesson from last time he ran away, just sat down. "He isn't dead. I am him. Kind of." He laid that out, let it soak in before continueing. "The reason why I didn't turn you, though I so desperately wanted to sink my fangs into that supple skin of yours..." Kenny drooled looking at him before swallowing, wiping his mouth and looking away. "Once you change." He went on. "After the first turn. Once bitten and then you get all fuzzy." He said slower each time as if talking to a child.
"I got it." Marco said flatly.
"Ok. You sure now." He asked nudging his side. Marco pushing him back making the wolf fold his ears back and look at him a little too long. A paw came up and touched the side of his face. "If you were to change." He said the words softly looking down at him and making the other man feel extremely uncomfortable. "I would lose you."
"What does that mean?" Marco asked reaching up to pull the paw away from his face seeing as how it could pop his head like a grape between its fingers but found himself just holding it. "Kenny." He said pulling on the paw a bit but found that it wouldn't budge.
The paw pads were large, soft and warm cradling his head in a powerful yet gentle grip as it just held him. Kenny looked at him as his thumb rubbed the side of his face. Just taking a moment as if to make sure that he would forever remember it or him, like this.
"When you turn." Kenny let go looking down his voice was a bit empty, dark. "Whoever you were before. Dies. Is devoured by the beast inside." He touched his own chest, gripping at the fur. "And who you become is built on the remains," Marco shivered a bit at the word and the way he said it. "Memories linger. I feel...it at times. As if I was someone else. But it's never fully there. It takes everything I have most days just to stay in control. To stay...me." He looked at the man at his side and his whiskers seemed to perk up. "When I'm with you it's so much easier. It's like the old memories of being with you holds me together so that I don't just..." He clenched his fist before releasing it.
Marco timidly placed his hand in the massive paw. A paw that had cradled his face seconds ago. He placed his smaller hand on the central paw pad and stared down at it. How easy these paws could tear flesh, break bone, rip tendons apart like a loaf of bread. The massive strength the held, the claws alone could turn concrete into sand. He had seen it with his own eyes. And still he sat on the bench next to the massive creature keeping his fragile hand in his.
"So... You're not Kenny?" Marco asked making the large canine roll his whole head with his eyes. "I suppose. That's ok." He tried to be light, friendly about it. As if his old child hood friend hadn't died. "I mean we've done a lot of fun stuff. And it's just like you're a different bud is all."
Kenny looked at him, his tail wagging for a second waiting for him to go on.
"I mean sure this is... very odd. Strange. But it's not bad!" He added at the fall of the great wolf's ears. "I mean hey! Now I got two friends...in one." He smiled trying to keep his cool still as those strong fingers curled around his whole hand holding it securely. "Sort of." Still trying to wrap his mind around it. "So you kind of sort of ate...Kenny then?" He asked trying to dumb things down not wanting to get technical about it.
"Yes. No. Kind of." It shrugged not even really sure itself. "My dad...his dad...our dad..." He frowned a bit annoyed by that. "Well he kind of sort of abandoned...us?" He scratched the side of his face with his other paw just holding onto Marco's arm. "When we were young. I think it was 'cause he knew that whoever we were wouldn't be who we would...become?" He looked down at the floor, at his massive paws pressed up against the bottom of the lockers and rocked back still holding Marco. "I don't recall much, if anything before. All I remember is when it was over with and I awoke."
Silence fell between the two and Marco just stared down at his large paws. Kenny wiggled his toes as he followed Marco's gaze. "I ate my first pair of shoes." He said after a bit making the man at his side laugh loudly. The wolf folded his ears back though he was grinning. "I didn't mean to at first. They were made of this real leather and had a funny taste. Like you know when you just chew on something because...you do? It was like that and before I knew it my shoe was gone and I was gnawing on the other one."
Kenny laughed a bit.
Marco laughed a bit.
"I'm sorry. Ya' know." Kenny grumbled a bit bowing his head down. "All I've ever done is lie to you." He grumbled a bit more looking away, the flush hidden under his fur but the inside of his ears turned a hot pink. "I didn't...mean too. To do that. Like that."
Marco slapped his thigh with his other hand. "Nah man, it's cool. I would've done the same. Hid it better too." He teased pushing his side.
As he did the arm holding his hand lifted up and wrapped around him giving him a strong hug. Marco was just pressed against his chest and the crook of his arm as the wolf nosed down at him. A tongue licked out slathering the side of his face and he growled some more. "Sure you would have." He teased back pushing him with the top of his muzzle.
"Kenny." Marco said pushing back as he soon found himself laying down on the bench with the large canine on top still growling a bit.
"What?" He replied nosing at his face a bit and letting a hot, humid breath out over it. "No one here. Just the two of us. How about we reenact Romeo and Juliet?"
"Don't they both die in the end." Marco pointed out as the bump, wet black nose pushed against his.
The wolf's ears folded back and he sat up a bit looking down at him with a frown. "Look. I failed English and Literature. It's the only damn fuckin play I know. At least they had sex before they died."
"Wasn't she like Thirteen though?" Marco continued trying to think it over. He only remembered the death scene however.
"That's a bit fucked up." He kept looking down at him. Marco looked up at him and then up above his head at where his arms had ended up, pinned down against the wooden bench.
"Yup." Marco agreed a bit flatly before looking at him once more. "Kenny. What are you doing?"
The wolf opened his mouth before shutting it, frowning a bit and opening it again. Nothing came to mind as he looked up at his large paw holding his hands, or how he was sitting slightly on the man's legs. He got up a bit and off. "Do you want to be on top?" He asked confused as he moved aside for him to sit and stand up.
"No. Thanks." Marco chuckled a bit fixing his scrunched up sweater. "You have to buy me dinner first." He joked pushing the wolf a bit with a hand before heading out.
Kenny watched him go with keen sharp eyes. "Where?" He asked making the other man look back.
"Where what?"
"Where do you want to go." He stepped forward and stared at him before soften his expression. "I don't got much. But I can offer it to you." He smiled.
Marco chuckled a bit before looking away. He wasn't sure why he was feel hot, uncomfortable. It was cool day out for once. Yet here he was nearly sweating under that emerald gaze and though he had so many witty retorts, come back and remarks to make. And he couldn't say any of It as those earnest, honest eyes just looked at him. He was sure Kenny was holding his breath at this point.
"I...guess...a burger joint sounds good." Marco shrugged not sure what else to say.
"Great." Kenny clapped his paws together tail wagging. He was huffing through his nose, panting out his open muzzle and his ears were up, erect and Marco wasn't exactly sure if this was a good or bad idea.
The two headed out through the back door planning to cross the foot ball field and towards the track where they could slip through the fence and in turn to freedom. Marco jogged back in to grab the almost forgotten brown folder before turning around to catch up with his friend. Kenny waited in the doorway keeping it open before following him out never taking his eyes off him for a second.