It was late in the fall of the night that I heard someone knock on the window pane of my room.
When I turned on the lantern, I beheld Julius standing at my window, having my school bag handy as he promised
Quickly I unlocked the window and ushered him in.
There must be something mysterious about Julius that I had yet to understand. He revealed to me about things yet to happen and they were always true. Yes.
Ever since I came back, the bullies had been sending me threatening messages. One of such went thus"
We have been searching for your damn ass at school.
Tomorrow you won't escape our venom
Cheap werewolf artist.
Who the hell is this kid? Is there something he is not telling me?
"Thank you so much Julius for saving my ass from the death trap. Perhaps if not for your revelation my parents would have gotten wind of my death later today. I can't thank you enough, Julius," I appreciated and advanced to the shelf to fetch him some hot coffee.
When I turned around I saw him admiring the collections of scary colorful werewolves scattered all over the walls.
A particular werewolf caught his attention.
He was staring at it with his hands on his waist; as though he was making meaning out of it.
Suddenly he started stroking it.
It was my favorite werewolf. The all-brown fur wolf sketch the bullies brought to ruin the other day. I had taken ample time to
sketch another one and decided it would remain on my wall and never get to school.
"Congratulations, Darius," Julius said, leaving me a bit tizzy, "This is you. You will shape-shift into this werewolf someday..."
I interrupted him madly, "What the hell are you blabbing about again?" I squeezed a furrowed brow, "You never seem to amaze me. I am human and not a wolf. Drop it."
He was at his silence not yet satisfied with staring at the werewolf that yawned its chiseled dentition at him.
I let loose, "Earlier you revealed about some death toll declared upon me by those bullies and it was true, and now you are reminding me about shape-shifting into a werewolf I sketched. Who the hell are you, Julius? May I know your identity?"
He smiled uneasily, shut his blue eyes, and then shook his head abruptly.
The coffee I had made for him must have gotten warm by now yet I had lost interest in giving it to him.
Julius was getting me scared
He pointed to another werewolf, the all-green fur wolf and he mumbled,
"This is
seren, your mate,"
His voice was full of confidence and a chilling sensation swept across my skin.
Suddenly I became scared of all the sketches of werewolves that were immortalized across my walls, something that had never happened since I discovered my talent for sketching werewolves.
All of a sudden the coffee I had made for him spilled after the china was dashed on the floor, leaving the entire room echoing.
I flinched, "Holy cow!" I exclaimed. Still scared at the thought of what might have prompted the china to dash on the floor.
But Julius wasn't moved at all. His gaze shot into other werewolves, before he muttered,
"I've got to go, Darius. Take note of my revelation."
I was bored and tired of asking him his true identity. I stood, gaping at him with no enthusiasm to have a handshake with this mysterious boy.
He had infused fear in me, coupled with the china that had been dashed on the floor. Already I was beginning to imagine the sketches of werewolves that hung across my walls, pouncing on me any moment, perhaps, when I would be all alone in my room.
Certainly, I may not spend the freaking night in this room.
Julius was almost advancing to the window when he halted and turned around with his eyes shut and fingers pointing at me.
"Something tragic is about to happen tonight. But whatever happens, I want you to know you are fated to save
humanity. Be of good cheer and accept it in good fate. Don't be panicky. You've got to be strong, Darius," he intoned.
"Julius! Hold on Julius! What do you mean?
Julius" I called and ran after him.
But he was pacing away in the wind.
Frustrated, I paused and watched him walk away.
Just then the moon in the sky illuminated into a full moon and I stared at it with scary, burning eyes.
When I returned to my now daredevil room, stared at the werewolves, and was about to leave the room for another room, a shrieking yell came from my father's laboratory:
"You all are a bunch of fools. I am not going to release any strain of virus to you! I dare you to do your worst! I will be waiting!
Bring it on."
For four nights now Dad had been scolding at the tops of his voice and quarreling with someone over the phone, mostly about some strain of virus I couldn't understand
About stamping out of my scary room, I bumped into Dad. He was sweating profusely. His shirt was obviously soaked with sweat.
Soon Mom joined us. She was all tears.
"Can somebody explain to me what the hell is happening? Is Julius's revelation about to happen or what?"
Unhesitatingly, Dad squatted to me. His hands were trembling uncontrollably. It was then that I noticed the green liquid in a sizable glass.
He handed it over to me, "Take this, son.
This is the most formidable wolf strain ever discovered on earth. It can morph any human into an immortal wolf. Run away with your mom as far as you can. You must protect your mom. Never expose this
strain of virus to anyone. They are coming to kill us so they can take the virus. I want you to know I love you and Mom so much but I must protect humanity..." he said at a breath and shook me too.
His lips trembled greatly, interrupting his speech.
I was bemused. I was perplexed. I had never been confused in my entire life. What is happening?
He pushed me, "Go now, son. Be of good cheer. Run away as far as you can." He turned to Mom and gave her a farewell kiss,
"I love you sweetie but I have to protect humanity..."
"No you can come with us..." Mom suggested with a sob.
"I can't. I need to stay back while you and Darius run away so that I can hold them down while you two disappear. I don't mind sacrificing my life."
I was already at the door to my room. I wanted to exit through the rear window.
But mom couldn't let go. She hugged him for a time too long
Regrettably, it was too late.
"Ah!!!"
My parents screamed before I heard a shrieking howl which echoed into the atmosphere, before a deep-throated groaning and whimpering of innumerable wolves surged on. From my edge I could peep, with tears welling up in my eyes, as the ten all-black wolves dived swiftly at my parents, pounced them to the ground, tore their flesh and cracked their bones in a second, with rare hunger.
"Good job, wolves," a mysterious man, huge and heavily bearded said, while his men flanked around, behind him, with arms folded.
He was Lord Mayor, a radical underworld-bound shape-shifter I was yet to
understand.
The wolves were licking, and sloshing up the pool of blood from their prey now.
Once they were done feeding on the corpse of my parents, they morphed quickly into heavily tatted huge, brawny men.
"It is done, Lord Mayor," one of them declared at once, with their heads bowed to the heavily bearded man.
My entire body trembled in shock. I only discovered I was