Erick sat in a state of shock. The old man's words were just a story there is no way it could be true. His parents couldn't have been murdered. He searched his memories attempting to remember anything from that fateful night. He was just a young child though. Besides the wreck, nothing came to him. At this point, he barely recalled the faces of his parents he was just so young back then.
The shock churning through him mixed with the disbelief of the story turned into anger. Snapping at Doc his words spitting with fury, "I don't believe you! You are spewing nonsense I refuse to accept that my parents were murdered. And that idea that you want me to entertain the notion of mythical creatures blending in with society is preposterous. Thank you for helping me out of this situation but I want to leave, now!"
"Young man I cannot force you to stay and I certainly can't force you to believe me but your skepticism does not change the facts. You blacking out and waking up in the woods leads me to believe your inner wolf is trying to emerge from the depths of your mind. Ignoring the changes taking place will not stop them from happening. I advise you not to turn your back on the only community that could help you navigate this unknown world."
"I am not a damned werewolf! I would like to be taken home now!"
"As you wish, but here take this." Doc pulled out a business card and handed it to Erick. "When you face the inevitable and decide to accept your destiny call me. Your assistant has just arrived you may leave with him." Doc turned to walk out of the room the disappointment read like a book across his face. "He is unaware of our world so you may want to be careful of what information you tell him."
His assistant Samuel could be heard in the hallway thanking the nurse as he entered the room. He brought him a pair of pants and a t-shirt. He changed quickly and rushed out of the room leaving him to chase behind quickly as Erick made his way out of the hospital. "Hurry up," he called out behind him.
Samuel drove him back to his apartment in silence and let him inside before he was dismissed. He thought it was Saturday afternoon but he couldn't be sure of the time with all the blacking out he had done.
Ericks POV:
I couldn't believe what was happening to me. I must have hit my head extremely hard because I couldn't even make up a better story. All I wanted to do was have a strong drink and wash the past day away. I glanced at my phone that was still charging on my bedside table where I had left it the night before. It hadn't even been 24 hours since I had gone missing but my body felt like it had run a marathon.
I took a hard look into the bathroom mirror. With my hand dragging across my face, I notice the dark heavy bags under my eyes. My hair looked as if someone had messed it up on purpose. The stubble on my face made me look like I was coming off a three-day bender. I just wanted to shower and erase the whole incident away.
"You are who they say you are."
I whipped my head around to see where the voice had come from but I was alone. I peeked around into the bedroom and found no one. Great, just great, I was losing my mind and now I am hearing things. I poured another double and as the first swallowed it down I let out a sigh as I slammed the glass on the counter. I stripped off my clothes and crumpled them in the corner stepping into the oversized shower. As the water warmed, I could see the steam rising from the rushing water. It was scalding and that was perfect for me, I hoped it would ease my achy muscles. Looking up at the ceiling inhaling deeply and allowing the water to run over my head.
"You can't deny what is happening"
I nearly fell as I heard the voice again. I searched again but I was still alone. The voice almost sounded as if it was coming from inside my own head. I grabbed my head letting out an exacerbated yell. At this point, I was just pissed off and angry someone had to be deliberately messing with me. I felt a pain on my scalp and the water pooling around my feet was tinged pink. Was I bleeding? I felt around on my scalp to see where the wound was but when I brought my hand down to search for evidence the only thing, I could focus on was the claws that were where my fingernails should have been.
Slamming off the water I didn't even bother reaching for a towel rushing to examine myself. The steam from the shower had fogged over the entire mirror. I reached up to use my hand and wipe the mirror clean. Besides the claws that shouldn't be there, I could see the excessive hair growth along my knuckles. My normally green eyes glowed a golden amber color, my teeth looked different, pointed sharp and canine-like. The heat was coursing through my body.
Placing both hands down on the counter I squeezed my eyes shut as tightly as I could. Mentally telling myself this wasn't real, calm down. There was a reasonable explanation the concussion I had to have received was making me hallucinate. I am sure the alcohol just made it worse, breathe, just breathe. Remaining still for at least a minute the heat began to fade and my heart rate was slowly returning to normal. I slowly opened my eyes peeking through squinting lids I saw my hands appeared normal. Looking at my face everything there was back to normal as well. Relief washed over me I was imagining things.
"You're not hallucinating"
I heard the voice just as I witnessed my eyes flash the golden amber color and everything went black.