Reuben couldn't believe it. He had been bitten by a wolf when walking out of the largest park in the immediate area. It was busy that day. There were people going fishing, people splashing in the pool, but no, all those other people had been spared. It was him, who lived a nice fifteen minutes walking distance from the park, that got bitten right outside the parking lot. It just seemed too much of coincidence.
It was a pretty area. There were reddening maples planted alongside the road, with a hedge of intermixed species a good four to six feet planted horizontal to the road behind the trees. The only area where the shorter bushes came close to providing cover for any creatures along the road side was six feet from the entrance of the park, where the hedge grew around a carved trunk. This time of year was amazing, with the dark green of the maple leaves starting to gain a red tinge on some edges and berries starting to poke out with the occasional late blooming hedge providing a contrast of pink to the surrounding plants.
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The wolf had planned this. He was losing his mind, and it was obvious. He had lost his job a month before when it became obvious that he could no longer do his job, not even just the most minor job descriptions. He was forgetting everything, his head hurt horrendously, and his muscles ached fiercely with the effort to keep in human form. However, he had a duty to hand off, and he had been reminded of that earlier that morning when he had seen a fairy fly over his head. Therefore, he needed to bite someone, for the gardener of the fairy garden had to be affected by magic some way, and the last few gardeners had been werewolves. Fairies were too small for some of the work that had to be done. The elves had long vacated the area, as it was too urbanized, even though it was still fairly reminiscent of a small town with several parks, patches of untamed forest, and fields along one edge. It was his job to make sure that there was somebody that could take his spot. There, walking towards him, was his former coworker Reuben. He raced out from under the hedge, and bit him. He dashed off before anyone could catch him. He didn't want to be put down.
That night, the wolf found himself walking up to his former coworker's house. He huffed when he realized his instincts had him resting under the man's porch, hanging out with the new member of his pack. It had a steadying impact, and he could feel it. It was still the full moon, but he felt more at peace instead of going mad. Maybe he could make this work.
In the morning, the wolf stretched, and rolled slightly. Could he? Could he really? He was stiff, but he could feel his wolf starting to leave with the full moon. He stepped out from under the porch in the back of the other man's house, and shifted out of sight of the road. He patted himself down. His clothing and his wallet were still with him. He relaxed, and stretched his arms, before straightening his clothes. He checked the time on his watch, then had gone knocking on the front door.
It had worked. Now he just had to explain to his former coworker what he had done and why. Actually, that sounded like a rougher conversation than he wanted to have, but it was what was needed now. Thankfully, he could have that conversation now.
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The sound of knocking brought Reuben out of his thoughts. Yesterday had been busy in the not fun way. He had had to get a rabies shot, and his arm bandaged. After that he had reported the bite to the city counsel via form. Then he had phoned in to his workplace to get the days off the doctor had ordered. Only after that, he could get done what he had planned on doing after the park. This morning, he had redressed his arm and mostly one handedly got ready for the day. He had just put the water on to boil when he heard knocking on the front door.
"Hi, Reuben."
"Hi. What are you doing here?"
"I've got to apologize and explain what happened yesterday. You see... I bit you."
"I got bit by a wolf."
"I was the wolf."
"What? How can you be the wolf that bit me? You are human."
"I am human, but I will at times turn into a wolf."
"Seriously?!"
"Yes."
"Have you bit anyone else before?"
"No. I have only bit you, and now I am here to apologize."
"No, no, no. Werewolves are only fairy tales. They're not real."
"I happen to know fairies, and I am a werewolf."
"Prove it to me."
"I slept under your back porch last night. Since the ground there is somewhat soft, you can come see the prints in the dirt."
"Please. I am having trouble with this right now."
"Come on then."
"Wait, I've got to get the water off the element."
Reuben took the water off his stove, and then followed his former coworker out his back door. He just had to see this. He stared amazed as his coworker showed him his pawprints in the dirt where he had walked over a corner of his garden to get under his porch through the hole in the porch's skirting. He saw the exit pawprints where his coworker had been not quite awake and walked more into the edge of his garden instead of the grass as he thought at the moment. Then there was a patch where his violets had been partially squashed where the wolf-man could no longer stand on his feet with one clear foot print and hand prints where he had pushed himself back onto his feet. Reuben scowled at the man, while he hung his head sheepishly.
"I'm sorry about your garden. I wasn't quite awake first thing."
"I can see that. What are you going to do about everything?"
"Well, I'll clean up the flower bed, and I'll help you since I'm the reason you're hurt."
"Fine. However, it will include one grocery bill on your own money."
"I guess I can say I am fortunate in that I can do that, seeing as I am jobless right now."
"Why did you get fired?"
"When you spend too long alone as a werewolf, you start losing your mind. You will eventually go completely mad, except for the one or two days around the full moon when you are a werewolf. That's what happened to me. I was going crazy, and I knew you, so I bit you."
"You were lonely? Why didn't you just hang out with people more?"
"Oh, you know me, I was one of the few introverts on staff. I could get too much people time just by being at work. So, when I was away from work, I stayed away from people."
"Right, but what about all your classmates? I mean a good portion still live in the area. Didn't you get hired on right out of school?"
"I sure did. No, I was already distancing myself in high school. I had found out some bad news about some close family members, and didn't feel like I should be around people when I am not pleasant to be around. It grew from there. So, you started after college, right? I was just doing some minor filing, but you're more specialized. You handled the books for the company, right?"
"Yep."
The rest of the few days, Reuben and his coworker spent the days together. His coworker tidied things and generally helped around the house. They also spent time having conversations about what it meant to be a werewolf. One sunny day, the two headed out to the woods along one of the hiking trails, and Reuben was introduced to the fairies and the fairy glade. It was an entrance to Underhill, and he was taught how to take care of it. Because he was now infected as a magical creature instead of just a normal human, he could enter Underhill and meet the elves and not be affected by the extreme time differences.
Reuben suggested that they now share a house. His coworker agreed, and let his landlord know, and moved into Reuben's basement. Reuben hired him on as grounds man for his yard, cheaply, as he was now living with him too. A few others in the neighbourhood really liked his work, so after talking to him, hired the man on. It was nice, and running around in wolf form in the park in the dark was fun. Reuben felt like he was sharing an apartment for college again, and found he had missed the company.
It ended one day. A hit and run killed the man that had started this new part of Reuben's life. They got the man who hit him, but he was gone shortly after. Reuben had him buried in the local graveyard, and held a memorial service that had mostly had the members of their workplace and his parents, siblings, and grandmother. No aunts, uncles, or cousins were invited as per his wishes. Reuben made sure that he visited the grave regularly.