My Roommate's Secret
Caleb and I walked into the apartment and went straight to his room. It was getting dark, so we knew we had to do this quick. He pulled the chains out from under his bed while I boarded up his windows. It wouldn’t stop the transformation from happening, but it did make him weaker once it did. He clasped the chains around his wrists while I clasped them around his ankles.
“Thanks for doing this again. I know you have a massive test tomorrow,” said Caleb.
“Think nothing of it,” I replied. “I was going to fail that test anyway.”
“You remember what to do?”
“Once you’ve done something like this once, you can’t forget.”
Caleb started to twitch. “You should probably get out now. I feel it starting.”
I walked out of the room, passing a calendar with today’s date circled. I closed the door behind me but didn’t bother locking it because, if Caleb got out of the chains, a lock wouldn’t do much good against him. I sat on a couch and reached between the cushions. There was a handgun full of silver bullets. I didn’t want to use it but kept it near me just in case.
The howling began just minutes later. I heard the chains being rattled and felt my hands shaking. Caleb and I grew up together, and I always knew he suffered from lycanthropy (the condition that causes people to turn into werewolves). He had apparently inherited it from his grandmother. His parents knew what to do to him during full moons, and for that reason, they were reluctant to let him go to an out-of-state school. Since I was going to the same school, however, I was able to convince them that he would be safe, and here I am, two months after we moved into this dump of an apartment, prepared to put a bullet in him if his chains don’t hold. I hope they do. God, I really hope they do.