Chapter 2
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Sandy looked around her brother's cage for a couple seconds. He should have been there; he would never leave the house at night, or at least not when Noel was home. She peeked inside his mini-house, thinking he might have hid himself in there. Still no sign of him. She walked towards the door and opened it, and while she was thinking about something else, forgot what she was doing and let the door slam.
The loud clank of the metal was enough to wake Noel. Sandy, virtually petrified, leaped away and behind one of his huge college textbooks. Noel peered around his room for a second or two, and assuming it was Stan messing around in his cage, went back to sleep . . . but not before he accidentally kicked his book, knocking it over on Sandy and pinning her in place.
She tried to wiggle herself free, but it was no use. The book was too heavy. She wheezed in air, as it was difficult to breathe with the text compressing her small frame. With what little energy she had, she gave a small cry for help before falling unconscious.
That plea was heard. A dark shape loomed out from behind the shadows of the room. It slowly, yet swiftly, walked up to the edge of the book. It sniffed around the edge, catching the scent of a hamster. The creature slid its paws under the cover, and with an almighty force, lifted it off of Sandy. She was still unconscious, so the creature grabbed her tail and pulled her out from underneath, then dropping the book with a loud bam.
The mysterious figure somehow thought this hamster looked familiar. The memories seemed strangely incomplete, but this did not stop the creature from wondering. It would have killed her, but something came over it, making it care instead of hate. It licked the girl's face, wetting her with slobber until she finally regained consciousness.
Sandy closed her eyes for a moment, feeling her face. It was wet, and sticky. The substance smelled terrible. She opened her eyes, only to find a giant beast, about three times her size, towering above her.
Her eyes widened in alarm. She screamed, dragging herself as far away as possible, but was stopped by the book that had flattened her. The creature followed, its footsteps echoing quietly throughout the room. Sandy cringed in fear, not knowing what it would do. The beast stopped in front of her, its emerald green eyes glowing in the dim light.
Instead of attacking her, as Sandy feared, it simply lowered itself down to her height. She looked at it curiously. The creature lifted its clawed paw up to her face and stroked her gently. Sandy somehow felt . . . safe in its presence. In a matter of moments, it backed off, as if it realized what it was doing, and rushed away at full speed. She tried to stop it, but it would not come back.
Sandy, realizing she was now alone, sighed deeply. She looked at Stan's empty cage. The room was deathly quiet, the only noise audible being Noel's soft breathing above her. She glanced at his digital clock, the time showing 2:18 AM. It was time to go back to her own house.
Exiting her brother's house, she was having a few back thoughts. "What if that creature was . . . nah, couldn't be . . ."
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Stan, on the other hand, was lying by a tree in the park. How he got there, he didn't know. The moon shown above him, bright enough to cast shadows. He stared up at the sky in wonder. Things were starting to get weird.
Could he have really killed Snoozer? It seemed to make sense, after all. The dreams being scary-real, then waking up to find his sleepy buddy dead in his sock. Or was he in his sock? Stan was becoming scatterbrained with all this new info coming in. The he thought about the ham-hams. What would they do if he told them, or even mentioned it? Would he get kicked out, never to see his friends again? Or would they understand, seeing that he himself did not control his actions and that no one really bonded with Snoozer anyway, seeing that he slept 24-7-365.
And then his sister . . . like always, she would make a big fuss. They'd probably get in a fight, and not make up because he'd actually murdered someone. Stan leaned back and pondered the facts for a bit. A half-minute passed, and he suddenly gasped loudly.
Everything was coming back to him! Killing Snoozer, escaping from his cage, rescuing Sandy, rubbing her face! And it was coming to him clear is day, as if it were happening right then. He knew now why he was under the big tree in the park - he had ran there after the encounter with Sandy.
It all hit him like a ton of bricks. He started to hyperventilate. He is a werewolf. He did murder a ham-ham. The truth was to much . . . he fainted under the dawn light.
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Sandy was asleep in her cage. She didn't hardly get any sleep that night, for she of course at Stan's house. She was awoken by the heavy footfalls - at least in her point of view - of Hillary coming her way.
"Bye, Sandy! You have a nice day, m'kay?" Sandy exhaled slowly, a tone of frustration in her voice. Where could Stan have gotten to? Why did some crazy monster touch her so affectionately ? It wasn't making sense. She decided to go to the clubhouse, but she would tell no one in fear that they would not believe her.
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She took the long way through the park today. The longer it took to get there, the better, she thought. It had clouded up and gotten foggy while she made her trek, making it hard to see very far.
Sandy stopped. She saw a shadow underneath on of the trees. In the dense fog it was hard to determine what it was, but it looked to her like a hamster. She made her way over to the dark shape. She wasn't very far away when she figured out it really was a hamster. Concerned, she ran up to its side. Looking down at him, she gasped in shock. It was Stan.
"Stan! What are you doing out here?" He woke up, not expecting to find his agitated sister in his face. She clenched her teeth together, demanding an explanation. He got up and backed against the tree, knowing Sandy's wrath when she was angry.
"Now, come on, Sandy! I can explain the whole thing-"
"You'd better have a good excuse, buster! Because right now, I'd say you're in hot water!"
Stan gulped. Should he really tell his sister everything?
"Well?" she demanded impatiently.
He began his story. "You know I've been acting kind of weird lately . . . and I, um, well there is this crazy thing gong on. I've been having nightmares and . . . I think I killed Snoozer."
"WHAT?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not done yet. I had a dream about killing a hamster like Snoozer, but I was not myself, I was a . . . monster. Then I woke up. My hands were dirty. I went to the clubhouse, and Snoozer really was dead."
Sandy's eyes were wide with fright. She was breathing quickly.
" . . . and last night . . . you were at my house, weren't you? I remember it. I was there."
She now started to actually believe him, even though she still had doubts.. "So . . . if you were really there . . . what happened last night?"
Stan took in a deep breath. "One of Noel's textbooks fell on you. You were hurt pretty badly, so I lifted it off of you-" He suddenly put his paws over his mouth.
"Wait . . . you . . . you were the monster?"
"I'm afraid so. I didn't remember what happened until this morning. Something that night made me feel care for you, and something about me made you not afraid."
"I can't believe this . . . I mean, I do, but . . . its so weird." Stan simply looked at her, and then she made a sudden burst. "We've got to tell the others!"
Stan grabbed her. "No! That's the last thing we want to do. If they find out . . ."
" . . . I see."
They stared into each other's eyes for a brief moment. Stan gave in. "I mean, we can go there, but we can't let anyone find out. Okay?"
"Alright." Sandy smiled. They walked together, and the clubhouse was not to far from where they were. All they needed to do was cross the street, and they were there.
Sandy stepped out onto the street. Stan followed. They were almost to the other side when, out of the fog, came a truck that would surely run them both over . . .