7. Tattle-Tale
Over the next few weeks they had worked intensively on finding a cure. Their office had become a lab, and they were running more experiments here than anywhere else, at least they figured they must be. Nothing had worked so far, but Will knew they were close.
The previous murder had caused a huge panic, as rumors of the Wendigo were being regarded as factual. Freddie was living the good life, but she needed more to flesh out the story.
Hannibal had grown accustomed to staying at Will's house, which was right down the street from their office. When the two had locked the door and left, Freddie stepped out of the shadows. She needed more scoop, and she had taken note that Hannibal and Will were clearly working on something. She opened the door with a hairpin and stepped inside. She climbed the stairs up the office and was greeted by their makeshift lab.
"Hm." She said, perusing through the flasks and vials. She looked over at Will's desk; there was something red in a flask. She crinkled her nose, it was blood. What were they working on? Then she noticed a notebook.
The notes weren't specific, not specific enough for a complete exposé, but there was certainly enough to throw in some very truthful rumors. The notes talked about blood samples and remedies.
"So one of them is the creature?" she thought out loud, "But which one?" she hoped it was Will Graham, but then she noticed a set of initials before each blood sample. "HL 5, HL 6…"
It clicked; Hannibal Lecter. Hannibal was the Wendigo. Freddie smiled, closed the notebook, and left, locking the door behind her. It wasn't enough to can them, but it was enough for a story.
The next morning Will and Hannibal headed to their office, and noticed a change in the townspeople.
"They're looking at us weird." Said Will.
"Hey is it true?" came a voice from a shop front.
"Oh lay off it, you can't believe a word that Lounds woman writes! Hey boys, keep up the good work." Came another voice.
They looked at each other with an understanding and ran the rest of the way to their office; there was a paper at their doorstep. It was a copy of the latest Tattler, and the headline read "HANNIBAL THE CANNIBAL: WHAT WE DIDN'T KNOW BUT KNOW NOW."
"Oh my God." Said Hannibal, looking at the headline. They stepped inside and sat on the couch to read the article.
"After doing some ace-reporting work, I've come across some startling secrets kept by our town's own Will Graham (you may remember him) and his partner in crime, Hannibal Lecter. It's been brought to my attention that our town's cannibal Wendigo creature is none other than Mr. Lecter. It is to my knowledge that the two are working on some sort of concoction, perhaps in the hopes to each transform and tear our town apart limb my limb."
"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever read." Said Will. "Besides, we're working a remedy! But you heard those people, not everyone believes this garbage. It will be okay, if her article on my "psychosis" didn't do anything, this won't."
Hannibal could only hear a faint buzzing in his head, he felt sick and faint, and the sharp words of Freddie's headline pierced him sharper than claws.
"I killed people, Will." He said eventually, in a voice almost like a whisper.
"It wasn't you."
"I…ate people, Will. How am I ever supposed to be cured of this?"
"Would you ever, in your sane-mind right here right now, kill people or eat them?" asked Will.
"No."
"That just proves the Wendigo and you are not synonymous. This is a creature that takes control of your mind, it's not you." Said Will.
"Are you saying it's like a possession?" Hannibal asked.
"Yeah. It's not you, as far as I'm concerned, you're innocent."
"Thank you." Hannibal whispered, but then his stomach dropped. "Will?"
"Yes?"
"We've only got three days."
"Then let's get back upstairs and get this done." Said Will.
They worked hard over the next two days, but as close as they thought they were getting, they still didn't have it.
"I can't stay here." Said Hannibal suddenly on the third day. "I have to go. I can't be here."
"What? You have to stay; we can fix up the old remedy. Use it for tonight."
"I have to get as far away as possible." Hannibal said quickly, and left before Will could stop him.
Will ran outside to see where Hannibal had gone, but it was getting dark and there was no way to tell which way he went. Will looked around nervously, this wasn't good.
