In the preceding years, Stan and Brigitte had lived together in the one little room. Given Brigitte's emotional problems, which manifest themselves in ways no sane person would want to believe, there was no way in which she could be left alone, or for that matter in the hands of somebody else. But in time, she did make some kind of progress. She started to manage her emotions, control her anger and overcome her feelings of guilt. In Stan's mind, he had never seen her as happy as he saw her then.
Having told exactly that to Ginger, she could not believe she was hearing this: "And of course you took advantage of all that, didn't you!?"
Stan started shaking, after which he looked up in the sky. He saw the clouds moving away, slowly starting to reveal the full moon. Stan gulped, after which he asked: "Took advantage?"
"When we first met, I thought you were different." Ginger said, or rather growled, as if the appearance of the full moon had an effect on her, "But then you just disappeared, and we realized..."
"Now you just wait a minute!" Stan interrupted, shouting, "If it were up to me, I'd have never left!"
"I don't believe you!" Ginger bit back.
"That's the difference between you and your sister." Stan remarked, "Like you, she too was angry, but at least she listened to reason. That's why I could help her with her problem."
"Oh really?" Ginger still didn't believe him, "Then why did you kill her?"
"I did nothing to her!" Stan corrected her, "She did this to herself."
"Really?" Ginger sounded somewhat happy, "So she did go through with it after all."
Stan looked indignant, yet not surprised: "No wonder she had such emotional problems."
"What's that mean?!" Ginger wondered.
"By the sounds of it, you always put a lot of pressure on her." Stan explained, as he took a few steps closer, "Like you, she hated everyone around her. You, being the only one she could look up to, had the solution to channel all that hate, but then you betrayed her."
Ginger laughed: "I betrayed her?!"
"YES!!" Stan shouted even louder, as he suddenly dropped down.
This looked weird to Ginger. He's trying to make a point, shouting it out, but his heart can't take it? That's what it looked like to Ginger, as Stan seemed to try and hold on to something on his body, a normal reflex when one feels pain somewhere.
"What? Having a heart attack?" Ginger asked mockingly.
"You'd wish..." Stan said, or more accurately growled.
This was getting weirder to Ginger. Stan would not be... she thought to herself. When she stretched out her hand to touch him, he raised his head up again, showing her his eyes, which have turned yellow, as well as his teeth which have turned unnatturally large. If Ginger didn't know any better, she'd say he's starting to look just like her. But that would mean...
"You see this?" Stan asked Ginger, "This is why Brigitte killed herself."
A few years earlier, Stan had a cut in the palm of his hand, which he then comfortingly laid upon Brigitte's wounded shoulder. This way, his blood had come in contact with hers, and he's has infected himself with her virus. In the years that followed, he was able to help her perfectly well, as every time she was about to change into a wolf, he too was changing. But in doing so, he managed to find a way to keep himself from changing. This was something he tried to share with Brigitte.
"Control yourself!" he'd exclaim, "Try to ban all bad memories from your head."
"You... go ahead... and try!" Brigitte would reply.
Not knowing what else to do, Stan advised her: "Remember your time with that Ghost girl? When she kept you locked up?"
"Yes!" Brigitte growled when he reminded her of that.
"But then, when I found you and called your name, how did that make you feel?" Stan asked.
Brigitte thought back about that time. She remembered every detail of it. She jumped on him, not recognizing him, and after a long time of being locked up she didn't even remember much of herself. Until there was something about her, even in her monstrous form, which Stan recognized, so when he called her name, she remembered who she was, and after a few seconds, she remembered her old friend. For as long as that moment lasted, it was one of the happiest moments in her life. Thinking back about that, she stopped changing, and remained much of her usual self. Though this was a progress which took some time and energy, so she was too tired to realize Stan had sharper nails, yellowish eyes, but not as bad as Brigitte's own.
This way of life lasted for quite some time, until Brigitte had no trouble at all with her transformations anymore. Knowing this, she wanted to tell Stan, who could be found in his own bathroom at the time. When she found him, she saw how his own face was suddenly quite hairy, as well as his nails having turned much sharper,... a lot of things that indicated he was slowly changing into a wolf himself. Having seen this, she turned pale and ran out of the room.
Stan, having much sharper senses, was able to chase her all through the streets of Vancouver, where it was pooring rain at the time. When he found her, she already stopped running, somewhere in the middle of the woods, in a nearby park. When she sensed his presence, she turned around, crying her eyes out.
"Why did you lie to me?" Brigitte asked.
"I didn't lie to you." Stan answered, "I just didn't know what impact it would have if I already told you..."
"Save it!" Brigitte interrupted him.
"No, I won't!" Stan exclaimed, "When I infected myself with this, I was able to understand this better, and therefor able to help you better. Don't you understand?"
That's when she ran to him and attacked him. Stan did everything he could to defend himself, which worked out perfectly well. After some time, Brigitte came to a realization.
"What is it?" Stan asked her.
"I... what am I doing?" Brigitte asked herself, as she slowly sank down on her knees.
That's when Stan dared to approach her: "It's alright. You just didn't know how to react. Perhaps I should've told you..."
"No... it's not that." Brigitte started to cry, "We've worked so hard on controlling my changes, and now..."
"It's alright." Stan assured her, "In some form or other, you're not the only one to who this happens. We can start over again if you want to."
Brigitte looked at him, she nodded her head after which she got up. Being the friend he is, Stan helped her up, but as a way of thanking him, Brigitte punched her fist in his stomach. Stan fell down as a result. In his weakened state, he saw how Brigitte picked up a rock, which had a very sharp point.
"I won't be a burden to anyone anymore." she said, after which she brought the rock's sharp point closer to her throat. She then made one quick move, of which Stan wasn't sure what it was she did. But when blood started to spurt out from her throat, Stan did understand what she did. He shouted 'no', but it was too late, as Brigitte's insensate body fell down and stopped moving. Seeing this, Stan nearly burst out in anger. But just as he was about to, a hand laid itself on his shoulder. Stan turned to see to whom it belonged. And strangely enough, it belonged to Brigitte, who stood right behind him, although she was also lying in front of him, dead. Weird as this may appear, he wasn't at all surprised to see her.
"Don't do this." this Brigitte said, "You tried to help me control my emotions, yet you can't control your own?"
Though he may be taking advice from somebody of whom he knew she wasn't really there, he knew she was right. Still, his best friend just died. The only thing he could think of doing was to give her something of a burial. The rain made much of the surrounding area muddy, which made it easy for him to dig up a grave, put her in it, then throw all the mud on her.