Edward cuddled up into a fetal position against a cold hard rock in the cave as a burst of neurons fired painfully in his brain. They were unleashing repressed memories from... how long ago? Three years ago?
Oh yes, three years ago. It had been Edward's last year of middle school – eighth grade. Edward Drake had gone with Melissa Connors to the school dance. You know, that dance that celebrated their last year of Junior High. Everyone that attended eighth grade at Gotham Junior High would be there! Edward, his best friend Francisco, Melissa, her best friend, Grace – everyone – was going to be there.
Melissa had always liked Edward. She found him charming in his unique own way. They'd met long ago, in Kindergarten, but never really talked to each other until about fourth grade. Their mutual romantic interest began around halfway through sixth grade, ironically enough, in a Health class.
"The adolescent will go through many changes, such as the production of new hormones – " the voice narrating the movie would drone. The school board gave the Health classes a list of movies that the girls and the boys would have to watch separately. This teacher deliberately went out and found a video that wasn't on the list, but had been approved by the National division of Education. The teacher, a Coach Coon, would smile as everyone giggled at words like "scrotum" and "urethra".
That's when Edward looked over at Melissa and saw... saw something he'd never be able to explain.
And so began two and half long years of constant flirting and phone calls. They wanted to, so badly, to be more than friends, but it didn't seem just right. That's what was so great about tonight, thought Edward, because tonight he would be able to take her to the dance.
Yes. The dance.
It began simple enough. They rendezvoused outside the gymnasium, exchanged a few words, and then went in – hopeful for a night they would never forget.
And they didn't forget. Well, Melissa didn't.
You see, Cain Drake drove up to the school and barged into the dance, looking for his son. He yelled at him for forgetting something. Edward was supposed to take out the trash or something. It wasn't that important. So Edward talked back to his father, embarrassed that he just stormed in making a big deal over nothing. Nothing! But Cain didn't take that.
No, Cain smacked his child across the face, that's what he did. A police officer came up from nearby and jabbed him with his baton. Cain gave the officer a look, told him to mind his own business, and shoved him so that his hand covered the officer's breast pocket, and in Cain's palm was a one hundred dollar bill.
Cain grabbed his son by the collar and dragged him out of the gymnasium. The officer made no move to follow.
And there, in the parking lot, Cain kicked his son. When he fell to the ground, Cain simply grabbed his collar and yanked him to his feet. Then he punched him square in the face.
A full fifteen minutes of the beating passed by and no one made a move to stop it, most certainly not the officer. He was just minding his own business now.
Oh, Edward was so messed up that he limped to the car and did not make a sound as his father drove him home. When they got home, Cain stayed in the car while Edward rushed to the house, bolted up the stairs and locked himself in his room. He crawled over to his mirror and took a good look at it. He saw his reflection.
A black eye, bloody lip – not as bad as it could have been. Where was his mother? She should have been home by now! Why was she always out working for that guy? That guy that took over while that other guy was gone, dead, whatever.
Edward hurled himself onto his bed and fell asleep.
His dream was twisted. He was leaping from building to building, finally crashing through the roof of one of them. He fell, fell, and fell until he hit the bottom floor. The floor beneath him opened up and swallowed him, where he landed in a pitch-black room.
"Where am I?" he asked. Suddenly, he felt a whip hit his skull. The crack of the whip seemed to echo in the room forever. He begged, "Don't hurt me!"
Slowly, Edward turned around and saw his parents horrendously combined to form an amalgam of the two. A tear slid down Edward's cheek, and that's when he woke up.
And he had no memory of the night before. Not taking Melissa to the dance, not being embarrassed, and not abused by his father. Why, when he went down to breakfast, his father was acting overly jittery.
"Wonderful day, isn't it, son? Oh, if you're wondering where your mother is, she left for work early today!"
Edward nodded solemnly. There was no school that day. It was Saturday. So he just trotted back up to his room after eating a few pancakes and collapsed back onto his bed. He slept for hours.
No, Edward Drake was insane long before the wolf bite that gave him lycanthropy. The bite had simply managed to unleash his inner demon. The one everyone had.
What hurt Edward even more, besides just now remembering all of this, was remembering what came after.
The weekend rushed by rather quickly. In no time at all, it was Monday, and Edward was back in school (there was still one week left). Everyone who'd been at the dance did his or her best to avoid looking him in the eye. Only his best friend Francisco even bothered to stay and chat with him for more than two seconds, and even had to hurry to class.
Then he saw Melissa, walking with Grace. He smiled and walked up to her. She stopped, but Grace kept walking.
"Hey," he smiled.
Melissa looked stunned, not sure how to go about this. Thoughtlessly, she embraced him in a hug, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and pulled back. She whispered in his ear, "It... it won't work."
And then she left.
And Edward had no idea why for the ongoing week everyone ignored him. On the first day of high school, Edward begged to be transferred to a different school and was granted his request. He got a fresh new start, away from all the kids who had seen him beaten up by his own father.
Only he didn't know about that until just now.
Edward leapt to his feet and howled. It echoed tremendously against the cave walls. When he was done crying, he limped to the entrance of the cave and looked outside. It was dusk.
Edward stared at his hairy, clawed hands and licked them. How many days had he gone on like this, unable to revert back to his human form?
It didn't matter, he decided.
He sprang out of the cave through the entrance and switched to his wolf form, running at full speed to his destination.
Elsewhere, Cain Drake parked the car in the driveway, sighed, and rubbed his temples. He'd always neglected his son – he realized that now. He should have foreseen that Edward eventually try to run away (his only explanation for his sudden disappearance), especially after that tragic event three years ago.
A short temper had never been the attribute of a good father, but he never dreamed it would leak to harm his son. If he could, he would go back and fix that moment, but... but he couldn't.
And now his son was gone.
THUMP! Something heavy landed on the roof of his car, leaving a deep indent and startling the hell out of Cain. His hand wrapped around the door handle. He slowly turned it, opening the door. And then a big, furry hand punched through the roof.
Cain couldn't hear himself scream, but he could hear the shredding of metal as the wolf peeled the roof off like aluminum. Exposed, Cain tried to leap out of the half-open door, but Edward grabbed him by the collar and held him high up in the air.
"Oh... oh, oh, oh God! Lemmedown, lemmedown! Please! Please, dear God, let me down!" begged Cain. But Edward did not listen. He brought Cain close to his face.
"Remember me, daddy?" he uttered in a low voice.
"Ed... Eddie? Oh God, forgive me! Please! Forgive meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" he yelled.
Edward didn't listen. Edward thrust Cain onto the car and bit deep down into his neck, lapping up the blood that flowed out, and then dragged him into the basement so no one would witness the feeding frenzy.
It took him a full hour, but he finally finished every last piece of meat on his father's body. Now to wait for his mother.