The Blue Werewolf
C/By Kenjaje
Chapter 4: Memory Lapse
--October 30; 11:04 AM; The Tower
All at once Stitch felt his body come alive, as if someone had flipped a switch. His eyes snapped open, his jaw hung slightly, his ears twitched and his fingers clung together around the sheets that covered him. He was panting heavily, completely out of breath, sitting up in his bed as if he'd been in that position before he awoke. His blood pulsed quickly; he could feel his vessels fluctuate. Beads of sweat dripped from the fur sticking away from his body, and fell around him, drenching his bed.
"What...what happened..." He thought. He tried to remember...but drew a blank. He suddenly felt as though he'd lost a day or so of his life, like it never even existed. He seared again and again in his mind for what happened—the day before, last night, before he fell asleep—nothing. He exhaled, realizing he was holding his breath.
"Are you ok?" He heard Lilo's voice ask. She was on her elbow, lifting her head up under the covers to look at him. Stitch searched for an answer...but couldn't find one.
"Eh." Was all he said; and he said it very nervously. His hear was just now beginning to slow down. "What happened...why did I wake up like this?" Stitch felt as though something happened, but couldn't remember. It was like having food poisoning, and he didn't know what he ate that caused him to get it. Something happened, and he couldn't understand or remember what. "Um...Lilo?"
"Huh?"
"When did Stitch fall asleep last night?" He asked, trying to sound casual and failing slightly.
"I don't exactly know. You went outside for some reason, and I fell asleep before you got back." She said, trying to recall what happened, her mind sluggish (as she had just woken up). "Why?" She asked.
"I think I got bit by a werewolf." He wanted to say. As she spoke the memory of the night before flooded into his mind, he imagined it a bit differently then it had happened but ultimately the ending was the same; a dog-like creature had bit him in the arm, but the bite wasn't there the next morning. "Just...curious." He said calmly. "Stop thinking that, it's ridiculous. There's no such things as werewolves."
"Thanks for helping yesterday...I know it must've been pretty boring." Lilo said, referring to the hours and hours they had literally spent decorating the house. Stitch didn't remember much of it, but he nodded anyway. "Did you think about what you're going to be?" She asked.
"Naga..." Stitch replied, switching over to think about a costume. He was pretty much a Halloween costume himself. What could he be?
"Nani said she's not able to take us because of work, it'll be Halloween night by the time she gets home. She's left us some money to get something on our own, but its gotta be under," she tapped a finger to her chin, counting the amount Nani had told her she left, "thirty dollars."
"Oketaka. Lilo decide?" He asked her back.
"Actually, I did..."
"Gaba ju kita?"
"I'm going to make it a surprise, ok?" She said, squinting her eyes to make it seem more mysterious. Stitch grumbled, but shrugged. "And I know exactly how much I need for it, it's only ten dollars." She continued, thinking about what she had seen in a catalog two days ago. She thought about the two costumes she was fighting over, and again made sure that her decision was really the one she wanted, and smiled. "When do you want to go?"
"Naga nota, after breakfast?"
"Sure." Stitch headed to the elevator while Lilo went into the closet to change. As Stitch rode it down, he tried to remember what happened last night, and still came up with nothing. He sighed as the elevator hit the floor with its soft, airy thump, and stepped out into the hallway, and widened his eyes with surprise.
"Stitch? Why are you standi-...woah..." He heard Lilo speak, as she came down from the tower. The hallway was strewn with lights and decorations, as well as claw marks, broken wood, ripped walls, and maybe more damage, but they couldn't see. "What happened here?" Lilo asked aloud, as if Stitch would know the answer.
"...This is too much of a coincidence." He leaned down and put a paw to one of the claw marks on the ground. His claws fit, but they were small compared to the marks, yet somehow they resembled his pattern. "These look like mine...but they're huge."
"What are you doing?" Lilo asked, stepping over to Stitch. He quickly pulled his hand away.
"Nagitcha." He replied quickly.
"Maybe this is something of Jumba's doing." Lilo suggested, shifting the strap of the green duffel bag onto her other shoulder. "Let's not worry about it, come on." Although her words were meant to distract them from the destruction, it proved pointless. Some of the house was covered with claw marks, while other areas remained untouched. "Asking him...as soon as possible." Lilo said, adding on to sentence before.
"Eh." Stitch agreed. The kitchen wasn't thrashed as much, but was still chaotic; one pantry door was even thrown across the room. Stitch felt queasy. Lilo sighed and wandered over to the pantry that had no door, and took out a cereal box. The top was ripped off, the bottom opened, and the cereal dumped onto the floor as soon as the support of the pantry under it was gone. Lilo gazed at pile of flakes on the floor for a moment.
"What do you say...we eat out...?"
"Yeah." Stitch agreed immediately, and rushed to the door to open it. Lilo stepped through and jumped down the stairs followed by Stitch.
"Oh, I almost forgot, put on your Kenny disguise." Lilo said, rummaging through the small duffel bag and pulling the sunglasses, wig, tennis shoes, brown shorts, and red shirt. Stitch grumbled and slipped on the clothes, and together they trotted the short distance into the city. They took the right at the street leading away from their house and walked a little ways down the sidewalk, they came to an intersection with the roads and building surrounding them on all sides. "Which way?"
"Hm...let's check over here." Lilo said, pointing to her left. They waited for a few cars to pass and wandered down to the next intersection, and glanced around. "I know it's around here somewhere..." Lilo thought aloud, looking at street signs and building names. Stitch also looked; though he didn't know exactly what Lilo was looking for, he was looking for something to point them in the right direction. "C'mon, down that way." Lilo pointed across the intersection to the parallel street on the other side.
They waited for another few cars to pass, one honking its horn at a stalling driver, and quickly bolted across the street before another car passed. Lilo dropped the duffel bag halfway across; Stitch immediately turned around and swiped it up just as the walk light turned red. Lilo patted him on the head when he handed it back off to her. They continued down the road in the direction that they had started at first, again searching for street signs or other things that would lead them to a costume store.
"Igata?" Stitch shouted over the roar of beeping cars. He pointed to a sign on the opposite side of the road in between a bookstore and a Halloween shop that read, "Half-off for the half-living Halloween sale at Magee's."
"That's it!" She said, "nice eye." Stitch smiled and crossed the street after her. They stopped at the sign again to take a rest. "I still want to surprise you." Lilo said to Stitch, referring to her Halloween costume. "How about..." She looked at the bookstore to their left; which was also having a Halloween sale, except on books, of course. "Can you hang out in that store while I get my costume? It'll only take a minute, and maybe looking at some Halloween books will help you decide."
"Oketaka." He agreed, with a bit of excitement. He liked the idea of being surprised, it made him really wonder what she was going to be; he really had no clue at all.
"I'll find you in the bookstore, see you in a few minutes." She said, running into Magee's and almost bumping into another person as she entered. Stitch laughed, and turned into their rendezvous store. The air conditioning hit him immediately, blew his fake hair to the point where he had to slap it down to keep it on. He was always amused that no one could ever tell he was from outer space, except Lilo and his family.
He milled around between the large dark-wood bookcases, looking at titles of novels that he knew, but most he didn't. Some books Lilo had, some he'd seen Pleakley reading, some he himself had read. (As much as he could, anyway. Reading wasn't his strongest asset.)
Eventually, he came upon a curious section; it was a table completely filled with books that were deemed a Halloween theme. Some were just horror novels, but many were associated with the holiday. Stitch glanced across the books, and came across a familiar one he knew all too well. The picture of the wolf seemed to light up to him, dominating the others around it. He didn't read the title; he knew exactly what it was. Losing interest, he moved his eyes to the right of the book, and saw another stack of books different from "True encounters with werewolves".
It had no picture, it was only black and silver on the cover. However, as Stitch scrutinized it more closely, he realized that there was a picture of a wolf's head etched into the dark cover. He felt his fingers across the bevel-embossed image. The letters on the book were the same, cutting across it with depressions so that one had to feel rather than read. The book was entitled "Everything about the myth; werewolves". He took the top book and held it in one arm, and used the other to flip the cover open. The picture of the wolf's head was sketched in on the fly page, and a message was inscribed in letters Stitch could barely read. He gave up trying to understand it, and flipped another couple pages into the table of contents; five sections and page numbers were present. "Basics", "Legends", "Accounts", "Domestication", and "Liberation" were the titles of the sections.
"Maybe I should get this..." He thought, "It seems interesting." Although, his reason was far different; in the back of his mind Stitch wanted to buy it because of what had happened the pas few days. A bit of him was convinced that it was a werewolf that bit him in the forest, and that bit of him wanted to buy this book to make sure.
"Kenny? Kenny?" A little girl's voice hit Stitch's ears; it was Lilo calling him by his disguised name.
"Here." He whispered back.
"There you are. I got what I wanted, it was the last one, are you ready to go?" Stitch held the book in his hand and pointed at it with one claw, grunting. "You want to get the book?"
"Eh, eh." He said excitedly.
"Ok, is that what you're going to be then?" She asked, looking at the etched wolf on the cover. Stitch glanced at it, and thought a moment.
"Suga." He replied. It would be easy to be a werewolf for him, he was already doggish to begin with. Lilo lead him to the counter and put the book up for the cashier to ring it. Lilo could barely see above the countertop, and had to stand on tiptoes to talk to the woman standing behind the register.
'That'll be three dollars and eighty-seven cents." The woman said coolly. Lilo zipped open the duffel bag and pulled out four one's, handing them over. "Here you are." The lady said, handing her a bag and the change.
"Thank you, ma'am." Lilo said.
"Thank you." The woman called back.
"C'mon Kenny." Lilo beckoned. Stitch followed her out, and shut the door behind him, eager to read the book as soon as they got home.