Mother Wolf Ch. 02

Howleen sits in the waiting room of a clinic. "This is the right thing to do. Isn't it?" she says more to herself.

"Can't say," Twyla honestly tells her. "It's not my decision to make, Howleen."

"Thanks for the support, Twyla. And sorry for making you skip class today."

The boogie ghoul hugs the wolf. "It's a lot for a ghoul to go through. You shouldn't be alone."

"Howleen Wolf!" a nurse calls out. "Howleen Wolf!" the wolf stands up, catching the attention of the nurse. "Howleen Wolf?"

This moment just became very real and very scary for Howleen, and she finds her legs moving on their own. Only, it's heading not to the nurse, but the exit.

"Howleen!?" Twyla calls out for her as the exit the clinic.

"I can't do it, I just can't!" the wolf shouts. "How could I stop life from living before it has a chance to? What was I thinking!?"

"You weren't," a new voice. Turning to their right, the find a familiar orange werecat walking up to them with her hands in her pockets. "You were scared. Unsure of anything that's happening. Probably even denying it being real. Most likely, you weren't ready to trust your own thoughts," Toralei stops in front of the two. "So, you keeping it?"

Howleen takes a step back from the cat and lets out a low growl. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I overheard you making the appointment yesterday," the cat tells her. "Kinda glad you didn't go through with it. Thought I was too late to talk you out of it."

"Why would you do that!?" Howleen snaps. "It's not like you actually care!"

"I do care. Because I nearly made the same mistake you were about to," Toralei confesses.

"What?" Howleen responds followed by Twyla.

"You're a mom?"

Toralei shakes her head. "No. But I should have been," she refuses to meet the other ghoul's eyes. "Not that I was actually given the chance. I was young and foolish as was my then boofriend. But I decided to see it to the end. He was beautiful."

Having a bad feeling, Howleen asks, "Where is he? I'd like to meet him."

Toralei looks away and sits on a nearby bench. "I wish I knew."

Soon, Howleen and Twyla set next to the werecat. "What happened to him?" the boogie ghoul asks.

"He was taken away," Toralei chokes back a sob. "Look! I have considered doing what you were about to do, and I couldn't let you do that. At least not without letting you know that what's ahead of you is scary. But if given the chance the reward will be worth it," she looks down at the sidewalk. Soon, two sets of arms wrap around the cat ghoul as Howleen and Twyla hugs her.

Toralei just leans into their embrace before the feeling that she had let this go on for longer than it should sets in and clears her throat. "Okay, now that's enough!" and pushes the other ghouls away. "So…" she licks the back of her hand. "Who's the baby daddy?"

That causes Howleen to stiffen, which did not go unnoticed by Toralei. "He doesn't know, does he?"

"No," the wolf admits with a headshake. "He doesn't even remember that night."

At this, Twyla asks, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. About a week after, I finally approached him and asked how that party was. He just waved it off that aside from being at the party, he has no idea what happened."

"Wait!" Toralei stops them and asks, "Are you talking about that ultra-crazy party that no one remembers?" and receives a nod from the two ghouls at which the werecat turns, avoiding eye contact, "Gee, that's rough. Ain't it?" just then, she stands. "Well! Let's get out of here. We still have a long time until school lets out. How about we go have some fun? Though, not too much fun," she glances at Howleen with a smirk.

Twyla rolls her eyes, "A bit late for that."

"Hey!" the pink haired wolf ghoul snaps. But soon all three were laughing.

.oOo.

"Are you sure about this?" Howleen wearily looks up at Toralei as they approach the school.

"Don't worry, ghoulfriend," the orange furred ghoul lands an arm over the brown furred one's shoulder. "By taking this path as school let's out, it'll appear as if we're just leaving the school as everyone else and no one would know," she then looks up at the sky in thought. "Well, except Meowlody and Purrsephone. They'll have questions, but I'm sure I can come up with something to tell them. But it's up to you to explain it off to everyone else. Just make sure your stories lineup with one another. Too many differences and you will get caught."

Twyla looks at her with a raised brow. "How often do you do this sort of thing?" the boogie ghoul only receives a knowing smirk from the werecat. "Okay. Then how about the fact we missed an entire day's worth of classes? Headmistress Bloodgood will give us detention for sure and call our parents."

"Already covered!" Toralei pulls out three slips of paper. "All I have to do is slip these into the school paperwork and on record, we'd been excused for the day and there'll be no reason to call your parents."

"Wow!" Howleen takes them and says, "You thought of everything?"

The light skinned ghoul looks at the paper over her best friend's shoulder. "Who's Dr. Oppenheimer?"

Toralei shrugs. "Not sure. Just found the name online and used it. No one has questioned it so far. Not even Bloodgood. So, no worries about it." Just then, the bell rings signaling the end of day and students did not hesitate to leave the building. "And that's our cue to split," she ruffles Howleen's hair.

"Hey!" the wolf ghoul slaps her hand away.

"Take care, ghouls," she waves at them. "See you around."

It was not long before Howleen's older sister approaches them. "Howleen!" Clawdeen looks between the two before glances at the departing werecat. "What were you doing with Toralei? She didn't try anything, did she?"

Howleen and Twyla glance at one another before the boogie ghoul says. "Not really."

"She was just asking about your Fearleading schedule," Howleen tells her older sister.

That catches the older wolf sibling's attention. "And what did you tell her?"

"That as far as I know it's the same as before and hasn't changed yet," she and Twyla starts walking away. "Me and Twyla are going to fang out at her house. Tell Mom and Dad I'll be home later!"

For the next month, the Fear Squad became paranoid of what MH's notorious werecat may have in store for them.

End