Issue 1.5: The Suspicion

The town breathes a little easier as a few more days pass without another ****. Some in Silverbrook even begin to whisper that the nightmare is finally over, that whatever killed Bill Stanler and David Rubenstein has moved on, leaving Wolf’s Woods, and the town, behind.

But you have a different theory.

Whatever killed and ate Bill Stanler took a few days to digest the hiker. Then it grew hungry again, went on the hunt, killed, and ate David Rubenstein until its stomach was full. The last few days have been quiet because its belly is still full. But once it finishes digesting David, it will grow hungry again. It will hunt. It will kill. It will eat.

The thought gnaws at you, a sickening certainty settling in your gut.

One night, you have a nightmare.

In your dream, something monstrous tears your parents apart, their screams muffled by the wet, ripping sounds of flesh. Then it turns on Maria, her silver eyes wide with terror as it sinks its jaws into her throat. You wake up drenched in sweat, your heart hammering against your ribs like it wants to escape.

You stumble outside, **** for air, feeling suffocated by the lingering images of your nightmare. The night is still, the full moon hanging high above you and casting everything in an eerie silver glow. Your eyes drift to the Trent house.

“What the hell is that?” you mutter to yourself as a deep, rumbling sound cuts through the quiet. Your breath catches in your throat when you see it: a hulking, wolf-like figure emerging from the Trent house. It moves with terrifying grace, its massive form disappearing into the shadows of the woods.

For a minute, you just stand there, frozen, wondering if you’re still trapped in the nightmare. But when you blink, the dream doesn’t vanish. The cold night air bites at your skin, and you realize with a jolt of dread: you’re wide awake. What you saw was real.

The next morning, you sit at the breakfast table with your parents, pushing food around your plate. You tell them nothing about what you saw the night before. They wouldn’t believe you. They’d think it was just a bad dream, or worse, that you’re suffering from delusions or a nervous breakdown.

No, you need to find out the truth on your own.

You start researching werewolves, first online, then at the town library. You learn about lycanthropy, the full moon’s influence, and the one weakness that can kill them: silver.

You read that werewolves appear human during the day, but on nights with a full moon, they transform into massive, bloodthirsty beasts. They can’t control their hunger. They hunt. They kill. And they feed on human flesh.

Your mind flashes back to Maria’s silver choker, the one she never takes off, the one she absentmindedly touches whenever she looks at her uncle.

You connect the dots: John Trent is a werewolf, and he’s the killer.

“No, it can’t be,” you mutter to yourself, shaking your head. You try to convince yourself you’re wrong. John Trent might be intense, but he can’t be a werewolf. You were still half-asleep that night. Maybe you saw something else.

Werewolves aren’t real.

Maria isn’t in danger from her uncle.

That’s what you keep telling yourself. Until the third ****.