The werewolves of west virginia and the detective from the south wales valleys.

The werewolves of West Virginia and the detective From the South Wales Valleys.

I am an Investigative Officer Mr Brooks and I work for the police force and I have been an Investigative officer for many years. I have worked on many cases over my career in the police force but none like the one I am about to tell you . Even today I get sleepless nights about this case as it still haunts me. I never in a million years thought the suspect of this case would have turned out to be the killer or even indeed what hid beneath him and this baffling case that is one that will live with me until my dying day. If I could go back in time I sure enough would have picked a different career choice all because of this one case that I am going to tell you about.

I was much younger in those early days of my career when I was just starting out in the police force and I was learning the job that I had gone to university to learn and that was being an investigative police officer. I had come across all types of cases in my training and the evil that humans commit in a very evil world. I kind of thought I had seen and heard everything that was until this case.

I was called on the telephone in the early hours of the morning by the police force and was told that they had come across a grisly murder way out in the woods and that they desperately needed my help on this case. The police had never come across a body so badly and brutally cut up like it had gone through a sausage machine and was just left with bits of body parts everywhere all over the woods, even up on the tree branches.

I came onto the scene obviously half asleep and still coming around from just being woken up at 3.00 am in the morning. What I was about to see before me turned my stomach and my insides have never really been the same since. Body parts everywhere and the blood seemed to go on forever all over the wood land and the above trees.

A man walking his dog in the early hours of the morning found the grizzly murder and contacted the police . This victim must have had the worst possible death and he must have suffered but why would a human being do this to another human being and what was the motive for such a grizzly attack.

The police had to go through the woods with a fine tooth comb and get every body part into bags and collect up everything they possibly could from this scene. It was an horrendous job and you would have to have a very strong stomach which I did not. There were toes and fingers on the floor and bits of skin everywhere even the victims eyes were on other sides of the woods and every single body part had to be accounted for. Some of the police men were sick as they were placing the body parts into bags and their faces white and pale with the utter grotesque of this murder.

All the body parts had been collected up and the murder site examined and there was no more the police or myself could do but knock on the doors of the people who live locally and question them about anything they might have seen. We decided to all go home as this had been such an ordeal for everybody and start fresh tomorrow looking into the case.

As I sat in my car and took a deep breath and started the engine a small boy knocked on my car window and I looked at him and put down my window. He was about 10 years old and had black hair and a pale complexion with dimples on the cheeks of his face. He stared at me and said “ has there been a murder “, I told him to go home straight away and that he must never go into the woods at all.

He ran away from my car laughing and he kept saying “ has there been a murder “ over and over , I found it a little funny because of the awful day I had that this just put the cherry on the cake. I decided to get home as quickly as I could as I could not cope with anything else happening today. Off I drove straight home just wanting to get back home and dive straight back into my unmade bed.

The following day myself and my colleagues made some investigations in the local area where this brutal murder happened and we spoke to the local people of the area and their shock and despair of such a terrible thing happening in their area. We interviewed the whole area when once again the small boy that I saw yesterday knocking on my car window came up to me once again and said “ has there been a murder “, I once again told him to go home but this time I wanted to investigate where he lived and who knew him in the area.

I asked around if anybody knew the little boy who just came up to me and once again asked me if there had been a murder. A little old lady about 96 years old I would say approached me she was bent over and walked with a cane and she said “ that little boy is from the foster home in the next street and she said all he says is “ has there been a murder “, I thanked the little old lady and went on my way continuing my investigations.

The autopsy report came back and they could not believe their findings. The verdict was that the man ripped apart in the woods was attacked by an animal not a human being. The case had changed from looking for a human being to looking for a very vicious animal in the local area. We contacted all the zoos to see if an animal had escaped or if there was known to be any vicious dogs in the area. Nothing came back to us, only that this was a very bizarre case and we were all completely baffled.

The man who was killed in the woods was a local tramp and kept very much to himself. He lived in the woods in the trees and the locals stayed away from him as they obviously found him very strange and odd for living in the woods. He had the most terrible death and must have suffered before he died. We were lost with this case but something did this to him and whatever it was we had to find it before it had another victim.

All we could do was tell people to stay away from the woods and walk in the streets instead where there were other people. There was a very dangerous animal out there and we had to make the public aware of it. We had the police force patrolling the area every day and walking around the woods in groups to spot this animal if they could but we could not see or find anything and it was frustrating for all of us.

We kept a very close eye on the area in question in case anything else happened and we told the local people to report anything strange in the area as anything could help us. We had some information about people seeing a wolf in the woods but even though we checked it out we never saw anything and the case was not going anywhere and we would have to close it but it was not leading anywhere.

As always happens as a case is closed and time goes on people forget about the danger of the woods and they walk through the woods because the fear has worn off and nothing has happened over time. I was really frustrated because we had to close the case down the victim had been torn to shreds and he was killed but nothing would come of it, something horrible happened to that tramp in the woods and I had no idea what it was but I could not keep investigating a case with no leads and nothing to go on it was just a case that might never get solved just filed away.

I had actually lost sleep over this case because there were simply no leads. A man had been brutally attacked and killed and there were no signs of who or what did it and the case was constantly on my mind. Had I missed something, a clue or anything that could be a lead, it really bothered me as I had never come across a case like this in my whole career. I had dreams of the boy coming up to me and saying “ has there been a murder “, but he was just a boy in a local foster home and maybe a little backward.

Weeks went by and I decided that the case would have to be forgotten. I even begged my boss to give me more time but because there were no leads it had to be called a day. All I could do was to forget about it and move on with my life. Out of the blue one Friday afternoon a call came over the police radio that another body had been found in the woods once again in exactly the same place and again the body had been mutilated and torn to pieces. I left all I was doing and went straight to the scene this time we just had to find a lead.

Once again the body parts were everywhere and the blood was everywhere and I never thought I would come across a scene like this again. This time I wanted the place covered with the police and I wanted a thorough search of the place. I did not want this case to be filed away again because of lack of evidence. Again we found nothing solid but then we went out in the woods much further than we looked before we found child’s clothing which had been torn and even the shoes had been broken. This must be some sort of lead surely.

The deceased had been a local school teacher who was taking a shortcut through the woods because the weather was raining with high winds. The local community were now very worried that a second victim had been killed and it was a good school teacher whom everybody knew in the local area. I was walking to my car when once again I heard a child call out ” has there been a murder “, when I looked up it was the same child sat on the wall looking down at me. He repeated ” has there been a murder “, I again told the child to go home and get far away from the area but he just laughed at me and then jumped off the wall and ran away. This child could possibly not having nothing to do with the case but why was the child always there watching the police and why did he always say ” has there been a murder ” something was just not right here and I just could not put my finger on what it was.

I went back to the police station and I was tired and full of confusion but I had to put together the clues we had so far on this very weird case. So far we had two victims both had been mutilated by some sort of animal, an animal that we had no trace of at all, not even footsteps or fur or anything. Then we had a child’s clothing which had been torn apart not far from the scene but was not connected at all and why a child’ s clothing and then there was the child who was always on the scene and watching the police. It was confusing for everybody.

I had police men and women constantly patrolling the area and we had the woods shut off to the public as now it was an extremely dangerous place. I was losing sleep over this case as we were missing something but I did not know what we were missing. I arranged to have tracker dogs go all over the woods to see if they could trace us to any clues we spent days going over and over the woods and then we found something which just baffled us even more as we found once again a child’s clothing again it had been torn apart we now had to get it to the lab to see if it matched the same clothing as the one previously found again in the woods. Why were we finding children’s clothing in the woods during a case like this?.

There had been no reports of missing children in the area and this case was getting more and more baffling by the minute we were confused and none of us knew where we were going with this bizarre case. I felt as if I was in the twilight zone and that this case was one of fiction but it was not and it was happening but there was nothing to go on.

I called a detective friend of mine who was now retired as I needed some advice about this case and maybe where to go with it. My detective friend said “ so what evidence do you have “, I replied “ well we have two sets of children’s clothes and that’s about it. Well then my detective friend said “ you now have to find out about all the children in the local area “, but I said, this was not committed by a child, these murders were committed by an animal of some sort. My friend said “ never overlook anything, not even a child.

So off I went and investigated all the children in the area how long they had lived there; what school they went to; their medical records; their parents; and the local foster home which had about 10 children in it’s care. They were all boys and all aged between 10 and 12 years of age. I thought it very odd that they were all boys and odd that they were all the same age range but there again on the other hand what was odd about it.

A lot of people go on to have children and somewhere down the line they find that they cannot cope with the child or something goes wrong with the parenting and that is where the foster homes come into the story. They are just kids let down by their parents and the world that they have been born into. It’s not their fault, it’s just that we all live in a very cruel and harsh world, one of poverty and hardship and many challenges.

Was I looking for a child killer but there again what child could possibly do this to another human being. This could not possibly be the work of any human being, not the way these two bodies were found. It must surely be an animal but there again there were no traces of an animal just the clothes of a child and torn clothes at that. We had all the evidence up on the meeting room board and I kept looking at it and looking at it to see if anything at all could come to me out of the blue.

I thought the only thing I can now do is go and talk to the people who run the foster home and look for anything there that might have anything to do with this mysterious case. It was my one and only lead and it was a complete long shot. I went along to the foster home and I was welcomed at the door by Mr Briggs. He was a large man and very well spoken. He took my hat and coat and we went through to the living room which was very neat and well presented.

Mr Briggs asked me what he could do for me and I informed him that there had been two brutal murders in the woods in the area and that I was looking for any clues linked to the case. Mr Briggs said that of course he knew about the murders after all there were police everywhere but he could not understand what the foster home had to do with my Investigation.

I informed him that children’s clothes had been found near the murder scene and that they were boys clothes in the age range of about 10 years old. I asked him if he noticed any of the boys’ clothes missing as of late to which he responded with ‘ I have lots of boys here I do not keep count of every bit of clothing’, but I said you would surely have noticed if one of the boys came home only half clothed. Mr Briggs responded ‘ I have not noticed any of the boys as of late coming home half dressed no’. I asked him if he had help with the boys and he responded with no. I look after the boys alone and I love my job.

I commended him on doing such a hard job but yet very rewarding, Mr Briggs responded by saying that he feels like a father figure to the boys and that he loves his job seeing the boys so happy after coming from such dysfunctional families. I went on to say that it must be a very difficult job taking care of children that had been damaged so young in life. Mr Briggs added that what some of the boys had been through in their young lives was absolutely disgraceful and that God should never have allowed their parents to get pregnant and have children but their parents did get pregnant and that those parents abused that privilege.

I told him that I see one of the boys always hanging about the murder cases and that he is a character. Oh said Mr Briggs that would be Freddie, he keeps wandering about the local village like a lost sheep his case is terrible but Mr Briggs would not tell me what the child had been through and why he was at the foster home but just that he was coming along very well and that he was very happy with the other boys.

I did inform Mr Briggs that maybe a ten year old boy should not be roaming around the woods and village but Mr Briggs informed me that Freddie can take care of himself and that he was very mature for his age. I told Mr Briggs that he said the same thing over and over to me ‘ has there been a murder, and I thought the child might be maybe a little backward. Mr Briggs laughed and said ‘ oh that’s Freddie alright there is nothing backwards about our Freddie. ’

I got up to leave and looked around the room and on the one wall was loads of photos of boys and I looked intensely. Mr Briggs responded by saying they are all the boys I have fostered over the years. I once again commended him on his good works with the boys and I told him to contact me if he notices any of the boys clothes missing or anything odd about the boys. Of course I will responded Mr Briggs and I left looking back at the house a little puzzled. I saw the curtain move upstairs and I thought all the boys were in school but there must have been one of them upstairs.

I took a walk around the house and around the back of the house where I could see a full line of clothes blowing in the wind. All the boys’ clothes tee - shirts , shorts , jeans , jumpers , they all looked the same size as the clothes I had back at the station. There was something very odd about this house. I could feel it in my stomach but once again there was no ties to anything and this case was still very up in the air.

I walked back around the front of the house and towards my car when the same boy approached me again and said “ has there been a murder “, I said oh hello and you must be Freddie I have just been talking to your foster dad. Freddie looked up at me and stared and once again said “ has there been a murder”, I asked Freddie why he keeps saying that to me to which he just stared at me for a few seconds. Mr Briggs came out of the house and called Freddie to come in giving me a horrible stare as if I had outstayed my welcome.

I watched Freddie walk towards the house and then along came the other boys like robots being called home for their tea and bed. I had high respect for Mr Briggs looking after all those boys alone but there was just something about Mr Briggs that I could not figure out in fact I was having trouble figuring out the whole Community and this awful case.

I spent my evenings walking around the little town and the outskirts out of the woods, just looking for anything at all that could lead me to anything but nothing ever happened. Then one afternoon I heard something in the woods like a ruffling in the bushes and the next thing I heard a child laughing. I shouted out who was there but there was no response. I shouted again you must not be in those woods whoever you are get out of there. There was no response until I heard what sounded like a wolf or tiger. It was breathing heavily and it was growling as if ready to pounce at any moment when two other policemen came looking for me as they wanted me back at the station.

I said we have something in the woods, something that sounds like an animal. It’s very close, we have to go in and investigate. The other police officers told me to wait for other officers as it was too dangerous to go in there unarmed. So we waited for back up and they soon arrived and we went deep into the woods but found no signs of any animal. We searched many areas of the woods but there was nothing. Then out of the blue we came across Mr Briggs walking in the woods with a rucksack on his back. I asked him why he was in the woods alone? And he told me he was just taking a walk which I obviously found very strange.

I continued to probe Mr Briggs and I informed him that he knew there was something very dangerous in the woods and yet he still pursued to walk there alone even though he fostered children and if something were to happen to him those boys would have no home. Mr Briggs looked at me and smiled and said ‘ nothing would happen to me detective in these woods. I was brought up around here and I know these woods like the back of my hand. I spent my childhood in these woods’. I still pushed him on the matter and said but there have been two murders in these woods and what would make him so special as to not be number 3 . I heard a wolf just now. I went on. Did you hear anything? A wolf he said. I did not hear anything of a sort he belittled me by going on about how I should maybe get some sleep and stop walking around or near the woods. He walked away and looked back at me and said ’ you know detective the woods are as dangerous for you as they are for anybody else. I went on but are they dangerous for you too Mr Briggs or are you something very special. He smirked and walked away.

When we went back to the station the boss wanted to see me. He told me that Mr Briggs had put in a complaint about me and the complaint was that I had no business going to see him at the foster home and questioning him about the home and the boys. I told my boss that the questions were purely professional and had to do with the case only it had nothing to do with him and the boys. My boss told me that Mr Briggs was very highly regarded in the community and that I must not pursue him any more as his work with the foster home was remarkable.

I had to tell my boss that there was something very odd about Mr Briggs like he was hiding a secret or something or was covering something or covering somebody. My boss informed me that his record was clean and that the boys thought the world of him and that I should not maybe spoil that with my intuition. We had a small discussion about the case and that it was baffling to me and it was not going anywhere but that today I did hear something in the woods something that sounded like a creature maybe a wolf like it was tracking me down but then the police officers turned up and then we came across Mr Briggs walking in the woods all alone.

My boss looked at me and shook his head and told me to just keep probing the case and keep the locals safe and to please not bother Mr Briggs anymore. I nodded my head and quietly walked out of the office.

I walked into my office and just sat and looked at the evidence I had on the photos I had of the children’s clothing and the torn flesh in the woods as that was all I had to go on so far. My colleague walked into the room and sat down on the sofa and we talked about the case in general. I said, to my colleague sergeant stone ‘ what are your thoughts of witchcraft or black magic what do you think about it? ‘, well said detective stone when I was younger I did play with the Ouija board but that’s as far as my thoughts go why?. What if and a big what if we are looking at this case too black and white, what if, there is something sinister going on here and we are not seeing it?. Sergeant Stone burst out laughing at witchcraft in the 21st century. I think you need a vacation. I said ’ yes maybe I do!.

I as usual walked about the town where the murders took place and I decided to go into one of the local shops and buy myself some bread and general food for the house as I lived alone and I only really bought enough for myself. I asked the shopkeeper some questions about the town and the history of the town. The shop keeper said that he was born and bred in the town and that these two people being mutilated in the woods was shocking to everybody. He never thought that such a vile thing could happen in this town ever.

I asked him about the people in the town and the town in general and he said it had always been a very quiet town and the people who lived in it were the people who had grown up there. I asked him if anybody new had come into the town as of late or anybody that he maybe did not know and he scratched his head and said not really in fact the only new people that really came into the town were the foster home children but he said they were kids and some of them never really stopped long in the town. I asked him about Mr Briggs the foster home manager and he told me that he was in school with him in his extreme youth and that he was very odd in school kept to himself and was extremely reserved and very much bullied but he was well liked in town and very well respected for the work he has done with the children.

I asked him if any new kids had come into town as of late to the foster home and he said ‘ oh yes the newest one to the foster home was little Freddie he had been in the village about 3 weeks only and that everybody liked him very much. Oh I went on Freddie I have met him twice now during the murders, the shop keeper smiled and I bet he has said to you ’ has there been a murder? I said yes all the time.

I asked the shop keeper if he knew anything about Freddie his background; why he had come to the town?, and the shopkeeper told me something that sent shivers down my spine apparently he said word is that Freddie’s parents fled leaving Freddie all alone in the house after he was born they just left him and nobody has been able to track his parents down it was then that he was sent to Mr Briggs. The shopkeeper went on to tell me that Mr Briggs knew Freddie’s parents from many years ago and that Mr Briggs offered to take him in after they left Freddie.

The shopkeeper was puzzled as to why I was asking so many questions about a small child but I just said that I was just asking general questions about the case. This case was getting more and more interesting Freddie was the latest person to the village and then people start getting killed and Mr Briggs knew Freddie’s paternal parents was there some link here?, and why is Mr Briggs so upset with me visiting him at home to ask him some routine questions?. This was all very bizarre but on the other hand there might be a complete link here about maybe something very sinister. Something here just felt very wrong to me.

I knew the only thing I could do was to investigate Freddie’s parents and see where that took me but again where was I going with this case and why was I investigating a child after all we were looking for a beast some sort of animal not a child killer I myself was lost in this but instinct just told me that something was wrong here with Mr Briggs and Freddie but it was insane to think of anything like the occult going on here but it was not something I was going to rule out. I would have to conduct the investigation in secret as Mr Briggs had already put in a complaint about me and my boss would deem me as mad if I told him that my thoughts were of an unethical or evil murders going on here.

I looked into Freddie’s case with social services and I then went to Freddie’s home where he was born and spoke to some of the community and locals that were around. I found out that Freddie’s dad was a scientist and that Freddie’s mother was a vet. In fact she was the best in her field winning many awards for her outstanding work with animals and she was once vet of the year. The community only saw them now and again but when they did see them they all said they were very nice people and always spoke. The only thing was none of the community ever remember seeing Freddie’s mother pregnant and then out of the blue a baby arrives which was a shock because she never spoke of ever being pregnant.

I went into the house as it had been left derelict and the one window was wide open. It had no furniture, just empty echo rooms and floorboards and of course cobwebs everywhere. There was a table in the kitchen and on there was a baby’s rattle so I went upstairs and my footsteps echoed as I walked up the wooden stairs. There was a cot in the small bedroom and a little wardrobe and in the larger bedroom was a bed with just a mattress on there and the bed had been covered over with plastic sheets. There was another room, a little study where the certificates still stood on the wall which said excellence in the field studying zoology Freddie’s dad was a scientist of animals and Freddie’s mum a vet, two people with a love of animals. I went back downstairs as there was nothing else left around the place. I continued to look around the place when I opened the doors to a room under the stairs. There was a hoover and a bag of dusters and a bottle of polish but further back was a set of concrete steps leading to an underground basement.

It was a basement that you would never have found unless you were looking for it and the steps led to another house under a house as I went in the rooms there were carpets and curtains this basement was more furnished than it was upstairs and one of the rooms was what looked like a lab a lab with a huge sink and test tube bottles and a small incubator for a baby with tubes coming out of it. The first thought that came into my head was that my thoughts might be right to some unethical experiment going on here. There was a smaller room in the basement with children’s wall paper and a bed with straps either side of it which looks like it was put there to keep something or somebody strapped to it. I had shivers going down my spine as to what was going on here and why was this looking more and more bizarre.

Were these people conducting some sort of an experiment with Freddie and where did Mr Briggs come into all of this?. As I continued to walk around the basement I came across a sketch book and in it was sketches of a baby and as I turned the pages the baby turned from a baby to a wolf full of hairs and changes in it’s skeletal appearance. My blood ran cold and I could feel the Color fade from my face. What were these people doing to this baby if this ever was a human baby and were these doctors conducting human experiments with animals? I was baffled!.

I could not go to anybody about this even though I had the sketches because with what I was thinking they would have deemed me insane, was Freddie some sort of an animal that was attacking people and was Mr Briggs protecting him by taking him in and fostering him?. I was upsetting myself even thinking this but somewhere along the line it was all making sense to me but it would surely not make sense to anybody else. Was Freddie a little boy by the day but turned into a wolf by night that needed to feed or was I really going mad. The torn children’s clothes and the wolf-like attacks on humans was there really something in this and had Freddie’s parents really conducted experiments on Freddie with a wolf?.

I did not know what to believe in myself and I could not prove any of this in fact it was madness to be even thinking like this. Maybe it was just an animal that was doing these killings and I was just overthinking all of this.

There was only one thing I could do and that was to go and see a scientist and show them these sketches I had found. Could people really experiment on human DNA with animal DNA and if they did what might or could be the outcome from a scientist’s point of view. I needed to know what the answer might be.

I made an appointment to go and visit a lab in the city and speak to a top scientist about my thoughts on this case that people could conduct human experiments mixed with animals. I went along very open minded. The scientist looked at my sketches and I told her about the case that there had been grizzly murders with the bodies being ripped apart but no signs of any animals no footprints nothing and then I found clothing ripped apart near the scene and a child coming up to me saying has there been a murder not to mention a carer who was looking for something in the woods. I am just putting two and two together on something that is not natural going on here but something is very wrong here something which puts the wind up me.

The scientist informed me that there have been cases of experiments on animals of course but to mix human DNA with animal DNA she said the parents would have to be insane to do that to a child. In fact she said they would be facing years in Jail for committing such vile experiments. I asked what would be the outcome of this? Well she said, go on a guess the child would suffer but the child could suffer in many ways. I said with a deep breath could the child turn from a human child into a werewolf for example and kill simply because it has animal DNA inside it. The scientist said to me you are talking about a werewolf now that the child could be a werewolf?. I said they are my thoughts. The scientist looked baffled and said I honestly do not know what to say to you about this as a scientist and as a rational human being. She said I am an educated person and so are you and we are here talking about werewolves.

I said I really do not know what else to think the clues are all there but the reality of it is insane.

The scientist stated that I would have to catch the child as a werewolf and I would have to catch the child or the werewolf committing a murder then this could be taken seriously. She went on I do not miss believe you about all of this. We live in a very strange world. We only have to read the papers everyday to see that but you really would have to have evidence of your unorthodox thoughts on this case. Other than that she said you could try tracking down the parents wherever they are and going from there.

I walked away as usual feeling totally exhausted by this case as I always felt like I was not getting anywhere and that this was all silly talk and has nothing to do with the real world. I felt like I was wasting my time and that I should move on to some other case that there was hard evidence for. Even if I did see the child turn into a werewolf and kill who would believe me unless I had a witness it all seemed impossible to comprehend and there was nobody in my team that I could share this information with. What do I say in the next team briefing that we are looking for a child werewolf. I would be thrown out of the force in terms of insanity and given an early pension.

My boss at the station wanted to see me as he wanted to know where this case was going and what possible leads I was chasing up so far. I went along and sat in his office and we both sat down with a cup of coffee and just talked. He asked me what was going on in my life and if I was happy in my job and if I ever wanted to see the station Psychiatrist it would bring no shame on me or my Job. I drank my coffee and stood up and walked around the room looking at my boss’s certificates hanging on the wall and his medals for his many years of service. I said, why do you feel I need to see a psychiatrist? Well my boss said putting his hand to his mouth. I had a phone call from a scientist that you went to see about the case and she was very concerned about you that you went to see her about a child possibly being a werewolf and a killer. I frowned my eyebrows but I went to see her in confidence. You cannot go to a top scientist and tell her that there is a child werewolf committing these killings. It’s madness you’re a detective for goodness sake not an author of a fictional book looking for stories.

I continued to walk around the room with my hands in my pocket and taking a deep breath, I said what are your thoughts boss on the occult the paranormal stuff like that?Well he said only what I see on the television and in movies I have never really come across anything like it in my personal life do you really think that this case is of the occult that the child really is a werewolf and a killer?. I honestly do not know I said, I said where is the child’s parents? Why is Mr Briggs so secretive?Why did I hear a wolf in the woods seemingly wanting to kill me? I am just baffled by all of this.

My boss pulled a file out of his desk and told me to sit down and to look over the file. I said what file is this?, my boss said, take it home and look over it very closely it’s some of the parents of the children that Mr Briggs looks after their background; their upbringings; there is also the place of birth of Freddie’s parents I am sending you to investigate Freddie’s parents where they were born in west Virginia I want you to do this in secret and in total confidence, the powers that be want this case shut down but I have belief in you and I am willing to go along with you on this if it’s what you want. Or we can shut the case down due to lack of evidence and I can get you a session with the psychiatrist. It’s your personal choice. I think you’re mad with the werewolf story but maybe you might have something with the foster home I don’t know!.

When I leave for West Virginia, the day after tomorrow we have rented you a house and that is where you will conduct all your research. You will report to me and me only about anything at all that you find for all we know Freddie’s parents could still be there if they are they will be arrested for leaving a child alone.

I will try my best to find anything I said, well said my boss lets try and wrap this case up before anybody else gets murdered.

I went home and packed a suitcase of clothes and made sure I had everything to fly out to west Virginia what I was going to find out there I will never know but it was to be the origins of this case and hopefully I would find Freddie’s parents alive somewhere in West Virginia there must have been a very good reason why they would leave their son behind in London, England.

The morning came for me to fly out there and I made sure the house was locked up as I had no idea how long I would be away on this case. I did have a very good housekeeper. She kept my home very clean and went shopping for me as I was hardly ever there. She would come in once a week and clean for me as normal and just check everything was alright as I trusted her very much. We had many conversations over tea and biscuits when she was supposed to be cleaning my house but I told her to sit down and have a chat when I was there. She would often try and tell me that her niece was looking for a nice man to settle down with and of course she told her niece all about me and her niece wanted to meet me but it was not the life for me. My house keeper did question my sexuality as she thought I might be hiding a huge secret like I could be a closeted homosexual but I just laughed it off as usual. She would say there is nothing wrong dear with being a gay. She certainly told it as it was.

Off I went to West Virginia and it was a lovely place. The house they rented for me was a clipboard farm house in it’s own grounds with high fencing and it was very private, just what I needed to investigate this awful case. There were lots of trees and forestry and the grass was green with leaves all around it reminded me very much of my home town in the south wales valleys, a kind of mining community very close knit and very friendly.

I dropped off my luggage at the house and looked at all the rooms that I had to myself. It was very warm furnishing with thick carpets all around and very thick curtains that were all lined. It smelled fresh and new like it had just been cleaned. My bed was huge with thick duvets and lovely grey covers and on top of the bed was a thick woolen blanket. It looked so warm and comfortable I could not wait to get in there.

I decided to stretch my legs and go for a walk and see some of West Virginia. Some locals passed me walking their dogs but they did not speak as they could see I was a stranger in town. I did not know where to start with this case but when I got back home from my walk I had a hot bath and then cuddled up on the sofa and went through the notes my boss gave me. There was an address In West Virginia where Freddie’s parents came from and that was a good place to start tomorrow morning. My eyes were getting very heavy and I could not wait to get into that bed. I knew I would fall straight asleep like a baby.

I was awoken in the early hours by a howling noise and I could hear footsteps walking around the outside of my house but nobody was able to get over my fence as it was very high and circled all the way around the house but something was outside in the grounds and it was circling my house. I got out of bed and went to the window and looked all around the grounds and I could hear something in the trees. The next thing I know something is looking up at me straight at me in the window. They were huge eyes and they lit up in the dark just like an animal’s eyes would. I kept staring and slightly opened the window where a faint breeze came through and the next thing I knew, it ran away from the tree and jumped over the fence like a cat or something. The howling started again all around my house and it was piercing to hear so I just closed the window and jumped back into bed there was nothing more I could do. I put the covers up to my eyes and just hoped and prayed that I was safe in the house and that whatever was outside would not come in. My body was soaked with a cold sweat as I had no idea what I was dealing with here but whatever I was dealing with it or they knew I was here and that I was here for a reason.

The man I saw walking his dogs yesterday did not like me very much and he knew I was a stranger in town. I wonder if it was him outside my house last night trying to scare me away?. I went on my business and went looking at the house where Freddie’s parents were born and as I entered I could see people watching me from their windows like I was an intruder in their community. A very elderly lady opened the door and she asked me what I wanted and why was I disturbing her sleep, a sleep she took at the same time every morning. I said I am looking for the boy and girl who grew up here. They are now both doctors. I am their housekeeper, she said and I take care of the place when they are away but right now they are living in London.

Oh I said you have not heard they have disappeared from London and they left their son Freddie he is now in foster care in London. She said they have a son? I said yes Freddie he is about ten years of age. She went very quiet, and who are you may I ask? Oh I said I am a detective from London looking for Freddie’s parents.

She said you had better come in, which I of course did. We went into the living room. It was a very large house, very well kept and very glamorous after all the owners were doctors. The elderly lady made tea while I looked around the house. There were no photos of Freddie at all, just pictures of his parents as children and as adults now. The elderly lady sat down and poured the tea and she told me that she had not seen the owners of the house for about ten years but that she occupied the house now and looked after it. She told me that the couple were related as cousins and that they promised they would never have children but she said you can imagine my shock when I found out they have a son.

I asked what kind of people they were and why they would abandon their son and leave him with a foster carer. She said I suppose that would be Mr Briggs, I said yes he fosters boys. I asked how she knew Mr Briggs? She said Mr Briggs was from the area in West Virginia and that he was very close friends with the couple. She said we never knew they were lovers but Mr Briggs did and that was how they moved to London. You can Imagine our surprise when we found out that relatives were lovers. It was a huge shame on the family name. So I said Mr Briggs was born here but yet he was brought up in London. Oh yes, said the elderly lady Mr Briggs and his parents moved from here when he was young but his parents died young and Mr Briggs grew up over there but he was born here In West Virginia. He has always written letters here.

The little old lady asked me if I would leave as she was shocked to hear that they had a child. I got up and she grabbed my arm and said how is the boy any trouble at all?″ I said well as it happens we have had two murders in London two grizzly murders and we are baffled by it. I said I find Freddie very comical but I am here to investigate his parents and where they have gone.

The little old lady lost the color in her face and I asked her if she was alright , she said she was very tired and that she must get her sleep. I asked her to call me by giving her my card if they should ever get in contact. I let myself out and the elderly lady did not say a word. Hearing the news that cousins had given birth really knocked the wind out of her. I then went to visit the local doctor to see what he could tell me about Freddie’s parents and the local community as a whole.

I sat in the doctor’s office and looked at the many photos on the walls. They were photos of the human skeleton and photos of a wolf skeleton and this just scared me because of my theory about the human werewolf. I caught the doctor and I asked him if he could spare maybe 10 mins of his time to answer some questions. He was more than obliging and invited me into his office where we sat down and again drank tea. I asked him about the community of West Virginia and he said he was born here so he had known everybody since he was a child. I informed him why I was in West Virginia and whom I was looking for and he told me what the elderly lady told me that he had not seen Burt and Virginia for a very long time, it was the first time somebody had named them. He went on to say that West Virginia is a very small town and that they look after each other there and that strangers were not welcome. I knew he meant me of course.

I said I had found out that Burt and Virginia were cousins and that it brought shame on the community. The doctor told me that we accepted it as long as they did not have any children and they promised the town that they would not conceive a child. I said oh but they did have a child and he is called Freddie he lives in London in a foster home with Mr Briggs.

The doctor looked at me with shock in his face and said they conceived a child and Briggs has the child. I said yes, he is with Briggs. He asked me what kind of a child he is. I said oh a cheeky little chap but his parents ran off and left him and I need to track them down plus we have had some murders in London in fact brutal murders. The doctor’s hand was shaking and he tipped his tea over his lap, damn he said, god damn them both. I said, you’re the second person to be angry about this about them giving birth. Their cousins the doctor said what do you expect to hear from us congratulations.

I asked him if he knew where I could find them or any clues to their whereabouts, they will not come back here he said not after this. He told me to leave West Virginia and go home and that I have no business being here. I said, Oh I have already been scared off by a wolf in my garden last night banging on the wood of my rented house. A wolf said to the doctor you must be mistaken, we have no wolves in West Virginia. Well, I went on. There was a huge wolf in my grounds last night. The doctor said oh it was probably Miss Fletcher’s dogs from just down the road from you she has two huge German shepherd dogs and they sometimes get over the fencing they must have come into your property.

I said what can you tell me about Miss Fletcher? She has the huge clip wood house with the massive drive right. Well said the doctor Miss Fletcher is an extravagant lady she writes books about the Occult and devil worship and black magic she is well respected and her books sell very well globally. Some say she is much bigger than life itself but she truly believes in what she writes. She walks with a cane now and people very rarely see her out of the house. I said I guess writing takes up most of her time.

I have one of her books here that the doctor said she signed for me you see. The book was called ‘When man howls at the moon at midnight’ , it was about miss Fletcher’s theory that man can be controlled by the moon and change form by the moon. Shivers went down my spine once again and I just looked at the doctor. My suspicions that Freddie was a wolf of some sort were coming more and more to light and was I talking to a man by day and a wolf by night?. I went on you know what doctor when I was a teenager I had anxiety and I was going through the pains of puberty even boys get the pains, and part of my anxiety was that I thought I would turn into a werewolf simply because I mixed the dark hairs over my body with the werewolf movies, I even thought my teeth was growing out of my mouth.

The doctor burst out laughing and said I have never heard that one before, well I said you have now. But I continued, you know what doctor it was the most frightening time of my life even though it was not real it was imagined it terrified me beyond belief. The doctor looked at me Intensely and said and do you believe in werewolves? I said my beliefs are becoming more and more intense since I walked into this town. The doctor went on, maybe you were meant to come here, maybe your body was always drawn to West Virginia. I replied maybe it was. Myself and the doctor just stared at each other for a few seconds and I got up and walked around the room.

I said, doctor where do I go with this case and what in your opinion should I do about all of this?.

The doctor told me to go home detective back to London and forget about this case. I will contact Mr Briggs and I will see that the child has a home here in West Virginia where he belongs. But I said what about the killings?oh, said the doctor, I am sure that will not happen again, not now that you have come to talk to me. I said are you hiding something from me, doctor.The doctor replied, I am hiding nothing from you detective. I am just a simple doctor in a very small town!.I replied can you call Miss Fletcher for me? I would like to talk to her about her work. The doctor replied but Miss Fletcher see’s nobody these days. She’s a recluse now. I once again asked if he would contact her for me and get me to see her. Tell her I please need to see her about her work and her writing.

He asked me for my contact number and he told me that he would contact me with information about that. I walked back to my rented house and the streets were very quiet and there were lots of leaves on the floor very much like my home town of Wales in the autumn months. So far I knew that the people of West Virginia did not approve at all of the couple in question having a baby and that nobody knew where they were. I was hoping that Miss Fletcher might have some information for me that will make sense of this. There must be somebody in West Virginia that is not afraid to tell me the truth.

I got home and made myself some food as there was a food parcel left for me when I got to the house. I think it must have been part of the price for renting. I then took a hot bath and settled down to read over the files again to try to see if I was missing anything. I then heard a noise outside and went to the window to see what it was. It was dark so I could not see very much. I then heard something walking around on the porch outside and it was scratching on the door. I froze where I stood as this was no German shepherd dog. It was growling and it seemed very angry. I made sure I locked all the doors and the gates to the house were also locked as I double checked everything.

I phoned the sheriff and told him that there was something outside my house he told me to sit tight and that he was on his way over. I put the phone down and something tried to open my door as the handle turned. I needed to do something, so I grabbed the floor brush and banged on the door with it and I shouted I have phoned the sheriff. My front door shook like something was trying to take the door off the hinges so I ran upstairs and bolted the bedroom door. I looked through my bedroom window when I saw something that terrified me as a teenager: a huge black wolf which stood like a human and had human features looked up at me in the window. It had ears and piercing eyes and it just stared at me like a cat in headlights. We both looked at each other and neither of us looked away. My body was soaking wet and I could feel the color fade from my face.

The eyes were almost human and they terrified me by the evil stare I was getting from the creature. It was as if the creature hated me and it wanted to kill me with it’s stare alone. The next thing I know it raises it’s sharp claw to me and just points at me like it needs to get to me and it really hates me. I thought I was having a nightmare but I was very much awake. The sheriff arrived at the gates and the wolf ran away over the fence. I was still in shock and my body was cold. I opened the window and shouted to the sheriff I cannot come out there there is a creature in my grounds. The sheriff climbed over the gates and made his way to my front porch.

He shouted there is nothing down here believe me whatever it was has fled I must have disturbed it. I said I am coming down. I went downstairs and opened the door for the sheriff and told him to quickly come in. I said look at these scratch marks all over my door. The sheriff told me that a lot of the Community have huge dogs around here and maybe one of them got out. I said people keep telling me that sheriff , what I saw just moments ago looking at me in the upstairs window was no dog, it was some sort of human wolf and I think it wanted me dead.

The sheriff laughed. Oh now sir, we have no human wolves around here. I mean my wife says I have a very hairy chest but I don’t think I am a wolf. I said to the sheriff I am being serious. A wolf creature was looking at me just like you are looking at me now and he was a black wolf with the blackest of thick hair. Look he said what if I have a good look around the grounds before I go and I will put your mind at rest. We have no worries in West Virginia and we don’t want you to have any worries either. I thanked the sheriff and my phone rang. I bolted the door behind him and went to the phone. It was the doctor telling me that Miss Fletcher will see me tomorrow he told me you are very lucky to see her.

I told the doctor what I just saw on my property and he told me to phone the sheriff, I told him that the sheriff is already here. Well then he said I am almost sure you are in good hands out there. The sheriff knocked on my door and told me that he could find nothing at all, not even dog mess. I said sorry sheriff but you will have to climb over the gates again as I am not coming out there alone after what was looking at me. The sheriff giggled fine sir, not a problem and you have a good night he said. I will try, I sighed.

I locked up the house and went off to bed as it was the only thing I could think to do in case that creature came back to the house. I cuddled under the blankets and listened to the smallest of noises. I then fell asleep and I had the worst nightmare. I was eating food with my family when my clothes were splitting open in front of my family and there were ears growing in my head and my skin on my body was splitting open from turning into a hairy creature. My mother was screaming and my niece and nephews were crying. My siblings were crying to stop what I was doing. I was screaming out what was happening to me and I told my family to run away from me as fast as they could. I kept turning into a huge hairy beast and I could not stop it from happening. I did not want to hurt anybody but I lost control of my body and mind and I was now a massive beast with huge sharp teeth and an untamed animal. My family were all screaming at me but I was now a wild beast out of control of my senses and emotions. I woke up and jumped off my pillow sweating with cold fear and my heart was beating out of my chest. It was morning and West Virginia was turning me into a nervous wreck of a man.

I got up and got dressed and I thought I would have breakfast in the local town. I left the house still wary of my surroundings even though it was light and I was constantly looking around me. I looked around the property grounds for any signs of wolf hair or clothing or anything but there was nothing. I made my way into town as it was a nice day with the sun shining down on the leaves. I walked around with people looking at me like I had horns in my head. When I walked into the cafe the whole place gossiped about me like I was very unwelcome.

The waitress came over to me and politely asked me what I would like? I asked for a southern breakfast with a mega tea. Where are you from?, Oh originally I said I am from Wales, South Wales but I work in London, England. Oh she said it’s a lovely accent. I thanked her very much. She asked was I on vacation? Oh no I explained I am here on police business an investigation, oh really she said in such a small town. We have no crime here she said we take care of each other, yes I said so I have noticed.

I ate my breakfast and was full up as it was a huge breakfast and I went for another walk with once again the people stopping and staring. I made my way to miss Fletcher’s house and spoke to her via the intercom. Yes a voice said, Oh hello Miss Fletcher I am the detective that you said could speak with you. Oh right she said sure hang on a minute as I need to get the dogs locked up. I could hear somebody walking towards the huge wooden gates and I could hear what sounded like a cane. Just a second her voice said, she unlocked the gates and smiled and said come on in then detective. She locked the gates and as we walked down the long path we walked past her huge German shepherd dogs that ran and pounced up at the gates as I walked past. I jumped and stopped and miss Fletcher giggled and said ’ they do their Job and they keep me safe they are my babies.

Miss Fletcher was a fairly tall woman around 5” 9 and she had grey hair which parted down the middle and fell on both sides of her head. She was fairly large in weight and I could see a tough woman who was very independent and private. We walked into her house which was big and very comfortable. Inside I could see she was a woman who liked to make a nest in her home. Lots of rugs and cushions everywhere and very thick carpets. The hoover was out as her dogs constantly lost lots of hairs and she was always hoovering the carpets after them. She told me to go into the living room where she pointed and make myself comfortable while she made some tea and cookies.

I could hear her with the cups and cookie jar and the spoons and she kept talking to herself saying such things as come on now girl the milk and the sugar. She called to me to come and get the tray as she did not have the strength nowadays to carry a heavy tray. She sat down with a sigh and said ’ getting old ain’t for wimps young man. I replied yes it’s not easy but then neither is being young. She giggled and said I don’t know about that.

She continued the doctor told me why you are here and who you are looking for and to be honest detective we are all very annoyed at what has happened. I said, you write books about the occult and devil worship? Yes she said, it is something I have always had a fascination with and I went on to study it and write about it. She got up from the chair with some effort and went over to her bookcase cove in the wall and got down some of her published work. She passed them to me. They were hardback large books with Images with the text. You write about wolves I see and the werewolf. I said you believe in all of that?. Don’t deceive me, said Miss Fletcher I know you are here because you believe that the child is a werewolf am I right?.

I responded. Can you really tell me what is going on here in West Virginia? Miss Fletcher sat down and stared at one of her books and giggled. Oh she said you are in no ordinary town detective and you should never have come here you should have left well alone. I replied I am in danger aren’t I?, very much so she said. She went on. We were born here and we don’t leave. We just don’t we stay here until we die, that is just the way it is. We keep together and we marry each other. We keep it in the community but Burt and Virginia crossed the line as they are cousins and we don’t marry our cousins. We got to accept it as long as they never had any children, which they agreed to. The next thing we know they run away and have a child and forget the consequences. I replied what consequences? She said, open the book to page 114 and take a look at what I write about werewolf cousins having children.

I looked up at Miss Fletcher with shock and disbelief. I said, Burt and Virginia are werewolves? Miss Fletcher raised her eyebrows and if they have a child detective, I read that if cousins have a child then the child becomes a killer. I looked up from the page and said out loud that is why Freddie is killing people he is of cousin bloodline. Miss Fletcher went on Burt and Virginia took a chance on having a baby but the baby must have bitten Virginia when he was born she then knew that the baby was a killer. Burt and Virginia must have tried to teach the boy right from wrong but as the child got older he had a huge thirst for human Flesh.

I said what about Mr Briggs he left West Virginia for London why? Miss Fletcher said Mr Briggs left with his parents. They did not like who they were or who we were so he chose to leave and foster children. I guess it was a way of having his own family. She said Mr Briggs was very close to Virginia and we thought they might be together as a couple but it was not meant to be. Virginia was in love with Burt and that hurt Mr Briggs very much I guess all these years on Mr Briggs still holds a torch for Virginia which is why he took on the child for her and he is now protecting the child.

I replied you too are a werewolf? Oh yes, detective a very old werewolf. We are a community of werewolves. My father was and my grandfather was and my great grandfather was it goes way back detective. I said what are you all going to do with me?I already have a werewolf trying to get into my house at night. Yes, said Miss Fletcher they will try to kill you as the community does not want any more visitors here. You are a threat to us or to them. I replied I have always really believed in the werewolf but never in a million years thought I would be sitting here today listening to this.

Miss Fletcher said if I were you detective I would leave today while it is still light your safety in that house is in doubt. Miss Fletcher went on we are not killers detective we have learned to live together in harmony with each other but when strangers come into town the animal in us comes out; it’s our protective Instinct. I said what are you going to do about the child? She said take my book home and read it and you will find out what to do. I said why don’t you just kill me now you could. Miss Fletcher laughed and said I am not a killer detective I never have been. We are not killers, we are just half wolf and we learn to live with what we have to. She concluded there is a piece in that book about keeping werewolves from your door. If I were you I would take the advice. I said why are you helping me? She said I am an old woman detective and you have your life to live, read the book and get out of town. I replied you will not hurt the child? Miss Fletcher looked at my eyes and said we do what is written down and happy reading.

She walked me to the gates and laughed as I walked away.

I heard Miss Fletcher let her dogs loose and they immediately pounced at the gates with the gates shaking. They were two huge German Shepherd dogs. Nobody was going to intrude on Miss Fletcher’s land or property.

I walked to my house as it was not far to walk when I heard a rumbling noise in the forestry and leaves crackling on the floor like somebody was following me through the woods. It could be a bird walking on the leaves but there was always something unnerving about this place for obvious reasons that I was not wanted there and I knew the secret of the town.

I went home and bolted all the doors and windows and sat down with a hot drink and read through Miss Fletcher’s books she wrote a book about her great grandfather and his belief in the dark of life and the mystery of it all Miss Fletcher did not write about what she was but she wrote about what could be I of course knew what she was so I read more into the story than other people would I now did not think it could be true I knew it could be true.

From what I read Miss Fletcher’s great grandfather was a scientist no shock there and he was doing some research in the outback of Africa when he came across a huge black wolf as big as a horse. He studied the wolf very carefully over time. When one day a human walked by with her baby she had no idea the wolf was living in that part of the woods. The wolf attacked her and the baby and Miss Fletcher’s great grandfather ran over to help, he grabbed at the wolf pulling back it’s thick black fur and punching the wolf for dear life. The wolf could not be restrained and bit Miss Fletcher’s great grandfather on the arm and turned to eat the baby when Miss Fletcher’s great grandfather got his gun and shot the wolf dead.

The wolf killed the mother but the baby was still alive after the baby had been bitten by the wolf and was bleeding badly. Miss Fletcher’s Great Grandfather, being a doctor, used the blood of the wolf to save the baby and he used it to save himself as he was bleeding badly from the bite. After conducting a blood transfusion in his camp. The baby was going through strange changes as he was growing up. When the baby turned 10 years of age he was killing the animals in the forest with his bare teeth and he was transforming into a wolf during the full moon. Miss Fletcher’s Great Grandfather took the little boy home after taking care of him for ten years in Africa. His home was now West Virginia and that was where Miss Fletcher’s great grandfather raised him to be Civil and from there he married and had children but the wolf blood line had been passed down to other generations now a community of werewolves in West Virginia.

To an ordinary reader of this book it sounds like a work of fiction but to me I knew it was true. Plus, Freddie had just turned ten years of age and the bloodline was the same; it was not mixed, making Freddie’s wolf heritage very mixed with killing and anger. The people of West Virginia had civil themselves but this was no ordinary bloodline, this was the bloodline of two wolves that were related not strangers. The werewolves of West Virginia wanted Freddie dead because if people found out that Freddie was a werewolf they would trace it back to West Virginia just like I did and the secret of that town would be revealed.

I read that to keep a werewolf away from a house or property, a person must put silver across the opening of the door and then ask the werewolf to leave the premises. I took off my st Christopher from around my neck and laid it out on the floor by the front door and I waited for it to come onto my property again. I went back upstairs and continued to read Miss Fletcher’s work on devil worship. This was something that Miss Fletcher witnessed during her days with a witch doctor when she visited South Africa to see where her great grandfather’s camp was. Miss Fletcher wrote about the natives in south Africa and how they worship the devil and many demons. Miss Fletcher Included photos from her own collection in the book and the photos showed shadows all around the camp as the south African people were summoning demons. It was as if the demons were watching as they were being celebrated. Miss Fletcher also recalls shadows being around her bed as she slept and she felt an arm grasp her around her waist as she lay there terrified. I guess as you get much older as Miss Fletcher is today it makes one wonder where one will go after death especially having the bloodline of a wolf. Should Miss Fletcher’s Great Grandfather ever have mixed animal blood with human blood even though it was with well intent.

I was now scared to go to sleep myself on the one hand I was in a small town with werewolves all around me and on the other hand I was reading books on devil worship and the occult why would I do this to myself I was just a lad from little old south wales where nothing really happens how my life had turned.

To make the night even worse I then had a visitor to my house. It was the wolf again as I thought it would be. It wanted me dead by any means. I heard it scratch my downstairs window and once again it tried the handle of my front door. I went downstairs and I could see its shadow on my wall from outside a huge beast taunting me. I opened my front door and confronted it, the beast shuddered away from me when it saw the silver on the floor. I shouted at it to leave me alone. It howled at the full moon and with a scream it said leave. I don’t think it did want me dead, it just wanted me to leave West Virginia.

I went back upstairs and kept reading Miss Fletcher’s book and it talked about a laboratory that Miss Fletcher’s dad worked at when he was alive in the book it stated that Miss Fletcher’s dad wanted to create a cure from the wolf blood and he hoped that somewhere along the line a full human would be born with no wolf heritage. Miss Fletcher’s father thought that his father had cursed the young boy he helped in South Africa by giving him the wolf blood; it was no gift as stated in the book. In fact Miss Fletcher’s dad thought his father was insane for even doing it to a human being. It made me think why Miss Fletcher gave me so much Information about their heritage and why she felt the need to hand me over her books. Maybe she just wanted somebody outside of this community to take a look into the life of maybe a cursed community in West Virginia.

I don’t think that Miss Fletcher wanted the child to die. Maybe she let me in to save the child somehow, maybe she is trying to tell me something without actually saying it and I just might have read into it. But how could I save the child? He was a wolf and he was a killer. What could I possibly do to save that child from the people of West Virginia who saw the child as an abomination to their heritage of peace and civil beings.

I woke up the following day and I needed to find the laboratory where Miss Fletcher’s dad worked as there could be some clues there as to where Freddie’ s parents are or what Miss Fletcher’s dad was working on to find a cure. The Lab had obviously been closed down but I needed to find it and I needed to get in there and have a look around. I left the house and the weather was cold and windy and off I went looking for an old laboratory in West Virginia. I thought I would start with just asking people on the street but they Ignored me and just walked away from me. I then kept walking until I found a taxi that had come from the city and I flagged him down and asked the driver if he knew a good cafe in the city. Of course get in, he said and I will take you to a great diner.

I sat in the front with the driver and he of course asked me what I was doing in West Virginia? I said oh I have family here and I am visiting from the United Kingdom. I asked what he knew about West Virginia and he told me that he was from the city and very rarely came into that small community where he picked me up. He told me that the people in that small town hate strangers so nobody in the city goes there and they never come into the city. He called them very strange and extremely private. He told me that there have been sightings of huge wolves walking about at night in that town and that people had gone missing who entered that town. It was very bizarre, he said. He said he would never come anywhere near there at night, only by day.

I probed him about a laboratory that used to be in that small town many years ago. Oh the old lab he said where Mr Fletcher worked and where he was found dead. I said, found dead!. Oh yes he said the saying goes that Mr Fletcher was trying to cure himself of being a werewolf and he was using unethical methods to find a cure the police found out and he killed himself in the lab leaving his daughter without a father. His daughter has written books about it but we don’t believe her stories. Who would?. I see I said, I said would you come back and get me from the city and take me to the lab. He said, it’s closed down and there is nothing there but a boarded up old factory. He asked why I was so Interested in all of this and I said I love the horror of life and the darkness of it all.

He said he would take me there but he would just drop me off and go as he did not want to be anywhere near that lab. I said. I thought you did not believe in any of this, he said I am just a taxi driver doing my job I am no horror fan. He went on that the people in the small town of West Virginia lived in a bubble and that they just kept to themselves he said there was something very odd about them and that he always kept well away and always will.

When I went into the city for food the environment was totally different to the small town just a few miles away, the people were very welcoming and there was such a free atmosphere there was no feeling awkward or feeling out of place. It was so great to be in a city and I just felt free that small town just did my anxiety no good. I understand it was not their fault that they are different but if only they would blend in with the city people and forget that they are half wolf or maybe that would lead to some sort of temptation something that would disturb the wolf in them maybe they were just afraid of what could happen if they blended in with other humans different to their own. On the one hand I felt sorry for them but on the other hand that is how they live their lives and they just get on with who they are. Who am I to criticize?

I finished my very large southern breakfast and drank lots of tea with it. The waitress just kept pouring more and more tea into my cup. I then walked around the city and bought some clothes as mine were now running low. American Clothes are much different from British clothes. The fabric is just different and all the clothes are very modern and cool in the states where British clothes seem far more conservative and brand. Any case I purchased some and I bought some cologne because why not.

I was ready to go and see this deserted factory or was I? I called the taxi driver to come and collect me from the city and he came in a matter of a few minutes and I asked him if I could put my bags in the trunk and if he would come and collect me later on. Sure he said but he said do you really want to go into that lab alone or even go there at all you must be mad he said but I told him it was something I had to do for research purposes.

We drove to the Laboratory and there was just lots and lots of empty land and nothing about but a lab boarded up. I purchased a torch in the city to take in with me and some gloves in case I needed to break my way in there. The taxi dropped me off and he told me he would come and collect me in two hours time and off he went shaking his head and looking at me in the mirror as he drove off and I was left deserted in a place where I was just thinking what the hell am I doing here?.

The laboratory was boarded up all the way around and the boards had gone mildew with decay over the years and dampness of the seasons. One of the boards was hanging loose from one of the windows and I managed to pull the board away from the window and the board just snapped in half leaving me room to jump through the window. I climbed up on the window ledge and looked inside. It was dark and damp and I could see cages where some animals had been kept but the cages had corroded. I jumped down into the laboratory and my jump echoed, making me jump. I switched on my torch and shined it all around the room. All I could see were those cages and a desk which had been emptied of all it’s stationery. I walked further into the building and there were more offices and hanging up on the back of the door were scientists white lab coats which were again yellow with decay.

As I approached another room I came across an Impression of a wolf’s jaw it looked like it had been Molded straight from a werewolf’s jaw like they were trying to find out why the teeth of a wolf are so sharp and why the nose protrudes out of the face like it does maybe they were looking for a way of stopping the jaw protruding. In the next room were lab bottles and in them lay the carcass of a wolf but the liquid had dried up and the carcass was now just bone. Mr Fletcher really was studying what he was in great detail as I guess he wanted maybe to work out why they transformed as they did and could he stop it from happening?.

I sat down on a chair that was falling apart but it took my weight and I was just looking around the room trying to work out what I could possibly take for evidence that Mr Fletcher was looking for a cure. When straight in front of me Mr Fletcher appeared he was hanging from the ceiling with the rope around his neck and he asked me what I was doing in his lab?. I went limp with fear and the color faded from my face, my mouth went dry and my hair stood on end and my whole body was covered in goosebumps and I was terrified.

Mr Fletcher just hung there and I could not move as I was in shock and my body was stuck to the chair with pure fear. How I kept from peeing in my pants I will never know. Mr Fletcher spoke again and said you’re scared of me but do you know what it is like to be scared of yourself to live in fear of living?. He went on saying I could not live anymore with the curse my grandfather put upon me and my father my daughter who has never married or given birth can you blame her with what I did to her making her live as a wolf. I tried to find a cure believe me I tried to find one but we are cursed and there is nothing anybody can do about it.

I was still in shock and my body was numb with fear. Here I was talking to a dead man who was speaking to me whilst hanging from the ceiling of his lab. I opened my mouth but the words would not come out and I stuttered with fear. I tried to say I have met your daughter Mr Fletcher and she gave me her books to read from them. I have an understanding of what happened and why this town is as it is. Mr Fletcher spoke again this cursed little town they call home you must leave for your own safety you must not stay here. Mr Fletcher came close to my face and stared at me intensely, my body still cold with fear and he said to me get away from the curse he then stood on a chair and jumped off it like he was reliving the hanging but I hid my eyes and when I opened them he had gone.

I took a few minutes to compose myself and just took some deep breaths and I could feel the color coming back into my face. I could not believe or comprehend that I had just seen a ghost, a real life ghost. I wiped my hands over my face and I thought back to the time when I was just a small boy and all this nightmare that I was living was so far away from me when we are children life can be so comfortable but when we grow into adult life life becomes uncomfortable and the anxiety kicks in real life can be overwhelming and very challenging.

I used to love Christmas day when I was a child when we would all wake up very early and outside was still dark and very cold. My mother used to make us wait at the top of the stairs while she went down and put on the heating. My mother would take one very last look around the room at all the Christmas presents in the room all packed up and just waiting to be opened. We all had our own sections of the living room where my mother would call us down from the landing and we would all go to the bottom of the stairs and my mother would point to our four sections where our presents were waiting for us to be opened. The excitement of it all and the warmth of it all never really leaves you because they were such warm family times with no arguments, no rush of life, just very warm times of feeling good as a child.

I always felt as a child that Christmas day was my time. It was a day for me to be happy and it was a day of excitement but as I got older it was the same for the majority of people on Christmas day it was a family day full of warmth , excitement, and Joy. Even today I look back at photos of me as a child on Christmas day and the huge smile on my face at being so happy and full of excitement adult life is so very much different.

Here I was an adult in a very scary situation. I was in a town petrified of being in that town and I had just been conversing with a ghost who hung himself in that very room. What more can I say about the Joy of being an adult, maybe youth is wasted on the young after all. In any case I had to get on with things as we do as adults simply because we have to and I stood up and went outside and took a long walk around the grounds just to get some air and not to feel so afraid to get some warmth back into my veins.

There was nothing in that Laboratory that was any good to me in this case so I put the board back up on the window and just sat outside waiting for my taxi to collect me. Out of the blue I heard a noise coming from the bushes and it was a huge monster of a dog. It was a Bull mastiff and then two more of them came from the bushes and they saw me and made a target straight for me. I did not know what to do but I had to do something or I was going to be torn apart by these beasts. The only thing I could do was to go back into the laboratory and hide and hope to god that they could not get in anywhere. I jumped in through the window and put the board up hoping the board would keep them out.

The bull mastiffs were pounding up against the laboratory walls like a bull running at a red rag and I hoped and prayed that the laboratory would stay up and not just collapse around me. I then heard somebody whistle. It must be the owner I thought of the dogs. He called out you lot get back here right now but they were barking and still pounding up against the lab walls. The dogs refused to go back to him so he came closer to the laboratory and took a look around and I heard him saying to the dogs there is nobody in there apart from rats now all of you go on now and get out of there. The dogs were hesitant to leave as they wanted to eat me but the owner cried out you dogs get moving right now you here to which they did they could sense their owner getting very annoyed.

I waited a while until I could hear only silence when I opened the board a little to get back out when I heard a noise coming from the upstairs of the laboratory. I had to investigate even though by now I was truly mentally exhausted by fear. I walked further into the laboratory when I could see a door leading to a staircase. It was a door you would never have found if you were not looking for it. It was a small wooden door and I had unstuck it open with my fingers as it had got stuck after so many years of not being used. A staircase led up a very dusty stairs and I put my torch on a bigger and brighter light and walked up the stairs. The smell was awful like rotting decay and I had to put my hand over my mouth. I got to the top of the stairs and there were dead flies everywhere. The floor was covered in dead flies and the smell made me sick in the corner of the room.

There in front of me was an operating table with surgical utensils and drip bag holders and to my utter shock on the surgical table lay a skeleton, a human skeleton which must have been there for many years. The flesh had evaporated leaving just a skeletal corpse and there were notes on the table which had now gone yellow with age. I could make out that this person was being experimented on. They must have worked with Mr Fletcher and used their body to find a cure. The townspeople must have hated who they were so much so that they gave their bodies to science to find a cure.

I was looking through the notes when a hand grabbed me and pulled me. When I turned around the corpse was looking up at me and it said, please bury me don’t leave me here alone in the darkness please and the corpse went still again. I quietly said to myself you poor thing if only they could find a cure.

I heard a car in the grounds and thank god it was the taxi thank goodness he never came when the dogs were there that would have given the game away. I went downstairs and crawled through the window and went out to see the taxi driver and he said oh there you are did you find what you were looking for?. I asked him if he would do me a huge personal task and that I would pay him wisely for his time. I asked him if he would go back into the city and buy me a shovel and that I would need his help on his return. A shovel he commented but why do you need a shovel?. I said to bury a body. He stuttered you need a shovel and maybe the town sheriff too?. I said no no sheriff please just get me the shovel to which I gave him the money. As he went away shaking his head and looking at me like I had lost my mind I went back into the laboratory and started collecting bones from the body as the body had decomposed the bones had also come away from the body making the body very delicate.

I had to handle the bones using my gloves and take them part by part outside ready to bury them deep in the ground so not even the dogs could get to them. I did wonder who the body was and why he had been left there but whoever he or she was it must have been hiding from the police when they picked up the body of the hanged Mr Fletcher.

It was as if the person wanted to die in the laboratory and they did not want to live as they were living in the community. I got all the body parts out and laid them all down on the floor outside ready to be buried and I went back inside and collected the notes by Mr Fletcher. The taxi driver came with the shovel and I informed him that he would have to help me bury the body. He looked at me like I had gone insane and he kept telling me that we were duty bound to tell the sheriff about this. I told him no the body did not want to be probed anymore and that it just wanted to be buried in the earth.

He asked who are you, who are you really and why come out here in the first place?. I said look I am a detective with the police in London, England and I am here conducting an Investigation and you will not be in any trouble for this at all. You are in fact helping the police. After many minutes he did help me bury the body and we buried it deep in the earth and we left. As we drove back to my house I explained to him why I was here and that the theories of a werewolf town were for real. I told him I was there to investigate two missing people after they had abandoned their son In London, England.

He told me the talk had been circling forever but that it was Just talk he never thought were real. I said there are things going on in our universe that none of us can explain. He asked what I was going to do now? I said continue with my work as I had already come up against so much darkness that I could never leave this case now. He dropped me off just outside the community as he never drove into the town and probably never will now after hearing what I said to him. I asked him if he would keep it to himself and he said come on detective who would believe me anyway. I paid him a tidy sum of money for his time and he told me to contact him if I ever needed to go into the city.

I walked back to the town as it was now getting dark and cold and who should pass me but the guy with the three bull mastiffs now on chains they were growling at me and pulling towards me but the owner was a very big man with jet black hair and a jet black beard he lived not far from me and he looked over at me he must have been around 6” 6 and I have to say very handsome and young. Well built like he worked out and just as he walked into his grounds he pointed his finger at me I went cold once again he was the werewolf who tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Thank god I hid away in the Laboratory when I did or I would definitely by now be dead and torn to shreds by his dogs. I had escaped death so far but how much longer was my luck going to last here.

I went home and took a very long hot bath and just soaked for a while and tried to forget about werewolves and ghosts and the people of West Virginia and just lay back in the bath trying to empty my head of all of this madness going on around me. My phone started ringing but I just did not want to step out of the bath as I was so relaxed in all the bubbles. After about half an hour in the bath I got out and put on my robe and sat in my living room looking over the yellow pages of the notes that had been drawn up by Mr Fletcher. Mr Fletcher used everything he could to find a cure for being born a werewolf he even used a human being to experiment on but all his efforts failed and that must have driven him mad.

It looks like Mr Fletcher tried to kill the animal DNA in his patient and just keep the human cells but in his notes it stated that the animal DNA kept coming back into the patient like it could not be killed off but just kept on developing the animal blood was much stronger than the human blood. In Freddie both his parents were related with the same blood so he had twice the animal blood which made him have a thirst for blood of any sort which was what the town feared as it would expose them and deem them killers. They could not allow their secret to get out so Freddie would have to die. But there again where did that leave me after all I knew their secret and they knew this was I to die or did they have some other plan for me?. I was scared I knew that much for sure.

The phone rang again and I quickly answered it and it was my boss who asked me how things were going along with the case and I said what I had got together so far but I requested that I come home because I got to the conclusion that my own life was in danger as I knew far too much. Well we have a problem. He said Freddie had been kidnapped from the foster home. He told me that Mr Briggs did not report it to the police but one of the other foster boys who is very close to Freddie reported it.

I asked do you think that they have brought him here it’s obvious they have taken him he is a threat to them. My boss said stay where you are in Virginia and the boy may lead us to his parents if they are still alive at all. My boss came to the conclusion that if they had wanted me dead they would have found a way by now he said maybe they see something in you something emotional maybe like you have sympathy for them or compassion maybe they can sense something in you hence why you are still living. My boss asked me to bear with him for a while and to maybe do some investigating even more. I thought I could go back and see Miss Fletcher and tell her about my findings as I trusted her for some reason. Miss Fletcher loved her father very much and she I feel blamed the curse for his death.

I went to bed that night feeling exhausted and a little depressed. I guess all the blackness and darkness in my life in West Virginia was getting the better of me after all I was only human and everybody has a breaking point in their lives. I could not sleep for a while and I was tossing and turning so I went downstairs to make myself a cup of tea and I drank it in bed and I could feel myself falling off to sleep so I put my cup on my bedside table and went off to sleep and I had the most weirdest dream once again.

I never dreamed of my fathers dad before my grandfather died when I was a very young boy and I only have vague memories of him. But this night he was in my room and he was sitting in the corner of my room looking at me. He wore a brown suit and had his hair brushed back as he always did and he just kept looking at me. I called out Grandfather , is that you? He said hello football he always called me his little football because I was so fat as a boy and my family were great sport enthusiasts.

I said what are you doing here? I mean you died many years ago. I did, he said and how you have grown. He said I have been watching you very closely and it has not been easy for you football has it?, I said no it has not I said I did not expect life to be so tough you know. Oh you are a tough cookie he said made from strong stock. I like to think I am, I said. He said can I come over and sit on the bed you won’t be scared of me being too close?. No I said of course not your Grandfather. He got up from the chair and walked over to my bed and sat down next to me. I asked how things have been for him? Oh he said I am doing alright I come and visit you all now and again to see how you are all getting on. He said, I don’t like you being here. You should go home to Wales where you belong to your family. They all miss you, why don’t you go home to Wales where there is lots of love for you.

I said I have work to do here to find missing people. My grandfather said this is no normal place. There is so much evil here you do not belong here and I am scared for you which is why I came to speak to you. I said I saw a ghost hang himself today and he spoke to me. I am scared and I want to feel safe again like I used to. I am so alone here.

Go home Football he said just go home. The next thing I heard a child crying and I could hear Grandfather talking to somebody. I could not see Grandfather but I could hear him. Grandfather was saying to somebody it is not my Football’s responsibility he must go home where he belongs. I heard another voice saying the child needs his help. He must stay. Grandfather then got up from my bed and walked away and I called out Grandfather, he looked at me and just said the child go to the child.

I woke up and it was daytime and I could remember every single second of my dream and I looked over at the chair as soon as it all came back to me. I lay back down to recall the dream as I had not dreamed of my grandfather ever before. He must have been very concerned about me coming to see me. I got up and got dressed and made myself some breakfast. I looked around the town and as usual there were no people, I saw more people in the night than I did by day. I thought I would go and visit Miss Fletcher to see if she could tell me anymore as she was the only person who told me a lot she was not afraid to as maybe she thought I could change the town in some small way and now there was a child missing too.

I left the house and went around to see Miss Fletcher and I took the notes with me that her father had drawn up before his death. I pressed the button on the Intercom and she asked yes can I help you? I said it is the detective again Miss Fletcher. I was wondering if it was possible to speak to you again?. She said I will have to get the gardener to lock up the dogs just a moment. I said I really appreciate it. The Gardener came to the gates and opened them for me. He said Miss Fletcher is waiting for you inside.

I walked up to the house and once again the dogs were going mad barking at me. I knocked on the door and Miss Fletcher answered with her cane in her hand and her glasses on her face. Come in detective she said and go in and sit down she followed me and sat down and said detective I honestly do not know what more I can do for you we have spoken previously and I honestly do not know what more you want from a girl?.

I said I hate to keep bothering you like this but I have found out a little more about the case and I wanted to share it with you. Miss Fletcher put her hand to her face and looked at me a little fed up with it all. Go On detective she said let’s hear it. Well I said I went to the Laboratory where your father worked as I was looking for anything to help me with the case and I spoke to your father he made himself present to me and he spoke to me asking me to leave West Virginia. Miss Fletcher sat back in her chair and just looked at me and said you spoke to my father then she said he is still there he still presides over the place as I thought he would. I said your father could not live with what his grandfather did to the people Of West Virginia and he could not live with his daughter, you being born half wolf. I said your father tried to find a cure but it came to nothing because the wolf cells you were born with outweigh the human cells.

Miss Fletcher started to cry stating that it was not his fault and that he should never have taken his own life. I showed her her fathers drawings and what he was trying to achieve with his subject. Miss Fletcher said he had a subject? I said yes he unfortunately died in the lab and rotted there. Miss Fletcher said my fathers subject was my older brother detective. My brother wanted to help my father find a cure and he gave his life for it as did my father. I said I did bury him as he wanted. Miss Fletcher went on Oh what a mess we thought we had our lives sorted out here but we are just outcasts in our community. Look at me, detective. I did not have any children of my own and I never married. I have always really been reclusive and I have never really accepted my heritage like my father before me. I chose not to kill myself but to live with who I am but it has just been an existence not a life.

I said you can help me if you want to. You can let me in on what is happening around here and you can help me save the child. Miss Fletcher looked at me and said if I help you find the child then you will save the child and that child will expose us and our heritage we will become freaks of nature to the outer world detective. I said so the child is here then in West Virginia as we speak. Yes she said the child is here with us we got him away from Mr Briggs as we told Mr Briggs that if he did not hand the child over we would go to the police and make accusations about him concerning children he had no choice or his life fostering would be over. I told her Freddie has been reported as missing not by Mr Briggs but by one of the other foster children.

Miss Fletcher said if you do find the boy what will you do with him what could you do with him detective he is a born killer. I said Miss Fletcher the boy has every right to live. It is not his fault he was born as he was. I said when I find the child which I will then he will not go back to Mr Briggs I have been seriously thinking of adopting the boy myself I have no children and I could keep your secret hidden I can teach the boy to live a full life as a human would we are not born Miss Fletcher we are made after all.

Miss Fletcher said you cannot teach the boy to be human. He is born of pure wolf blood, he has turned ten and he has killed many times detective. I said only twice and that was in London, England. No, said Miss Fletcher he has killed four times in London, England he killed his own parents detective he ate them and that was where Mr Briggs came into the equation you understand now. I said Freddie killed his own parents? Yes, said Miss Fletcher after all the same blood gave birth the boy just used his instincts and drank his own blood just like a Black Widow spider eats the male after giving birth to the babies he only used his birth instinct so we are born detective then we are made in our case.

I said the bodies? Oh she said Mr Briggs took care of that he buried them in the woods and I believe Freddie ate in the woods. Miss Fletcher went on we warned them detective what would happen to them if they gave birth. You cannot mix the same blood and then have children. The consequences are fatal. Their fathers were brothers they knew right from wrong. But I said they were in love. Miss Fletcher went on, sometimes detective you have to fight the laws of love just to keep your corner clean if you understand my meaning. Oh I certainly do Miss Fletcher I most certainly do.

I asked Miss Fletcher what she thought I should do next and she said well detective you have two choices you can either go home and forget all about us and shut this case down or you can pursue it but I don’t know what the outcome will be for you. If you try and save the boy from death the community will certainly kill you but we can let you leave and forget all about us like we never even existed. I said I cannot do that I cannot live with the murder of a child on my Mind it would never leave me Freddie should not be condemned for this none of this is his fault.

I thought you would not forget about us detective. Why don’t you go and talk to the doctor he can show you and tell you more about Freddie than I could maybe then you will change your mind. I got up to leave and left the drawings with Miss Fletcher. It was a memento of her father. She asked me never to bother her again as she had said all she wanted to say to me and from here on wards she did not want to know anymore. I am an old woman. She said please give me the grace to live out my twilight years in peace now no more worries for me please. I said of course not I will not bother you again. I walked out the front door and past the dogs and right up to the gates of the house knowing I would not be welcome to enter through them again. I quietly walked home where as usual everywhere was quiet just the sound of the leaves blowing on the floor. It reminded me so much of autumn in Wales.

I was walking towards my house when out of the blue the guy came around the corner with the three of his bull mastiffs. They all jumped and down to get to me even pulling their huge owner who shouted at them to sit down which they did. He had them well trained. I walked around them and the owner just looked at me frowning he said why are you still here ? I said I am renting this house. Oh I know who you are he said and that house should remain empty. It belonged to old Mr Johnson. We do not want foreigners here. We are happy as we are. Well you cannot tell me where I should and should not stay. He Looked down at his dogs and smirked back up at me. He was the kind of guy who knew he was good looking and he kept himself well groomed. He said my dogs get very hungry. They need a big meal for their size. I feed them all sorts. I said are you threatening me, sir?″ Oh no he said I am just saying that if one of my dogs were to get out then they could see you as a meal. I responded much like their owner then sir. He looked at me with his eyebrows raised and walked away with his dogs. I took a deep breath and carried on walking. I was just glad to get beyond my gates and into my grounds. I wanted to get away from West Virginia but I needed to find the child first.

I phoned the doctor and I asked him if I could see him in his surgery and he told me that Miss Fletcher had contacted him and he was expecting to see me. The doctor told me to come tomorrow and that he had something to show me. I asked him if the child was safe and he told me that the child is fine and that he would explain more about the child tomorrow.

I made myself some tea and made notes of my findings so far and I phoned my boss to let him know that the boy was safe and that he was here somewhere in West Virginia and I told him that I had a meeting with the town doctor tomorrow and that he was going to tell me more about the boy. I also told my boss that the boy’s parents were dead and that the local’s had already buried them.

My boss advised me to now come home and to leave the rest to the police force as this was now a murder scene but I told him to wait a little longer as I wanted to finish this case myself as I felt I had a strange friendship with these people. I told my boss that I had some news for him that he would have to keep confidential for the rest of his career in the police force. He told me that he can make no promises as murder is murder and now he said there have been four murders and we still have no suspects unless he said you know something I do not. I asked him to give me some more time and that I would explain everything to him and that waiting could mean saving the life of a child.

My boss trusted me and he agreed to wait as long as nobody else was in danger and I told him that the murders had finished and there would be no more. He told me that he would keep in contact with me and that if he did not hear from me then he would be sending in the troops.

I got my note pad out and I made many notes about the case so far about everything I had seen and witnessed in West Virginia. It was like reading a book of fiction but of course this was not fiction this was fact. I would have to explain to my boss about werewolves and ghosts and the blood of a wolf and devil worship which he would of course find insane. But I had seen all of this with my own eyes and I obviously believed in the Occult for I had seen it and I was living around it.

I had enough of reading about the occult and writing about it so I decided to have a normal night in a very abnormal town watching Netflix just a bar of chocolate and a sweet cup of tea watching a drama at least there was something normal going on in my living room. I did not want to hear any werewolves and I did not want any ghosts talking to me but I just wanted to feel comfortable. At this moment I was focused on Netflix and not on my safety being around werewolves.

The night was great and I was enjoying my movie. It was an LGBT Movie and I was really enjoying it when as it would happen my blood ran cold and my body was covered in goosebumps. This town really did want to scare me to death but so far I had survived. My hair was now grey with nerves but I had survived. In the corner of the room was a man looking at me. He was an elderly man and there he was just smiling at me. He had poppy eyes that were black in color and a large mouth that seemed to stretch from ear to ear. I got up from my chair and ran over to the corner of the room and hid behind the wall. My heart was beating so fast that I could taste it in my mouth and my body was soaking with fear. I peaked again as I knew this was not Mr Fletcher again. He spoke and asked me to come and sit down and to stop being so silly and pathetic. I shouted from behind the wall who are you? I am the owner of this house, he said Mr Johnson and I do not appreciate you watching two men kissing in my house. It’s an abomination you know that sort of thing.

I walked from behind the wall and he was still smiling at me and I turned off the television. I am sorry to have upset you, I said. He said, I may be dead but I will still watch over my house. I was here for sixty years. You know me and my wife were so happy here. I said I am only renting this house while I am conducting an Investigation. Mr Johnson said I see you have caused a lot of trouble in this town. They want you gone of course. I replied yes they do but there is a child to think of now and that takes paramount over me leaving this town. He went on. Your grandfather has told me all about you. I believe he has visited you here. Um yes I replied he has been to see me and he asked me to go home to the South Wales Valleys. Oh Mr Johnson replied I just love that accent. If only you welsh people did not talk so fast. Well I replied you deep southerners drone out your words. I said I can probably get 5 words out before you can even say West Virginia.

Mr Johnson replied I love your grandpa and he is a great man, a family man and hard working in his day. He said but he is very concerned about you and he asked me to come and have some words. Oh I responded in what way is he concerned? Well Mr Johnson said why are you so afraid of life? I said I am? I mean in what way. Your grand daddy always said you were different and here you are in a different world to the one of the South Wales Valleys. I said, yes I am different and I have suffered for it but I got through it. I think. Mr Johnson went on. Did you know that the dead always watch the living, especially at night when people hear bumps in their houses or noises at night it’s not the floorboards or the pipes but it’s the dead walking about the house even sleeping with you on your bed did you know that?. I said I have had Occasions where that has gone through my mind. Mr Johnson went on about the good old days of living in this house with my wife. They were special times for us.

I replied did you have children? He got up from his chair and grew angry with me and said in a raised voice did you think we did not want children?, do you think my wife never wanted to be a mother?. I said I am sorry Mr Johnson I just assumed you had children. Oh he said this house would have been so much fun with children in it there would have been so much laughter and so much fun a house with children.

Mr Johnson came close to me and I moved back in my chair and he said, bring the boy here and raise him here he needs a home and so do you. Out of the blue Mr Johnson went and I just lay back in my chair looking into space.

I decided to just go to bed as I really had enough and I thought the best thing I can do is to go to sleep. I crawled into bed and just covered myself with the covers and just lay there so what if ghosts were watching me I just went off to sleep and hoped to god that my dreams would be nice and not horrible and fearful as usual. I dreamed that I was back home in South Wales and I was walking around my town and meeting people that I knew for years so many familiar faces. I was looking for my family but I could not find them anywhere. I searched everywhere: the park, the shops and the cafes but they were nowhere to be seen. Somebody then said to me are you alright? To which I responded like a lost child. I am searching for my family. We are supposed to be having breakfast in some cafe. The person knew me from many years ago and she said well your mother and father died years ago and I have not seen your siblings in years so I cannot see how you are meeting your family. When I caught my reflection in some car window I could see that I was a very old man lost on the borders of losing my mind. I looked around me and I did not know where to turn or where to go and I was afraid. I was an old man all alone in my hometown looking for my family who had passed on. I screamed out where are my family when suddenly I woke up with tears falling down my face.

I got up and decided to walk from town into the city and then have a great southern breakfast to reward myself after the walk. I put on warm clothes as it was dark and windy just like being back in South Wales. I was not sure where I was going but I just needed a walk to clear my head as so much had been going on for me over the past few days.

I started walking from my house and just carried on away from town and walked from there. The air was cold and I could sense Christmas, the darkness by day and the sense of the fall or what we British call the winter months. I always felt good after a long walk. I think it causes a feel good chemical in the brain endorphins just like eating chocolate or falling in love not that I would know anything about the latter. I took my time with my hands in my pocket and I thought long and hard during my walk about the case and the whole oddness of everything in the town and how I fitted into that oddness.

The brown leaves were falling off the trees ( just like Wales ), the pavements were damp ( just like Wales ) , I had the sniffles ( just like I would in Wales ) I was well used to this type of season and weather because it was just like wales. It felt so much like home but there was no welsh accent just my own and the accent here differed very much to my own. I missed the welsh accent I was bound to after all I had been brought up around it like: alright butt , how are things love, hello butty, I will be there now in a minute, who’s coat is that Jacket, going out on the weekend love, just the language I was brought up around even though I was never streetwise and I spoke properly I still missed it very much. It was all part of home and here I was living around Southern Americans with strong southern accents. It was lovely to hear but it was not home.

I kept on walking and on the way I came across buildings that were historical and huge tourist attractions and I just had to go along and take a look around after all planet earth is such a huge place and some of us don’t get to see half of it. Although there was nothing in the tourism books that said anything about Werewolves. West Virginia was a beautiful place especially in the fall full of clipboard white houses and green grass and leaves and of course the old mining community once again just like South Wales. Maybe I could purchase a home here, maybe Mr Johnson was right but for me to look after and raise a child in West Virginia I really didn’t know if I had it in me to take care of a child full time plus this was no ordinary child he would need much care and attention. And what was I saying the people of West Virginia wanted him dead? How could I possibly stop this from happening when they all hated me anyway.

I kept on with my walk and I kept thinking over and over on the way and I of course stopped off for my southern Breakfast which went down a treat after such a long walk. I called for a taxi to get back home where I would then go and see the doctor. The taxi driver came but it was not the other taxi driver I had and I asked where he was. The taxi driver told me that he had left the taxi business to work with his brother in the city. She said something spooked him and he would not talk about it and just left. I replied Oh I wonder what that could have been? She said the town you are going to spooks everybody. I said Oh I wonder why that is?. You don’t want to know the talk she said. I said talk? and we came to my stop as normal. She dropped me off away from my house as nobody in the city would go anywhere near my stop only on the outskirts of it. If she had seen what I had seen she probably would have packed up and moved to Los Angeles.

The sun came out and it turned out to be hot and I took my coat off as I was sweating from walking into the city. I went straight to see the doctor and he was at lunch but he saw me anyway as he was expecting me. I walked into his office and he said I was expecting you this morning actually early. I said I went for a long walk into the city as I had to clear my head and then I ate a huge breakfast but here I am. He said come with me and he kept his sandwich in his hand as he guided me into an x-ray room.

He put an x-ray up on the screen of a wolf and the insides of a wolf and I said why are you showing me an X ray of a wolf. He replied it’s not a wolf, it’s an X ray of a ten year old boy. He then showed me an X ray of his Insides and he said you see the difference detective. I am only half wolf and I can control my animal Instincts the boy is a full wolf on the inside, ordinary on the outside but a pure wolf inside you cannot tame a wild animal. I replied this is still not the boy’s fault that his parents were cousins. I am not saying that it is detective , the boy is an Innocent but he has turned into a killer. The doctor walked over to the other side of the room and put his hands on the table and stared into space and said we cannot allow the boy to live detective . We have all come to that conclusion and we hoped that you would understand our predicament. We cannot allow the child to go on killing as we have learned to live in peace with ourselves and we are no danger to humans.

I asked where the child was and he said follow me we walked down some stairs into a basement and we walked through a locked door and there was a huge cage with Freddie inside it. As soon as he saw me he said has there been a murder?. The doctor said as you can imagine the child is also very backwards as you can imagine he would be. I said to the doctor you cannot keep a child in a cage like an animal. You are forgetting something the doctor said: the child is an animal. I said this is inhumane and I cannot allow it let him out and I am taking him home otherwise I will report this. I will bring the law down on all of you.

The doctor said I want you to stay here tonight. There is a full moon in the sky tonight and I want you to watch him change from a child into a monster who wants to kill. It’s his instinct to kill he does not know any better. I said I cannot watch a child become a wolf not a child. You have to instructed the doctor if you believe you can tame what he becomes. But surely I said there must be a way? The doctor said would you go into that cage detective with a lion or a tiger would you?. I said of course not but my god this is a little boy.

The doctor said stay here detective and talk to him and wait until the full moon appears in the sky and then you tell me if you can tame the boy. The doctor left me and Freddie alone and he went and saw his patients. I did not have a clue what to say to the boy as I was so upset that this could happen to a child.

The doctor went and I just cried at seeing a child caged up like this, I said Oh Freddie I am so sorry. Freddie said have you seen my mother and father? I replied oh Freddie you are in our care now. Mr Briggs he said where is Mr Briggs? I said you will not be seeing Mr Briggs again Freddie or the foster home. Has there been a murder Freddie said is that why I am in this cage? Has there been a murder?. I said no Freddie no murder not ever again . I sighed oh little Freddie, what am I going to do with you?. Take me shopping he said me and mum and dad always went shopping and they used to buy me sweets and chocolate. I miss my mum and dad. Oh Freddie I said I know you do. Can you get me some chocolate he said. I will get you some chocolate Freddie of course I will. Can I come with you to the shops he said? I replied not just yet Freddie .

I told the receptionist that I was going out to the shops and to tell the doctor that I will be back shortly. As I walked to the shops I felt sick to my stomach that a child was being caged up in a basement and I felt even more sick to be watching him change into a wolf a wild animal tonight and there was nothing we could do for a cure. One thing was for sure I was not going to sit back and see a child being killed, never mind what he was, he was still a child.

I bought a bar of chocolate and even ate some myself as I needed some sugar as usual. The person who served me in the shop was not very courteous towards me and was in fact very ignorant to me. I walked away from the shop and carried on walking towards the doctor’s office and just walked down the long corridor and towards the basement the child was just sitting there which again was painful to watch. When Freddie saw me he jumped up and said again has there been a murder. I said Freddie there are no more Murders the murders have stopped. I showed him the chocolate bar and he tried to grab it through the cage. I said you can have this bar of chocolate as long as you tell me there will be no more murders. Freddie licked his lips and said there will be no more murders. I said say it again Freddie he said there will be no more murders. I handed him over the chocolate bar and he ate it with a huge smile on his face.

I thought to myself we can teach dogs to be guide dogs and we can teach Orangutans sign language and we can teach animals to obey and humans can even teach lions to be pets any animal can turn even the smallest dog in the world can turn and give a nasty nip we can teach wild animals to obey and this child must have some human DNA. He can talk like a human and he can obey like a human. Surely all he would need is love and attention and much training and care. After all he is still a child and he can be tamed I am sure. It was a risk I would have to take and it was going to be a full time commitment as this child would need so much love and attention to be just a good human being. Maybe it’s all Psychology I thought and Maybe I can put power over his mind to control his body. This wolf killer instinct could be suppressed with always the risk of the wolf coming out.

We have human beings who are serial killers and some humans commit the worst crimes ever and these are human beings I am sure we could tame a wolf who maybe just needs plenty of training.

The hour was getting very late and the doctor went out and bought us a take away while we waited for the full moon to appear in the sky. I told the doctor my theory about mind over matter and that maybe I could over time tame Freddie to keep the wolf suppressed through love and emotional support what every child wants really I did study a little of child Psychology during my college years and bonding with a child and love and support can develop the child into a well balanced human being.

The doctor disagreed with me. He said I understand of course where you are coming from with the child Psychology and the emotional support but we are not talking about any ordinary child detective we are talking about a child with the blood of a wolf. I said to the doctor I am not going to let you or this community kill this child. The doctor said don’t get in our way detective or you may find that you will die just like the child. I said to the doctor my authorities know I am here and if anything were to happen to me there would be a full Investigation not to mention the Investigation of a murdered child. My authorities already want to come here and carry out a full Investigation I am the only person stopping that at the moment. Your little town could become very controversial.

The doctor said we should have killed you from the start. It was Miss Fletcher who wanted to keep you alive. She believed there was something different about you but to me and the community you are Just a nuisance and busy body who wants to cause trouble for us.

I do not want to cause trouble for you doctor I have been here now for several days and I have got to understand your community and the way you live, you do not want to hurt anybody you just want to live in peace like we all do and you have found your way of doing that and I commend that very much.

We continued to eat and the full moon was appearing in the sky and myself and the doctor just stared at Freddie like we were watching a television movie but we were waiting for Freddie to change. I asked the doctor if the transformation hurts Freddie at all and the doctor replied No detective it’s just a part of his genetic make up. It’s like us ageing we do not feel it but we come to see it in our bodies and we learn to accept it.

I asked Freddie if he was alright and he said that he had a pain in his stomach and I asked the doctor if there was anything I could do for him. No, the doctor said it’s part of the transition. Please leave him. Freddie rolled over in pain and I looked on helplessly to stop this from happening. I could hear Freddie’s bones cracking and all of a sudden his clothes were ripping off his skin. Freddie was on his stomach saying oh no not again. I could see hairs growing over his body and ears piercing through his head. Freddie’s face was growing out and his teeth were growing through his gums. This brought back psychological trauma for me from my teenage years when I thought I was a werewolf going through adolescent changes to my body.

A tear fell down my face and I looked at the doctor in disbelief then Freddie got up and looked at me and the doctor. He was a full blown werewolf and he ran towards me and the doctor with such rage that if the cage had not been there he would have killed us both. The doctor looked at me and said to me you can tame him, do you still believe you can do that? Look at him, he wants to eat us. You cannot tame a wild animal. I am sorry detective but there is only one thing to do and we have to give the child peace.

I bent down on my knees and I went close to the cage and I looked this wolf straight in the eyes. He was like a rabid dog growling at me and pouncing towards the cage with such virtuosity. But he was just a child underneath all of this and I could not help to see that. I said to the doctor please hand me that bar of chocolate on the table. The doctor said why?. I said I want to conduct an experiment. The doctor handed me the huge bar of chocolate and I showed it to Freddie. He still pounded at the cage and growled at me. I unwrapped the chocolate bar and wafted it under his nose. I told Freddie to stand away from me and control his actions if he wanted the chocolate bar. Freddie still was out of control and then I started eating the chocolate and saying lovely chocolate.

Freddie calmed down and the doctor was amazed at what was happening, Freddie just stood there and looked at me and I threw chocolate bars through the cage like they were a treat for being good. Freddie went berserk again for more chocolate and I said no Freddie only when you stood down once again Freddie stood down and I threw chocolate through the cage. I needed Freddie to know that if he behaved for me that he would be treated with chocolate just like we would do with a dog so why not a wild animal.

The doctor was amazed at this but he still wanted to go with what the community wanted and that was Freddie dead and maybe me as well. I asked the doctor if he would work with me on this and give me some time to work with Freddie and I said I am positive we can tame Freddie and it will come to a point where I will go into the cage with Freddie as he turns I have that belief in Freddie. The doctor said I will have to communicate with the community on this and see what they have to say. I asked if I could sit in on that meeting with the community and the doctor once again said we shall have to see about that detective.

The community back in London, England had gone back to some sort of normality as there had obviously been no more murders. There were still many worries about a killer beast on the loose and of course a missing child but as time went on even though the community were stunned by what had happened there people do tend to just get on with their lives they have to. My boss carried on the search for maybe a creature in the woods and of course the search for a missing child but as time goes on once again the search would be called off after all the police cannot search forever they have new cases to deal with every day. I went out and bought loads of chocolate bars and took them back to the basement as I knew I had my work cut out to tame a wild animal to grow to trust me and bring out the human side of him if I could.

I went home and I called my boss and I said I have a massive story to tell you and that even though it sounds Insane every word of it is true this is coming from a rational man who takes life very seriously. I told my boss every word I had to because if anything should happen to me or the child or both of us then my boss would be fully informed of the Investigation and what I had found out about the town and the people.

My boss was lost for words and he just could not comprehend a town full of werewolves and that I had spoken to the dead and that at present I was taming a child who became a wolf during the full moon. He asked me if I was writing a book about all of this and that surely it was all a good work of fiction and not that of real life. I told my boss I wish all of this was a work of fiction I really do but the reality is that this is true and it’s happening and that I am in the thick of it. My boss tried to console himself and get some rational thoughts about this and he took a deep breath and asked me what was next then for this case and where on earth do we go from here?.

I said I am positive I can tame the child to control the wolf inside him as he is only a child and he can be taught right from wrong. At the moment I went on, the townspeople are going to have a meeting with me being there I hope and I am going to convince them that this child can be tamed and that I will work with them on this.

My boss asked how I was going to achieve this task? I said I need to be in the cage with him when he turns and I need to show them that through controlling his actions and through the treats that he can be taught not to follow his animal Instincts to kill but to control them with the power of the mind. My boss responded and if he kills you what then? Then I said I have failed and they will kill the child and the case will be wrapped up. That is something I will have to promise them you will have to shut down the case altogether. It’s a risk we have to take.

My boss was not happy at all with the outcome. He said so even though four people would have been killed and the child and yourself you expect me to just let it all go away under a stone like it never even happened?. I said that is the proposal I aim to give to the townspeople. And if your plan works?. Then I said what other choice do I have but to stay here in West Virginia and care for him full time the townspeople do not want anything to do with him. My boss said I personally think you are mad doing this but I explained if I do not do it then the child dies and maybe they will never let me leave this place.

My boss said I will agree with your proposal one one condition and what might that be I said?. He said let me come to West Virginia alone and let me come with you to the meeting. If I see that the child attacks you then I shoot the child or in this case the wolf and we leave the place together and I will file the case away. He said I cannot let you just die like that you have to have some sort of protection. And I said if the child does not attack me and my plan works? Then said my boss I leave West Virginia on my own and I will see to it that you get early leave on a full pension to raise the child.

I never thought I would ever raise a child on my own but it goes to show none of us know what life has in store for us. Freddie was such a lovely kid he just had the bad luck of being born like he was. I was sure I could tame him and bring out his emotions when he was the wolf after all he had a huge weakness and that was chocolate.

The doctor phoned me at home and he told me that the townspeople would give me another week to try and tame the child not to kill this had been requested by Miss Fletcher herself. After the week had gone I would have to go into the cage with the child while he turned if the child killed me then there would be no more to say about any of this. I requested that my boss come to the meeting when I go into the cage and that he be a witness to what was going on. The doctor raised his voice when he heard that the police knew what was going on in West Virginia. No, I replied not the police, just my boss, my superior and I explained that either way this was going to go my superior would close the case and West Virginia would be left alone. Little did they know that if this did go pear shaped then me and my boss would leave West Virginia alive and it would just be a case that neither of us would ever forget.

The doctor agreed and I now had just a week to tame the animal inside the child and I had to show West Virginia that they had nothing to fear.

I would make notes as I was going along with my research and I would talk to Freddie and I would say, you would never hurt me would you Freddie? And I would try to teach him about love and compassion and that we must not hurt each other. I even went into the cage with him while he was still a little boy and we played board games and I got to gain his trust and I kept saying to him over and over that we must not hurt each other not ever even if we are in really bad moods we must remain calm.

I always made sure I hugged Freddie and gave him so much love and I rewarded him with lots of chocolate. Well, we ate the chocolate between us as I am a chocoholic which does not do my liver any good by the way but who wants to live forever. We got to trust each other and I treated him like the son I never had. It’s amazing how we can bond with people just over a small period of time. Freddie kept asking me when we go outside to play? I said if we go outside what must you not do? He said I must not hurt anybody, never mind how angry I get and I must control my emotions. It’s amazing what a little basic psychology can do to a small mind of a child. I made Freddie say this over and over and he always pointed to the chocolate bars on the table after he said it.

I was sure this would work, in fact I prayed this would work otherwise I was going to be eaten alive by a wolf in just another day. I worked with Freddie day and night to gain his trust in me and find emotional bonding with me enough to stop him being angry and out of control. There was another full moon due in two days and I would have to be in the cage with Freddie when he turned something I was not looking forward to but I knew in my gut it would work.

My boss turned up in West Virginia and I filled him in on all that was going on and he brought with him a gun because as he said if things turn ugly then I shoot the boy dead. I said I have bonded with the boy and I have used chocolate as treats. I said I honestly feel this experiment is going to work. My boss said for your sake I hope you’re right. My boss made the decision that as soon as the experiment ended that he would go straight back to the United Kingdom. If he had to shoot the boy there was no waiting around anyway it would be straight in the car and off to the UK. I packed all my clothes in case we had to quickly leave West Virginia. If the worst was to happen if it worked out then it was confirmed that I would stay in West Virginia to raise the boy until he was an adult.

It was the final day of me working with Freddie and we had really got a bond together and tonight I would have to be in the cage with him while he turned and we would see how he would react to seeing a human by his side when he turned. I would make Freddie run towards me and then get him to stop with chocolate by pointing to the chocolate bar on the table. I could not do anymore for Freddie and I had already kept him alive so far. The evening came and the meeting took place in the basement with all the community there and my boss who sat in the corner of the room with his gun just sat there and listened. He knew they were all werewolves and he really did not want to be there; he even brought with him silver bullets in case they turned.

Even Miss Fletcher turned up with her cane and came along with a very stern face as I don’t think she had been out in a very long time. The community was shocked to see her and to be honest so was I but I was glad she was there. The community already seemed very angry that the boy was still alive and he had killed his parents of course and the family were there. Freddie’s mother’s mother came over to the cage to see Freddie and she looked at him with such evil and said he has the look of his father.

The doctor spoke up and thanked everybody for coming and he introduced me and my boss to the meeting. The doctor said well we have called you all here because of the child and somebody shouted out he should be dead by now. The doctor said please everybody hear me out ok, The detective here believes that he can take care of the child and live here with him in West Virginia until the child is an adult. Everybody shouted out a stranger living in West Virginia. It has never been known not in our small town. The doctor said I know it does not make sense to people but myself and Miss Fletcher have agreed that if the detective can tame the boy then maybe the boy can live like we do.

A man stood up and said this is Insane the boy has killed his parents and others and you want that monster to live with us ruining everything we have achieved to stay quiet. Miss Fletcher stood up and grasped her cane hard with her right hand to keep her balance and spoke she said listen, listen this detective has seen things in this town that would have made anybody else flee the town with fear. She went on werewolves have tried to break into his house, he has seen ghosts of my father and spirits who still roam our community he has gone places in this town that none of us would ever enter and he knows we are werewolves and yet he is still here putting his life in danger to save the boy from death we can at least give him a chance. This town needs a chance, she went on. We need a new person who understands us and we have him right here. Let’s not pass it by. Miss Fletcher’s hair fell on one side and she put her hair behind her ear with her left hand. She sat back down which you could see was a relief for her.

The people looked stunned that such a long time person as Miss Fletcher who lived in this community forever could side with a stranger. The little boy’s grandmother went over and spoke to Miss Fletcher and said that the thing in that cage killed my daughter and you want me to let him roam our town no she said we want the boy dead it’s best all around for us all. Miss Fletcher raised her head and said I know what the boy has done but it was your daughter who got together with her cousin and they made a child they knew not to that child in that cage is innocent and your daughter and your brother sat there and his son knew right from wrong. Miss Fletcher went on look at me. I am an old woman and I have no children. I have never been married. I am an old spinster all alone in that house across the street for 70 years now. I am still a virgin and you know why? Because I would not inflict another human being with my animal DNA it killed my father and it has killed me. She said your children are to blame, not the child.

The woman sat back down and looked over to her brother who just put his head down feeling ashamed yet missing his son. Everybody looked guilty as they must have never heard this coming from Miss Fletcher before they had always deemed her as very faithful to the community and never a bitter woman about her heritage.

I stood up and said all I ask for is a chance to let me work with Freddie if I survive tonight if Freddie attacks me then we die and the town goes back to as it was originally. Miss Fletcher stood up again and said you have that chance detective and she looked around the room and not one person argued with her in that room.

It was time for me now to enter the cage and test Freddie there was no more I could do. I did not want to die but I also did not want to see a child die. Through me Freddie would have many Christmas and Easter and Birthdays to celebrate and he would grow into a man. My boss sat there with his gun loaded with silver bullets just in case . Oh god what had I let myself in for but there was no going back. I was going to come face to face with a werewolf. A fear I had in my adolescent years was coming to life. Looking at it, I was born in the first place to be killed by a werewolf and my fear of werewolves was always there for a reason, was it an Omen.

I nervously walked over to the cage and unlocked it and let myself in and Freddie was still human and the change had yet to take place. I locked the cage behind me and walked towards Freddie. He was just looking at me and his face was pale. Out of the blue he yelled in pain and rolled over holding his stomach laying flat down on the floor of the cage. No Freddie shouted not again and I could see his shirt ripping open and his shorts ripping away from his legs. His body was totally changing and his voice was changing from gentle to growling and angry like a hungry Lion. He stood up and faced me and again I watched his face changing before me into a wolf with ears coming through his head. He kept growling at me and I just talked to him with my voice trembling and I said Freddie, it’s me, remember what we said when we get angry we must control it and not let it control us. Freddie continued to walk towards me and my boss was there ready with his gun and everybody was looking in shock. I said No Freddie please and as he was going to pounce on me I pointed to the chocolate bars on the table. Freddie must have remembered the treat somewhere in his psychology and he slowly walked away from me and howled up to the ceiling and a tear fell from his eye. Freddie ran into the corner of the cage and just curled up like a baby in the womb of their mother. I asked the doctor to get me a bar of chocolate and that was his treat. Thank God something in Freddie kicked in so much could have all gone wrong but Freddie was a good kid anyway he just needed some understanding and sympathy and maybe I was just the right person to give that to him. Whatever the reason it worked now it was time for me to begin being a father figure and I did not have a clue where to start.

The experiment had worked. I think I knew deep down that Freddie would never hurt me because he was just a child and there was still time to teach him right from wrong and to reach him from way Inside the animal in him. My Boss shook my hand and he said I will be keeping in communication and he left West Virginia straight away. The community all walked away and just one of them said to me if he ever kills In West Virginia then I will shoot him dead whether that be a boy or as a man. Miss Fletcher shook my hand and wished me the best of luck with Freddie and she welcomed me to the community. The doctor was stunned that Freddie did not attack and kill me but there again deep down so was I. The doctor told me that he would be keeping a very close eye on Freddie as there was no guarantee that he would not kill again. I got Freddie out of the cage and I found clothes for him and I took him home to what was now my home the police in London bought the home for me and my early pension gave me money to live on as I raised Freddie it was a whole new life for me and if you like a new beginning I always dreamed of living in West California as there was the heat and the warm climate but there again coming from the South Wales Valleys I was used to it being cold and I was certainly used to the leaves falling off the trees. My life In West Virginia was all good and truth be known I was enjoying it.

It was just me and Freddie now and I was the adult and he was the child and I had to keep a firm hand for his own good. Freddie went to school in West Virginia and I continued to teach him right from wrong and I always made sure he learned how to control his temper. It was a small village school and about twenty minutes from our house and Freddie liked it there and he made friends very quickly. I of course just kept to myself. It was a community that kept to themselves and I just enjoyed dropping Freddie off at school and then going for a walk in the winter. The darkness and the many leaves falling off the trees just made me feel good like it did back in Wales. Don’t get me wrong I loved the sun but I was very used to the seasons being brought up In Wales.

When I collected Freddie from school we went home and he told me all about his day and together we did the homework he was given. I just helped him if he ever got stuck on a question. I was really enjoying being a dad. I mean I did not raise Freddie from a baby so it took us a while to bond but we had something special and he liked me and I liked him so it was already a good start. Freddie very often asked me about his parents and he would cry but I always told him that they would always be in his heart and he often asked me if I thought they had forgiven him for what he did to them and as I always told him of course they forgive you you will always be their son. I told him that adults very often make mistakes but that they loved Freddie and that they will always love him even though they are no longer with us.

Freddie would have the worst nightmares as he kept having flashbacks of his changes into a wolf and he would wake up screaming and I would run into his room and he would clutch onto me shaking and I would ask him what did you dream about? The forest he said and attacking people and so much blood. I would calm him down and I could feel his heart pounding throughout his body when he slowly went off to sleep I went back to bed but more times than often I would wake up to find Freddie lying next to me where he had sneaked into my bed during the night but if that made him feel more secure and comfortable then I really did not mind. I just wanted Freddie to live as normal a life as possible just like any other child having his self development being met.

I often took him to the doctor to get him checked out as Freddie was growing and because he was now getting love and attention and Just living a normal lifestyle he was well more adjusted within himself and far more secure. Myself and Freddie had our arguments but I always managed to remind him to control his temper to which he would always back down. Freddie had changed a lot since living with Mr Briggs as Freddie now had one to one attention and not thrown in with nine other boys and of course Mr Briggs allowed Freddie to have freedom with the wolf inside him something I had not suppressed him of but I taught him to learn how to control it after all Freddie would always be a werewolf it was in his blood but that did not mean that he would have to use it to kill people he learned how to control it.

Me and Freddie loved our Christmas in West Virginia and we would decorate the trees in the garden and come the nights our house would light up which was not liked by the Community but they knew it was for Freddie. The past Owner of the house Mr Johnson would very often walk through our living room and me and Freddie got used to it we always knew he was around us and I think he was happy to see a child growing up in the house although he did not like my taste in movies I think Mr Johnson preferred the old black and white fifties movies. Freddie had a very healthy appetite and he constantly ate but that was because he was a growing boy and I made sure he ate healthy foods as Freddie needed a well balanced diet to function well in a very chaotic world full of anger.

Everything was going great and the communication between me and Freddie was excellent he would tell me what was going on in his mind and he would come to me with any problems he might be having and he told me that there was a boy in school who was really giving Freddie a hard time the boy was saying that Freddie was from a very strange part of West Virginia and there has been talk of Werewolves living where Freddie came from. Freddie told me that he would get angry because somebody was running down his heritage and this type of anger was really getting to Freddie so much so that Freddie wanted to kill him. I told Freddie to fight it as best he can and to avoid this bully as much as he can but of course this is easier said than done.

I told Freddie that this bully is doing his best to find a fight and that we get bullies all the time in our lives but that we have to be more assertive in words rather than actions which again is much easier said than done especially with Freddie being of wolf blood. Freddie told me that this boy is really getting to him and that he was doing his very best not to bite his head off and spit it out.

I said Freddie, remember all the work you have done don’t let it be for nothing you will be the better person with this bully and if you like tell him that your dad is a werewolf and that every now and again I howl at the moon then see what he says. Freddie laughed and then I laughed we would beat this bully together.

I had to do everything I could to keep Freddie from not getting angry and to learn to control his Actions but the older Freddie was getting it was getting more and more difficult. The doctor heard about Freddie’s outburst In school with the bully and he telephoned me about it and the doctor asked me if I still had Freddie under control. I said to the doctor this is not a robot doctor this is a child we are talking about and Freddie was provoked like we all get provoked. I asked the doctor how he knew about this Incident and the doctor reminded me that we live in a very small town and news got about very quickly even from the city. The doctor reminded me that I must never protect Freddie should he do anything awful and that any changes in Freddie should be reported to him. The doctor told me I have a duty to inform the town if Freddie is not doing so well. I told the doctor that Freddie was doing great and that there were no real problems to report but deep down I was scared for Freddie that there might come a time in his life where I will be powerless to help him.

I decided to have Freddie home schooled so that way he could not be provoked by the other kids and I hired a private tutor. Maybe Freddie could get more out of this than a public school anyway. The only thing was he would not be getting his social needs met but I also decided to enrol Freddie in social groups. I tried my very best to get his needs met. I did everything I possibly could to be a good dad to a boy who had many challenges and of course his underlying condition which must never be brought out ever again.

My family in the South Wales Valleys could not believe that I had fostered a little boy but on the whole they were happy that I had saved a little boy who did not have any parents they of course did not know what was going on in West Virginia they never would have believed me anyway. My family came out to West Virginia to visit me and Freddie on the odd occasion but it was very expensive for them to travel to the United States from South Wales so their visits were very few and far between. When they did come out to visit me we filled the holiday with events like going mountain climbing in the woods and just walking around West Virginia as there was so much to do and see in a small matter of time. Freddie always wanted to visit South Wales but I never thought it a good Idea to take him out of West Virginia. I just wanted him in that one place. Maybe it was just that I wanted him in one routine and I did not want to change that.

Freddie was doing really well in his studies and he was in a regular drama class which he loved I found that in Drama because the kids were all very theatrical that there was no Judgement they treated each other as equals and they just got on really well to put a production together very different maybe to sports and athletics. I think Freddie needed an environment that was not putting him down in any shape or form so that way he would never get annoyed or riled up to bring out any inner anger. Myself and Freddie would go on many walks in the forest as I found that when we were walking together we would talk a lot and Freddie would just bring up things in conversation that he might never do had we just been sat in the house with the Television on for example there are just far too many distractions at home that block out conversations. I also never allowed Freddie to have a mobile phone. I did not want him being too technological until I thought he was ready. My life was very simple and basic and I wanted the same for him. I think Freddie was happy or I hoped that he was happy. He never told me that he was unhappy so that was always a plus.

Freddie often asked me about my life and what was I like as a boy? I told him that I was very reserved and shy but then when I got a little older maybe in my late thirties I started to talk more and I started to not be so shy and reserved. I told him that I lived a very quiet life back in the South Wales Valleys with money always being a constant worry but I told him that I just learned to live with what I had to do like find Jobs and just pay my bills. He of course asked me about my romances and the social side of my life as kids do but I just told him that I was not interested in romances or friends really growing up as I preferred my own company. He just looked at me with his brows squinting as if he did not understand that maybe in many ways I was more strange than Freddie was and I was fully human maybe Freddie was much better at humanity than I ever was when you think about it. Maybe Freddie was looking after me much more than I was ever looking after him?.

It’s amazing how children can change our lives. Our lives can turn right the way around when kids come into the equation and it’s amazing how the years just fly by when we raise children. One day we are buying them nappies, the next we are buying them clothes to go away on holidays with their friends. It just flies by in a blink of the eye. Plus you do not think for yourself anymore but you are thinking for the children. It’s not so much what I like anymore but it’s more what will Freddie like rather than it all being about me which it was for many years. I was a very basic person with very basic needs and I got through each day with not very much going on in my day. To be honest it was a very unhealthy lifestyle but it was one that a person can adapt to simply because it’s all I ever knew. When a child comes into that lifestyle everything changes and in my case life becomes far more interesting. You know I moved to West Virginia and It suited me down to the ground. Maybe for the more extroverted parents out there West Virginia would be too out in the sticks so to speak but I loved the quietness of life anyway. Freddie filled a huge void in my life, one that I thought I was alright with but when we take a chance and try new things it’s amazing how our lives can change for the better.

My days were now run around Freddie and when Freddie was not with me I did not know what to do with myself there was just a huge silence in my life and I could not wait for him to come back and make some noise.

We had a huge shock to the community when I heard that Miss Fletcher had died. She had been such a good friend to me and she took my side with the community that she was so well respected in. She was a very private person and I think deep down she was very wary of me and a little concerned that I took such an Interest in their community and I don’t think she ever really understood my motives but she went along with it anyway. I did very often think of going to see her from time to time but I think because I was not a close friend really that she would have asked me in but in the back of her mind she would have been very wary of me and it could have been very awkward for me and for her so I kind of kept my distance going with my Instincts as a stranger to her. Miss Fletcher had a very private funeral and only people from the community went along. I did not go as I feared I would not be very welcome even though I was now a resident I would never be fully accepted for obvious reasons I did not have any blood of a wolf inside me.

Miss Fletcher’s house had been boarded up as the community did not want anybody else living there and she had no other relatives. It was very strange seeing all the windows and the front door boarded up but that was the way the community wanted it. I continued to read Miss Fletcher’s books as they fascinated me again for obvious reasons.

Freddie was getting older and he was going through Puberty getting spots over his face and having mood tantrums. He was getting very friendly with a girl from his drama class and he invited her around to the house for tea very often. I did not mind but I was a little jealous that this girl was taking away our bond and after they finished their food they would retreat to Freddie’s room and I would not see them for hours. I often would invite myself into the room with cups of tea and biscuits just to keep checking on them out of the blue. Freddie seemed engrossed in her and she was very attractive with blonde hair and blue eyes but I was always wary of Freddie trying to keep a normal life even though that was what I wanted for him.

We would often have conversations about this girl and I asked him if she was pressuring him at all about anything but as he always said to me they were just very good friends but I knew they thought more about each other than just very good friends. I tried my best not to interfere too much but I always brought her up in conversation.

Then one Friday morning out of the blue I was having my breakfast and the phone rang it was my boss telling me to brace myself as some hot shot from another police force was looking into the murders in the woods and he was going to re open it and Investigate it as he wanted to take on a new case. As I said to my boss he has nothing to go on but my boss told me that he found out that Freddie’s parents came from West Virginia Originally and that he was asking questions about me and why I moved to West Virginia and my motives for moving there. My boss told him that I went out there to Investigate Freddie’s parents and I liked it so much that I ended up staying there. My boss told me that he might want to speak to me even though I had retired early simply because I once was part of the case. Nobody apart from Mr Briggs knew about Freddie but this new police officer would obviously be talking to Mr Briggs and I was a little concerned what Mr Briggs might say to him and even more worried about this new police officer flying out to West Virginia to investigate the community he would then find Freddie living with me.

My boss told me not to worry about it too much and to wait until my boss had more information for me but of course it worried me. If this new police officer came out to west Virginia and saw Freddie with me then I would go to prison and Freddie even though he was now fifteen years of age would have no family and that worried me very much. The case still involved two murdered people in the forest in London, a missing child and two missing people in West Virginia. The case was always going to be there and there was always going to be somebody looking into it from time to time and that always worried me.

Four days had gone by and then the phone rang and when I answered it a voice said I am looking for the ex detective who worked on the case of the murders in London in the woods some years ago now. I thought oh no he has already started the case I said yes I am that ex detective but how can I help you?. He said as you might be aware nothing has come of that case and I am just following up on it to check any new leads. I said when I worked on the case I could not find a shred of evidence and I have to be honest I doubt very much at all that you will either. He said you have since moved to West Virginia and I said well I came here looking for any evidence the police force sent me here and I loved it and stayed even retiring early. He continued you did not find out what happened to the boy’s parents or even the boy out there?. I said again there was nothing, no trace of the parents at all and the boy god only knows where he has gone. He said I have spoken to Mr Briggs, his foster carer and according to him the boy went out with his friends and just never came back but I feel there is much more to this case than meets the eye. He said the police investigations would not pay for him to come out to West Virginia but yet he said they paid for you. I said the thing is they paid for me to come out here because they felt it could lead to finding the missing parents but as my report says I found nothing at all out here and they would not pay to fly you out here only to go back and report the same thing.

He said there is just something missing with this case and it seems too bizarre to put my finger on it. I said I wish I could help you more but I am still baffled by this case as much as you are now. I finished by saying that I wished him the best of luck with the case but that he would be better off leaving it be but I had a feeling that he would pursue it being a young police man and very over ambitious. He had no evidence from the bodies in the woods and he had nothing at all on Mr Briggs and he would not be allowed to investigate in West Virginia so he would not see me living with Freddie so we had nothing really to worry about. He was just a high flying police man who took an Interest in this case but he had no leads. The only person who was at the heart of all these murders was Freddie and he killed because he was a werewolf and if a policeman was to report back that these murders were committed by a werewolf then he would be thrown out of his Job so on the whole we were safe as long as Freddie did not commit any more murders that was something that would worry me all the time. I did all I could to help Freddie to live as normal a life as possible but under all those layers of skin there lay an animal that could destroy Freddie at some point in his future. I only hoped I was not just delaying the inevitable and I lived in fear of that happening.

Freddie would very often talk to me about death and questions like why we die? I guess as every child or young person comes of age they ask about death because they get to learn that we all die at some point in our lives, some of us young, some of us middle aged and some of us at a ripe old age. The only answer we can give as adults is maybe that we are born to never know when we die. It’s a huge secret that no human being can know we just die and we live on as a memory. We then store those memories in our minds and we keep them with us always even if we have memories that we want to forget about we store them. I could not tell Freddie that once we die we never come back because of Mr Johnson Freddie and myself were very used to him wandering around the house and making noises so in Freddie’s case we did come back but only as a ghost never as a living person like Mr Johnson used to be. I always believed in ghosts and a higher purpose to life after we have gone but since my life In West Virginia I now believe in anything. I guess you could say it makes me not so scared of death, not that death has ever scared me anyway life has always scared me much more. Freddie told me that he often has dreams of death but I always told him that dreams are always the opposite to real life anyway and to just pass them off as we have to and not read too much into a dream. They are called dreams for a reason and nobody knows how the full extent of the human brain works anyway. Some parts of the human brain are a complete mystery.

I got to meet more and more of Freddie’s now confirmed girlfriend and we were having dinner one evening when she blurted out news that made my hand tremble so much that I could not put my fork in my mouth but I had to mess with my food pretending to look for the parts of my food that I enjoyed the most. She said my parents tell me that there are talks of werewolves in this part of town. She went on. I told my parents to stop believing in old wives tales and that Freddie’s dad is just lovely. Freddie looked at me and I looked at him and we were both in shock. I said well me and Freddie have lived here now for many years and we have never come across a werewolf to be honest. She said she was from the hunting part of West Virginia and her dad and two brothers and her uncles were all big into hunting in the backwoods. I had now totally lost my appetite and my color faded from my face. She then blurted out that there were again talks of killings in London in your part of the world she said that there is talk it was committed by a werewolf. I said my lovely I am from the south Wales Valleys not London and I did read about that in the papers and it is what we call a load of fudge in Wales. What is a load of fudge she said? I said it means utter poppycock. What is Poppycock she said?. Freddie burst out laughing. I said in a word my dear utter rubbish or to make it more plainer in your language trash.

She said to Freddie don’t laugh at me I am not used to these English terms. I said then you would never comprehend the welsh terms we use. She stated it is hard for me to understand you as the welsh people must talk very fast indeed I said we are most famous for our fast pace of talking some would even say we mumble. I said if you ever get the chance to visit South Wales then you must go to a place in Swansea called the Mumbles. She said there is a place in South Wales called the Mumbles? I said it’s glorious during our summer months.

She went on to say that she would visit South Wales one time in her future and she would love to take her parents along. I had to say would your parents go to hunt a werewolf in London?. Freddie said don’t say things like that to her. She said actually my dad wants to kill a werewolf in our part of the world. He is determined to find one and have it stuffed to make the legend real. Can you believe that? I did not laugh and neither did Freddie. She said have I upset anybody over that remark?. I said, ``Who is for trifles? I have made the biggest trifle ever. The mood soon changed to enjoying trifles. It’s amazing what sweet food can do to the stomach and the mind. We went off the conversation of Werewolves and talked about the trifle instead which was a good thing.

I couldn’t help thinking that if Freddie’s girlfriend’s parents knew that Freddie was a werewolf that they would kill Freddie with no remorse. West Virginia was full of talks of Werewolves but they were just talks and the whole place hated those vile talks but they believed it so much that they hunted the werewolf even today. I would need to talk to Freddie about maybe breaking it off with this girl and finding somebody not from the back woods but maybe from the city. The city had a much different culture and they were more occupied with their own lives than living for stories of folktale passed down from Gran daddy to Gran daddy. On the other hand this was Freddie’s life and he was at the age now where he would not listen to me anyway and he was in love and there was no possible way at all that I could fight that. Freddie was happy and content with his youth and that was all I ever wanted for him. I think I did my job as a dad to the very best of my ability.

I phoned my boss to tell him that the new policeman had contacted me and asked me a load of questions about the case but as he said that was going to be the case anyway it was just routine to contact me even though he had nothing to go on. My boss said that he thinks the case would be shut down again as there was no new evidence. The new police man wanted to Bring Mr Briggs In for questioning but again there was nothing to question him on. My boss went to see Mr Briggs to ask him what the new police man had said to him but he no longer wanted to talk to the police and Mr Briggs wanted to forget all about it and for that matter even Freddie as far as Mr Briggs was concerned Freddie was dead and the community killed him Mr Briggs knew the fate that was in store for Freddie when he was kidnapped. Mr Briggs dared not intervene in the community’s rules as I did.

I did speak to Freddie who had now turned sixteen years of age about his girlfriend and my worries with the family she came from. Freddie did not seem concerned about it because to him her family would never find out. I told him my concerns about him coming of age and how that could cause changes in his body and maybe he would not be able to control his actions as much as when he was younger. I said what if she annoys you or what if you have an argument or what if you get jealous what then?. Freddie said that I was over thinking all of this human action and that these actions might never come to fruition. Freddie could not comprehend how somebody like me, a bachelor with no life experience in relationships or sexual partners, could give out any advice or guidance on a person’s love life. As I told him I grew up in a house full of testosterone and I overheard many conversations with my siblings friends on the subject of sex and relationships. I said a person does not have to have personal experience to give out advice; it can come from watching and observing other people going through the motions over the years. I told Freddie I could write a book on relationships and sex just from my observations of growing up in a house always full of people talking about these things. He told me not to worry and to just take care of myself and that he was alright? I was always worried about Freddie because now he was growing into a man he was becoming a different person and life does have a way of bringing out the monster in us.

As usual I always found things to do in my days like going for a walk or cleaning or decorating. There was always something to do to wither away the time as time flew anyway. I just enjoyed the surroundings I was in and I loved living in the United States. Even as a child I loved the United States. I had never been there during my annual holidays as a boy. Going to Spain was my annual holiday but I always had a huge attraction to the United States of America. My mother always said I was born in the wrong country. Well here I was living in the States under very strange circumstances but I was living there. When I got home it was time to clean and then make Freddie’s dinner. I was never a fan of working for a living. There were just too many rules for me to work and I hated being tied down to one place. I loved my freedom too much and I was now given my freedom. I could do what I wanted when I wanted and I had no authority figure to answer to there was no stress involved and I was a free spirit. The community never spoke to me and that was fine by me. I just got on with my life and they allowed me to get on with mine. They still hated me for keeping Freddie alive and they were sure that he would kill again. They felt that it was all a matter of time but I was doing all I could for Freddie and he was my responsibility.

I was sitting at home one day watching the television when I heard somebody crying outside and I got up to see who it was and the next thing the door slammed open and it was Freddie he was crying and bleeding. He threw his bag across the room and was crying hysterically and his breathing was so rapid that he could not get his words out. I tried to calm him down but he could not stop crying and all I could do was to get him a glass of water. I sat him down and wiped over his bleeding cuts with a wet sponge and antiseptic cream. When he finally got his voice back he told me, still crying in between dialogue, that he and his girlfriend were walking through the woods in the hunting country of West Virginia when boys jumped them and started beating up Freddie and held down his girlfriend. Freddie could not get up and the boys were punching him and there was nothing he could do to stop them. They let me go and told me not to go near their neck of the woods ever again as they hated werewolves and the British. I ran away from them and I could not save her from them oh god he said I hope she is alright?. He said I should have gone back for her.

I told Freddie he did the right thing and he walked away. He shouted at me for the first time ever and he said but I wanted to kill them. I wanted to tear them apart but I could not allow her to see me as a wolf. I love her too much. I said Freddie, look you controlled your temper you did not kill them you did not do it for me but you did it for love, you controlled yourself for her it goes to show you can control your emotions. I said you did it Freddie, it’s a breakthrough. You controlled your anger. The next thing there was a knock on the front door and it was Freddie’s girlfriend. She was crying and badly bruised and she ran over to Freddie and clutched him and she cried even harder seeing him so bruised. I said to her who are these boys? She said one of them was her ex boyfriend and the other boy was her brother and the other just a local boy. I said should I call the sheriff? No, Freddie said that would just make matters worse. I said why do the boys hate Freddie so much and me come to that?. Well she said my dad has stopped me from seeing Freddie but I am not going to and I have told him this. I asked why or should I not ask? She said my dad despises this part of town and my dad does not like the fact that Freddie is being brought up by a British man. My dad just wants me to forget Freddie but why should I? We love each other. Well I said I was afraid this might happen to be honest with you. Maybe it is best I said if you both took a break from each other for a while. Freddie got annoyed and said no fuck them we can do what we want. I just stood there thinking oh no.

I told them both not to walk through the woods anymore and to walk where people can see them at all times. They would both have to be very wary of their moves now and keep to themselves. Maybe I should go and talk to her dad. I thought it might help the situation or might it make it worse.

I did not tell Freddie or his girlfriend that I was going to see Freddie’s girlfriend’s parents but I thought I should go and see them in the hunting country. It was very much huge trucks and dogs barking as I walked by and I recognized the house as the way Freddie’s girlfriend described it to me. It was again a white clapboard farmhouse with an acre of land all around and Jeep’s parked in the front of the house and two large garages. Her mother had given the place a look of femininity by putting flowers around the house and adding white nets and curtains to all the windows. I could hear men shouting at each other from the gates with foul language being spoken and the dogs were pounding at the gates like they wanted to eat me. They had an Intercom at the gate and I rang the intercom and said I am Freddie’s Guardian and would it be alright to come in and talk. The dad came on the Intercom and told me to go away back to the United Kingdom but I could hear the mom telling him to put the dogs away and to let me in. The dad spoke grudgingly and told me to wait a few seconds. I could hear the dad whistle at the dogs and shouted at them to get in their cages. He had a booming voice and he seemed from his voice to be a fairly large man. The gates opened and what welcomed me or did not welcome me was a large man as I had guessed he was wearing wellies and overalls and he stood at about 6 foot. He was wearing a cap and he looked very rugged and just looked me up and down like something he wanted to shoot.

We just stood there and he said so your the British guy all the way from England?. I said no, not exactly. I am from South Wales. Have you heard of it? He said the UK is all the same to me, never been there and have no interest in going there. We both looked at each other and there was an air of reserve. Then I heard a woman’s voice walking towards us. She was small about 5 “2 and very plump and ash blonde and she told me to come into the house. As we walked up the path full of leaves I could see one of the son’s working on the car he looked just like his dad but was smaller in build black hair and brown eyes and of a slim build he ignored me and just got on with his car and I could hear the dogs barking in the backyard. The whole scene was very unsettling as I just knew I was not wanted.

We entered the house through the kitchen and she asked me if I would like tea or coffee? I never turn down a cup of tea no matter what the situation. The dad sat there slouched in the chair with his arms folded and I said look, the reason I have come to see you today is because a couple of boys jumped Freddie yesterday and beat him up and well could you tell them to leave Freddie be. The dad sat there and said boys will be boys Mr British and boys become men around here if you get my drift. I asked what he meant by that? Well he said, you Brits are pretty free in your ways so I hear something of the Dorothy in you all. I said for a start I find that very odd that you would think like that, seeming as if you have never even visited the United Kingdom. I have a television Mr British he said. I said look I just want your boys to leave me alone. He is in love with your daughter and I want them left alone.

The dad sat up straight from his chair and said look here Mr British there is something very wrong with the setup you have going on with Freddie and I don’t like it there are a lot of missing blanks to your story and it does not fit well with us. The mom spoke up and said you must understand that your part of town is well to be honest scary to us. The dad said Mr British drink up and I will walk you to the gates. I finished me tea and I could tell that my visit was a complete waste of time. As the dad showed me out he said and Mr British If I ever come across a werewolf on my ground or on yours then it dies you understand that. Oh yes I said certainly Mr America.

I walked away and made my way home and I was angry that I had such an unpleasant welcome. I did not know what I was going to do about Freddie and this girl. I was powerless to do anything Freddie was very happy but as usual in life there is always a spanner in the works. As usual, Freddie brought his girlfriend home for tea and I did say that Freddie should maybe ask me first before he brought his girlfriend home for tea with us. Freddie responded by saying that he was not welcome at her house so he brought her to his house where she was welcome. Freddie asked me why the change of heart all of a sudden? I said to them both listen guys ok I am ok with you too but other people are not and that obviously worries me. Freddie’s girlfriend said by other people you mean my family right?. Well yes I said and I said I went to see your family today and I got a very cold reception from them. I mean me and Freddie are just two people who do not want any trouble and well your family are not exactly the kind of people to keep to themselves.

Freddie said why did you go and see them? I said because they just cannot go around hurting you both and they had to know that. Freddie’s girlfriend asked what they said and I said they basically asked me to leave and not come back. I said I really do not know what to say about this apart from it’s all very sad. I told them the story of me a very long time ago fancying a girl in school who was very popular with the other boys but I stayed away from her even though I fancied her I kept my feelings dormant. Freddie’s girlfriend said, ``But how old were you?. I said fourteen years old but I did not want to get beat up so I played it safe. Freddie said and the moral of the story is that I should repress my feelings just to play it safe. I said no Freddie I would not expect you to do that and you would not do that anyway it’s just not you. I discipline myself to be squeaky clean. Maybe I still do.

I just told them to watch themselves and be wary and to try and keep out of people’s way and just spend time here where they were safe. I really wished that everybody was ok with Freddie’s love life but Freddie’s girlfriend’s dad was determined to split them up as he just did not like us at all.

Freddie’s girlfriend Georgia would often come to the house crying as her father insisted that she finish with Freddie and get back with her ex boyfriend simply because he was from the hunting country and he was just a local. I was helpless to help Georgia and all I could do was to look on in fury at her own family treating her like this. If I went to see Georgia’s dad again he could just turn the dogs on me or worse still he could shoot me. I after all did recommend myself that they finish but they were determined to stay together. Then one night Georgia’s father came to the house. It was the first time he had stepped foot into my community but he wanted his daughter out of my house. Her father shouted from his Jeep that his daughter should get out of there and get her ass home but she shouted from the bedroom for her dad to go away. The Community hated this commotion and dogs were barking everywhere in all the properties. The big guy who lived by me with the bull mastiffs came out of his house with a gun and told Georgia’s father to leave or he would use his gun. Georgia’s father told him to back inside and mind his own business but he was not a guy that you messed with and he went up to the Jeep and opened the jeep door and he told Georgia’s father that if he wanted to sort this out man to man that they could go into the woods and sort it. Georgia’s father started his engine and drove away but the community was not happy at all about this commotion and the unwanted attention it brought to the town.

I told Freddie that we can no longer have Georgia’s father making trouble for us and that this would have to be sorted out. Freddie got angry with me and he said so what am I supposed to do then?. I said I don’t know, but something has to be done. We cannot afford the Community to turn against us. I said just see each other in class you will have to stay apart afterwards that’s all you can do. Freddie said No I am not doing that why should we?. I said Georgia’s father will never allow you both to see each other. I just don’t know what you are going to do. Freddie said maybe I can kill him. I said that’s not even funny.

The next thing I know I have the doctor on the phone asking me what is going on with Freddie as the community are scared and upset by the commotion. I said we are having some problems with the dad of Freddie’s girlfriend. He is making a lot of trouble. The doctor said yes I know he is a mad man the last thing we want is him shouting around the community. The doctor said you have to sort this out and take care of it. We don’t want the attention and we don’t want him coming into the community again. I said I will sort something out. I did not have a clue what to do about Georgia’s dad and the trouble he was making for me. If I went to the sheriff that would make life ten times worse.

Things came to a head as they did and Georgia was thrown out of her house by her dad and she obviously came to the house crying hysterically and bleeding from where her father had hit her in the mouth. Her mouth was swollen and red. I could have killed her father myself. He was just a bully and tyrant and did not care about his daughters happiness. I of course told her that she could stay with us but what if he was to come to the house and make more trouble for us. As suspected he came to the house drunk and he was shouting and calling Georgia everything I could do nothing more but phone the sheriff. The Sheriff came straight away and put Georgia’s dad in the back of the police car. He was shouting that he would shoot all the werewolves in the town once and for all. Somebody collected his Jeep and took it back to his house. Georgia was very sorry for what was happening but I could not allow this to happen again and I knew that it would.

The Sheriff came to see me afterwards and he told me that Freddie and myself should be careful as the family will take revenge. I asked the sheriff if he would come here again and make trouble for us and the sheriff told me that he probably would. The sheriff told me in private that they were a troubled family and were known to make trouble for people if they made trouble for them. The sheriff told me that Freddie could not have picked a worse family to mess with; they were outback troublemakers and misfits who enjoyed making trouble. I asked what we could do and the sheriff told me to just keep calling him if they turned up. I thought Oh No why us again?.

As I knew the doctor phoned me shouting down the phone that this nonsense has to stop otherwise the community wants myself and Freddie gone from the community. I told the doctor that it was under control and the sheriff was looking into it. The doctor shouted at me again and said we have people coming into our community from the sticks for god’s sake they are hunters by nature we don’t need that. I said Look doctor, it will not happen again, ok and if does we will move to the city. The doctor said what has Freddie got himself into with this girl you promised us that you would keep the boy under control. I said in all due respects doctor Freddie is Sixteen next week and he is a teenager in love. I never predicted this if you know what I mean. The doctor said well you predict it now and you goddamn do something about it you hear me otherwise we might just have to. I said don’t threaten me doctor you understand. The doctor just said lastly you take care of this problem. I felt sick and giddy. Everything was going so well with Freddie and then he met Georgia with the family from hell. What could I do about it?.

I only had one option left and that was to talk to Freddie and try and make him see sense to finish it with Georgia otherwise we would lose everything we worked so hard for and I was petrified of that happening. I know he would be devastated but Georgia’s father hated me and Freddie with a passion and he know hated his daughter for turning against him, Georgia’s dad had it in for us big time and he was going to get his revenge unless Freddie called it a day with her and moved on with his life. I was not looking forward to this conversation but it would have to be done.

Freddie came home with Georgia and I had cooked us a lovely meal. We tried not to talk about Georgia’s family too much as it just got us all hot tempered and depressed. When we finished the meal Georgia went into the living room to watch a movie but I asked Freddie if he would stay with me in the kitchen so we could have a talk. What is it he said? I said Freddie look I think the world of Georgia and if I could I would foster or adopt her too but I cannot. She belongs to a family, a family that hates us and they are going to make a lot of trouble for us. Freddie said, are you asking me what I think you are going to ask me to end it with Georgia?. I said don’t you think it best for Georgia and for you I mean taking her away from her family and roots?. I went on. She belongs here Freddie with her people. We are taking her away from that. Freddie went on I make the rules in my own life and Georgia is mine we belong together and nothing you can say or her insane father or the town can do to stop me loving her this is my life he said not yours or his or the towns this is my life and I will do what I want with it.

Freddie stormed off and sat in the living room with Georgia and I just sat at the kitchen table looking into space. I did not know what to do as I was powerless to do anything. I just had to wait for Georgia’s dad to cause another scene.

About two weeks had gone by and Georgia’s dad had gone very quiet and even though this was great it still very much alarmed me. Georgia was now living with us and this Friday Georgia had gone home to collect her clothes and bring them over to our house. I was not at all happy about this but I could not allow Georgia to live with her dad and take the abuse from him because she refused to stop seeing Freddie. Freddie had gone to class while Georgia went home and collected her personal belongings. Hours and hours had gone by and there was nothing from Georgia, no phone calls, nothing. Freddie came home from Class and the first thing he asked me was where is Georgia?. I told Freddie she has not come back from her parents house and I think you should leave it alone. Maybe she has decided to side with her family. Freddie got angry and said she never would she hates her family, he said what if they have done something terrible to her? Freddie said I have to go and see if she is ok. They could have done anything to her. Freddie Flew in a rage and I told him to watch his temper but he ran out of the house in such a rage and went running to Georgia’s house.

I put my coat on and my wellies and I went after him walking through the woods towards the hunting country and towards Georgia’s house. It was dark and the last place I wanted to be was in the dark woods looking for Freddie. I could hear twigs breaking all around me and birds up in the trees and the odd owl which just made the place even more eerie and scary. I did not have a clue what I was going to do once I got to Georgia’s house but if she was in trouble I was not going to stand back and let it happen. I could then in the distance hear boys laughing and as I got closer I could hear Georgia screaming as I looked over a tree I could see boys holding Georgia down while Freddy was being beaten up by Georgia’s dad. I ran over to them and shouted for them to stop. I told them I was going to call the sheriff. Oh my god said Georgia’s dad if It Isn’t Mr British Himself. I told them that if they all left that we would leave it at that and that this had now gone too far.

Georgia’s dad walked over to me and punched me in the stomach which just winded me and I got down on my knees to catch my breath. I had not been punched like that since my school days. I could not get my breath and my eyes just watered up with pain. Georgia was screaming for her dad to stop and Georgia’s brother was telling his dad to teach me the American lesson. The next thing I know and my worst nightmare come true Freddie was on his stomach crying out in pain. I had seen this before when he was a child and I knew what was happening. I cried out no Freddie don’t their not worth it. Georgia’s dad just laughed and said look at him crying and he calls himself a man. The next we know Freddie turns over and his face has changed he has dark hairs over his face and he is changing as we watch. Freddie’s clothes are being torn from his body and Georgia’s dad just looks on in pure disbelief. I thought there is no going back now and there will be deaths here today.

Freddie stands up and he is still changing as we watch sharp teeth and claws come through his fingers. I can hear the crunching of his bones as his body is changing. Anger has got to Freddie and it has brought out the wolf. Georgia’s dad grabs his gun and before he can even point it at Freddie, Freddie runs towards him and all we can hear is a man screaming and a wolf mutilating a human being. The human screams were dreadful to hear. Georgia’s brother and his friends chase Freddie into the woods and shoot but Freddie turns on them and none of them stand a chance well we thought they did not until Freddie walked towards me as a werewolf and even I was scared of Freddie but he then dropped down beside me and lay there and I could see he had been shot.

Georgia was screaming that her family had been killed and that what the fuck was Freddie. I told Georgia to go home and to phone the sheriff and get an ambulance for her family and Friends. She ran home through the forest and I took Freddie home before the police turned up. I carried him as best I could through the forest, his naked and bloody body. I collected his clothes and took them with us and we headed off home away from this awful mess.

I got Freddie home and I laid him on the kitchen Floor he had been shot in the stomach and there was blood coming out of his mouth. I tried to stop the blood as best I could but it was just oozing out of him and his body was cold. I said I will phone for an ambulance Freddie but Freddie said No as he must never be seen as a wolf. Freddie held my hand and he thanked me for being his dad. I said thank you Freddie for being my son. Freddie died in my arms and I was heartbroken but maybe I always knew deep down that this day would come. I phoned the doctor and told him to come over to the house right away which he did. When he saw Freddie lying on the kitchen floor he did not know what to say but I said doctor Freddie has gone and we have to bury him in the back garden before the sheriff gets here.

We quickly buried Freddie as fast as we could in the garden along with his clothes as there had to be no traces of Freddie at all. The doctor told me that he was very sorry but as I said to him you all got what you wanted in the end. The doctor left and just ten minutes later the police arrived at the house. I had a chance to throw my clothes in the wash and take a very quick shower and clean up the kitchen floor. They came looking for Freddie but as I told them I had not seen Freddie since he left the house this morning. The sheriff told me that three people had just been brutally murdered and that a witness said it was Freddie but he turned into a Werewolf. I said that A werewolf and Freddie the witness must be on drugs. The Sheriff reminded me of my sightings of a werewolf and I said well I was going through a bad time. The police checked the house and Freddie was the suspect but of course they would not find anything. They went through the woods trying to find evidence but I made sure there was nothing left of Freddie, not even a tissue he may have been carrying. As far as I was concerned I had not seen Freddie and I knew nothing of his whereabouts. Days later I went for a walk through the woods and stood where Freddie had changed into the wolf a day I dreaded but a day that did happen and the day that Freddie died.

Life was not the same without Freddie. The house was very quiet and I could hear weeping in the house from Mr Johnson. He would often wander the house and Freddie’s picture would fall from the wall. I knew that Mr Johnson had been looking at it. The police continued to question me about Freddie but as far as I was concerned he had run away and I would never see him again. I walked alone for many weeks just in a world of my own as West Virginia now seemed more quiet to me than it ever was. I made tea for myself and I washed clothes for myself and the days and nights were very long. It’s amazing how kids fill such a void. I was used to living on my own but then if we have kids everything changes for life. I did not know what was next for me as I was now in my fifties and maybe just as lost as I ever was in life. I would have to start over but where was I to start?.

Then out of the blue one day Georgia paid me a visit, something I was not expecting. We sat in the kitchen and she started crying. She told me how much she missed her family and Freddie. I asked her how her mother was and she said she was not the same woman anymore. She now lived on anti- depressants and was always in a very low mood. She never left the farm and was a recluse. Georgia asked me if I had always known that Freddie was a werewolf and I told her the truth. I told Georgia the full story of me saving Freddie and the reason I raised him from the age of ten upwards. I asked her what was next for her and she told me she was leaving the United States and going to work. In Australia she had a friend out there who owned a surfing shop and she was going to live with her. I asked about her mother and should she be leaving her alone like that but as she said if I stay with mom my life will just become depressing and that was not what she wanted she wanted a fresh start. I said sorry to her about her family but I hoped she understood how Freddie was pushed to retaliate. I just want to forget this place she said and move on with my life. She asked me what was next for me now and If I felt I had a home In West Virginia anymore?. I said oh no I have no home here anymore I will also move on with my life I have to. Georgia said back to England, I said no back home I suppose a familiar place for me. I said I ran away from home once just like you and I found England and now I am going back home we always seem to go back home during the tail end of our lives we go where our hearts lead us. I guess south Wales never really left my heart even though I was constantly sick to the back teeth of the place for many years.

I phoned my boss or my ex boss and I told him the unfortunate news of what happened. It had already reached the United Kingdom of the murders and the hot shot police man from the United KIngdom was already planning to fly out to West Virginia as the case was now of great Interest. My Boss asked me if there was anything that he might find that could get me into trouble. I told him we buried the body in the grounds of the house but he would have no chance digging that up as the locals would never allow him permission. The community wants no more to do with outsiders Freddy is dead and to them now trouble has died. The community will not even speak to the young police man if he comes out here. It would be a lost cause for him. What about the local sheriff will he speak up do you think? I said no he just wants the town to go back to how it was and left at that he does not want any more investigations. And you he said what are you going to do now? I said I might spend a couple more weeks here and then travel to Los Angeles. I have never been there and why not. I said I will then fly back to Wales and look for a house and what then I do not know.

I spent the last couple of weeks walking around West Virginia and just sitting on park benches watching the sun going down. I packed up the house as it was going to be boarded up and I cleaned all the house making it sparkling. Mr Johnson came to see me as I thought he would and he was actually sad to see me leaving but he was glad to see the house boarded up as he did not want anybody else moving in he burst out crying about Freddie but he said to me believe me he is happy where he is Mr Johnson said people cry when we die but why I do not know because life is even better in death.

I booked a flight to go to Los Angeles and I had everything packed and I waited in the garden for my taxi. It was cold but I just sat there looking down at where Freddie was buried now covered in big brown crisp leaves. The windows were all boarded up in the house and the front door was locked and there was no sign of me ever being there. Not even mail could get through the door as of tomorrow as that too would be boarded up. They were happy times for me in West Virginia and I doubted whether I would ever find that happy time again. I had to book a taxi way out in another state that was not familiar with the town as no taxi in the state of West Virginia would come near my house and I had lots of luggage. The taxi pulled up outside and I walked down the front garden and locked the gates behind me. I got into my taxi and told the driver to take me to the airport. As the taxi drove off I could see curtains being twitched in windows where the locals were watching me leave. This was a cursed little town and even though myself and Freddie were never welcome there I could not help thinking that somehow and in some way we were going to be missed.