OLIVER

"Let's go to the store and get school supplies!" Olivia had skipped into the kitchen the morning after Oliver helped her apply for college. Oliver was eating a bowl of cereal. She had startled him a bit with her sudden outburst.

"You haven't even been accepted yet," Oliver said with a mouthful of cereal.

"So? Why wouldn't I get in? We had basically the same grades in high school?" Olivia placed her hand on her hip and was looking at Oliver very sassy. Oliver just shrugs.

"No reason, but you still don't know for sure." Oliver picks up his bowl and walks over to the sink and sets it down. "Besides, the semester doesn't start until September. It is the beginning of June."

"Just come with me!" Olivia stamps her foot.

"Fine." Oliver finally agrees. He didn't have any plans anyway. With having no classes, No friends, and no job yet. He was as free as a bird. "But you're driving."

Olivia clapped her hands in delight. "Meet ya in the car!"

____

The twins pulled up into the Walmart parking lot. If anything in their life ever stayed consistent, it was the fact that there is always a Walmart within less than a 20-mile radius. Olivia grabbed a cart as the two walked inside the door.

“How much do you plan on getting that you need a cart?” Oliver asks her.

“You never know, better to get one now than do the walk of shame back up here later,” Olivia answered. Oliver made a face that said, “true”.

The two walked around the store and gathered up various school supplies. In Oliver’s experience, you do not need a lot of supplies for college classes, most things you will be doing are on a laptop. Olivia however did not care what Oliver thought; she threw markers of different varieties into the cart. Multiple different colored notebooks and folders were added. She also got herself not only a pack of pens but multiple packs of pencils as well. She got index cards and a label maker. Permanent markers and highlighters littered the bottom of their cart. Oliver mentioned once that she did not need all of those items, but after the first time she completely ignored him, he just let it be. He knows how his sister is and she will not be convinced. She has never been underprepared for anything in her entire life and she isn’t about to start now. “Do you think a blue folder or a red folder says ‘math’?” She asks while studying a variety of different folders. She already had picked out 4 different folders of different colors, one even had a picture of a puppy on it.

“What if you don’t take a math class?” Oliver asks her. She ignores this question.

“I think red is more math.” She throws the folder into the cart and carries on down the aisle, Oliver trails behind her.

When Olivia finally decides she is done getting school supplies she heads over to the alcohol section and picks out a bottle of wine. “Let's get crunk” she sings.

“On one single bottle of wine,” Oliver adds in the same tone.

When they finally make it to the check-out lane, the pair are disgruntled to note that there is only one register open with a line that has at least 6 people in it, all with full carts. They groan, but there isn’t anything they can do about it so they stand in line. In front of them are three men that, both of them agreed without speaking to each other were most definitely rednecks. They were wearing t-shirts with the sleeves ripped off and tucked into their denim jeans. One of their t-shirts had a Confederate flag on it. Oliver noted this and thought about how Kentucky wasn’t even a part of the Confederacy, but he wasn’t going to tell this man that. They wore boots over their jeans and each of them had on mesh trucker hats. The two men were speaking to each other rather loudly, so Oliver did not feel bad for eavesdropping, even though he could have heard them if they were whispering because of his enhanced hearing.

“I’m telling ya,” The man began. “The got dang wolf was as big as ma truck!” He basically shouted. This got both siblings listening. “Twas bigger than that bear your cousin shot last summer.” He had his arms outstretched as if to demonstrate just how big this wolf was.

“I ain’t ever seent a wolf that big in ma life, Howard. Yur full of it!” One of the men was having none of it and continued to leaf through the fishing magazine he was reading before. Oliver wondered if he could actually read, then thought that was mean of him to think and kicked himself.

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“No! He’s telling the truth, I’ll tell you what!” The third man spoke up. “I got trail cams all round ma property, I see a whole pack of em running through the woods all the time.” He paused. “Bastards are smart too! I swear I saw em walk straight up to ma cams and switch em off or knock em down as if they knew they were being recorded.” The man nodded matter-of-factly. The first man began to nod fervently.

“Zactly! They smart too! Not just huge as bears. They definitely gotta be sponsible for all the disappearances round here lately.” This part made Oliver listen even closer. Disappearances? Oliver had seen some missing person’s posters around town. He hadn’t paid much attention to it.

“Why don’t yall hunt em down then? If they are responsible for all these missing people?” Asked the man with the fishing magazine. The other two men looked between each other, both of them had gone a little pale with just the idea of it.

“I ain’t messing with no creature bigger than a bear that also got brains! I got 2 youngins at home Frank, Jesus!” The man in the Confederate shirt said. The other man nodded in agreement.

“Yup, don’t mess with no animal that got brains. I don’ wanna turn up missin myself.”

“Sounds like werewolves,” The man with the fishing magazine said nonchalantly. He still didn’t believe his two companions.

“Maybe…” Said the man in the confederate shirt, he looked like this was the first time that idea crossed his mind. Of course, it probably was the first time that crossed his mind. For as much as these men knew, werewolves don’t exist. “Or maybe they just some regular wolves.”

Olivia was pretending to read a magazine of her own while listening, Oliver however was staring at the three rednecks wide-eyed.

“Excuse me.” He piped up. All three men turned toward him. They looked at him distastefully as if they could just see how queer he was just by glancing at him. Or maybe they could just tell he wasn’t from around here. “Where did you see these wolves? When did these disapearances first start?” Olivia hit him with her magazine and gave him a deadly look.

“Oliver, you don’t need to know!” She whispered.

“You should listen to yer lady friend kid. These wolves ain't nothing to go looking fer.” The man in the Confederate shirt said.

“I study animals. I just want to see them.” Oliver added. Olivia rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine. The men studied Oliver for a second and then one of them shrugged as if to say. “Yer death ain't my problem.”

“Out yonder past the city limits on the west side. If you go into the woods in that general direction you’ll likely come cross em. Gotta go perty deep though. Bout 2-3 miles or so. Aint no trails or anything. As fer the missing people, they started going missing about a month ago.”

“Thanks,” Oliver said. He looked at Olivia who was refusing to look at him. He knew she was mad at him. He would need to convince her not to tell their brothers or their parents about this conversation.

____________

Olivia was giving Oliver the silent treatment for the rest of the time they were in line. She did not speak to him until they had finished checking out, got to the car, loaded up the car, and got inside. Finally, once they were both inside the car, she went off.

“That was stupid!” She yelled at him. Oliver just looked out the window. He didn’t feel like being lectured. “There’s missing people Oliver! Obviously, these other wolves are dangerous!”

“Aren’t you tired of the only people of our kind you know being us?” Oliver said back, he wasn’t matching her anger and continued to stare out the window.

“Not really.” She was still yelling. “Oliver, I just want to live a normal life. Being a werewolf doesn’t define me! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the only time I’ve transformed since we were teenagers is on the full moon because I can’t control that!” Oliver hadn’t noticed that. He never really paid attention to how much his family shifted. He knew he liked to shift. He loved to transform and run on all fours. He never felt freer than when he is running full speed through the forest, dodging trees and leaping across small rivers and streams.

“No, I haven’t noticed that.” He admitted quietly.

“Pay attention to the people around you sometimes instead of only worrying about yourself!” She was no longer yelling, but her tone was still angry. “I’m not the only one in the family that hasn’t shifted in years willingly.” She paused and studied Oliver to see if this surprised him. It did. “We are werewolves because that’s just what we are. We didn’t choose to be. It’s just how we were born. We are people first and foremost.” Oliver didn’t say anything. Olivia stared at him for a few more moments before turning away from him, buckling her seatbelt, and starting the car. The drive home was silent. Neither of them said anything until they pulled into their driveway. Olivia made to get out of the car, Oliver stopped her before she opened the door.

“Hey,” He began, she stopped and looked at him. “Please don’t tell anyone about the conversation at the store. I don’t want a lecture from Mom or Dad after you’ve already given me one. I promise I won’t go looking for other werewolves.” Olivia considered him for a moment before she nodded.

“It’s our secret.” She said before getting out of the car.