Pretty Predator

Chapter 11:Michael

I arrived at church early because I wanted to talk to God in private. I knelt down and prayed.

“Father, I don’t know where to begin.” I sighed and let the tears I was holding in roll down my cheeks. “My life has become so hard now. I feel like I am being tortured. I have a monster after me, and my body is changing. I don’t know what’s happening to me, and my family also has many secrets. Please tell me where I went wrong, Father, so that I can fix it. Jesus, your child needs you at this moment. Please help me understand what’s happening. Thank you for listening to me, Amen.”

I wiped my cheeks and then sat in the front row. Soon after, people filled up the church, and the service started. After the service ended, Father Matthew asked to speak to me.

“Yes, father,” I stood in front of him. He was old, like maybe mid-fifties, with long grey hair and a chubby body. He was a cute old man.

“Are you okay, son?” He asked with furrowed brows.

“Yes, I’m okay, Father. Why do you ask?”

“You look tired and like everything is going wrong in your life.” He said, and I blinked back the tears I was holding in. That hit home, but I didn’t want to worry him.

“I am okay, Father; I am just a little tired,” I said, and he patted my shoulder.

“That’s alright if you don’t want to tell me about it, but just know that everyone here is your family, and we are always there for you.” He said, and I smiled. I thanked him and then went over to Mae’s place because I figured that it was time to either end or fix whatever was wrong with us. I dialed her number and waited for her to answer.

“Hello.” She answered with a hoarse voice.

“Sorry to wake you up, but I am outside, so can we talk?”

“Sure, please give me 5 minutes.” I nodded, forgetting that she cannot see me.

“Sure.” I hung up the phone and listened to music while waiting for her, but I guess I must have dozed off because I was woken up by her knocking on the window. I opened the door for her, and she got in.

“Hi.” She greeted and looked at me.

“You asked us to meet up, so here I am.” I got straight to business because I was not in the mood to indulge her.

“Ooh, yeah, uh, about that, I promise that I am not cheating on you. I don’t know what you heard, but I am tutoring Khwezi’s younger sister, who is in high school, and Khwezi takes me home when I am done since I finish tutoring his sister late.” She said, and I looked at her properly for the first time since she entered my car.

“How come I didn’t know about your tutoring gig?” I asked her.

“You were distant lately, so I didn’t have a chance to really tell you about it.” I clenched my hands into fists.

“No matter how distant I was, I always made time for you, so don’t feed me that distant crap as the reason for keeping me in the dark. How can I trust you when you don’t tell me what’s happening in your life? I always try to be there for you. When you need something, I am there, and even now I am tired, but you wanted to talk, and here I am, so what more do you want from me? I listen to you; I take care of you. When you are in trouble, I am there, so tell me, what more do you want from me?” I asked her.

“I want you to tell me that you love me.” She shouted.

“What do you mean?” I furrowed my brows.

“You never tell me that you love me.” She whispered.

“But every single day, I show you that I love you. What’s more important? words that can easily be broken or actions?” I asked her, at first, I had no idea what she was on about, but after going through it in my mind, I realized that I never really said that to her, but what could it mean?

“Words are also important to me.” She shouted again.

“Then, that means I don’t love you enough,” I shouted back at her. “Please get out of my car, I want to leave,” I said, and she left the car, trembling with tears glistening in her eyes. I hit the steering wheel and cried as well. I didn’t know why I said that, but since I said it, then it must have been true. I should stop wasting Mae’s time and mine as well and just end things. There was nothing to salvage anymore. I calmed myself down and then drove home. When I arrived home, everyone was sitting at the dining table eating, and I just passed them.

“Michael, we need to talk,” Father said.

“Not now, Father. I am tired.” I said, still walking toward the stairs.

“It’s important, Michael. We know what’s wrong with you.” My mother said, and I turned around to look at them.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked while walking to them.

“Sit down first, and then Father will tell you everything,” Austin said. I sat down and turned towards my father.

“We are not human, Michael. That is how we have been living for two decades now, but that’s not who we are.” Wait! What was he talking about? Father saw that I wanted to say something, and he held up his hand to stop me. “No, just let me finish first before you ask questions. Michael, I know that this won’t be easy for you to accept, but you are a werewolf, my boy. Your mom and I came to the human world 20 years ago because our kingdom was attacked. Everyone was killed, and werewolves from other kingdoms were also killed, but by luck, your mother and I managed to escape, and we settled here in South Africa. You were still in your mother’s womb when we settled here. I have been searching for other werewolves, but I still have not found any trace of them. but we are not giving up. Before you were born, the woman you saw told us to run because you were in danger. The same woman reappeared again when you were born, Michael. She told us to hide your true nature because you are the most powerful werewolf she has ever seen. She said that after your transformation, a monster would come for you, so we tried so hard to hide what you are, but we failed and…” I shook my head.

“Please stop,” I whispered and then ran to my room. I went to bed and let the dam open. ‘That was not possible. They had to be lying. Werewolves, Vampires, Goblins, and fairies were not real; they were just fantasies meant to entertain humans. How could they lie like that?' These thoughts kept running through my mind, but I couldn’t stop them even if I tried. Eventually, I fell into a deep sleep, and honestly, even if I didn’t wake up the next day, I wouldn’t have minded at all. Today was a long day for me, full of twists and turns that I didn’t like at all.