Ben the Werewolf: Part Two (special preview)

One morning, after removing a collection of books from the roof of your car, you came into the early shift at the library. Upon checking the returns bin at the door, you saw the Blackberry Winter book was amongst them.

“Oh good, now I can call Ben and get him off my back.” You set the book aside, as you wanted to look it over before you checked it back in.

After getting all the morning work done, you took the book and looked it over. “Something about this rings a bell. But I can’t remember.” You opened the book, scanning over the contents. It was a collection of short stories and poems about growing up in rural North Carolina. The various poems had a name similar to the title, like Dogwood Winter, Corn Winter, or April Winter. The book was old too, so it looked like it had seen better days. A lot of the pages were dog eared and corners were ripped. There were sketches and writing in the margins. By all accounts this book should have been replaced long ago, but you didn’t know why it remained on the shelf.

You then came to the page with the title poem ‘Blackberry Winter’, and there was an illustration that covered both pages. It was of a cluster of blackberry bushes, and hidden inside was something that looked like a wolf. The wolf’s eyes had been colored in with yellow highlighter and silver gel pen had been added to the snow falling all over the pages.

A memory then kicked you in the gut. “Oh god…I did this,” you said horrified. You stared at the page, remembering checking out this book just because one of the major poetry contests to get inspiration. You had been bored and just given a set of metallic gel pens.

“I’m an animal,” you whispered. You closed the book as the door opened and stood as someone came in through the door. It was Ben.

You sighed. “Oh its you, I’ll just sit back down.”

“Nice to see you too,” he scoffed. He looked disheveled and slapped together. His hair was messy, his flannel was misbuttoned, and his jeans had mud stains on the knees. “Is that book in yet.”

You held it up. “This one?”

His eyes narrowed. “Can I have it?”

You yanked the book back. “I don’t know. Can you.”

His brows arched. “How dare you?”

“I dare a lot. But yes, you can check it out.” You handed the book over. “I was just getting ready to call you.” You went to the computer to type in his information. From the corner of your eye you saw him bending the book in such a way he could look behind the cover of the book. You just shook your head and kept working. “Alright, it’s yours. Once you return it, we may put it up for the book sale.”

He snapped the book shut. “Then let me just buy it.”

You looked him over with a closer eye. It wasn’t just the way he was slapped together or how his long hair fell in his face that seemed odd. There was something else off about Ben Barclay you wouldn’t put your finger on. Maybe it was the way he was standing, or that it was early in the morning. Maybe he hadn’t had coffee yet, or perhaps he had too much coffee. But he looked nervous, and as long as you had known ben Barclay, he had never been nervous.

You sighed. “Wait for me to discuss it with my boss. I might be able to sell it to you before the book sale in summer. For now it’s yours, don’t worry about it.”

Ben smoothed his hand across the cover, gazing at it for a moment before taking a step closer to the counter. “Why would the library get rid of it?”

You tilted your head to the side. “It’s old. Pages are damaged, it’s drawn on, all sorts of things.”

“So you looked at it?” He asked.

You nodded. “I was curious as to what the big deal was. So I looked it over a little. I remembered reading it in high school just before that wordsmith contest, remember? The big one Mrs. Hanson had us all do?”

Ben swallowed and nodded. “You won it.”

A smile came to your lips. “Yeah well, I checked this book out to get inspired. I just barely remembered that until I saw a picture in it. You were looking for a certain story in it, right?”

“Yeah. Nothing special really.” He tucked the book under his arm. “Thanks. See you around.”

“Later days,” I sighed as he left. More people started coming in so I didn’t have much time to think about it anyways.

Since you had the early shift that day you got off early. You did a few quick errands then headed home. As you pulled up to your house you saw something a bit strange. There was upturned earth and tore up bushes stacked neatly in lines around your porch. As you got out of your car, you saw they were blackberry bushes and they were being planted around your home and in front of the porch.