Chapter 115 - LUNA'S BAGGAGE
Alison
I wouldn't believe anyone if they said it wasn't intentional. Of all the wolves to be captured on camera, why did it have to be the one everyone hated most at the moment?
The first time I saw it, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. It wasn't long ago, they had a grainy, blurry clip but suddenly it was high definition. As if they were afraid of not getting enough attention if the clearer video would have been posted first.
That's not all, they played the clip over and over again. It was during the third replay that Mary and I snapped out of our shock. I told her to get Asher to watch it while I hurried online to look at what everyone was saying.
MONSTERS!
That was the first comment I saw upon clicking on the website. Someone had taken a screenshot and zoomed on the face to make a side by side comparison to the Dr. Hann picture that had been circulating online. Even though the one in the video looked thinner, there was no mistake that it was the same person.
“Did you all watch the news a few minutes ago? Those that haven't should go to the BTTv channel right now, you will be in for a surprise.”
Not many people watch the news these days, but when some said there was something interesting going on, no one dared to miss it. As for me, I watched religiously since publishing the article to see if any of the major stations had picked up on my story. I wanted everyone to know the truth, but I did think it would be this way. One can tell the moment when everyone saw the video.
“Tell me that's a lie...?"
“This has to be a lie, right, what camera trick is that? Is this some sort of prank? Stop scaring me, I have a camping trip planned for the weekend."
“Technology has gotten so advanced lately, that video looks too real." They didn't believe the video. Was that a good thing? I had been the biggest advocate for humans knowing the truth, but now when things we finally put out in the open, my stomach was in painful knots. I did the right thing, right? This wasn't going to cause trouble, right? Why did I suddenly feel that I should have listened to Asher? If this backfired, it would be on me.
Among the confused comments, there were some that seemed to know what was going on. “The video isn't fake. You can ask the experts to take a look at it if you don't believe me." I found the comment suspicious. It was normal not to believe that humans could turn into animals, but they sounded so sure.
Less than five minutes later, an ‘expert’ had joined the frenzy. “After analyzing the video several times, I can officially say that it is real. No part of the video has been doctored.” I use ‘expert’ because even though I am not tech savvy, I know that one needs more than five minutes to analyze such a video. It was quite obvious they belonged to the same camp.
But who was so determined to let the whole world know about werewolves? A few newer comments caught my eye when I was about to say they hadn't done anything wrong.
“The creatures of the dark have existed among us for centuries" Creatures of the dark, how melodramatic. “All the stories told around the campfires are true.” That was where the problem arose, according to those stories, these creatures hunted down and consumed human flesh. Wasn't this just someone looking to cause trouble? They wanted humans to be scared of us.
The reaction was just as I had expected. "Are the stories actually true? But I thought... ”
“That's the doctor that has been kidnapping women. Did he eat them? The story about being mauled by animals could actually be true!” The objective to scare humans was slowly being fulfilled.
People just needed a push in one direction and they could come up with anything. The mind was good at conjuring up stories. The last thing we needed was for humans to believe that werewolves went around eating humans. We are not cannibals, you know! Were werewolves considered wild animals? Did being half human make us domesticated?
I was going to write a reply to that comment but someone beat me to it, “I don't know about the others but my daughter was one of the people reported to have been mauled by wild animals. It made me move out of town because of fear. I was desperate enough to take a leap of faith when I saw her picture here last time. I am happy to report that she is alive."
Then someone replied to that comment, consequently saving me from having to explain everything on my own.“I remember seeing you on the train. I was there to visit my sister. She too went missing sometime back. I wished I could bring her back home, but until the danger has been eliminated, that isn't possible.” It was people like these that made me want to make everything right.
I felt Mary's sharp intake of air from my side, the nosy parker was reading the messages on my phone from over my shoulder. “Boy am I so glad you insisted on letting those humans visit the pack, Alison!"
“Those humans?" I asked with a raised brow. I might never not feel targeted every time they use the words 'those humans'. Sure, I had shifted but I couldn't help but imagine that they had talked about me in the same way behind my back.
She let out a dry laugh before saying, “You know what I mean." The way they talked about humans, it was as if all of them had forgotten I was one until recently. We all know they hadn't forgotten.
“Just think about it. How hard would it have been to convince these people that shifters hadn't eaten the missing women if there hadn't been some who had seen their people?" I hadn't even thought about it that way. Imagine if I had left the story at Dr. Hann taking women. It would have been hard to explain everything after this. We would have been doomed.
“So what if he didn't eat them? But that doesn't mean he is not a monster. I don't think any normal human could go around taking women like that." I had to laugh at that comment. How could they say that with all the serial documentaries floating around on the internet? Humans are such big hypocrites, I have to admit. They suddenly couldn't do anything wrong. I watched as discussions about shifters popped up all over the internet.
Well, there have been small talks here and there recently but there was no proof. With people digging into Dr. Hann's information, they were bound to find something, but I wasn't prepared to see a video online. How had they managed to get it? I have never seen cameras in the forest despite going on a run several times, not unless it was hunters trying to cause us trouble.
“There is something I don't understand. Dr. Hann has been missing for a while now. How is it that there is suddenly a video of him shifting floating around?" It was as if Mary could read my mind because that was exactly what I was thinking. This made no sense. Besides, wouldn't a wolf realize if there were cameras around?
His Alpha was the first person we had reached out to when we began to search for him, but he said Dr. Hann was a recluse. He never even joined the pack for runs during the full moon. His Alpha barely knew anything about him, he had joined the pack as an adult. All he asked for was land to build his house away from everyone else and, in exchange, he had given out a lot of money for the development of the rest of the pack.
It was hard picturing the charming man I had met as being a recluse. The Dr. Hann I met was a people person, a social butterfly but quickly remembered there was more to him than met the eye.
Did they have anything else to report? All the TV stations were suddenly reporting the same thing. Breaking News was written in bold with the video playing at different speeds. They all had different things to say about the video but they pointed toward the same thing.
Was their point creating mass hysteria?
After seeing the same video over and over again, I couldn't help but get analytical about it, “He looks thinner and haggard than I remember." I mumbled to myself but Mary heard me.
“What do you mean? I think he looks evil, an evil man with an evil heart." Ah, Mary!
"Why was he just lying there after shifting? It can't be that he just wanted to enjoy sitting there in his animal form."
Some was behind this, but who?