The Full Moon by Amber Riel (books to read this summer TXT) 📕

On one dark, stormy night in a little town in Westfield, Massachusetts, the streets were empty except for some mice that were running to find shelter. It was quiet except for the rain that was falling to the ground. No one was walking around. No cars were driving by. Nothing. It was like a ghost town.
     In a little bookstore on the corner of the street, three people who were wearing long, black trench coats with hoods, were walking out of the store. They were all wearing the hoods of the coats to hide their faces. One of them turned around to lock the door. When she was done, she turned to face the other two. They started walking as fast as they could. “Well, within less than a month we have to deal with another full moon,” said the oldest in the group, who was the same one who had locked the door.
     “The full moon isn’t here yet and Millie’s already getting the effects,” said the only boy in the group.
     “Me too. That’s what happens when you’re as old as us.”
     The youngest in the group was ready to take off her hood. “Why can’t we stay and play in the rain?” she asked.
     “Stina, what are you doing?” the oldest asked.
     “Taking off my hood.” 
     “DON’T!”
     “But....”
     “Just don’t.”
     “Can I take it off when we get into the woods?”
     “Yea.”
     “Millie’s been so uptight lately,” the boy jumped in. “Well, she’s my sister and I love her, but she’s just too uptight.”
     Stina thought about the word uptight. “Uptight.... Nervous.... Tense....”
     The other two looked at her. “What are you?” asked the oldest. “A human dictionary?”
     They walked into the woods, which was about two miles from the town. When they entered the woods, Stina looked around to make sure it was just them three and then took off her hood. The further into the woods they went, the darker it grew.
     “We’re almost home,” the oldest said as they walked along the muddy road.


    At a cottage, which looked really old and was falling apart from the outside, stood in the middle of the woods. Inside the living room of the cottage was a fireplace with a lit fire. In front of the fireplace were two chairs that looked like thrones for a king and a queen. On the left wall was a couch, which looked old and torn up when compared to the chairs. On the right wall was a bench that was hooked into it with a three sided window. 
    A seventeen-year-old girl with long, wavy, dark brown hair, was sitting on the bench, looking out of the window. She was thinking about something.

A seventeen-year-old boy with long, brown hair, walked into the room and sat next to her on the bench. He was one of the most attractive guys in the world, with his brown eyes like a wolf’s, and any seventeen-year-old girl could just melt into those beautiful eyes, just like the girl who he was sitting with. His name was Kyle. “What are you thinking about, Millie?” he asked, concerned about her.

Millie held up her hands. Her hands looked human because of her skin, but her nails were as long as a wolf’s were. Her fingers were bent almost like paws. She was showing him her claws. “These,” she kind of whispered.

“You’re claws? Mine is coming early as well.” He looked into her dark brown eyes, as if he was looking into her head to see what she was really thinking. “It’s more than that, isn’t it? You’re not just thinking about your claws.... Are you?”

Millie looked away from him and looked out the window up into the dark, cloudy sky. She looked past the rain drops which were hitting the window.
   “Millie. No matter what’s going on you can tell me. Trust me.” He took one of his claws and touched her face.  “Trust me on this. Look at me.”
      She didn’t look at him. She didn’t want to look at him.
       He turned her face to where he could look into her eyes again. “I want you to know that no matter what, I love you, always and forever.” He waited for her to reply, but she didn’t answer. He moved his hand from her face. “Okay.” He stood up and started to leave the room.  

Millie turned to face Kyle and opened her mouth. “I love you, always and forever.”

Kyle turned to face her and smiled. She smiled a little. After Kyle left the room, her smile disappeared. She turned back to look out at the sky through the window again. She sighed. The front door opened, she turned to see who it was. The three people wearing the coats walked in. Stina, a fourteen-year-old with reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes, already had her hood off. The other two were taking off their hoods. The other girl was seventeen, like Millie and Kyle. She had blonde hair and hazel eyes. Stina took off her coat and dropped it on the floor. The boy took off his coat, picked up Stina’s coat, and hung them on the coat rack. He had dark hair, kind of like Millie’s but a little bit darker, and he was sixteen.
   Stina and the seventeen-year-old sat down. Stina sat on a chair, while the older girl sat down on the couch, took off her shoes, then lay down.

“Were there any costumers?” Millie asked.
    “No.” The seventeen-year-old girl answered, closing her eyes. “We haven’t had any costumers since.... Since.... Since years ago. I mean a hundred years ago.”
        “Oh.”
        “Come on, Lacy,” Stina jumped in. “ There was that old woman who came in.”
        The boy, Millie’s brother, sat next to Millie on the bench. "She didn’t buy anything, Stina,” he added.
      “Worst comes to worst we’re going to have to sell this cottage.” Lacy opened her eyes and sat up. “We’re not getting any money to stay here. The store isn’t helping seeing that we’re not making any money there.” 

The cottage wasn’t really anything for them to worry about because of the fact that the cottage belonged to the pack. It was built by their ancestors from a long time ago. It belonged to them and no one could take it away from them. It was their’s. Lacy’s concern was the fact that they needed the money for food and because of the fact that most of the humans in the town were against them because of their nonhuman forms that took place on the full moon that met no costumers at their book store so no money for food.

Millie looked down at the dirty floor as she listened to the news. She didn’t want to hear the news at all. It bothered her to hear about the humans.

 “Those humans,” added Lacy, “want us out. They hate the fact that us werewolves go into the town. They want us gone. It’s got to the point where we have to hide who we are....”
         Millie’s brother noticed that Millie didn’t want to hear it any more. “Lacy,” he said to get her attention.
         “They want us dead....”
          “Lacy.”
          “It’s a shame that....”
          “LACY!”
          “What, Shawn?”
          Shawn moved his attention to his sister. “She doesn’t need to hear it. At least, not now.”
          Millie closed her eyes. “I’ll go into town tomorrow.” She opened her eyes. “I’ll go check on the store. If anyone tries to attack me, I will bite their heads off and I mean it.”
        “I’ll go with you.” Shawn knew that Millie meant it and that’s why he wanted to go. He was going to keep an eye on her to make sure that didn’t happen.

The next day in the town, Millie followed by Kyle and Shawn were going to the store. Kyle was wearing a tank top to show off his muscles. Shawn, on the other hand, was wearing a T-shirt. Millie was wearing a black tank top. All three of them were wearing jeans. Kyle and Shawn were wearing tennis shoes, while Millie was wearing her black pirate boots. When they were at the store, Millie used her long fingernail to unlock the door.

When they were inside, Millie looked at her watch.

“What time is it?” Kyle asked as he walked past her.

“It’s almost 9 am.” Millie walked over to a pile of books. She read the titles until she found a book that she found interesting. After she found a book, she went behind the counter, sat down, and started reading. Kyle and Shawn picked up some books and put them on a shelf.

Shawn picked up an unusual book that he had never seen before. He liked to read off the titles just to see which one would be the most interesting to him, if he decided to read it. “Changes by Ella Champmen?” He read out loud, confused.

“Oh. I read that book,” Kyle said.

“Really?”

“Yea. I read the first page, then quite because it was stupid.”

“What’s it about?”

“I don’t know. I just told you that I read the first page.” Kyle thought for a second. “Actually, between me and you, I only read the first word.”

“Okay.”

Millie stopped reading for a second and looked at the door. She noticed the sign on the door said open. She put the book on the counter face down, stood up, and walked to the door. She flipped the sign to where the word open was facing the outside and the word close was facing inside. Then she went back to the counter, sat down, picked up her book, and went back to reading again.

Five hours had passed and they still didn’t get any costumers. Millie was still reading the book. Kyle and Shawn were just sitting down trying think of something to do.

“Hey, Kyle,” Shawn said, thinking of what they could do, “do you want to scare the townspeople?”

“No. That’s too childish.”

“How ’bout prank calling people?”

“No. Maybe some other time.”

Millie finally stopped reading, stood up and walked over to them. “Do you guys want to take a break? Get something to eat?”

“Now that you mention it.” Kyle stood up from his chair. “I am hungry.”

Millie turned to Shawn. “What about you, Shawn?”

“Yea. I could use some raw meat.”

“No.” Millie said, her eyes were flaring. “We’re in town, we eat cooked meat.”

“I know. I was just joking.”

Kyle and Shawn left the store. Millie changed the sign back. When she was outside, she locked the door. Kyle and Shawn were waiting for her next to a light pole. After she locked the door, she walked over to them. Before they crossed the street, they waited for a car