The Rules For 2014

Way back in 2004, I was going through a divorce and living in a van that sat in the parking lot of an apartment complex. I had friends that lived there so showering and eating wasn't much of a problem...I just didn't want to push myself on anyone. With the help of those people, I pulled myself out of the muck, moved on with life, and started over. I like the life I have created for myself since then. Granted, there are a few things I'd like to tweak here and there...but it's a nice life. I don't appreciate it being interfered with. Rule # 1 - If you are my age and you are going through the same thing I did ten years ago...and you have chosen to get hooked on drugs, get arrested, continue to hustle and steal, keep warm under my roof, eat my food, use my car, lie to me, ignore your children, mistreat my children, mentally abuse my wife, mentally abuse your ex wife...after I have personally extended my hand to you for help...I have no use for you. There is no one in this world that can screw you over quicker than a friend...but, for some reason, family members have it perfected almost to an art. Rule # 2 - See rule # 1. You may not believe in ghosts...but negativity at such an intensity has the ability to take an almost physical form. From the minute this situation entered our lives, you could feel the atmosphere in my home change. It brought anger, hate, and fear. Not to quote Star Wars too terribly much in my personal life for fear that it will affect my sexual frequency...it is the path to the dark side. Yoda wasn't kidding. Negativity attracts negativity and, in the spirit world, it almost acts as a beacon to those that would spiritually invade your home, consume your lives, and do you harm. Some people would call this 'bad luck'. I know differently. When you invite negativity into your home, that home no longer belongs to you. As expected, after months of trying to ignore any sort of 'spiritual' thoughts, it all went away the minute that I removed that person from my home. The air felt thinner and the extremely heavy weight that was resting upon my shoulders was shrugged off with minimal effort. Life is returning to normal here. This is not an easy task but if you are going through similar situations in your own home I highly recommend it. Sometimes, you think that you have the best of intentions getting involved in a dark situation but...you can't beat the darkness that belongs to someone else. They have to beat their own darkness. Unfortunately, if this person enjoys wallowing in it and has become comfortable there, their darkness will become yours. Whether it is a friend or a family member, you have to take care of your own spirituality. If you think that you can actually change people...you're fooling yourself. People NEVER change...they just become better actors and actresses. If someone falls to the dark side of things and triumphantly returns into a positive individual...then they were never a dark person to begin with. The change that they were trying to make was to be that of a darker person. The nice person that they have become is who they really were all along. This is a line of thinking that has been true to me all throughout my life, my travels, and my career. As far as the spectral side of things is concerned, I literally spent years engulfed in darkness on purpose as a paranormal investigator. It eventually fed on my soul and engulfed my personality. Almost a decade later, I was led to the doors of a church where I immediately found out how physical the dark side of things can be. It didn't want to leave. After a lengthy internal battle, I emerged victorious but not without scars. If you have a Kindle, you can read all about it in my research journals titled 'A Decade Of Shadows'. 2013 was the darkest, scariest chapter in my life. I'm glad it's over. Here is to a bright and prosperous 2014. I'm looking forward to completing my new novel 'Far From Home' and seeing what the future brings. Take care of yourselves.

Almost a year later...

I guess I'm starting this up again...just as soon as I have time...

1/14/13

1/14/13 - This week...I'm taking the easy way out! If you've read "A Ghost Hunter's Journal" and "We Believe You..." then this is going to be old news. If not...and if you have a Kindle...then you're really going to enjoy this. "A Decade of Shadows" is the Kindle release of both novels combined with some new and updated information mixed throughout. Enjoy the intro... Long before I ever put pen to paper with the ‘Taste Of Home’ trilogy, I began chronicling my adventures as a paranormal investigator. This was not only a way to make some sense out of what I was experiencing…but a way to complete my first book in order to share these thoughts with the rest of the world. This is a Kindle exclusive containing bits and pieces of my first two novels “A Ghost Hunter’s Journal” and “We Believe You…A Ghost Hunter’s Journal Continues” that were originally printed by Publish America Publishing years ago. Because these are based on journal entries of our daily lives, it is written in the same manner in which I speak…so try not to get too uptight about the rules of the English language. Some of this is going to be just as painful to me by re-reading it as it is to you reading it for the first time. After all, I wrote about every single thing going on in my life at the time…good or bad. The last ten years of my life have been full of interesting adventures that I’d never thought possible when I first started making my journal entries…but they’ve also been full of heartbreak. Welcome to a look into a paranormal investigator’s life. It has been a decade of shadows…but it has given me hope in believing that the great adventure doesn’t end when we leave our bodies behind. Enjoy. “The Converted” In the beginning, I didn’t believe her. Sure, I had my share of unexplained events that had occurred around me, but I could always find plausible explanations such as alcohol, illegal drugs, sleep deprivation, or second hand information. For instance, an uncle of mine witnessed my deceased Great-Grandmother floating above him while he lay sleeping. A mere five seconds later, a house not more than fifty yards away from us exploded due to a gas leak or a drug lab…take your pick. Did the house really explode? Yes, as a matter of fact, I witnessed the aftermath with my own eyes on several occasions because they took their sweet time cleaning up the debris. They later rebuilt it and rented it out. I always wanted to go inform the new tenants just to scare the living hell out of them. Next question, did my uncle see a ghost? Who knows! Explanation: He was quite the little expert when it came to the subject of the exploration of the effects of illegal substances. Hey, man, it was the eighties! My next unexplained experience came when I was but a young lad with my hormones raging and stupidity at an all time high! My best friend and I, probably no older than fourteen if I recall correctly, were lying on our backs in a drainage ditch waiting for my latest conquest’s parents to go to sleep so that I may venture through an open window and lay waste to the spoils of their daughter. O.K., you win, I was a virgin and only wishing that the above mentioned scenario would play out identically to the way I had dreamed it up. All jokes aside, we were lying on our backs, staring blankly and lethargically up at the midnight sky when suddenly we began to bear witness to an awesome meteor shower. The freaked out part about this particular event was the fact that there was one object, among the thousands that were streaking towards our atmosphere that was a lot larger, significantly brighter, and moving at about half the speed of its celestial brothers. Suddenly, the object stopped dead in the middle of its decent and hovered completely motionless while the remainder of the heavenly debris continued to plummet all around it. Without warning, the hovering object shot skyward in the opposite direction and out of sight. Needless to say, the only things remaining in our site of temporary refuge were the shape of two young boys that remained in the flattened grass. Was it a UFO? I can’t say. I had only seen stars “fall” before, not change their minds in mid-drop and return home. Explanation: We were drunk as skunks! The two of us had raided an unopened bottle of Jack Daniels from his parent’s liquor cabinet and had easily consumed at least half of it before we began the trek. Shortly upon our return, we ascended his ancient childhood tree house and accidentally caught it on fire with the remainder of the whiskey. Man, most people never have friends like that again. We are still friends to this very day and equally as crazy. We skip ahead in time about four years from that fateful night in which I unexpectedly got to try my luck at performing the duties of an amateur fire fighter, to find myself in my senior year of high school. Living with my grandparents in the same house that my uncle had witnessed the floating apparition, strange noises and things of that nature were a pretty regular occurrence. I thank the powers that be everyday that those unexplained noises in the night were not being emitted from my grandparent’s bedroom, causing some type of repressed erectile dysfunction that would probably still effect me to this very day. My uncle and his girlfriend were sitting in the living room with me when we began to hear footsteps in the hallway coming towards us. My only thought was that my grandmother had been removed from a dead sleep either by the sound of a blaring television or the ear-piercing chuckle of our female companion. When the footsteps reached our location, we simultaneously turned towards the doorway to receive our latest scolding and to be reminded of what time it was, regardless of how may clocks were contained in that particular room of the house. We were pretty awestruck to discover that we were blankly staring into the darkness of the hallway. Our puzzled stares were quickly transformed into frightened faces as a bluish colored, transparent hand reached into the room as though what remained of this being lay in waiting around the corner. The girl screamed and the hand was no more, now being replaced by my real grandmother who was cutting us to the bone by an evil gaze for taking her away from whatever childhood backwoods farmhouse of a dream that we had inadvertently awoke her from. You can never quite forget the unmistakable scent of Menthalatum, cold-cream, and unconditional love. I miss her, too. Since her death, my grandfather has re-married and, at one time before an awesome renovation took place, had put the house up for sale. It was offered to me just to try to keep it in the family, but I refused it. I no longer can tolerate a Texas summer without central air conditioning, and quite frankly, as much as I would love to, would absolutely hate to be summoned into the kitchen late one evening because the ghost of my grandmother had whipped me up her famous meatloaf, fried potatoes, red beans, and cornbread. I take that back…two wives later and I still can’t get a woman to duplicate her awesome cooking. She was loved, and she is missed. The question that weighed heavily on my mind was: Did the three of us just have a supernatural encounter? Were there spirits running amok somewhere in the quaint and quiet dwellings of my grandparent’s home, deep in the dark and eerie nights when only a select few could possibly discover their presence? After all, if you catch an old person awake at midnight, they’re not your average, ordinary old geezer and probably have some interesting tidbits of life saving information that could possibly assist you in your whirlwind of a life, if not save it someday. This being the case, immediately snatch up this vessel of ancient wisdom and entertain them with some type of alcoholic beverage, for they have earned it, two or three times over. But, to the question at hand: Did we see a ghost? Explanation: We were stoned out of our ever loving minds! Will I ever be able to explain the unexplainable without blaming it on the effects of controlled substances? Just wait, there’s more! We jump ahead five more years and I’ve become someone’s ex-husband and the father of the world’s most beautiful little girl. Then, I accidentally get the rebound girl pregnant, and BLAM, I am the father of two of the most beautiful girls that I have ever had the privilege of laying eyes on. As if I didn’t have enough joy in my life, the rebound girl had a daughter already. I was in love with this one from the first day I saw her. (The daughter, not the rebound girl, to hell with the rebound girl!!!!) She was so tiny and adorable, and she crapped all over a fifty dollar silk tie that I happened to be wearing at the time. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is! In my early twenties, with three daughters and no wife, I made an irreversible, drunken decision that would change the course of my life forever. Not only did I wake up one morning in the Army, but I awoke more confused and lonely than I had ever recalled being before. In times like these most men turn to God…and so did I. Military church was not at all like I expected. I had attended service to find shelter, advice, and possibly some kind of loophole in the whole military experience that could provide for me a way out of this voluntary hell hole. All I got in return was a “holy” explanation as to why God wanted me to follow the orders of my superior officers, straight to my own death if they so desired it. I believed exactly at that moment that God let me down. Spiritually lost, I mentally wandered desperately seeking answers into the unknown. Then in a fateful turn of events, I came across a fellow soldier sitting on a stone wall staring with undivided attention at a small patch of ground. When I asked him what he was doing, he informed me he was studying an ant bed. Being the jerk that I was, I inquired as to why in the heck someone would want to burn their free time by watching insects? He told me that it made him understand nature better, and that it helped him to better understand the way of the goddess. He later loaned me a book titled “Wicca, For the Solitary Practitioner” by Scott Cunningham (Llewellyn Publishing). All at once, my entire life seemed to fall into place and the next thing I knew, I was watching ants also. I found the drive, strength and courage to remain in the Army, but with one major drawback. I came home and married the rebound girl. Enter Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. A beautiful yet rustic military installation nestled deep in the valley of the Huachuca Mountains, some fifteen minutes away from Tombstone. I was in a nature lover’s heaven! With nature, however, comes the presence of spirits and spirits, in the hands of a young, curious and inexperienced student in the ways of Old, can be a dangerous combination. The thing that needs to be noted about the nature of spirits is their origin. Ft. Huachuca was the home base of the Buffalo Soldiers in the late 1800’s and they are famous for their courageous duty during the infamous Mexican and Indian wars. There were a lot of lives lost in that desert, and psychic energy built up over time can be a tempting lure. Ft. Huachuca had more domestic violence incidents and divorces than any other military installation in the world. A lot of people believed it was due to the simple fact that all of the military housing was located on land that was used for both the living areas and burial grounds of the Indians that were eradicated from that area. Now, the thing to be noted about witchcraft is that its user thirsts greedily for knowledge, for with knowledge comes power and with power comes the ability to accomplish awesome feats of the supernatural. Eventually, the beginner books no longer satisfy. Midnight, Halloween. You can see where this is all leading, even if you’ve never watched the movie Poltergeist. Reading through some advanced incantation, something was set free in my home. Over the next year, it continued to scare my young daughters and the rebound wife even claims to this very day that a female apparition materialized and actually spoke to her crying desperately for help. Using the power of the ancient religions, did I actually conjure up some dangerous and evil spirit? Explanation: Little children have awesomely vivid and powerful imaginations and my wife at the time was on some serious drugs. Long after I’d given up on the partaking of illegal substances, my immature military buddies found companionship in the form of my young burnout of a wife which, in fact, stayed pretty much baked out of her bleached blonde mind on a daily basis. Of course frickin ghosts were talking to her! Now you can plainly see why I had remained a bit of a skeptic for so many years. I never had tangible evidence to back up any of the paranormal experiences that had occurred in either my own life or in the lives of my friends and family. I stopped practicing the craft; however, I remain a faithful holder in the beliefs of natural co- existence and conservation. Another child, another divorce, and a failed career later, something amazing happened. I ran into a girl that I had not seen in years. A girl that had been an intricate and very special part of my life for as long as I could possibly remember. Recently weathering the storm of a romantic relationship gone horribly wrong, we clung to one another for sanctuary. Anyone who owns half of a brain and believes in romantic fate can figure out the rest of that storyline, but what I would like to do now is skip far away from the details of my past because I think you can gather the type of person that you’re dealing with by now. If not, stop reading because this is actually where it begins to get complicated. The “her” that is mentioned in the very first line of this work of literary lunacy is, in fact, my girlfriend. One night, after she had moved in with me, she began to tell me a story. According to her, she had been stalked by a spirit over the course of her entire life. Nothing more than a large shadow in the shape of a man, it had followed from her youth in California, to every home she had ever settled in locally. Imagine my surprise to discover that this, by all means, was not a part of her creative subconscious. Our spiritual houseguest first appeared to me late one evening while she and I were camped out for a cozy evening on the sofa, watching whatever visual junk that was being offered by our local cable distributor, when she whispered for me to look in the doorway of our bathroom. As a bolt of frightened energy strategically worked its way from my feet to my spinal column, I came to the eerie realization that my uncle had at one time witnessed my long departed great grandmother floating inches from his face, that I could have possibly witnessed an unidentified flying object while lying in a ditch down a country road, that myself and two others had once been on the receiving end of a ghostly handshake, and that I, quite possibly released an evil spirit into my old house that threatened my children and had conversations with my ex wife just by reading a few simple verses that can be found on the pages of witchcraft books that are sold by the thousands in bookstores nationwide. Not to mention that I, one hundred percent stone cold sober was staring at an actual ghost! So, being the man that I am, I mustered up the courage to do what any red blooded figure of masculinity would do given a similar situation. I threw back my shoulders, tightened my arms, and ran towards the entity! However, as I arrived closer to its location it was no longer visible. When I reached the exact spot in which the bastard had spiritually taunted me, a sudden feeling of extreme and bitter cold came over me causing every hair on my body to stand at electrical attention. Now, armed with my trusty vacuum cleaner, I swore at the now empty corner promising to suck him up if he had the balls to show himself again. He did, time and time again, over the period of a year. Sometimes, he appeared during some highly awkward situations. I’m here to tell you from first hand experience that seeing a ghost during the course of committing unspeakable acts can make you lose concentration faster than if your girlfriend’s mother had walked in and caught you…depending on how hot your girlfriend’s mom is. When we relocated to a larger apartment on the opposite side of town, I was curious to see if our shadow stalker would again follow suit and travel alongside her to our new dwelling. Without missing a beat, the sightings began within a week but this time there was an added bonus (if you consider strange phenomena a bonus). After finally getting unpacked and settled in I was wakened one night by the feeling of being touched by small cold hands, accompanied by an innocent and childish giggle. When I had finally taken all I could stand, I sat up in my bed and yelled loudly “For Heaven’s Sake, Will You Fucking Stop!!!!!!!” No sooner had I done so, the meanest sounding and loudest evil hissing noise that I had ever experienced came from the direction of the giggling like I had just stomped on the tail of the world’s largest cat. In the far corner of the bedroom stood a small shadow, half the size of the other, cowering like a scared child. Suddenly, the shadow jumped and disappeared through the ceiling. Where did this one come from? One of my developing theories is that the spiritual energy of our shadowy hitchhiker somehow woke a sleeping entity that had lay dormant in the new place in which we were living. Or, perhaps, the spirit was already there before we arrived, and is possibly lending strength to our original buddy because of the fact that he is no longer lurking in the shadows but de- materializing when I get too close. Recently, I’ve witnessed him darting down well-lit hallways and materializing close by me, unexpectedly, just to make sure that the living daylights are officially scared out of me. To boot, our young child spirit, which has now been recognized as a female, is no longer a shadow but an illuminated being with recognizable features that enjoys making appearances at the foot of our bed. I swear…I’m not making this shit up! Why is this happening to us? Why were the two of us being chosen to play the part of some type of paranormal magnet? Somehow I’m going to find out. I needed answers. I never meant to take things this far. After having my first unexplained paranormal experience, we decided to start ghost hunting as a hobby. As far as the writing goes, it was always a way to pass the time and express my feelings through twisted little short stories and poetry. I never knew I’d go public with it because, when I first began, I never really had any subject matter to write about that could hold a person’s interest. I honestly don’t recall at exactly what point it all got out of hand. My name is Chad. I am a ghost hunter. What you are about to read is the documentation from the journal that I wrote during my first years as a paranormal investigator. None of the following information has been altered and none of the evidence we uncovered has been falsified or exaggerated. When I first co – founded the group that I belong to, P.R.I.N.T. (Paranormal Research and Investigations of North Texas) it was originally meant to be an unusual and cool way to pass the spare time. At first, even though I had encountered a paranormal event that couldn’t be explained by alcohol or drug usage or even severe exhaustion, I was still convinced that all the paranormal shows on television were completely full of it. I wasn’t trying to say that I didn’t believe in ghosts, I just wanted to prove that all of the televised EVP and spirit photographs were fake. I was wrong. I grew up and lived the majority of my life in the mid sized North Texas town of Greenville. It was the home of Audie Murphy (the most decorated soldier of WWII), Collin Raye (a country singing superstar) and twenty six thousand of the most conservative non believers that you’ll ever come across. Greenville was the center of the cotton industry in this area long ago during the days of slavery and beyond. We had a baseball team that played and won, I think, against the New York Yankees, burned a man accused of rape on the steps of the courthouse, and boasted a sign that hung near the town square that read ‘Welcome to Greenville: The blackest land, the whitest people’. Trust me, this place has multiple skeletons in their municipal closet that some people don’t want discovered. You figure it would be a cool place to find something unusual. My co – founder Shahnez ‘Nez’ Ragosino moved here from California when she was very young. Through some unseen circumstances we became the best of friends growing up, coming and going with other relationships until we both ended up taking things to the next level several years later. Her husband and my wife both had bad habits of sharing the cold side of the pillow with various people other than the one they were married to. You could say that we had something in common. We hated cheating, lying, and abusive spouses. It was the perfect way to start a relationship. When she moved in, she unintentionally brought along the paranormal friend mentioned above. Now, I’m hooked. The hard part in all of this was making people in such a conservative town take us seriously. According to local belief, ghosts do not exist within the city limits of Greenville. When we started out, we were scheduling places to investigate on our own. I would come home afterwards and document what we found on my web page and the few friends that I had would comment and anxiously await the next adventure. Hundreds of friends, thousands of readers, multiple radio talk show interviews, and years full of investigations later, we’re networking with over three hundred different paranormal investigation groups world wide to find the answers to the unknown. Needless to say, we don’t have to schedule our own adventures anymore. I’d like to think that we accomplished what we originally set out to do by proving to the local community that there is the possibility that things exist outside of human comprehension. Its something that has slowly came to pass with the select few but there are some minds you can never change. To these people, what we’re doing is wrong and there’s no way to make it right. We’re the epitome of all that is evil. Even if we somehow landed a television gig and became loved by millions, we’d still be loathed entirely in this town. Well, I think I’ve set you up to continue the rest of this journey on your own. I seriously hope that you enjoy reading about this little life of ours as much as we enjoyed living and writing it. Even if you’re not a true believer, maybe before it’s all said and done you’ll hopefully raise an eyebrow to the events that have occurred around us and the evidence that we’ve uncovered. We hope that the next time you visit or drive by a cemetery, you’ll ponder the fact that there might be something more going on there other than growing grass and weathering head stones. We hope that when you visit an old house that you’ll see beyond the dust and age and recognize the history and the soul of the house itself. This is a way of life and a gift that I never once asked for. My life and my beliefs changed forever suddenly and without warning. There are times when I look back on my life, a different life, and remember fondly when I didn’t have to lie to my children and tell them that ghosts and things are all in their head. There was a time when I didn’t lead a secret life and hide it from my conservative friends and family. Those times are gone forever. In the beginning, I didn’t even want Nez’s name involved in this. You’ll notice that she’s referred to as my partner, co – founder, and girlfriend for quite some time as you begin reading. To the skeptics, keep in mind that I didn’t choose the entities, they chose me. Your time could come sooner than you think when they choose you also. To the believers, keep believing. You’re the only ones who can vouch for me and prove that I’m not a complete psychopath that is suffering from reoccurring hallucinations. This is my ghost hunter’s journal. Feel free to walk in my shoes but don’t forget where you found them. Some day soon, I’ll need to strap them on again to continue the journey... In Post Production and Coming soon to Amazon Kindle!

1/10/13

1/10/13 - Ok…I know what you’re about to say… You’re so used to me ranting and raving about current events and things that piss me off to the point that it’s almost expected. I hear it all the time! People accuse me of being one of the most negative people that they’ve ever met in their life! First of all…if most people weren’t such closed minded douche bags with a passion for living in the past…I wouldn’t be so hard to get along with. Second…you don’t have to worry about that this week. Bathe in the ambience of the positive for a change because it probably won’t last long. Someone or something is destined to piss me off in the next seven days or so. I’m sure of it. The law of averages never lies… The NHL lockout is over! Now…some of you are asking yourself “didn’t he just say that he was going to say something positive for a change? Who cares about hockey?” You poor, poor, Neanderthals. Have faith, ye cavemen and women of Cro-Magnon proportions, I’ll explain. Don’t I always? I mean, sure…my explanations might be above your head sometimes but I DO explain nonetheless! I used to be exactly like you. I was all about football through and through and could’ve cared less about much else. Why? Because that is how our fathers raised us…and their fathers before them…and so on. Same philosophy as local beliefs on gay marriage, gun control, and Texas becoming its own country. Grow up. Live in the ‘now’. Get on with life. Grandpa is dead for a reason, right? He was old…and so were his beliefs. If we don’t roll with the punches of this ever changing world then we are going to get left in the dust. I never cared about any other sport but football because it was all I or anyone else around me knew. As a matter of fact, when I first arrived at Army boot camp, I would ask my Drill Sergeant every Monday morning how the Cowboys did. (We didn’t have access to news). He would usually make fun of me for an hour for being a Cowboys fan and then make me do pushups until I got sick. Weren’t they ‘America’s Team’? Obviously not…it’s just something that we’ve convinced ourselves of in this wonderful state of ours. Anyway, I was standing in a PT formation one morning in June at Ft. Huachuca Arizona when one of my friends approached me to congratulate me on the Dallas Stars winning the coveted Stanley Cup the night before. I honestly replied with “Thanks. Who in the hell are the Dallas Stars?” Shortly after my time of military service ended, I moved in with the same guy at his home in Long Beach, California. We had landed a job in the same department of Nortel Networks (remember that company?). When I walked into his living room I knew that I was instantly in trouble. Hockey jerseys and equipment were laying and hanging everywhere. Even the Playstation was emitting hockey almost 24/7. I immediately starting making jokes…but it had little effect on the true believers in the room. I argued for weeks actually…until I was sitting in the Staples Center watching the Los Angeles Kings play the San Jose Sharks for the very first time. The regulation periods were over and sudden death overtime was upon us. The score was 0-0. Suddenly, the arena erupted in an electric frenzy as the Kings scored the game winning goal and it was the most energy I had ever felt in my life. I had attended NBA, NFL, and MLB games before…but never had I felt such an emotional explosion. I was hooked. Any hockey player is physically fit enough to pull off a decent game of basketball, football, or baseball…but I bet you that few basketball, football, or baseball players could ever strap on a set of skates and play a decent game of hockey. Why haven’t we been celebrating this sport in Texas? After completing some research, Texas actually has MORE pee wee, recreational, and minor league hockey teams than any other state in the U.S.! For once…I was passionate about something that I could share with others. Upon my return home…I tried to. No such luck. Hockey fans are far, few, and in between in the bustling Mecca of Greenville, Texas and, once again, I was on my own in my passion. In 2004, my wife and I divorced and I was only cool with it because I was going to be able to watch the hockey season unfold uninterrupted. Again, no such luck. The 2004/2005 lockout engulfed the entire season and I often refer to it as the worst year of my life up until this point. In the midst of war, a crap economy, a possibly fixed election, a potential catastrophic event on December 23, and various other heinous events of 2012…at least I was looking forward to the hockey season. Second verse…same as the first. Millionaires began arguing with Billionaires about money and such and the season is just now beginning. The most important part though…is that it IS beginning! Finally, my life and passion can return to a normal level and I can begin looking forward to the good things in my life…beginning with the drop of the puck and deep, red blood on pure, white ice. I can travel to the American Airlines Center and make instant friends with thousands of people that are just like me in my excitement for the sport. It’s the little things in life, right? In the meantime, everyone else around me can watch their cave man sport that takes basic human motor skills to accomplish mediocrity by running a two yard play and celebrating for the next couple of hours. Go Stars!!! Damn…this turned out to be negative after all! I haven’t skipped a beat. All is well. Howl…growl…snarl…

1/2/13

1-2-13 – For two weeks now, I have shut up completely for the sake of peace on Earth and good will towards all living things…but the silence is finally broken. This is going to feel wonderful. See…if I don’t let off a little steam on a weekly basis through the power of the spoken word, I have a tendency to get a little cranky. This morning was no exception. Today is my middle daughter’s 17 birthday and, in all fairness to the fact that a child of mine has survived this long, I should be as happy as a whore on holiday! I’m not. You see…just after Thanksgiving, my wife was let go from her job because she is a little too ‘tan year round’ for their liking. A large chunk of her heritage is Lebanese and, to most of the narrow minded residents of my hometown, that just happens to scream ‘potential terrorist’ in their feeble little minds. Eventually, there are only so many Sand Nigger, Towel Head, and Camel Jockey jokes a person can take before they develop a defensive attitude. She was fired because they said she had ‘an attitude’! Go figure! They caused it! After many weeks of Britain Chevrolet of Greenville, Tx fighting her unemployment claims, my wife was finally successful in obtaining benefits because the liberal state workers of Austin saw things from her perspective, saw the vehicle dealership as the racist bastards that they truly are, and shot a little money in her direction. Whatever…it’s in the past. Moving forward! Being the kind of guy that prides himself on paying his bills on time for several years, I phoned our auto financial company to see if there was a small amount of assistance they could offer while our finances fell into place. They jumped at the change to assist us! Neato Torpedo! Things are going nice, right? Not at all. Ever since I took the initiative to ‘do the right thing’, I have been receiving phone calls from their contact center wanting to know when I was going to catch up on my car payments. Wait a second…weren’t you guys the ones that lay claim to the payment agreement? Why don’t you tell me! Unfortunately, robots have no sense of humor or the ability to process sarcasm so I have to continually explain the scenario to the point of yelling on a daily basis. Not only do people from India not have a very good grasp on the English language…they also have no sense of American holidays and the fact that the U.S. Postal service fails to work on such days. Was Britain Chevrolet actually right in displaying their irritation with ‘the tan folk’? Absolutely not…and I don’t plan on going home to beat the wife for being of similar creation. What my problem is…is the fact that an American financial institution has chosen to yet again take potential jobs away from this country in order to get cheaper labor costs. In the end, they are getting exactly what they are paying for! Somewhere in this crazy world of ours is a pool full of individuals that barely have a grasp on the language that you and I speak…yet they are calling us at the most inopportune times to discuss our financial situation and at the hands of Google Translate! This country is inevitably doomed and, as far as I’m concerned, good riddance! It is not the narrow minded simpletons of the southern part of the United States that should have a problem with people of the darker persuasion…it should be the other way around. For my few decades of living, I have been bombarded with nightly visions of our troops invading their lands, trying to change their religions, stealing their resources, and murdering their people…all in the name of ‘democracy’…which is another myth in itself! We can save that for a different rant, however. The more I truly sit and think on the situation, I should allow this foreign call center to phone me daily and allow them to be clueless to my intentions. I’m sure the guy is taking pride in his meager job and feeling a little better about himself for every minute that he gets to disturb a Lindsay Lohan, a Honey Boo Boo, or a Snooki. After all…that is how they see us. When a redneck runs into an Indian person…they make a Gandhi joke. When they run into a person of Middle Eastern decent, like my wife, they snicker a Bin Laden comment or two underneath their breath or behind their backs. In my opinion…it is only fair that when my morning nemesis calls me to repeatedly inquire about my car payment, that he should have a good laugh with his coworkers after we hang up because he gave ‘Charlie Sheen’ a hard time before he could have his second Red Bull of the morning. We relate those people to the icons that the media force feeds us…and so do they. While some of them probably had a meal this morning, the first in a few days, they think that their calling superficial, jerk Americans like ‘that Donald Trump guy’ that they saw on Access Hollywood last night…and he’s not making his car payment. Realizing this…I believe that a little bit of fun is in order at their expense. In the morning, my new Indian friend will be surprised to know that he is actually speaking with Justin Bieber. It’s these types of epic epiphanies that make me happy that the world didn’t end a few weeks ago…Howl Growl Snarl…

Chapter 5 - Unedited First Draft

5 The bitter cold swirled all around the young girl as the reflection of a billion lights glistened on the new fallen snow. Since her arrival, she could only recall a few minutes here and there where there wasn’t some type of frozen precipitation pelting her from all directions. She was slowly getting used to it. Tonight none of it seemed to matter much. It affected the mission in no way whatsoever. Besides…with her face covered in a light fur…it rarely touched the skin enough to make her even remotely aware. The events of the previous evening had sent her reeling to the point that she knew it was definitely time to move on to the next level of the plan. As the day had progressed, she had gotten little catch up sleep due to the returning memories of a sweaty night involving her new found friend Willow. Every time she closed her eyes, visions of the beautiful yet odd young lady beckoned her to hastily come to a conclusion. Was this indeed the most disgusting thing that had ever happened to her or an experience that could possibly alter her young life forever? Shaking the haunting visions from her head along with the accumulated snow on her cheeks, she knew that now was not the time to think of such things. Revenge and survival were to come first…and neither of them were jockeying for position of importance. Regardless of consequence…they were equals in her mind. Her first stop of the evening had unfortunately been the Central Park Zoo. Animalistic hunger had finally caused her to succumb to the unthinkable. In the early morning hours, subscribers to the local media would be slapped with the news about the discovery of a slaughtered deer inside of its enclosure. She hated it…but the act’s ranking would’ve been nothing compared to that of an uncontrolled transformation and similar treatment of an unsuspecting and innocent human being. It’s not like Manhattan could offer the comforts of home where she could just easily walk out the back door and run off into the woods. Necessity was a bitch. The second stop of the evening had been to Saint Patrick’s Church to speak with Father McCormack. With all that was destined to ensue, she wanted to make absolutely sure that her soul was clean enough to endure her final moments with confidence and acceptance. Shockingly, he giggled at the misfortunes of last night and sent her away with his blessings. As a ghost, she guessed, it wasn’t the first unexpected lesbian experience confession he’d bore witness too…regardless of whether or not the poor soul offering up the confession knew he was even there and listening. Ultimately, it was the excessive drinking that he’d had a problem with offered up an ‘everything in moderation’ speech that sounded much rehearsed. He had become a good ally and an important part of her life lately. She hoped he’d be a shoe in reference if things turned increasingly bad. Finally, she stopped by her apartment to coax her mother in attending the night’s stake out. Sneaking around the normal people of this world undetected had become sort of a hobby for Katie…but werewolves were a different thing altogether. Only having to deal with one of them in anger before, she wasn’t aware of how easy or difficult this was going to be. For a fact, she knew all to well of how easily she picked up on scents and the likes. She had also never been successful in sneaking up on her father after he had the curse bestowed upon him either. This was a saddening part of her life. Gone were the days of sneaking up on him in the shower to flush the toilet or cover him with a tall glass of frigid water. His senses where way more in tune that hers. More than likely with age, she guessed. Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to include the handbook with the package when it had been delivered. Jessica, as a spirit, would have a lot more luck sneaking amongst the unknown. She was a perfect scout for an imperfect situation. Although she’d never tell her, this was one of the main reasons she had brought her along to begin with. Granted, it was nice to have company from time to time that wasn’t going to wake up naked next to you with fuzzy thoughts about how it happened. Following a set of familiar tracks around the Central Park lake, she now sat motionless and quiet in the tallest tree she could find a mere hundred yards from the entrance of Belvedere Castle. In the distance, children’s voices and laughter carried on the wind from the ice skating and Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Unbeknownst to them all as they played carelessly, monsters of the night once thought to be imaginary figments in the minds of Hollywood writers lurked at the edge of the tree line of the darkened park in the hopes they would come and join them eternally. If they only knew of the nightmarish fate that possibly awaited them all upon the misfortunes of a nocturnal visit to Central Park, other than the criminal element of course, they’d build a ten foot tall fence for their own safety. In the end though, it was the criminal element that kept them all at bay and they knew nothing of the bloody myth that lay beyond the mental edge of their reasoning. To be young and uninformed was a luxury that no longer belonged to Katie Liberman. She was one of the monsters. Jessica had been gone for nearly an hour now with no sign of immanent return. With little argument, she had followed the trail allowing her daughter to assume a more secluded position within the foliage. Ignoring her father’s teachings that he had passed along via the information from Jimmerson, she knew all too well that any passing werewolf would be able to spot the ghost from a mile away. She’d gone invisible…which meant that she could actually be sitting beside her on the tree branch at this very second…but knowing her mother like she did, there was no way possible that she could’ve kept her mouth shut long enough to stay hidden for long. Would a passing pack of those like her just pass her off as a random wandering spirit? Did her mother even possess the stealth to talk her way out of a jam if she were to be discovered? It was a definite chance she was taking, for sure! Detecting a cold spot in the weather of the evening was a useless gesture. As a matter of fact, with the time that had passed in her absence, the once fresh trail leading to the castle had been long covered up by the celestial snowfall. This was definitely going to make things increasingly difficult. Willow had mentioned that Kurt Jimmerson had been interested in the restoration of Belvedere Castle for quite some time but her observation gave no signs that anyone was there on this night. Research had said nothing other than the fact it had been a museum and a weather station in its prime…but its beauty and grandeur was a heavily visited attraction during the hours of daylight! It had even been used as a set piece in a few movies before. She could guess of his obsession for restoration with that in mind. History and tradition seems to mean more to those with wealth for some reason plus…being a well known philanthropist would definitely throw off the dogs or gain him sympathy with the media and in public if ever his intentions were to be questioned or his reputation tarnished. She couldn’t wait to meet him. For all she knew, though, she already had. She couldn’t wait to kill him. Sheriff Werewolf back home and his odd daughter would be making a return trip to normalcy when she did so. Seeing that all was clear with the passing time, she closed her eyes in deep meditation. Slowly, her unusual abundance of body hair began to retract into her body to reveal the image of a young girl once again. Claws returned to fingernails as a slight tingle of pain twitched throughout her fingertips and she could feel the itch of retracting skin on her ears as they rounded. She had eventually grown to ignore the pain that usually went along with a slow transformation. It was the sudden, emotion fueled ones that were still excruciating but nothing compared to the searing fire that accompanied the very first one that night at the Myrtle County fairgrounds. Would she miss it when the power was gone? It wasn’t like it made her feel special or cherished among those around her because, unlike her father, she wasn’t allowed to speak or reveal herself to anyone. Repeated reflection upon his reasoning had told her time and again that it was indeed the proper thing to do when it came to the general public and she obeyed without interrogation. Sure, that was good for the tiny population of Twin Oaks who couldn’t keep a secret if their lives depended on it…but in a city the size of New York, she could easily become a comic book worthy super hero the likes of which had never been experienced in reality. The fear that usually accompanies the unknown with it comes to the mentality of humanity easily squashed that delusion quickly though. For now, she was Katie Liberman, abused puppy extraordinaire…and that would have to suffice. The crack of a crashing tree branch under the weight of the accumulating snow startled her back into her on guard state but all soon returned to quiet. Since the werewolf’s hair was no longer a luxury to her body in human form, the cold had seemed to sneak up on her suddenly. Pulling the hood from her sweatshirt over her wind blown hair and giving the drawstrings a hard tug shut out the intruder swiftly. Sniffing the air around her, she detected no hint of anything unusual anywhere nearby and the constant noise of the city around her masked any hopes of catching any approaching foot traffic. “Damn” she said allowed as she shuffled her butt along the tree limb for a more comfortable seat “Now I’m just bored!” This was definitely not the excitement and adventure that she was promised in the brochure imagined in her mind when she agreed to endure the burden of this trip… “Katie…” came the soft voice attempting to remain stealthy. “Katie…” came the whisper again. “Kathrine Liberman!” came Jessica’s voice booming directly in the young girl’s ear. Startled awake from a sleep brought on by severe discomfort, Katie flailed her arms in an attempt to regain her balance. Nearly falling from her heightened perch, she glared at her mother disapprovingly with fire in her eyes. “Damn you, Mom, I told you to keep it down!” she scolded “I’m trying not to give us away!” “Oh pipe down” Jessica replied “Nobody but you has been able to hear a word I said in five years! There’s no need to get all snippy!” Katie grinned slightly with her head bowed in anger. Sometimes, she thought that her mother didn’t completely understand the severity of her situation and how the slightest miscalculation or risk could end up in tragedy. Why would she? She was already dead and had absolutely nothing to lose. “You just don’t get it, do you?” the Katie continued while brushing the snow from her sweatshirt that had fallen from the treetops during the commotion “The people I’m looking for CAN hear you…maybe…hell, I’m not sure. Anyway, there is a possibility that they can hear you and I don’t want to take any risks. From now on, pretend as though they can hear you!” “Look” Jessica attempted to retort “You were the one that was asleep on the job while I’ve been out in the snow looking at footprints for an hour! You’re the one not taking this seriously!” It was at this point that Katie Liberman stopped caring about stealth. “I’m not taking this seriously” she stood in anger attempting to keep her balance on the frozen limb “Right now, I have a faceless nemesis that could be ten feet away from me or in the same room at any given time…and I’d never know it. I know that he is definitely my nemesis because I never think much about his demise or what he has planned for my ending if he were to ever get the upper hand…but I often day dream about the battle. If that doesn’t qualify for the title of ‘arch enemy’…I don’t know what does. I’m not taking this seriously? Comic book heroes don’t have shit on me right now!” The stinging cold burned her throat as she attempted to catch her breath from the argument as the winter steam escaped from flaring nostrils. Katie had been trying to keep it together the best she could over the last few days but now it had seemed as though the breaking point was in sight and tangible. So far, the only two good things that had happened to her were soul preparation from a holy apparition she’d met and possible soul destruction from a bi-sexual Irish girl that may or may not be the new proud owner of her virginity. Using those two examples on a sliding scale, the goodness factor was exactly where it started when she first reached New York. She’d been nowhere…and she was getting desperate. “Look” she started again in an attempt to remain calm “I’m not going back empty handed, mother. I’m either going to be successful in killing this Kurt Jimmerson guy or I’m going to die in the process. I’ve just about blown every bit of money that was set back for my first year of college in order to get here, eat, and survive and I’m lying to the people that gave me that money by not telling them where I’m at and what I’m doing. I’m too damn old to get grounded but Dad will damn sure try to make life difficult if I have to go back home and live under his roof…especially after he finds out what I’ve done. Most importantly, I refuse to spend the rest of my life cursed as a werewolf. I want to live like a normal girl, work a normal job, marry a normal guy, and have normal babies. I’m never going to have any of those things or be able to live that way if I don’t put a stop to it here and now. If I die trying, so be it. I’m no better off…” “Oh listen to yourself” Jessica came at her “I’m Katie Liberman and I’m a werewolf! I’m Katie Liberman and I’m miserable! I’m Katie Liberman and I’ve got problems!” Her mother’s mocking was beginning to anger her and she could feel the tingle of separating flesh around her fingernails. Unfortunately…there was nothing she could do to shut a ghost up. Jessica’s rant continued. “Regardless of how you may have to live out the rest of your days…at least you’re still alive. That is something I can’t say and will never be able to say again! I miss being able to touch people or speak with random strangers! I miss the taste of food and the smell of flowers! Hell, I’d give anything for a freaking cigarette right about now! You’ve got some kind of weird death wish thing going on and don’t care if tomorrow comes or not. Baby, you don’t want this. You don’t want to exist this way. At least with the ‘family curse’ as you call it…you have choices in the matter. I have no choices left. My soul is scraping the bottom of the barrel and I’m not even sure how much longer I’ll be attached to this world. One day I’m not going to be able to jump to you when you need me, I’m sure. One day I’ll be gone for good. Your rule book can still be written. You can make yours up as you go. My pen ran out a long time ago…” Katie couldn’t argue the points her mother was making. She was absolutely right. In the end, it all came down to personal choices on where she wanted her life to go and how she wanted to live it. There were ways around the werewolf issue…it was just going to make things a lot more difficult. She felt sorry for her mother and everything she had been through over the years but…it was her fault. Most of the things that were wrong with Katie and the bad things that had happened to the other people she loved were because of Jessica’s actions. She wasn’t going to be able to opt out of the conversation at hand easily. She wasn’t going to be able to play the sympathy card or gain victory in a mother and daughter disagreement. In life or death…Katie had to win. There was no way she was going to give up an ‘I told you so’ in this or reveal the epiphany of a life lesson to her mother’s satisfaction. Something had to be said to stop the direction of the talk. Something had to be said in order to slam dunk the point in a way that her mother would treat her like an adult that had her own agenda. Something had to be said to shut her up for good…or at least for a while. “Mom” Katie sang sweetly “I had sex with a lesbian last night!” Game point. The awkward silence was broken by the rush of rapid footsteps in the snow below them. Jumping to the ground quickly, Katie inspected them closely to reveal that they indeed didn’t belong to humans. The shoe prints were too far apart for a normal stride and the clawed handprint in every other indention was a dead giveaway. This was it! There was no time to finish the inevitable conversation at hand. “Mom, get back to the apartment and wait for me!” Jessica flinched, still in shock from the previous statement “You had sex with a lesbian?” Before Katie could even tell her to shut up, the ability to use her human voice disappeared and the painfully quick cracking of her tiny bones echoed throughout the nearby trees. Like a bolt of fur covered lightning, she pursued the pack of fleeing werewolves with determination. Dodging in and out of the coming trees, she flung fallen snow in all directions beneath her feet. The tracks were becoming much sloppier meaning that they were now moving quicker then they were before. Either they knew someone was following them or they were getting in a bigger hurry to reach their destination. From what she could tell, there were four of them. Three sets of tracks where all that could be seen by the untrained eye but the middle set was much larger than the ones on the sides. It had been stepped through by the one following it making it only look like three. With one in the lead and three following, it was a definite sign that there was an Alpha leader present in the group. If that were truly the case, he’d be the worse to deal with and the first one she’d have to take out. Once that was accomplished, the other three would attack in unison or flee from fear of not having a leader anymore. It was a gamble…but a gamble she’d have to take. Slowing her pace, she began to notice that the prints had gotten closer and closer together. Now, only shoe prints were visible because they had returned to their human form and were walking upright. Doing the same, Katie stood as tall as she could in all directions to see any sign of their presence. Slightly ahead of her in the distance, she recognized a large green set of shrubs that had no snow covering them amongst the white background. They had been cleared upon being walked through and, as she guessed, the shoe marks led directly to them. Cowering down quietly, she snuck through the bushes as they revealed a hillside clearing. Her targets stood down below. Standing in a diamond formation around a park bench, four average looking young men surrounded what looked to be a fifth person that had no affiliation whatsoever. Whoever this other person was, they showed no signs of fear or even any realization to the presence of the others. Either this person was sleeping deeply or Katie had arrived too late. Patiently, she awaited the next clue looking down on the events that were about to unfold. Glancing around in all directions to maintain their secrecy and safety, the four creatures of the night moved slowly closer. All of them seemed to be dressed the same with flannel jackets and torn blue jeans as though a clothing purchase hadn’t been a part of their recent activities. Their long, straight hair showed it’s darkness against the pure, white surroundings of the fallen snow. This was definitely a pack like she had imagined. They could’ve easily passed for a quadruplet which was what had more than likely brought them together in the first place. They were moving towards the odd person out like a well rehearsed team…as though they had been through this ritual a million times before. Katie was starting to get nervous. Just then, the person on the park bench came to their senses and screamed out sudden terror. It was a woman! A homeless woman that had been covered against the snow by newspapers and a tattered blanket now clung to the armrest of the park bench for dear life looking on to her approaching reapers in fear. It was a victim that no one would miss, more than likely. This was it. This was how the packs in Central Park survived. Katie was sickened almost instantly at the realization of what was about to take place. In the grand scheme of things, this had little to do with the mission at hand. She hadn’t come all this way to be the savior of homeless people. She came to kill werewolves. The dilemma banged around in her head until she could almost feel the soreness against her temples. This wasn’t her normal line of thinking. No, this was the way of her father and his quest to defeat all the forces of evil that surrounded their home town at any cost just in order to keep his people safe and sound. Why was this happening? Why, at the crucial moment of reckoning, was she pausing in her efforts? Was her mother right? Was the family curse a gift in disguise? What if she did decide to live with this curse and use it to help others? What if it was fate? Shaking her head violently causing a temporary dizziness to wash over her, she removed the visions from her head and focused yet again on her prey. If she waited for them to attack, she could surprise them while they were feeding. But…if she could somehow delay their advance and give the outnumbered woman a chance to escape… What would Toby Liberman do? What would Kurt Jimmerson do? What would Father McCormack do? Giving in to her final question, she exhaled deeply in near disappointment. Being a girl that never really cared much about the masses or how they perceived her, she was hesitant. The last few years, when she should’ve been socializing with other’s her age, she had pretty much spent all of her time caught up in her own little secret world being held prisoner in her room for fear of how the public would react regarding her condition. Why would now be any different? Why protect those that would fear or harm her if they got the chance? Walking up slowly behind the closest member of the greasy pack of men, the soon to be victim was the first to catch on to her presence. With eyes that Katie could only compare to that of hopeless prey, the homeless lady mouthed two tiny words through frozen lips that made her blood boil. ‘Help me’. Nodding silently in agreement, the would-be hero pulled the hood from her sweatshirt tight over her head again to hide her face. It was time for the festivities to get underway once and for all. She cleared her throat aloud causing all four men to look her way in sudden excitement. “Don’t mind me, boys…I’m just here to watch the show” she announced sarcastically “Proceed.” Fanning out in a straight line in front of their victim as though they were protecting a meal from a stray dog, the alpha stepped forward to confront the unexpected challenger. “Leg it, you manky bitch…this doesn’t even concern you” the leader spoke with a harsh Irish accent. Giggling at the curse thrown her way, she began to pace back in forth in front of them in a gesture of taunt. She showed no fear. Her body was electric. “Leg it, you manky bitch?” she inquired “I’ve only been in town for a handful of days and so far everyone I’ve met has either been Irish or fell asleep watching ‘Darby O’Gill and the Little People’ too many times.” “Well then feel free to bugger off, young one, before you find out all to fast what thickness will get you in the wee hours here!” “Hmmm…” she mocked, still pacing “Well there lies the dilemma, boys…I’m all kinds of interested in what my thickness will get me in the wee hours in this city facing down four leftovers from a 1992 Seattle grunge experiment…so I don’t think I’ll be buggering off anytime soon” Shocked at her defiance, the three followers looked on at their designated spokesman in confusion as though they had never encountered anyone that had the nerves to stand up to them. To Katie, this was pure gold. It meant that they had little fighting experience underneath their belts and were use to overtaking their adversaries without much resistance. “What?” she continued the taunting “You’re not scared of a little girl in a hoodie are you?” Again, the other three looked at their leader for the answer he was obviously having trouble formulating. Finally, he managed to open his mouth again. “Not counting this morsel behind us, lass, I would say that you were outnumbered four to one in a place where no one is going to come to your rescue. Why don’t you just go about your business before you get a bad dose of what we’re offering? Run off to your mama before you get grounded for being out past your bedtime?” The four of them simultaneously broke out into hysterical laughter at the joke that had been fired at Katie’s expense. Just for the sake of joining in, Katie began to laugh also, slapping her knee in delight at the fact that a fight was definitely looming on the near horizon. Finally, her chuckling ended and she glared at them seriously. Planting both feet firmly on the ground to prepare for a charge in their direction, she readied herself for the confrontation. “What do you mean ‘the morsel behind you’?” she asked “That ‘bitch buggered off’ just as soon as all of you started laughing. I guess she wasn’t a fan and didn’t care to hear the rest of your act.” The four of them suddenly quieted their jesting and looked around each other in confusion. The young stranger wasn’t lying at all. In their distraction, the unfortunate drifter had taken the first chance and ran for her life in an unknown direction. Katie could almost feel the sudden anger in the air as the four of them lined up facing her once again. These were definitely bottom of the barrel henchmen for a much bigger organization because they far from being the brightest individuals imaginable. If packs were indeed running unnoticed in a city this size, more intelligent people were calling the shots. Stepping forward from his cohorts again, the elected leader glared at her with eyes aflame. “You stupid-ass hoor!” he cried in disgust “That piece of slime was ours fair and square and now we’re going to have to take down your scrawny bones instead!” Fanning out again in a formation to circle her, Katie knew that she indeed had the upper hand. Not only did they not know what they were about to be dealing with…they also were unaware that their target was well informed of what they were. She had been waiting for this moment for as far back as she could remember. It was as though a five year addiction was about to be fed for the first time in ages. She remained calm and studied their movement for the precise moment to reveal all. Slowly, the three underlings sprouted their fangs and began to growl ferociously as they circled. A deep feeling of satisfaction came over her and she grinned in excitement. She had found her happy place again… “Oh please mister” she mocked “please don’t sick your puppy dog men on me! I promise I’ll be a good girl!” “Keep cracking on, little one” the man dared as he continued to circle with his minions “you’re only going to make things worse on yourself.” Lowering her head even more and spreading her legs in a defensive posture, she locked eyes with the leader as his face covered itself in a fine, black fur. It was time to move. “Oh…you think this situation is bad?” she asked sarcastically “Mister…you haven’t seen anything yet!” As though a bolt of lightning had struck in the middle of the circle, Katie’s alter ego came to life with a deafening howl. Reacting in both shock and pain from the ear piercing sound, the four of them focused on the spot of which it originated. It was already two late. With a flash, the young wolf attached herself onto the neck of the closest adversary and ripped his flesh in a shower of blood with undiscovered strength. He fell to the snow with a deadly thud, lifeless. Readying herself for the inevitable attack of the other three, she spun around to face them with glowing eyes against the darkness of the night sky. With their defensive formation now broken, the other two followers lunged in unison as the leader watched on curiously. In an attempt to overpower her, their attack came suddenly from both sides. Taking a quick step backwards, Katie gripped their flowing hair with her clawed hands slamming their faces together in a crimson explosion. Dropping to her knees with a spin, she slashed their bodies with frantic precision. Falling unconscious to the ground beside her, she sprang forward like an armed swordsman tearing their skin from bone revealing the pink of their internal organs as they spilled from their casing. Flipping onto her feet with ease and precision, she flung her arms in a ready manner sprinkling her pure, white surroundings with fresh blood. She locked eyes once again on the only target that now remained. In a gaze of what could only be interpreted as desperate panic, he fled. Katie followed, flying quickly on all fours through the trees and brush of the abandoned park. Leaping gracefully into the nearest set of trees, she listened closely for any signs of movement that would give away presence of the fleeing monster. Closing her eyes slowly and deeply, she concentrated on the various noises surrounding her. The sounds of laughing children and a thousand passing cars engulfed her senses again as though she were standing amongst them. Blocking them out to the best of her ability, she focused on the direction of the castle on the lake near where she left her mother’s side. Momentarily, she picked up on the rustle of underbrush heading away from her current location. Judging the closest tree for strength, she jumped. She landed with ease, sinking her blood stained claws deep into the bark. Eyeing others in the area, she made another move…and then another as though she was scouring the woods of Twin Oaks again in search of prey. Was this any different? Smiling from pointed ear to pointed ear revealing sharpened teeth, she moved forward on into the night. The falling snow had stopped long ago. Due to the circumstances, she had barely noticed the calm that had taken over her surroundings below the glistening moonlight. She descended from her arboreal perch landing softly on her feet in a mound of deep accumulation. Fresh, sloppy footprints of an individual running for dear life lay just before her. Slowly, she hunkered down again following the trail and preparing for any type of trap the desperate man may have lying in wait. Katie was ready. Staying to the thick foliage that lined the sidewalk of the park, she paused again to gain clues to her surroundings. He was near. Heightened and uncontrollable breathing could be heard on the wind from the direction of the frozen lake that normally licked the walls of Belvedere Castle. Sneaking to the shore, a dark figure could be seen scooting carefully along the icy surface of the lake in an attempt to throw off anyone or anything that would prevent his escape from danger. Standing tall amongst the winter dead reeds that lined the banks of the lake, Katie withdrew her disguise and began to follow. “Hey!” she shouted “Where in the hell do you think you’re going? You were going to teach me a lesson, remember?” Realizing that he was no longer alone and in definite peril, the long haired man quickened his pace in panic. He had long ago changed into human form again also no longer being able to concentrate on his transformation. With an echoing smack against the ice, he lost his balance as his feet were suddenly taken out from under him. Lying motionless and moaning in agonizing pain, he glanced at the approaching girl as she drew ever closer. Katie paused. She was going to draw this out as long as she possibly could to build the fear within him. It would make for an easier kill. “Ouch!” Katie exclaimed humorously “I guess that would explain why you have to eat homeless people in the park at night. That tryout for the all Irish hockey team didn’t work out to well for you, huh!” “Stay the hell away from me gammy bitch!” he screamed as he began to crawl closer to the opposite shore “I’m not slagging!” The young Texan couldn’t wrap her head around all the slang and wondered how these guys ever made it long in an intelligent conversation. Then again, it would probably explain why they were running in packs and feasting on anything that didn’t have the good sense to stick to the streets after dark. It was almost as though they were orphans of the darkness with a speech problem. This last one was going to have to be dealt with quickly before he alerted anyone else to his problems or her presence. She was almost certain that there were cops in the park at night that would come running to the type of disturbance he was making. “If you mean ‘joking’…I don’t think that there is anything I’ve shown you or your friends tonight that could even remotely be confused with anything funny.” She informed the frightened thug “I don’t know how long you’ve been involved in the whole lycanthropic lifestyle but you can’t just go around killing people at random to fit your needs!” “Oh yeah, child” he called back to her “Then tell me how you stay alive without taking the lives of the scum that litter the streets of this town! Tell me how you stay alive!” Thinking back to earlier in the evening, Katie thought back to her scaling of the Central Park Zoo wall in order to take down an unsuspecting deer in the safety and quiet of its enclosure. She shuddered slightly as the thought of the animals metallic tasting blood had flowed down her throat quenching the feelings that had been intensifying since her arrival. “That’s none of your damn business” she told him matter-of-factly “and I would be more worried about my own survival right about now because I’m not really one to leave any loose ends.” Exhausted and injured from the fall atop the ice, the man halted his journey towards safety and awaited his deserved fate. As she reached the edge of the man’s feet, Katie could tell in his eyes that he knew the end had finally come. She had witnessed this look once before. This was the silent plea for life that Jessie McGee had exhibited on the rain soaked grass of the Myrtle County fairgrounds on that October night of destiny. She was tired of conversation and playing. It was time to finish the job. By the light of the moon, she could see the odd twist of the man’s ankle as he stared at her in agony. Breathing as though he were attempting as many as possible, savoring all for fear that one might be his last, he gasped loudly against the quiet of the night. Jerking suddenly as Katie reached towards him, he signed in relief as he realized that she was only going for his wallet chain. Peering at her with disgust, he broke his silence once again…even if it meant his last vocal stand. “Oh, it’s not bad enough that you’re probably going to off me in a bit but you’ve got to go off and swipe my wallet as well?” Removing the stack of money from its leather shell, she tossed the empty projectile straight back into the man’s face with a pop. “Hey…gammy bitches have to eat too!” she whispered quietly. Softly she removed the sweatshirt’s hood from around her stringy, sweat soaked hair revealing the remainder of her face to the man in a show of finite. Sharply closing his eyes and tightening his body to the point of shivering, he braced for the worst…and the end. Katie finished counting the money and tucked it deep inside her back blue jeans pocket for safekeeping. Three thousand dollars was quite an amount for such a nasty thug and quite a haul for her. This would keep her afloat a little bit longer in the city that never sleeps…and she was sure the remains of the other three creeps had a little bit of money on them as well. “Wow, moneybags” she spoke surprised “If I knew you guys were rolling in it like this…I would’ve started killing all of you days ago!” Her waiting victim found no humor in her discovery. Without warning, a light came on in the opaque blackness of her head that nearly caused her to laugh aloud. If she insisted on living every day from here on out as though it could possibly be her last…then she might as well give it a cause. Something to live for, so to speak. Something to strike both curiosity and fear into the hearts of those that were soon to oppose her. Suddenly, the internal conflict from an hour before faded away. She had discovered her answer to the questions that clouded her young brain and it contained just enough purpose to keep her motivated enough to pull it off…and to keep her enemies guessing. Locking serious eyes with the freezing man one last time, he spoke for the sake of clarity. “Who in the hell are you, girl? Are you the finder of the lost? Are you some kind of wayward hero that just hasn’t been unlucky enough to meet the right villain? Are you the savior of Central Park?” “Not really” Katie finally confessed “I’m not even from around here. I’m just a girl that was in the wrong place at the wrong time…and I’m here to set things right. I know all too well who the villain is and I hope to meet him soon.” Chuckling in discomfort, the man pleads for one final bit of information before meeting his untimely end…just for the simple sake of his need to know. “I just wanted to know why I was lucky enough to fit into your story, love, and was I just in the wrong place at the wrong time as well. What do you call yourself?” “No” she replied “You were exactly where you needed to be when you needed to be there. They call me The Howler…and you’re my messenger.” Slamming him hard across the bridge of his nose with her boot, he lost consciousness almost instantly. The board had now been set with its various pieces and the first chess move had definitely been made. Leaving him alive, her pawn would soon be informing the other players of her existence. Now...You have to wait for the book lol - Chad

12/14/12

12-14-12 - I awoke this morning to illness. Sure, I’ve had the flu for the past week…but I’m not talking about that. Actually, there is no physical illness existing on the planet that compares to what I witnessed on my television screen on this day. It took a few minutes to settle in. In today’s world…that says a lot. As a matter of fact, today’s world has taught me that time can heal the news of airplanes flying into buildings and killing thousands or a student walking into a college or high school and opening fire on random people. Violence has become such a part of our daily lives that our minds have learned to block it out…but nothing could prepare me for visions of innocent elementary school children being gunned down in the hallways by a currently nameless adult. Doesn’t this kind of thing just happen in the Middle East? If we give the person responsible a racial or religious identification…does it make it easier to swallow? If we send in boatloads of troops to annihilate anyone in the affected area that even physically or religiously resembles the person responsible and blast it all over the news every night…do we sleep better at night? If we make up fake playing cards with the perpetrators faces on it…can we even laugh about it here and there to lighten the mood a bit so our children can feel safer in their own homes? How much ocean do you have to cross before you can label a senseless act of violence ‘Terrorism’? No one wants to hear it…but terrorism is alive and well within our own country and has taken giant leaps past the war zones of the media in regards to how evil it can truly be. How have we, as patriots, allowed this to happen? Lack of retention. Americans can’t stay angry for long periods of time. We preoccupy ourselves and change the channel when we just can’t take anymore. We invent contingency plans to deal with the aftermath of tragedy but our laws won’t allow for prevention. Legal experts now call it profiling. We are no longer allowed to deal with problem people and are forced to show sympathies and solutions for their ‘issues’…even though repeated attempts to do so have failed miserably and catastrophically in most cases. Our legal system tries desperately to fix in our society what can’t be repaired. Our society insists on rehabilitation of those that can’t be rehabilitated. It insists on putting criminals on probation which is just a fancy legal term for delaying the inevitable. At what point in our civilization did we give up on trying to stop wrong doing dead in its tracks…and start turning a blind eye and praying for the best? This is no longer the America from our history books. This is no longer the super hero country of stories past. We’ve become the world’s counselor while ignoring our own problems. Why? Because it makes for better media coverage on the nightly news. Psychotic individuals like the elementary school shooter do not develop such mental issues overnight. Someone, somewhere, knew who this person was and what he was capable of before this event took place and, even though nothing is official yet, it was more than likely someone in the legal profession. We couldn’t call him on it or try to prevent it because the behavior wouldn’t be politically correct and it could be considered profiling. They’ll protect his identity until the last minute and until he has reached near celebrity status…and THEN introduces us to all the professionals, friends, and neighbors that knew him personally and thought he was crazy…but just couldn’t say anything ahead of time because it wasn’t NICE. The only thing good that will come of this is the fact that the gunman is dead and we won’t have to watch him deteriorate before our very eyes in a jail cell awaiting trial with bright orange hair or refusing to shave a beard for religious reasons. When you refuse to meet violence head on with equal or greater violence…you are destined to lose the conflict. Contrary to popular belief…it doesn’t teach our children that ‘violence is the answer to everything’…it teaches them that monsters are real…and they live down the street or right next door to us…and they look just like everyone else. They don’t have to live thousands of miles away and claim different gods. Our troops don’t need to be on foreign shores kicking in doors in search of terrorists because they’re right here in our own neighborhoods in our own country. Why can’t we stay angry? Why do we forget the wrongdoings on our own soil so quickly? Does it all heal at dinner time when the news stations show footage from the inevitable candle light vigil? Will it all be gone in a week when some rock star donates a lot of money to the families and plays a concert in honor of the fallen? Finally, when the media bores of the repeated coverage…will they start showing footage of Lindsey Lohan in court again to take our minds off of things? Anything to fuel the beast within, I guess. To prove my point, in the short time that I have been writing this, the channel has been changed on the television to one that isn’t showing coverage and I’m desperately searching for the emotion that was initially present at the beginning. Don’t change the channel. Keep watching. Get mad. Stay mad. Protect those around you today and in the future regardless of the tragedies destined to occur that will soon take the place of the one we all witnessed today. Any leader or elected official can make a phone call offering his condolences…but our fore fathers would have ridden a horse to Connecticut and continued to kick the corpse of the man responsible long after his was dead to show the world that we are tired of putting up with shit like this by our own. Man up, America. Stop shaving the monster in order to make him look like the rest of us. Don’t change the channel. I came from a broken family. I was bullied sometimes in school. I have military and martial arts training. I've had two divorces. I play violent video games. I watch violent movies. I watch violent television shows. I own guns. I shoot guns. I have never hurt or threatened anyone with a gun. Ever. Gun control is a myth. People control is the only answer. It starts with parenting and ends with education. It's like blaming the airplanes for 9/11...