Once in a Full Moon(47)
“I thought she gave you a detention.”
“No, it’s a slip to see the school shrink. I keep having these bizarre dreams,” he confided. “I wake up exhausted, or I oversleep.”
“Are you waking up in the same condition you were in when you went to sleep?”
“I think so. My memories are still fuzzy, but it’s not like those times after we first kissed and I woke up . . . like I’d slept out in the woods.”
“What are the dreams about?” I asked.
“You’ll laugh. That’s why I haven’t told you—”
“You have to tell me.” I was adamant this time.
He paused. “It was like the one I had after we met on the hilltop. When I wake up I only remember bits and pieces. But by the time I’m out of bed, I forget it. I only remember brief images.”
“What do you remember?”
“It’s the same every night. I’m a wolf. Only when I run, I run like a man.”
He waited for my reaction.
“See—I knew you’d think I was crazy!” he said.
“No—it’s just that—” I began. “I’m afraid, too. To tell you the truth.”
“I’m not sure I want to hear it, but I think I know it.”
“Those first few nights—when the moon was full—those weren’t dreams, Brandon.”
He was startled and let go of my hand.
“I was there,” I said. “I saw it happen.”
“Then for the next couple of days—you said you woke up, and you didn’t come to school. Those were the days the moon appeared full. Then the moon waned and you don’t turn, but you continue to dream as if you are.”
“It’s not real, Celeste. It can’t be—I won’t allow—”
It was hard enough to prove Brandon’s transformation really happened and convince myself it was real. But for Brandon to accept his new fate could be devastating. Mrs. Clark was right. He should see the school counselor.
Brandon shook his head as if he was shaking the truth away from him.
“But you are so gorgeous and powerful,” I tried to convince him.
“But if I don’t remember, then it can’t be real? Right?”
“Maybe it’s best you don’t remember. Until we get you help.”
Brandon choked out the words: “What if I’m a monster?”
“You aren’t. You’re just stronger and more handsome . . . if you can believe that.”
“How do you know, Celeste?”
“I was with you.”
“The whole night?”
“Uh . . . no.”
“So how do you know who I am or what I do when you’re not there?” Brandon’s torment was palpable.
I put my arms around him. At this point, I didn’t care who saw us together. “Uh . . . I don’t. But—”
“Then neither one of us really knows, do we? How did this happen?” he asked. “How did this ever happen?”
“It’s my fault,” I blurted out. “I tried to tell you before. I was warned about the full moon . . . about the woods and the wolves . . . about the kiss. And now the moon, full or not, causes your nocturnal affliction or your bizarre dreams. It’s my fault this happened to you. If you hadn’t been bitten by that wolf. If we hadn’t kissed under the full moon. If I’d listened—”
“Celeste, promise me something.”
“Anything.” This was the moment that Brandon might be asking me to be his girlfriend—to stick by him while he went through his ordeal. He’d want me to bravely confront my friends and make our relationship public so I could finally support him the way he ought to have been supported all along.
He took a breath and stared deeply into my eyes. “Tomorrow is a full moon. Promise me that you won’t see me anymore.”
It was as if I’d just found out I’d failed every class I’d ever taken. I was devastated at the news. “I can’t!” I said. “I won’t.”
“At least until I have this figured out,” he said sadly, cupping my face in his hands. “I understand if you won’t wait . . . but you can’t contact me, Celeste. Don’t you understand? You can’t—”
“I know you. You wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone.”
“I want to be with you, more than you know. It’s just at night . . . it’s best that you aren’t around me.”
My heart broke. I’d finally fallen in love, and I wasn’t able to be with the one person I’d fallen in love with. I felt as if he were being shipped off to an overseas boarding school never to return. But Brandon was here—in my classes, the hallway, and the lunchroom. He wasn’t saying we couldn’t see each other because he didn’t care for me. He was saying it because he cared.