Merton


We walked around town for ages without the sign of a Soul sucker or anything out of the ordinary, until we saw two boys stood outside the graveyard. There was nothing particular strange about them stood there but it was the way they stood. Their eyes were locked together and not one of them blinked or turned away. Tommy growled from beside me and transformed while I tried my luck. Not that I had any.


"Which one is it?" I asked Tommy.


"Him," he said pointing towards the dark brown haired boy. I ran towards them and jumped in between them both, holding up the mirror directly in front of the Soul sucker so that it would see its reflection, but it didn’t work. He knocked it out of my hand sending it flying across the floor. It would be broken now no doubt. I tried running but he grabbed hold of me and pulled me back to face him. I let out a little yelp of fear.


Refusing to let him look me in the eyes I looked over at Tommy and anywhere but his face.


Tommy charged towards us and knocked the monster to the floor which made him let go of me, but I also fell. As Tommy held him to the ground, I scrambled up off the floor and went to go get the mirror. I picked it up and saw that it was cracked but it would hopefully still work. Then I made my way over to Tommy and noticed the other boy, the Soul sucker’s victim running away.


Tommy


No one hurt my buddy. With rage filling me I charged at the Soul sucker and knocked him to floor.


"I told you to not let me catch you trying to steal another soul again," I growled.


"I’m sorry. I need to take them on order to survive or else I’ll die," he pleaded.


"Well sorry just ain’t going to cut it," I told him.


"What if I leave town? You won’t have to seen me again," he said.


"Give me one good reason why I should let you go?" I asked him.


"I don’t want to die," he replied.


"Well you should have thought about that before you tried stealing Merton’s soul," I said.


"Who’s Merton?" he asked, playing stupid.


"My best friend, that’s who," I answered. My anger was getting out of control now. I was struggling to keep myself from attacking him but before I did I remembered what Merton told me.


I just had to find my anchor so I thought about happy things. I pictured cute little puppies on my head, running around and chasing their tails but it didn’t work. I needed something else. What else did I love? Football. No Merton was right about it not being a suitable choice to calm me down. Chicken? Would that actually work? It was worth a shot. I tried to think about my favorite food when I heard Merton speak.


"Tommy here," he said but I was more bothered about trying to calm down first. It was no good though. Puppies didn’t work and neither did chicken.


I was getting more and more out of control any second. My inner wolf would take over any second. I stared at the whimpering Soul sucker laid on the floor and I couldn’t keep it in anymore.


A growl escaped my mouth.


"Tommy!" Merton said with shock in his voice.


I was about to bite the Soul sucker but something snapped me out of it.


"Stop, Tommy. Don’t do it," Merton shouted and that’s when I realised. How hadn’t I realised it sooner? All the time Merton managed to calm me down it wasn’t the haiku. It wasn’t the calming scenes. It was Merton. He was my best friend, the only one who knew about my Lycanthropy. The only one who fought beside me against evil, even if he did so cowardly sometimes. I wasn’t sure what him being my anchor suggested or even fully understand what an anchor was, but it made sense in away. He would always be there for me and we were very close. Maybe, like brothers.


I turned to him and saw he held the mirror so I put out my hand for it. He passed it too me and I held it out in front of me, glass side down, facing the Soul sucker. He screamed and wiggled around, trying to break free. It didn’t seem to help him in anyway because he wasn’t strong.


Merton helped by making the Soul sucker look at himself. He did it by holding its head. It worked because blue mist started to escape his mouth in little bursts. Both me and Merton stood up and watched the Soul sucker die. In away I felt bad, like I always did but if we let him live he would have taken more souls. It was for the best.


"So did it work?" Merton asked. I looked up at him confused. Did he mean the mirror because it was clear that it had worked? The Soul sucker was beginning to vanish. He couldn’t have possible meant that.


"Did thinking about puppies help?" He asked.


"Oh," I said. "No," I added.


"Then what was it?" He wondered.


"It might seem weird but you," I said, scratching the back of my head, nervously.


"What?" He asked.


"I didn’t really get it either but you are my best friend so..." I said dropping my hand to my side.


"Yeah, well it’s good that you’ve found your anchor even if it’s me," he said.


"I guess," I agreed.


"Let’s go home and try and get a little rest for tomorrow," he told me.


"If my parents catch me sneaking in at this time, I’ll get in trouble," I said.


"Come sleep over at mine then. My parents are away tonight and Becky will already be asleep," he suggested.


"Okay," I said and and we headed towards his house.


We arrived back at his house and entered as quietly as we could so that we wouldn’t wake Becky up. Before making our way to Merton’s lair we headed for the kitchen.


"Are you thirsty?" Merton asked me.


"A little," I replied.


"What do you want?" He asked as he opened the fridge door. "We have Coke or Lemonade."


I was about to answer when he spoke again. "Who’s been drinking my Yohoo?"


"I bet it was Becky," he said. "Sorry what do you want?"


"I’ll have Coke please," I answered. He took out a can and passed me it too me before pulling out a bottle of Yohoo and closed the door.


Then we headed down the stairs to his bedroom. Once down there I sat down on his chair and he sat on his bed. We each had a sip of our drinks. I placed mine on the desk and suddenly my eyes felt heavy. Tiredness was making it impossible to keep my eyes open any longer. I closed them and began to fall to sleep. It probably wasn’t a good idea to sleep in that position but I couldn’t stay awake. Within a minute I was asleep.