Dans POV:

Two days before the big night. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve excitedly waiting for presents. Anxiously waiting for what you may and may not get.  Wondering if it'll be as special as all the others or if you're getting too old to fully enjoy it.
I wonder if one day I'll become like my parents - stuck in this little house as they watch their son enjoy the world whilst they let the world pass by. I hope I'm never like that. I want to keep exploring and keep being connected to a world that I don't understand and that doesn't understand me. Maybe I'm hoping that one day we'll begin to understand each other. Yet, that hope seems like a distant dream. For now, all I have is this one day a year where I can pretend I'm part of something bigger than this little house in the middle of nowhere. 

As I lay in bed, I could smell bacon wafting through the air. We can eat raw meat but my parents started cooking it after I saw that's what humans do. They know I like human customs and I'm thankful they never questioned it. Sometimes I think they feel guilty about this life they've given me but I know it's not their fault I was born this way. Just like it's not their fault for being Weres themselves… it's just who we are and we can't change that. We don't even now why we're this way, there was no freak accident and we don't know anyone else who's like us. Besides my mums and dads family we don't know any other Weres. Maybe if I found another like me I wouldn't feel so alone.

I jumped up off the bed and kneeled on the carpet. I pulled the box that was wedged under my bed free and unclapsed the lid. There, amongst other junk I'd collected from the human world, was a journal. I opened to the first page where I'd written about two boys: one with shaved hair and dark skin, the other with his messy curls sitting on his head like a mop. I stared at the pencil marks. I let my fingers graze the faded words and more graphite left the page as it painted my fingers grey. There were many more entries after this one but I always came back to the first one. The first and only time I'd met people who wanted my company and didn't care about how I looked. I haven't talked to many others since; unless they're drunk or high but it's just not the same. I'm forced to shy away from people when all I really want to do is get close to them. I write in this journal every year when I go out and it's become a book to read when I'm stuck in my house for the rest of the year.  I'm expecting this year to be like all the others. I'm expecting myself to shy away from people and write about the people I saw but never spoke to.

"Dan!" My mum shouted up to me.
I left the journal on my bedside table as I made my way downstairs where I found my mum and dad sitting in the family room.
"It's almost Halloween," Dad stated and nodded at me to sit down.
I knew what was going to follow.
I'd played out the same routine every year. My heart sank as I thought about last year and how I knew this year was definitely going to be the same.  The same species dancing in the moonlight but none speaking to me. None noticing me as I tried to hide or shove my way past stoned teenagers. Every year I say "this year will be different!"but it never is.
"Is it time for the annual debrief?" I asked and tried not to sigh as I took a seat.
"Be back by early morning," my dad cut right to the point.
"You can't get drunk so don't even try it," my mum intervened.
Yeah, that's right. Imagine teenage me surrounded by others who are smashed and having the time of their lives, doing stuff that won't effect me the same way. Just another thing humans get to enjoy.

"Don't mingle with strangers, try to blend in," they continued.
"Don't go near open flames or anywhere that can injure you and if you do get injured call us. Don't let anyone take you to the hospital."
"No parties. There's too much noise and your ears are still sensitive."
"Be careful of hunters, they've been on the rise over the past few years."
That's true, supposedly, but I've never seen a hunter. Ever. What would they even be doing at the halloween parties I go to? Granted, my parents are probably just cautious as they think I just wander about. They'd kill me if they knew what I actually do.

"And, most importantly," my mum breathed out, looking at me long and hard.
"I know. Don't let anyone find out I'm not human. We've been through this a million times," I exaggerated.
"I was going to say have fun but yours works too."
"Thanks for that." I smiled and was about to get up when a thought that had been bugging me crossed my mind. "Why do you never leave here?"
"You want to explore the world," my mother said simply. "We already have, we have each other."
"Will I ever find someone? Like you and dad found each other?"
"You will. One day," my dad confirmed although I didn't know if I believed him. Were there even any other Weres?
"Will they be a wolf or a human?" I dared to ask, biting my tongue a moment too late as the question was already out there.
"Humans and Weres never go well together, Dan. Don't get any ideas when you go out there."
"I won't," I rushed out. "I was just curious."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Good thing I'm a dog then," I replied and stood up.
"Technically not a dog!" My dad called out to me.

I laughed nervously to hide the pain I felt in my chest. Of course I couldn't date a human. I needed to stop this stupid fantasy of mine where I could actually get someone to like the real me.  As if I could ever be allowed to do normal human things.

AN: I'm back!! For reals now, updates every week ^-^ I've got a job now but I work early mornings so I'll have plenty of time to write.  Also, if you haven't already, go to the last chapter of my "Hi, my name is [Dan]" fic and vote on the story you'd like me to do next. No more votes after August 1st!
~ Rach x