I WRITE FRIDAY# FLASH

As Black as Night

 Part 3

by

Carolyn Brown

(A Paranormal sequel of Approx. 670 words. Jason discovers his best friend is also a were-panther)

Jason struggled against the arms binding him down inside the car, wrestling to break fee of their grip.  He managed to get a glimpse of Brett standing on is own, separated from the rest of his gang, a bewildered look on his face, as the car pulled away from curb.

"Jason stop struggling," came a familiar voice.  He looked to the front of the station wagon to find Diane, sitting in the passenger seat. "If you promise to stop, Abe and Vinny will release their grip on you."

"Wh..., what the...?"

"It's okay Jason, these guys are my friends.  I called them when Brett started hassling you when we got off the bus."

Jason settled down and the two boys let him sit up, but they did not take their eyes off of him.  The look on their faces showed they would be ready for any move Jason made, as he settled himself in the back seat between them.

It was then that Jason caught sight of his changed hand, embarrassed, he tried to hide it underneath his hoodie.

"Jason, even though you don't realise it yet, you are among friends.  We are all were-panthers.  We are part of the group you have been running with at night, when you think you are dreaming."

Jason could hear the words being spoken by Diane, but he was finding it difficult to process them.

"Why, why didn't you tell me on the bus, when you were telling me all that information you supposedly found on the Internet?  I thought we were friends!"

Diane ignored Jason's  comment and continued, "This is Vinny."  He had short, spiky dark hair and was smiling at Jason, showing his gleaming white teeth.  "Sitting on your left, is Abe."  Jason turned his head to find big, brown eyes, lined with long dark lashes smiling at him from under a mop of long, blond hair.  "Our driver here," Diane cocked a thumb in the direction of the person sitting next to her, "is Mason."  He brought his hand back towards Jason, in a gesture of receiving a high five, but Jason was too shocked to respond.

"I had to get you out of there Jason, you were beginning to turn and I couldn't let you do that, not in front of those trouble makers.  We may have been lucky, I don't think the other boys saw your paw, but Brett did.  He probably won't say anything because he won't want people thinking he is crazy!  At least this is what I am counting on." 

Jason looked at Diane, wondering where his childhood friend had gone, not knowing this confident girl sitting in the front seat of the car.

"Jason, do you know if your paw connected with Brett, as you struggled with each other?" 

"Wh..why?"

"If you did it might cause him to change into a panther like us."

"I don't know. I know I did scratch his face, but I don't know if I had started to change before that or not."  Jason lent forward placing his hands on each side of his face.  "Do you mean to say that I was attacked by someone who was a were-panther and that is how I am now in this mess?"

"No, not you.  You are different, you are an originate from the pack.  Your Dad was a panther, but your Mum doesn't know, so you can't tell her."

"Are you all insane?"

Jason felt like he was entering the Twilight Zone.  Now Diane was telling him that his father, the creep he had not seen since he was a young child, the guy who had abandoned his family one night, without so much as a goodbye, was the reason this was happening. It was just too much to believe.

"Stop the car, let me out!' Jason screamed. 

To be continued....