Animals

“Mackenzie Porter, you will never believe what I just found out!” Noah excitedly ran into the Porter household later that evening.

“My name isn’t even Mackenzie.” Kennah said in a flat tone from the island in their kitchen.

“I’m starting to think that we should lock the door all the time.” Elizabeth Porter said as she looked at Noah before going back to cooking dinner.

“What’s the point? He probably already has a key.” Henry said from the living room.

Noah rolled his eyes and waved his hand, “I know that isn’t your name but it just felt right to say.” Noah went and stood next to Kennah’s seat and bounced on the heels of his feet. “According to your grandpa, the body they found in the woods was basically town to shreds but the only prints that they found in the woods were human!” Noah looked between his best friend and her mother, neither of them said anything. “Do you know what this means?”

“That someone was in the woods before the police could track the prints?” Kennah said, her blank expression still on her face.

“You know, it amazes me how unenthusiastic you can be.” Noah said as he grabbed the teenage girl’s hand, dragging her upstairs to her room.

“What is so important that you had to drag me up here?”

“Did you hear what I said? They found human foot prints, not a shoe. Bare foot prints!” Noah pushed Kennah down in a chair next to her desk while Noah sat in front of her computer, not bothering to ask permission before typing.

“Are you suggesting that it was a werewolf?” Kennah asked in a bored tone before rolling her eyes and looking at her best friend.

“You may think that I’m crazy but I know what I saw!” Noah was referring to the incident that happened a year ago. He was driving back into town, right on the edge of the forest when a large wolf ran into the road. Noah stopped in time to avoid the animal but as he saw the same animal transform into a human form in a matter of seconds.

“Fine, if you can prove to me that werewolves are real then I will not hit you for a month.”

“I thought that was how you show your affection?”

“Only to you, Henderson.”

“Well then how about 20 bucks? That will definitely motivate me.” Noah said as he held out his hand to Kennah, causing her to look at it with a raised eyebrow.

“Um, no. You don’t get the money until after you can prove that this mythical creature exists.” Kennah said, slapping the boys hand away.

“Fine then. We’ll go sit out in the woods tonight!” Noah clapped his hands together, a large grin spreading across his face.

“Well that isn’t exactly how I planned to spend my Friday night.”

“And how did you plan on spending it? With your friends Ben and Jerry and the Avengers cast?”

Kennah slapped Noah’s arm before walking over to her dresser. “Make fun all you want, it’s better than obsessing over a girl that doesn’t give you the time of day and creatures that only exist in folklore.”

Noah waved off her comment with his hand. “So are we gonna do this the easy way or the hard way?”

“Noah, it’s going to be 25 degrees tonight!”

“That did not answer my question.”

The brunette best friends looked each other in the eyes from across the room for a moment, waiting for the other to back down.

Kennah sighed, dropping her shoulders. “Let me get dressed.”

When Kennah finished changing into something more suitable for the nights outing, she walked out of her room only to be greeted by an eager Noah. He grabbed her hand and almost pulled her arm out of her socket as he dragged her downstairs and to the front door. "Kennah is staying with me tonight! Don't worry, we won't throw a wild party or do any drugs!" Noah called to her parents as they ran out the door.

"I'm starting to reconsider this friendship." Kennah said as Noah let go of her hand once they were walking side by side.

"No you're not. No one else would comfort you when you cry over fictional characters."
Kennah scoffed, stopping in her tracks to look up at her best friend. "You don't even do that."

"Well I used to! I can understand The Walking Dead but anything else is just pointless to me." Noah put his hands on Kennah's shoulders and turned her body so that they could walk into the woods.

"On the very long list of your bad ideas, this has got to be on the top." Kennah pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest in order to keep warm. The temperature was dropping fast and the sun was down. The only light there was coming from the almost full moon and a few porch lights from the houses.

"Well this is the only way I could get you to believe in werewolves."

"This couldn't wait for another night? Like summer, you know, when it’s warm and isn't dark by seven o'clock?" Halloween was only a few days away and the creeps were definitely out.

"Nope, I need that 20 dollars by tomorrow." Noah put his right hand in his jacket pocket and his left arm around Kennah. "Don't be so paranoid. You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you."

"I know that but that won't stop the killer or animal from killing you first and then coming after me. You can't protect me if I'm dead." Kennah pointed out in a flat tone.

"I would find a way." No matter how much the two teenagers would fight, they would always protect each other. It was always Kennah Porter and Noah Henderson, ever since preschool. And both of them knew that was always how it was going to be, whether they were in the same town or a different country. They would always find a way back to each other.

"Did you even think of the possibility that we would get killed out here?" Kennah asked, after ten minutes of walking they had finally reached the edge of the forest. Kennah was becoming more and more apprehensive about this little adventure, she couldn't see anything besides the trees and darkness. "This is how people die. The population is dropping fairly quickly because people are stupid enough to go into the woods at night."

Noah took his arm off the brunette’s shoulders and looked into the darkness, looking as if he was deep in thought. "Huh, I never thought of that."

"Brilliant." Kennah said with a sigh. When she made no move to go into the woods, Noah took a step before Kennah put her arm out to stop him. She looked up at him with her big brown eyes. "I believe you. We don't have to go in there. Let's just go to your house and watch Scooby Doo or something."

Part of Noah felt bad for dragging Kennah out to do this. He knew that she didn't like being out past dark if there wasn't a lot of light around and here he was trying to make her go into a heavily wooded and dark place full of animals and god knows what else. Noah grabbed Kennah's hand and laced his fingers with hers, squeezing tightly. "We won't stay that long. Half an hour and if we don't see anything then we can pretend that this never happened."