ParaNorman - Howling At The Moon - Chapter 1

"What is it with mom and dad leaving me with you so much? Jeez, why don't they just get you a babysitter or something…" Courtney complained as Norman put the dishes away. "I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself." He grumbled. "I can take care of myself just fine." "Yeah, whatever. Just make sure you get to bed early, mom will kill me if you're up late again. Even though it wasn't even my fault" Courtney wasn't even paying attention to him as he cleaned up the kitchen from supper. "That was completely your fault!" Norman argued. "Was not!" "Was too!" "Was NOT!" "Was- … You know what? Nevermind." Norman stopped himself from continuing. It was going nowhere anyways, so there was really no point. "The kitchen's clean. I'll just go to bed now and leave you to… Whatever you're doing." He headed upstairs before Courtney could protest. He was getting tired of her pushing him around just because she was older. He closed the door behind him and changed to his pajamas, then sat on his bed thinking. "What if I were older… Or maybe bigger? Would she still have the advantage?" he wondered aloud. After a moment he slapped himself mentally. "That was incredibly stupid…" He told himself, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. "I'm fine just the way I am. No matter wha-" he stopped when he heard something outside.  He sat up and stared at the window for a moment in wonder. There was just silence. He waited a little longer, eventually hearing a long howl. He laughed at himself, lying back down. "It's just a wolf. You worry to much." He laughed a little, then stopped, slapping himself mentally yet again. "And you're also talking to yourself." He groaned. Suddenly he heard a gunshot outside, followed by an ear-piercing scream. Norman shot up in his bed, his eyes huge as he looked over at the window. He ran over and looked outside, still shocked as he searched for the source of the shot. His eyes went to someone who was staggering out to the forest, clutching their side. "Oh my god." Norman breathed. "Someone just…" he shook his head, running to his closet and grabbing a coat. He went back over to the window with his bed sheets and tied one end to the table so it'd be secure, then threw the rest out the window. He knew that Courtney wouldn't let him outside, especially not when it was this late. But that man needed help, and fast. Norman gulped, then climbed down his bed sheets carefully, trying not to draw attention to himself. Once he was at the bottom he ran after the man, determined to help.
He had been in the forest a few times before, though he hadn't gone very far, so he was sort of hoping he wouldn't end up going very far. The last thing he needed was to get lost. He bit his lip as he walked through the bushes and trees, trying to thin of some kind of indication of where the man was. "Erm… Hello? Sir?" he called out cautiously. He didn't want to give off where he was incase there was something dangerous around, but he couldn't think of any other way to find him. "Hello?" he called out again, though he really didn't want to yell any louder then he was already. He heard something behind him and whipped around in slight panic, yelping when he saw what it was. "Y-you must be that wolf from earlier…" he mumbled. The wolf had pitch black fur and light brown eyes, and it didn't seem very hostile at all. It seemed curious. Norman fixed his position a little, then had an idea. It wasn't the best idea, but it was better then nothing. "Did you see an injured man walking around?' he asked, taking a small step closer. The wolf didn't seem to respond at all. It just stared at him. "Can you understand me?" Norman asked cautiously. The wolf nodded a little, making Norman curious. "Erm, so… You haven't seen anyone around here?" he was starting to get more comfortable, but he was still unsure of if this was a good idea or not. The wolf's ear started twitching, and after a moment it turned and started padding away. Norman sunk down a little, slightly disappointed. He was about to turn and head home when the wolf glanced back at him as if saying "Are you coming". Norman raised an eyebrow, then started to follow the wolf. After the wolf saw that he was following, he broke into a sprint. Norman yelped in shock, then started running after it, trying to keep up. Every once in a while the wolf would stop, its ear twitching, then it would run off in a different direction.
Before he knew it, Norman was tired out from running so much. The wolf stopped again, looking back at him as he leaned against tree to catch his breath, sliding down to the ground after a moment. The wolf padded over to him and started to sniff him, which Norman guessed was it making sure he was ok. Norman looked up at the stars, trying to tell if it had gotten any later. What he did see was that the moon seemed to shine directly on the spot they were at, which worried him just a little, especially since the wolf was that close to him. He looked over at the wolf, who seemed to be examining Norman.
"Is something wrong?" Norman asked nervously, though he wasn't sure he really wanted to know. The wolf didn't even look up at him. It just leaned a little closer to his arm, still sniffing. After a moment it winced, shrinking down a little. Norman raised an eyebrow and examined the wolf, then realized something. "You're hurt…" he murmured. There was blood coming out of the wolf's side, and Norman hadn't noticed it before. He tried to get a closer look at it, but the second he moved to see it the wolf lunged for him. Norman screamed in shock and pain as the wolf sunk its teeth into his arm. He tried to get it to let go, but whenever he tried to squirm it sunk its teeth in deeper and the pain got worse. "L-LET GO!" Norman screamed in panic, trying to find a way out of its grasp. Norman shrieked out in pain again as it bit down harder. Out of instinct, he grabbed the closest thing to his hand and whacked the wolf on its head as hard as he could, causing it to release and make a run for it. Norman dropped the object back to the ground and clutched his arm, hissing in pain. He lifted his hand off the wound and examined it for a second, then put his hand on it again, holding back tears. "I have to get back home…" he told himself, carefully standing up. He looked around, unsure of where to go. He looked at his arm again, then took a deep breath and went with his gut, walking forward. "Courtney is gonna be really mad…" he groaned.

Courtney went upstairs to check on Norman to make sure he was actually asleep. She hadn't expected the bed sheets o be hanging out the window. Her eyes widened in panic as she ran over to the window, peeking outside. "NORMAN!" she called out, praying he would answer. When he didn't, she groaned in annoyance. "You are SO dead!" she growled as she ran downstairs, grabbing a coat that would match her outfit on the way. She ran outside, trying to think of where he could've gone. After a moment she saw a trail of blood leading to the forest, which made her panic grow. "Oh, that better not be you…" she followed the trail as far as she could before it went away, then sighed, looking around the forest. "NORMAN!" she called for him as loud as she could. After a moment she thought she heard someone call back and went closer to the noise, calling out his name again. She waited a second, listening intently. "I'm over here!" Norman yelled in response. Courtney sighed in relief and ran over to him. "You had better have a good reason for running off like that!" she snapped. "Well, there was this guy, and he looked really hurt so I wanted to help him but-" he winced, clutching arm tighter. Courtney looked at where his hand was covering, noticing that it looked bloody. "Move your hand." She ordered. "But-" "Move your hand!" she repeated, sounding angry. He hesitated, then moved his hand to show her what happened. "Oh my god…" was all she could get out as she kneeled down and looked at it closer. "I-I can explain!" he stammered. "You had better explain!" she snapped at him. "There was a wolf here. I followed it to the big clearing and-" "YOU FOLLOWED A WOLF?!" Courtney exclaimed. "Are you seriously THAT STUPID?!" "Hey! I'm not stupid!" Norman shouted back at her. "It wanted me to follow it, and it didn't seem like it was dangerous at the time so I trusted it!" he explained. "You can't trust a wolf, you little- AUGH!" she got up angrily, refusing to finish her sentence. "It didn't seem like it wanted to hurt me until I noticed that it was bleeding. I think someone might've shot it!" he exclaimed in worry. Courtney just groaned in annoyance and grabbed his hand, dragging him back to the house. "We're going home. I don't wanna hear another word out of you!" she snapped. He was about to protest, then stopped himself. It was late, he was both tired and bleeding, and Courtney was ticked. Now wasn't the best time to get into an argument.

The minute they got home Courtney had gone to get the first-aid kit to cover Norman's wound. He had to sleep with a supposedly disinfectant cloth around his arm, and it wasn't very comfortable at all. He wasn't sure if Courtney had told their parents what happened or not, but he knew he was about to find out. He went downstairs to the kitchen, not very sure what to expect. His parents were both up, Sandra making breakfast while Perry calmly read the newspaper at the table. Norman gulped, walking up to his dad first since he wasn't as busy. "Hey dad." He ended up squeaking it out instead of just saying it, which wasn't what he intended at all. Perry glanced over at him, raising an eyebrow. "Good morning." He replied, though he sounded a little confused. "Erm… Where's Courtney?" Norman asked. "You just missed her." Perry told him. Just before Norman could sigh in relief he heard Perry continue. "But… She was down here long enough to tell us what you did last night." He explained, unimpressed. Norman gulped, shrinking down a little. "Oh… Right… About that…" he trailed off, trying to think of how Courtney could've worded it. For all he knew she left out some of the details. Lucky for him his dad continued talking, so he didn't have to ponder on it very long. "I don't understand why you'd try to run away like that! And just look where it got you." He gestured to where the cloth was on his arm. Even though it was under his sleeve, it wasn't hard to tell where it was. "I wasn't running away…" Norman told him quietly. "There was someone outside, and he looked hurt so I wanted to make sure he was ok." "And did you know this person?" Perry asked. "Well, erm… N-no, but…" Norman trailed off, trying to find a good way to word it. "… But they still needed help, dad. Before I saw them, I heard a gunshot… I think it might've been shot at him." He explained. "Well, it's great that you tried to help someone sweetie, but what if you got kidnapped or lost, or even killed? I don't know what we would do if we lost you." Sandra explained. "You could've at least asked Courtney first." "Sorry mom…" Norman sighed. He felt as if they were hardly listening to him. Didn't they get that this person could've been injured? He reminded himself to keep an eye out for new ghosts just incase the man happened to be among them today. If he was, then Norman told himself to apologize for not being able to help as he had intended to. Norman sighed again as he went back up to his room and got ready for school.

Norman was getting sick and tired of Alvin's remarks. It's not like he wasn't used to them, but today they were much more annoying for some reason. He wasn't even entirely sure why. "Maybe I'm just having a bad day…" he decided as he closed his locker. He fixed his schoolbag's position as he headed out, scratching his arm. He had been scratching at it all day, really. And Alvin had noticed. Norman froze as he heard the bully snicker, then rolled his eyes and kept walking. "What's wrong, Normie? Didja forget to put on your flea collar today?" Alvin called after him. Norman growled and glared back at him as he continued on his way. The best option was to just ignore him, after all. Norman flinched as he heard Alvin laugh even louder. Or at least it sounded louder to him. He wasn't sure if it really was or not. Along with his arm itching like mad, his hearing had been going on the fritz all day. One minute everything would sound normal, then the next it sounded like everyone was shouting in his ear. In the end it was all just giving him a big headache and he just wanted to get home as soon as he could. Maybe he'd feel better after a good rest…