ParaNorman - Howling At The Moon - Chapter 4

Norman wasn't sure how to find out what was going on. He had a feeling that the man was long gone, and just waiting could take much too long. The next option that came to his mind was getting some research, so he decided that it'd be best to go down to the library and check to see if there were any books on it… Whatever 'it' was. Even if there wasn't, maybe he'd be able to get a few comics… They had 'The Walking Dead' at the library, right?
He shook his head a little, snapping himself out of his thoughts before he headed inside, quietly shutting the door behind him. He headed over to the shelves as fast as he could without getting in trouble, looking through the fantasy section first. They didn't exactly have a section for 'turning into some furry thing at night', and considering that didn't sound very 'realistic', it would probably be the best place to start. He didn't find much, other then a few zombie books that interested him but he had to put back, considering he knew he'd get distracted with it and he'd never get back to his research. He sighed and went on through the next few isles, still not finding anything. "Wow, how hard can it be to find something like this…" he mumbled under his breath. Suddenly he froze, hearing a familiar voice behind him. "Norman? Huh. Never expected to see you here… Let alone in the science section." Salma stated curiously. Norman straightened up, turning and raising an eyebrow at her. "Science section…?" he looked around, realizing that she was right. He had somehow gotten himself into the science section of the library. He groaned a little, slapping himself on the forehead. "I-I was actually in another section, guess I just… Zoned out or something while looking." He explained. "Let me guess. You were looking for some zombie books." She groaned. "Actually, no… I was looking for, uh… S-something else…" he answered. She raised an eyebrow at him curiously. "Oh, really? What was it?" she wondered. "Uh, well… I-I don't really know what exactly, but…" he trailed off, suddenly getting an idea. "H-hey, do you know what it'd be called if someone turned into something else at night? Like… With fur and claws, and fangs…" he asked eagerly. "Uh… Excuse me?" "Please, Salma! I really need to know!" Norman begged. Salma was about to say something, then sighed. "Alright, I think I know what you want… Follow me." She grabbed his hand and dragged him down a few isles, then searched through a few of the books on the end. "Let's see here… No, no… Ah! Here we are." She smiled, pulling out one of the books with a darker cover. It had a moon on it, though Norman didn't get a chance to look at the title before she opened it up, showing him the page. "There." She exclaimed. Norman skimmed through the page, then froze. "… Wuh oh."

"A werewolf?!?!"
Norman lifted his head up off his pillow and looked over at Courtney, who was staring at the pages of the book with wide eyes. "Yep." He stated flatly before his head went into his pillow again. "I can't believe this… You managed to get yourself turned into a freaking werewolf, Norman!" she snapped. "Shut it!" he snapped back, his head shooting up again and whipping over so he'd be looking at her. "Do you want everyone in the town to hear you?!" he turned his head back and placed it into his pillow once again once he was done talking. Courtney rolled her eyes. "You do know that I wasn't that loud, right?" she stated, a hand on her hip. Norman immediately shot up again. "No, I don't know that! Because now I have STUPID wolf senses, and everything sounds about 10 TIMES LOUDER!!!" he screamed at her, stomping over. She flinched a little, biting her lip. "You know, that temper thing is gonna get you in trouble sooner or later." She exclaimed. He blinked a few, then slumped down, glancing down at the floor. "R-right. Sorry." He apologized. "I didn't mean I was mad… I just mean that you might wanna watch it. We don't want you lashing out at mom or dad…" she trailed off, wondering just how they'd react if they found out what was going on. Norman stayed silent for a moment before gently taking the book from her and going back over to his bed, sitting down and flipping through the pages.
Courtney slowly came over and sat next to him, examining the book with him. "Alright… Let's see what we're dealing with…" she glanced at him for a moment to see him nod in agreement just before he flipped the page. "Alright… It says here that werewolves have certain anger issues, though most of the time they aren't overly major." He groaned a little. "I beg to differ." He mumbled under his breath. He shook his head, continuing on. "It also says that they sometimes have strange cravings and urges that are similar to those of a dog. Sometimes they are able to ignore them, though it can take some time… Well, that explains a bit…" he decided, looking over at Courtney. She read on. "It says something about them growing a good amount…" "You mean… At night?" "I dunno, it just says they gain a lot of size…" Courtney thought about it for a moment, then shrugged a little. "I wouldn't worry about it though. Who's gonna notice a little size difference anyways?" she smirked. Norman smiled a little. "Yeah." he agreed. "Does it say anything important?" he asked, flipping over to the next page. They both gulped, glancing at each other for a moment before Norman looked back at the page, reading nervously. "Though werewolves aren't always necessarily a threat, it's important to stay away at all costs… Especially on full moons… Werewolves become much more hostile during a full moon and it's dangerous to be anywhere near one at this time. The worst full moon for a werewolf would be their first, the one that conceals them to their fate as a werewolf…" He read aloud, gulping a little afterwards. "W-wait, so… O-on the next full moon, I'm gonna be a… V-vicious… P-probably bloodthirsty… W-wolf…?" he stammered, looking up at Courtney with glassy eyes. "… It won't come to that." she assured him, wrapping an arm around him and rubbing his shoulder lightly in comfort. "Alright?" "… How can you be sure…?" he asked, looking back down at the book. "Because I won't let it happen." She answered. "… B-but the book-" "Forget the book, alright?" Courtney interrupted, closing the book with her free hand and setting it aside. Norman looked up at her again. "I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you." She continued. "… T-Thanks, Courtney…" he smiled, hugging her back lightly. "No prob, lil' bro." she smirked, ruffling his hair the best she could. He laughed a little, playfully batting her hand away. "We'll figure this out together, right?" he asked with a small smile. She nodded in response. "Yep. Now then, let's just try and enjoy the rest of the day, alright? Worry-free?" she smiled back. "Alright." He agreed, getting off the bed and rushing downstairs. Courtney laughed a little, following him down.

The day didn't pass as quickly as before. Courtney had gone to hang out with her friends while Norman stayed home, trying to get used to the strange urges he got so that he'd know how to avoid or ignore them. He spent at least two hours out on the steps, clawing at his seat so that he wouldn't get up when he saw the occasional baseball or tennis ball fly by, or covering his mouth if he heard a siren go by so that he wouldn't howl or bark at it. The hardest part was probably ignoring the animals that would rush by every once in awhile. Some people were walking their dogs, and he had to completely avoid eye contact so he wouldn't start 'protecting his territory' or something else like that. The few stray cats that came by were seriously annoying, too. They just kept coming. In fact, he was pretty sure it was the same cat just coming back to tick him off. It was definitely working, that was for sure. At one point he wasn't able to hold back and he growled at it, scaring it off with a few loud barks. Once he was done and had looked around to see people staring at him in pure awe and confusion, a few disturbed faces around as well, he decided that maybe it was about time to head back inside.
He laughed nervously as he got up, turning and rushing back into the house with his hands in his pockets, biting his lip a little. He shut the door behind him and continued on to the living room, still shrinking down and avoiding eye contact with Sandra, who was in the kitchen. She blinked in slight shock when he came in and rushed to the living room, raising an eyebrow at him. "Norman?" she called after him. He was sitting on the couch now, tensing up a little when he heard his name called. "… Y-yes?" he answered wearily, pausing the channel he was watching. Actually, he wasn't really watching it. He was barely even paying attention to it, he just turned something on in an attempt to occupy himself. Though he was pretty thankful to be sure that he wasn't going color blind. Sandra came out and sat next to him, looking at him in worry. "Is something wrong?" she asked. "Huh? No! No, no, no, I'm fine…" he assured quickly, though she didn't seem to buy it. "… From the most part." He corrected. "Norman, you know you can tell me anything… What's wrong…?" Sandra asked in worry. "Mom, it's nothing… I'm fine." he repeated with a small smile. "In that case, then why did you come rushing inside?" she wondered, a smirk visible on her lips. Norman blinked, laughing nervously. "O-oh, that! Eh, heh, heh… Y'know, I just… Uh…" his gaze went to the TV, and he got an idea. "I just thought that maybe there was something good on TV! Y-yeah, that's it…! TV… Eh, heh…" he exclaimed. Sandra looked over at the television set, blinking. He could've sworn he saw her eyes roll a little jokingly. "Alright then… Call if you need anything." She told him as she got up and went back to the kitchen. "Of course, of course!" Norman responded watching her leave. Once she was out of sight he sighed, slumping down a little. "Close one…" he mumbled under his breath. He glanced over at the TV, deciding that maybe it'd be a good idea to actually see what he had been watching.

Once the family was done supper Norman headed upstairs and sat on his bed, somewhat impatiently waiting for the moon to come up. It didn't take long for Courtney to lightly knock on the door and let herself in, not surprised to see Norman staring up at the ceiling in his pajamas. "Hey." She greeted. He looked over at her, smiling a little. "Hey." He responded, sitting up. "It's probably gonna happen soon, y'know. You might wanna be prepared for it." Courtney explained, looking out the window. It was starting to get darker out. "I know." Norman answered, looking over at the window as well. He cringed a little after a moment, holding his arm. He looked over at Courtney in worry, his sister looking at him with the same look on her face. "W-wait here a second…" he managed to squeak out before diving under his covers. Courtney flinched when she started to hear him groan and whine, along with a small howl of pain. And then there was silence, and that worried her the most. "N-Norman…? You alright…?" she asked, taking a few steps closer.
Suddenly his now-furry head peeked out from under the covers, his wolf ears twitching a little as he looked up at her. "I'm fine." He smiled. She sighed in relief, smiling back at him. He quickly shook, causing the blanket to fly off of him and onto the floor. Courtney noticed something behind him and made a small gasp, giggling afterwards. Norman raised an eyebrow in confusion, though he was still smiling at her. "What?" he wondered. "Your tail's wagging." She smiled. He blinked in confusion. "I-I don't have a-" he cut himself off when he felt his tail lightly brushing his bed and he looked over at, eyes wide in shock. "Huh…" he breathed, tilting his head a little before looking back at Courtney and jumping off the bed, onto the floor on all fours. He got to his feet and dusted himself off a little, his eyes trailing back to his tail. "… How do I control this thing?" he wondered aloud, though he ended up getting distracted by it. Courtney tried her best to hold back laughter as he started to actually chase it much like a dog would. She couldn't help but coo when he actually caught it, now sitting on the floor with his tail in his mouth and a bright smile, his eyes sparkling brightly. "Oh my god, Norman, you have no idea how adorable you look…!" Courtney squealed. He blinked, a blush going over his face as he realized what he was doing. He quickly let go of his tail, smiling sheepishly. "Eh, heh… I-instincts…" he giggled.
Courtney came over, a sly smile on her face. "Hold on, I wanna test something…" she explained. He blinked curiously. "Test something?" "Yeah. If your instincts are like a dog's then this should work…" she exclaimed, scratching behind his ear lightly. He was about to ask what she was doing when he suddenly froze, smiling. What really caused Courtney to crack up was when his leg started lightly kicking. "I am liking these 'dog instincts' of yours!" She laughed. Once Norman realized what he was doing he attempted to stop, but he really couldn't. He giggled as he lightly batted Courtney's hand away from his ear with his hand. "A-alright, alright, I get it!" he smiled. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet!" she tackled him and started rubbing his belly playfully, causing him to laugh even more as his leg started kicking again. "AH! C-Courtney!" he yelped out in between laughs. "I-I can't breath, ah ha ha!!!" "So… Who's the best sister you could ever have, hm?" Courtney smirked. Norman's giggle fit continued and he tried to bat her away, but she's kept rubbing and had now started tickling as well. After a moment or two he managed to squirm away just enough to tackle her playfully, pinning her down so she couldn't tickle him again. "I'll have to think about it." He smiled jokingly, still giggling just a little. "Oh, you little jerk!" Courtney laughed, managing to push him off. His tail had started wagging again as his laughing finally managed to die down and he attempted to catch his breath, Courtney having a hard time stopping as well as she sat up, leaning against Norman's bed a little. Norman smiled, lying down on his side with a small sigh. Suddenly his ears perked up and he blinked, looking down at his stomach sheepishly. "Lemme guess. You're hungry?" Courtney chuckled. He shrunk down a little, smiling nervously. "Erm… Maybe…" he answered quietly. She smiled at him, getting up. "Alright, alright… Guess I should get you something to eat, huh?" she decided, heading over to the door. Norman sat up, staring at her. "R-really? You sure?" he asked. She nodded. "Yeah, it's fine." She exclaimed. He blinked, his tail starting to wag again. "Thanks…" he smiled gratefully. "No problem." She responded, opening the door and heading out. Just before she left Norman thought of something and called after her. "Courtney, wait!" he yelled out. She quickly came back, looking both panicked and confused. "What?" she asked. "Um… Well… I just…" he took a deep breath, trying to think of how to say what he wanted to say. "… Y-you're the best sister I could ever have." He smiled sheepishly, his tail wagging again. Courtney blinked for a moment before smiling again, letting out a small giggle. "Thanks, Norm."