Chapter Four – Unexpected Issues

Brian slowly lowers the phone into the holder sighing gently "Ugh that's the 5th restaurant already..." turning slowly to grab the directory he glances at the clock "3 more hours..." grabbing the directory he sighed one more time and rang the only remaining restaurant. After a gruelling five minutes Brian paused and sighed in a more positive tone than before "Finally... It only took an hour but now the reservation is made I suppose I'll go relax for a while." Glancing back at the clock Brian cruised into the front room and slouched down in the recliner almost instantly grabbing the TV remote.

An hour passed before Brian was even remotely affected by his surroundings this change was brought on by sirens outside his house and a loud knocking on the door. In no rush Brian climbed out of the recliner and proceeded to the door, the knocking hadn't ceased making Brian angrier he flung open the door to the sight of two police officers and a paramedic. Instantly the anger which had grew inside Brian flooded out as one of the police officers asked whether they could come in, stating it was an important matter. Brian agreed and led them through to the front room, informing the officers and paramedic of his plans and that he would need to call Nikki. As Brian left the room he heard the paramedic mumble to one of the officers "Are you feeling okay Dave?" by the time the officer replied Brian was out of hearing range and on the phone to Nikki.

"Hiya Nikki, I have the reservation booked but I might be a tad late, two police officers and a paramedic have just turned up at my house. I'll call you when they leave."

"Okay Brian, thanks for the call!"

Upon re-entering the room Brian glanced at the officer whom he assumed was Dave due to the wince on his face. "So what's the problem?" both the paramedic and officer paused after a short time the paramedic looked at Brian, to the wincing officer and back.

"Well Brian. That is your name isn't it? Dave here was found by the roadside last night by the officer to your right-"

The officer broke in momentarily "Hello, you may have seen me around. I'm Officer Angie Owens, pleased to meet you. I'll let Jim continue explaining."

The paramedic, Jim glanced at Angie and simply murmured "Thank you for that Angie, anyway as you can see Dave is in a lot of pain and we understand he happens to bear the same wounds you did when you were taken into hospital by this same officer." Angie smiled slightly with a sense of accomplishment.
"Wait so your saying, Dave was brought into the hospital with lacerations across the chest and assuming I have something to do with this? Also, you would be correct in my name being Brian." Brian began getting defensive as one would after being told something like that.

"No, no, no, not at all Brian. We actually came to ask whether you had figured anything out about the injury. We have our assumptions although they tend to be more superstition based than anything else. That being the lacerations relating to 'Lupus homine' or what many people know as 'Werewolves' of course this is just superstition and myth. Just out of curiosity has the injury affected you in any way?"

Brian looked questioningly at the paramedic, as if to say "Did you really just ask whether it affects me?" he takes a quick look at Dave who at this point was gently rubbing his chest. He turned back to the paramedic "Well other than the obvious it hasn't affected me at all. I wish I could help you more but if you hadn't already been informed I was in a coma when I was taken to the hospital and that continued for 3 months..."
The paramedic looked shocked, as did Angie. "I had my suspicions" Angie remarked.

"Well we're sorry to have bothered you; we are going to monitor Dave over the course of a month, as you possibly know the next full moon is next week. If what we have said today worries you at all just call the police station and mention our visit. We would be happy to keep you contained for the night in case anything happens related to our assumptions."
Once again Brian looked questioningly toward the paramedic and Angie. A short time passed and Brian said comfortingly "If anything happens I'll give you a call, and I hope all is well with Dave." He then proceeded to show the officers and paramedic out. Glancing at the clock he thought "S**t, I had better call Nikki and get ready!" the visit had taken up another hour and a half of his time. He smiled at Nikki's reassuring voice saying "It will be fine, I'll walk over to your place then we'll go from there."

Brian heard an abrupt knock on the door and quite literally jumped down the stairs and flung open the door once more, this time to exactly who he was expecting. He was awestruck by Nikki's beauty. She stood perfectly poised in the doorway wearing a sleek crimson coloured dress that went down to her knees, her hair curled perfectly with each curl equal to the next. The only noticeable make-up was the shadowed eyeliner she wore to encase her deep green eyes. It took Brian a while until he noticed he was staring so he quickly said under his breath "Holy crap you look gorgeous" Nikki obviously heard him as she blushed slightly and smiled. Brian confidently smiled and said "Come in! I'll just grab my keys and wallet and we'll wander to the restaurant."
Brian casually walked back into the room, his keys jingling in his pocket. Nikki smiled as they walked out of the house together. She stopped walking for a moment and asked Brian, "So, you said about the paramedic and officers turning up, what was that about? It's just, you didn't mention on the phone earlier."

Brian's face seemed blank for a moment until he began walking and replied "Well, it's kind of a long story. Basically you know how I was taken to the hospital with lacerations across my chest. Well another officer had the same experience. The person who took me to the hospital also took him. To put it simply they wanted to know whether I had figured anything out regarding said wounds, which I haven't and not remembering anything from the past doesn't really help either."

Nikki shared the questioning look Brian had when talking to the paramedic. "So is that all or was anything else said? I mean about what they think it could be or something?"

Brian sighed in a way like he didn't want to tell Nikki the rest, eventually he decided it was for the best and he simply said "They said following superstition I could have been attacked by a werewolf, the same with Dave... They told me that if I was-"

Nikki broke in, "Wait who is Dave? Also you have to remember this is only superstition and myth. Nothing says it's real."

Brian smiled reassured "Dave was the other officer who had been attacked. But they told me if I had any worries about what they told me that I could call the police station and they would keep me contained and monitored over the course of the full moon. They are monitoring Dave too, so I think when the time comes I will give them a call."

By this point they were practically outside the restaurant and without even noticing they had begun holding hands. Nikki noticed and looked at Brian, "Well let's put all of that aside and enjoy the meal." Both Brian and Nikki smiled, Nikki paused again and said softly "I just want you to know, I'll do everything I can to help you. Not because it's my job being a nurse or anything. Because I want to" nervous about how Brian would respond she looked down slightly only to see Brian's arms hugging her.

"Thank you, hopefully my memory will start coming back soon too. But if it does I want you to know I won't let it change anything."
Nikki blushed and slowly followed Brian into the restaurant.