By: Julia Castro (Young Learners)

On an unusually snowy Monday, October 31st, Amanda went to school as usual. She saw a lot of kids in Halloween costumes and she was wearing a spooky witch costume. Amanda had a lot of fun with her friends.

As soon as she arrived home, Amanda saw chocolate cookies all over her house. She was really puzzled because it was weird and the girl was alone at home. She quickly ran away from her house.

The snow was falling heavily at that moment, but Amanda continued running as fast as she could, because she was scared and cold. After a while, she saw an old man painting a picture in the cold and Amanda thought that was weird, but she came up to the man and asked him why he was painting out there. The painter didn’t answer, but he invited her to spend the night at his house and Amanda accepted because she was starving and freezing.

When they got into the house, the mysterious painter gave her a mug of hot chocolate and a plat of chocolate cookies. She thought that it was a huge coincidence, but she ate them anyway since she was really starving. However, the cookies didn’t taste so good.

At night, Amanda heard some major noises from the kitchen and all of a sudden, they stopped and the painter showed up in her bedroom with a knife in his hand.

– What the heck? – Asked Amanda

– This is your end! – answered the man showing the knife. 

In the blink of an eye, she jumped out of the bed and slipped under the man’s legs and escaped. She ran as fast as she could. When she got home, the killer painter was waiting for her with a plate of cookies in one hand and a knife in the other.

When the painter offered Amanda some cookies at her house, she scrambled upstairs and jumped out of the window and she sprinted to the police station to get help.

To her astonishment, there was no one there, just the painter.

– What do you want from me?

– I want to kill you!

– Why?!

– Because you are a werewolf although you don’t know that yet.

– No, I’m not – Amanda cried and shouted.

– When you turn sixteen, on a full moon night, you will see.

And, in the blink of an eye, the man disappeared. Amanda stood frozen. Breath caught. Heart pounding. What had happened?

The years flew by, and finally Amanda turned sixteen on July 25th, on a full moon night. She was celebrating her birthday with her family and friends, when she remembered the man’s words. Her heart raced. Amanda felt worried. However, she tried to stay happy.

When the party was over she heard voices inside her head. What are the voices whispering?

WEREWOLF! WEREWOLF! WEREWOLF!

Amanda passed out.

As she came to herself, she looked at her right hand and Amanda realized she was a werewolf. Amanda didn’t feel human at all.

She felt an urge to kill someone and no one better than the painter, but where was he? Amanda didn’t know, so she searched for him everywhere. However, he was nowhere to be found.

The morning came and Amanda became human again. She googled him and found his Instagram profile and his name was Voldervader. He lived in a house that looked haunted in the countryside.

Suddenly she felt scared, so she sent him a message. “I really need your help, please help me! I’m scared”, wrote Amanda. But he only replied a couple of days later. “Ok, I will help you. However, I want something in return”, replied Voldervader. Amanda was shocked and she asked.

– What do you want?

– One of your fingers!

– Which one?

– You choose.

– I choose my pinky.

– Ok, so I will help you.

In the blink of an eye, Voldervader appeared right in front of her.

He took out a sharp knife and cut off her finger. She felt nothing. He took out a cauldron from a little bag and put her finger into it and Voldervader added some other ingredients. Suddenly, the potion started smelling bad, just like the chocolate cookies.

When the potion was ready he offered her a full spoon. It tasted like vinegar, but she drank it anyway. She felt different. Amanda was still a werewolf. She didn’t feel the urge to kill, though. Something had changed. The painter smiled at her. She was feeling happy inside.

Amanda now knew why the chocolate cookies were all over her house, but do you know why?

What did the cookie have to do with Amanda? You might be asking yourself this question.

Well, the cookies can kill Amanda, but how come she didn’t die at first? Mr. Voldervader was a great painter, but he was a terrible baker, so his recipe didn’t work. He tried to do it another time. However, Amanda refused to eat them, so he didn’t know if the other recipe had worked.

Now, you might be asking yourself why the painter had spread the cookies all over Amanda’s house.

Well, the painter knew Amanda would run away from the cookies out of instinct and he knew she would go to him. Because Amanda had escaped death so many times, the painter decided to let her live and at the same time, protect the city from evil, but would he protect the city forever?

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