1)

First off, I was a bit over 65 by a few years at the time, so yes, I was and still am a senior citizen, but I wasn’t decrepit or bed bound. I was just old. As in gray haired, wrinkly and the feeling tired all the time kind of old, not a walker and oxygen tank old.

I did hire a few people to deal with the grounds and clean the house, but it was because I could afford to just pay people to do the work that I didn't want to do, not because I couldn’t do it myself. The main reason why I didn’t want to do the job on my own was because it was a lot of yard, a lot of house and dealing with both would take a lot of time and effort.

That day I was out for a walk around the outer edges of the entire property trying to figure out how much trouble it would be to fence off the whole thing.

I had wanted to get some dogs, and to be able to let them out of the house so they would be free to run loose. I was a bit worried about a pet outliving me, but I figured that if I got some older ones from the pound then even if they did outlive me, then having even just a few good years with me was better then what was in store for them by the end of the month if no one else adopted them.

A lot of my land was wooded which I imagined would be a problem for putting in a fence. So I decided to give walking the boundaries a try with the idea that the little pink ribbons tied off along the property line from the survey I had paid for would still be in place.

Took me less then a hour to get completely lost, then I could hear the sound of a child crying.

Not a upset at the world type of a cry, a child in real pain type of cry.

The little girl I found couldn't have been more than seven, and even with the slight chill in the air was dressed in nothing but a white nightgown, and she had her leg in a freckling bear trap nearly as big as she was.

“Son of a...” Her head jerked up at me while I was mid curse and she scrambled to get away from me with a terrified look on her face, up to the point of jerking at her bloody ankle in the trap which was now fully stretched out on a chain to a metal stake.

“Easy kiddo! Let me pry that open and we’ll get you some help.”

With visions of some back woods serial killer appearing out of no where to sink an axe in my back, I hurried over and took a look at the thing, I don’t think I had ever seen a bear trap in person, but I had seen people open them up in movies, and all I really had to do was pry it open enough for the girl to pull her foot out.

I really should have called for help first, since the trap could have been the only thing keeping her from bleeding out, but it was a little girl and she was suffering, loudly. Not the best circumstances for logic or reasoning, at least for me.

Ignoring her panicked screaming and crying I got a grip on the metal and pried it apart and she was off like a dart. Right up until she put her weight on her mangled ankle and dropped with a shout of pain. I let go of the trap and let it snap shut as I headed over to try to help her up, forgetting that she was in fact, desperately trying to get away from me.

That’s when she turned into a half grown wolf cub and bit me on the hand.

Well...that was unexpected, and more than just a little painful. Ouch.

By the time I had processed the whole “werewolves are apparently real” and started moving on to the “Does this mean I might be one now?”, she was long gone on her three good legs.

The old boy scout neckerchief I had brought along for a sweat band in case it got too warm, made for a decent bandage, at least decent enough to keep me from getting blood all over my clothes, then I took a better look around.

A trail cam was pointed at the trap from a nearby tree, and I think the “STER 80%” on the bear trap meant that someone had gotten it professionally silver plated.

A two handed swing with a hefty fallen tree branch took care of the cam and some poking around the remains found what I hoped was the memory card. I would just have to hope that the cam wasn’t one of the ones that could transmit.

I wiped down the trap as best I could with some leaves to get any fingerprints. Mine or hers.

All of this was because I didn't think the girl was the only shape changer in the world and any others probably wouldn't want one of them getting recorded changing into a wolf on a camera to have the clip get passed around, plus I didn't want anyone who set silver plated bear traps for any of them to know who I was, let alone the fact I got bit.