The Retreat

Denise Stone had never been to a retreat center, but she had been familiar with them. Her friends had been telling her that they had been at retreat centers before, and the experiences have all been similar: relaxing, soothing, and quite elaborate. The topic of retreat centers came up due Denise feeling stressed about her upcoming wedding, and it reached a point where she had been actually seeing a counselor: Dr. Raina March.

It was Dr. March who suggested the retreat center, feeling that she needed time to think about her wedding, as well as her relationship with her fiancé of six months, Stephen Chandler, who completely understood his future wife's needs and supported her decision. In actuality, it was after the research, as well as her friends' accounts, that led Denise to utter the following in regards to going to a retreat center:

"Wild horses couldn't keep me from going!"

Dr. March gave the directions to Denise, it was a good stretch away from where she lived. That wasn't the concern for Denise. The actual concern came from her surroundings, which became more and more isolated as the drive continued. The traffic decreased vastly, to the point where the only thing that Denise saw move past her was a speeding motorcycle. Denise's worries that she would never find the center were ended when she finally made a turn into a driveway that led her to a moderate-sized cabin, with Dr. March waiting outside.

"Welcome, Denise!" Dr. March greeted. "Did you have trouble finding the place?"

"I admit, it wasn't like I expected," replied Denise. "It looks a bit..."

"Serene?" asked Dr. March.

"I meant to say, 'isolated'," said Denise.

"In order to properly get into your mindset, Denise," Dr. March said, "you have to be in an environment with no distractions."

"Distractions?" asked Denise. "Am I the only one here?"

"Well, yes, but that's mainly because of...the rumors," said Dr. March.

"What kind of rumors?" asked Denise.

"You didn't hear this from me," replied Dr. March, "but there were people saying something about a werewolf in this area. Well...it was only one person making that claim, but anyway, let's not talk about that." Despite her counselor's statement, it was all Denise could think about. It sounded hard to believe, but in this environment, Denise didn't know what to expect. The inside looked cozy, and after the tour she received from Dr. March, Denise became less pessimistic about this retreat.

A few hours later, Denise received a ping on her cell phone, and after sneaking outside the cabin, she answered the phone and talked to Stephen, mainly about her surroundings and the retreat. The talk saw Denise walk further and further from the cabin, though she didn't realize it until she suddenly heard howling from afar. The sound became louder and louder, and it included rustling noises as well, prompting Denise to run off in a panic, only to find herself running in various directions before she ended up encountering Dr. March, who brought her back to the cabin.

Nothing was said between the pair that night, however, the following day started off with what happened on the previous night.

"I was worried about you!" Dr. March said. "Where were you last night?"

"I'm sorry, but Stephen called me...," Denise began.

"A phone call?" asked Dr. March. "Denise, what did I tell you about distractions?"

"He just wanted to know how I was, and if I was safe," said Denise.

"Sounds like he's controlling," Dr. March said under her breath.

"What?" asked Denise.

"Never mind," replied Dr. March. "Anyway, you need to be focused. After all, you're set to be married very soon, right?"

"You're right," Denise said as she rose up from her seat. "Oh, and thanks for saving me last night."

"From what?" asked Dr. March.

"Didn't you hear the howling last night?" asked Denise. "It had to be that werewolf you mentioned earlier?" Dr. March simply laughed in response to Denise's statement, which drew bewilderment from Denise.

"That story was just a wild rumor made up by someone with a vivid imagination!" exclaimed Dr. March. "Besides, those were just actual wolves out there, not werewolves."

That last statement drew even more confusion from Denise, but she never dwelled on it. She remained focused on her upcoming nuptials, with the wedding day circled on her mental calendar. The thought of the big day drew nothing but happiness from Denise, who spent the late afternoon looking at photos of herself and Stephen together. While doing so, she spotted another message from Stephen, and this time, it was an urgent one:

"Denise...get out of there!!! Dr. March isn't who she says she is!!!"

Denise snuck out of the back door of the cabin, this time grabbing her car keys. It wasn't quite dark outside, but it was dark enough for Denise to sneak out somewhat under her counselor's nose and call Stephen.

"Denise?" Stephen said as Denise continued walking. "I'm glad you're safe! Listen, whoever you're seeing, that's not Dr. March. There's no listing for a Dr. Raina March, but that first name sounds familiar."

"What?!" exclaimed Denise. "Stephen, what are you talking about?"

"You remember me mentioning my ex?" asked Stephen.

"Grace Karl?" said Denise. "Yes, what about her?"

"Raina is Grace's mother," said Stephen. "She was the real reason why I left Grace. She constantly manipulated Grace into believing that I was cheating on her, and when Grace didn't believe her mother, Raina actually tried to set me up! Grace saw through that, thankfully, but I couldn't take it anymore."

"So that's when you ended it?" Denise asked while finding her car in a garage.

"Yes," replied Stephen. "I never heard from Grace again, but I heard from Raina. She said she was going to place a curse on me, which doesn't faze or surprise me. I remember learning she was into some weird, supernatural type stuff, like spells, and incantations and..."

"Werewolves?" Denise asked after giving a silent shriek at a terrible discovery: a man's body found clawed to death. Stephen's attempt to call out for Denise was suddenly interrupted by the now-revealed Raina Karl, who chloroformed Denise and snatched the phone from her possession. When Denise woke up, she found herself tied to a chair, with Raina smirking at her.

"Denise, Denise, Denise," Raina said, "you clearly haven't been making any progress. You're still under the thumb of that controlling fiancé of yours. You have completely ignored my counseling."

"You're no counselor!" exclaimed Denise. "You're the psycho mother of my fiancé's ex!"

"And that's another problem Stephen has," said Raina. "He can't keep his mouth shut! He was never good enough for my Grace. She never could see it, but I knew!"

"So you attempted to set him up as a cheater?" asked Denise.

"He was going to stray eventually," said Raina. "All men do." Raina later walked towards the window and opened the curtains, revealing a full moon in the night sky.

"Ah...beautiful," Raina said with a maniacal gleam in her eyes. "You know, I really do love this place...mainly because of the wolves." Raina placed her right hand on Denise's shoulder, but as Denise quickly noticed, Raina's hand was covered with black hair, and her fingernails were long and sharp.

"Oh my God!" Denise exclaimed.

"I don't know what I was thinking trying to curse Stephen," Raina said with sadistic glee. "Those hardly work. However, a wolf's bite turning me into a werewolf...that does the trick. Just asked the actual owner of this place. You already met him." Denise made her attempt to free herself from her restraints, all the while, Raina's rant and her transformation continued.

"I lost my daughter because of you!" snarled Raina. "And as soon as I tear you apart, I'll do the same to your fiancé, too!" Raina brandished her fangs during her rant, and it was followed by her ears and her muzzle slightly extending, while Denise managed to get her hands free. Raina let out a demonic howl and turned her attention to Denise, who delivered a kick to Raina and smashed the wooden chair on her back. Denise ran out of the house and into the darkness, all while hearing the evil-sounding howl of Raina, who pursued her.

Denise returned to the garage and found her keys still on the floor; later picking them up and entering her vehicle. As Denise started her car, she spotted Raina lunging at the hood of her car, and was still hanging on even after Denise turned on the gas and drove out of the garage. Even so, Denise's vision was obstructed by an unhinged werewolf villainess being on the hood and attempting to attack her, and as a result, neither of them saw an oncoming car heading towards them.

Two Months Later

Stephen couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that two months had passed since the ordeal, and he was now married to Denise. Denise still had the experience fresh in her mind, and she remembered Stephen's face being the first thing she saw when she woke up in the hospital, with both of them being immensely elated to see each other. As the couple learned that day, the other driver survived the crash as well, with the only actual casualty being Raina Karl. Both Stephen and Denise revealed every dark secret about Raina, though they omitted the obvious, as they knew that no one would ever believe that Raina was actually a werewolf.

As Denise would learn from Stephen, Grace was actually alive, despite Raina's claim that she lost her daughter. Grace actually ended up in a psychiatric hospital due to Raina's actions and her treatment nearly shattering her mental health. With the terrible ordeal now a distant memory, Stephen and Denise managed to have their wedding, and they went on quite a wild skydiving honeymoon together. In mixture of fate and a show of love, after each one's parachute opened, the married couple held hands all the way down to a safe landing.