Who Took the Socks

The full moon gave the world an eerie blue tinge. Most would have done anything else besides going into the wood that night, but for Sara, it was perfect. Tonight was the night she would prove it was a werewolf stealing all the laundry.

Every morning after the full moon, everyone in her village would be missing something from their laundry. At first, everyone thought it was a prank the local teenagers were playing. But the longer it continued, the more people couldn’t deny it was something else. Many in the village had wanted to call an exorcist to get rid of this “obvious” ghost problem. But Sara knew better.

Making her way through the forest, she was thankful for the moon's light. She hadn’t wanted to bring a lantern, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. She had a general idea of where the werewolves stayed during the full moon but not the exact location.

The only thing she worried about was not finding them in time. The last thing she wanted was an extra month of listening to growing opinions and suggestions from the rest of the town. They were starting to get out of hand. One person said they needed to keep their laundry under lock and key or build a wall around their house.

There, there it was! 

Well, at least there was the first thing that confirmed she was on the right path. 

A sock.

Like Hansel and Gredle, she now followed her own breadcrumbs. The moon's light helped show her the lingering path of discarded laundry. Sara was starting to get excited. She wanted an end to this mainly because it was getting in her way of reading. 

Whenever she settled in to read, another neighbor or town official would come around. Each with either new gossip or an idea about the laundry thief. Her theory of it being a werewolf didn’t come out of no wear. People did their best to hide clean clothes every full moon, but they were somehow taken. 

Sara had stayed up every full moon for three months and finally, last month, saw a wolf scampering out of one of the houses with a clean bed sheet in its mouth. She couldn’t follow them that night, but tonight was where it all ended.

Most agreed that werewolves didn’t remember their times as wolves, so it could easily be someone in town. Who it was, was more of the question than anything. At least they could keep laundry away from them on full moons. 

Littered laundry was becoming more frequent now, and Sara recognized things lost months ago. This was a good sign.

 A very good sign.

 Most likely, the wolf returned to the same place every month with the stolen clothes in tow.

The clothes led to a clearing, and in the middle was what could only be described as a mound. On closer inspection, a much smaller mound was next to the big one. Where the large mound looked like discarded clothes that had slowly multiplied on a bedroom floor, this other one looked planned. Every piece of clothing there was expertly laid out and organized. 

Before she could take a closer look, there came a rustling of leaves and footsteps. Not wanting to be discovered just yet, Sara dove into the larger of the piles covering herself the best she could. 

What stumbled from the brush could only be described as an extremely sleepy werewolf. It shuffled towards the small pile of clothing, and after turning around a few times, it flopped down, pulled an oversized shirt over itself, and went to sleep. It had taken most of the night to find this strange clothing horde, and the sun would be rising soon. Sara was determined to find out who this was and get them to stop stealing all the clothes. 

From what she’d deduced, it had taken them to find the best items to make a bed out of. Not that she could blame them for running around all night, as a happy wolf would make one very sleepy and in need of a cozy nap. 

At this point, she just needed to wait for them to change back, and then well, Honestly she hadn’t thought that far. REpremend them? Tell the rest of the village? She wasn’t sure. But for now, she waited. Not wanting to fall asleep and miss the wolf waking up, she did her best to stay awake. If she ever told this tale again, she’d say she stayed awake waiting and watching, but in truth, she fell asleep. Only to wake with a start and quickly check that the wolf was still there. Luckily they still were.

It wasn’t much longer till the sun started to rise, and the wolf slowly transformed back into a human—a man, to be exact. The preacher's son, Jeremy, to be exact. The very person who had insisted that werewolves no lover lived in this area. Oh, Sara was ready to have a very long word within. 

Jermy let out a long yawn, then grabbed a pair of pants nearby and put them on. By the way, he was moving. It didn’t look like he was really awake at all.

Which might explain why he also didn’t know who was taking the laundry, but it wasn’t an excuse. Sara crawled out of her hiding space and skimped over to Jermy. She was as quiet as possible, but in his state, she wasn’t sure if he’d notice her if she’d come out singing and yelling. 

She grabbed his shoulder and sternly said his name. Due to the sudden jolt, he came out of his dreamy trance and after realizing he has shirtless in the middle of the woods being yelled out by Sara, let out a scream. 

Was it horror, fright, or shock? One would never know. 

“Sara, how in all of god’s good name did you get me out here?” He said as soon as the initial shock wore off. 

“I had nothing to do with your current predicament. I just followed your trail,” She told him.

“My trail?”

Sara didn’t say anything but just gestured at the scattered clothes about the clearing.

“Is that the missing laundry?” Jermery asked, not believing it. Sara nodded, wishing he would catch up to the current events sooner. 

“I had nothing to do with that,” He told her.

“Oh really? And you’re not a werewolf either.”

“We can agree to disagree.”

“Really, Jeremy!”

The man was as stubborn as a mule, but Sara was having none of it. After shoving him into a shirt, she dragged him back into town. Luckily the trip back was easier with the rising sun and being able to use an established path.

Sara pulled him into the town square just as the rest of the town started moving about and started their day. Jacob, Jeremy’s father and town percher, swept the church steps as she walked up with his son in tow. 

“Sara! What is the meaning of this?” Jacob asked, spotting the two.

“I’m found our thief,” She told him.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your son has been turning into a werewolf. Hence the full moon, stealing laundry to sleep on in the woods, and then walking back half asleep, not remembering a thing.”

“Is that true?”

“Dad, I have no idea what she’s talking about,” Jermy said, trying to defend himself.

“I thought you had this under control.”

“You know?” Sara demanded.

“Not about the stealing but the werewolf part. He’s been like this since he was a kid. Takes after his mom.”

“I swear I didn’t do it,” Jeremy was insistent on that.

“I can show you where all the laundry is. The same place I found him sleeping,” Sara told Jacob, neither paying attention to Jeremy now. 

“Jermy, I'm sorry, but it looks like we’re just going to have to tie you up on a full moon again.”

Jermy sighed and looked between the two. Neither of them believed his cries of I didn’t do it. And it looked like he was back on a leash for full moons.