This week’s prompts from #1lineWed and #ThursdayThreads sent me to the back burner where I pulled out my files on the Cajun Wolves. Beau and Luc are deputies in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, which encompases part of New Orleans and towns sowth of the river. Beau is the easy-going one with the boyrish charm and an annoying penchant for guady NOLA-style Hawaiian shirts. You know, like gators or Tabasco Sauce bottles instead of flowers. Anyway, his heroine is, as yet, unnamed. I do know that she’s the principal/headmistress of a high school for gifted students. She’s buttoned-up, practical, and no-nonsense, ie. the perfect foil for Beau. Anyway, our prompts this week are: **AS IT: Happens. Came to be. Were. and “I would tell you if I could.” The original snippet was 249 words (and I “won,” as picked by the guest judge!) and starts with “I’ve never understood why people enjoy getting scared silly.” Everything before that and some in the middle were added during edits for a total of 468 still-first-draft words. Hope you enjoy.
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“The school is not haunted.”

Beau watched lights in an upstairs hallway flicker on and off. “If you say so, cher.”

“I say so. The building is old, even for New Orleans. That means the wiring is too. I’ve been petitioning the board to allocate the money for upgrades.”

A lower floor window illuminated for a moment. The light looked like a candle or small lantern passing across the space. “That didn’t look electrical to me.”

She snorted. “Please don’t tell me you are the superstitious type.”

“Okay.” Since she demanded he not admit it, he decided to keep it to himself.

“I’ve never understood why people enjoy getting scared silly.”

Beau looked at her as if she’d sprouted a second head. His gaze was so intense she fought the urge to reach up to check.

“Ah, cher. What’cha don’t know can hurt chu.”

“I don’t believe so. Knowledge is power. It’s things we don’t know that can frighten us. That sound outside your window? If you don’t get up and look and confirm it’s just a tree brushing the side of her house, you’ll lay there in bed and conjure up all sorts of ridiculous scenarios.” She turned her head to look up at him. “Seriously, think about it. Monsters aren’t real.” At his narrow-eyed expression she hastened to explain. “Horror novel and movie monsters don’t exist. Human monsters? Well, yes. It seems like there’s one on every corner. My point is, why do people think it’s fun to get scared by stuff like haunted houses.”

“We live in N’Awlins, cher. How can y’not believe?” He was skeptical that she didn’t—at least just a little. At the same time, her mention of lying in bed distracted him by sending all the blood in his brain rushing south.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes because that was something only teen girls like her students did and she was long past that stage in her life, she said, “Believe in ghosts and things that go bump in the night? Of course I don’t. They aren’t real.” She emphasized each word in her last statement.

He studied her a long moment. “So you truly don’t believe in monsters?”

“Not the kind you mean. All figments of the imagination.”

“I wish that was true. As it happens, things that go bump in the night often have teeth and claws.” He would know, being one of the fanged and furry.

She sputtered out a laugh. “Like rougarou? No such thing. Men don’t turn into wolves.” She realized he was serious. “Wait. You don’t really believe in that stuff. Do you?”

He turned and walked toward the school’s front entrance. “I would tell you if I could,” he muttered. “But you aren’t ready.”

Sadly, he wasn’t sure she would ever be. What the hell was a moonstruck Wolf to do?
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This one’s for you, Dawn. 😉 Writers, feel free to jump in if you feel inspired. New words are new words, right? Readers and writers, do you like to be scared? It’s the spooky time of year. Any plans to visit a haunted house–real or fake?