The Flinkville Mystery

                                                                     The Flinkville Mystery

           My name is Makayla, I’m 18, I lived in Flinkville my entire life, up to last year, and yes I was sick of it. My house sucked, my high school sucked, the people sucked and the food sucked so yeah I’m glad I left.  Now I find myself happy in New York City with an amazing man named Logan but our journey here wasn’t exactly easy. In order for you to understand everything I must start from the very beginning.

            Flinkville is a small town where everyone knows everyone. The town was surrounded by miles of forest in every direction and only had one road in or out. It was rare for anyone to leave or to come in, except when there was a delivery once a month. It’s not exactly easy to keep secrets in a place where the population barely exceeds 500, so everyone knew each other’s business which was not exactly my cup of tea. Ever since I was a little girl there were rumors about werewolves; they were never proven but people still believed them. People would go missing a lot and everyone always started out thinking they wandered into the woods and couldn’t find their way back then it turned into a crazy story about a werewolf attack. I’m pretty sure the story of little riding hood originated from this town. The missing would come back a week or two later in the same clothes they were in when they left and wouldn’t remember anything about where they were. Amnesia they said….yeah right.

            At this point of my life I was 17, and didn’t give a flying flapjack about anything or anyone except my school work. I didn’t have any friends, but I was a straight A student and was always top in my class. So what if the class was only 20 people, I was still excited every time. However, outside of school I was annoyed with life because people thought I was so stupid. For example, apparently I wasn’t supposed to know I was adopted when I looked nothing like anyone in my family and they treated me like the family pet, yep real subtle. Every day was the same, get up, go to school, do homework while chilling in the woods, go home, sleep and repeat. The woods were forbidden but I would go into them anyway and I even had a pimped out tree house in there. Don’t worry, I never went too far, I’m not that much of an daredevil.

            My school was on the very outskirts of town so it very close the woods and you could almost touch the trees if you reached out the windows.  One day my routine changed and then my entire life changed soon afterward.  It started when I was sitting in class waiting for everyone to finish their class work.  I decided to look out the window and think about stuff. I thought about my wannabe family, the stupid town and how much I couldn’t wait to get out of it.  Then all of a sudden I saw a creature run out of the woods, stop, look around as if it was lost, and run back in. The creature looked a lot like a dog but I know it wasn’t a dog, it was bigger and scarier and last time I checked dogs didn’t have red eyes. I was obviously scared and jumped in my seat so everyone looked at me and started talking their usually crap.

            Because I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened, after school I went to the spot where I saw the creature. I don’t know what I was expecting to find but I looked around like a detective only to find a couple paw prints on the ground. These weren’t ordinary paw prints, they were huge and you can see the holes from the claws in front of them. Being the insane person I am, I decided to be a nosey person and go into the woods in search of answers. These parts of the woods were very unfamiliar for me so I was extremely scared I was going to get lost but I continued walking. Soon I came across a man dressed in a jean jacket, ripped up jeans and tee, muddy boots and was holding an axe. I stood watching him from behind a tree, he was pacing back and forth and occasionally looking into a big hole. After he paced for a good 10 min he walked away and gave the hole a very mean look. Yep I know what you’re thinking, my curiosity got the best of me and I looked in the hole. I slowly got out from behind the tree and crawled over to the hole, peaked my head over it, what I saw gave me the chills and I have never been able to get the sight out of my head. It was a passed out boy with his hands and feet tied together and covered in blood. Not thinking, immediately I jumped into the hole to untie him. I untied him and he still didn’t wake up and I wasn’t about to leave him there. I put dirt into the hole and made a hill so it would be easier to drag him out. It took a while, but I dragged him out and carried him out of the woods. Now it was about 8:30 at night and everyone was sleeping, so I took him to my house. I put him in the bath tub considering he was covered in dirt and blood. I got together some old blankets and set them up on the floor and went back to the bathroom. I cleaned his face with a washcloth and only discovered one cut above his eye so I figured most of the blood wasn’t his. This was the first time I actually took a good look at him. He had light skin and short brown hair. He was wearing a black leather jacket, black shirt, jeans and black work boots. I bandaged his cut and brought him to my room placed him on the blankets and sat down across from him. I tried to stay up and wait for him to wake up but I fell asleep, after all I did just carry a boy over half my size for a good hour.

            The next day a loud noise woke me up, it was the boy trying to run out of my room only to trip over the blankets and fall. I quickly got up, ran and stood in front of the door and said “Calm down! You’re safe!”

He got up, looked extremely confused, backed up and asked “Who the hell are you and how did I get here?”

“I’m Makayla and I took you from that hole and brought you to my house.”

“Why would you do that?

“Well i-“

He cut me off and asked “Wait how the hell did a little girl like you carry me?”

A little annoyed I said “I’m not a little girl!”

“Yeah, sure, what are you, 12? Anyway I need to go so if you don’t mind.” He made a hand gesture for me to move out the way.

“Excuse me? I’m 17 and I saved your ass! The least you can say is thank you!”

He rolled his eyes “I didn’t need your help. You could have gotten yourself killed. As far as I’m concerned you’re an idiot.”

I took a dramatic pause and then went up to his face and with a louder voice said “Oh I’m the idiot but you’re the one who was stupid enough to get put into a hole?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about so why don’t you take your little girl self and move out of my way.”

“Why don’t you just tell me what happened so I can have an idea? You think you’re all tough but I saved you and that’s that so stop being an ass and start talking to me!”

He stared at me, took a deep breath. “You said your name was Makayla?”

“Yep that’s me and your name is….”

“Logan.”

“Well okay nice to meet you Logan” I said sarcastically “how did you get into that hole?”

He smiled “Someone put me there.”

I rolled my eyes and said “seriously!”

He sat down on the blankets, took another deep breath. “Let’s just say some people misunderstand me and things got out of hand”

I sat down too and said “You think?”

He chuckled “yeah.” He looked into my eyes for a couple seconds and my heart skipped a beat.

I looked away from him and asked him “why don’t you get cleaned up?”

He stood up “I don’t wanna take any more of your time, i'll just get out of your hair.”

I pulled him down and looked him straight in the eyes and said “Forget what I just said. You’re going to go take a shower and I’m going to put your clothes in the washer and there is no if ands or buts about it so follow me” I began to walk out of the room, noticed he wasn’t following me so I asked him “Are you coming? He smiled, got up and followed me.  My mom was at work, I never had a dad and my older brother was at his girl friend’s house so there was no reason to be quiet. So we got to the bathroom, pointed to it and I told him “Undress and throw your clothes out here, there’s a towel in the closet in there, try to take long so your clothes will be done when you get out.”

“Alright thanks.” he said with a slight smile and walked into the bathroom. I stood outside the door waiting for him to throw out his clothes, he did so and I took them to the washer along with the blankets he slept on.  When the clothes finished I neatly folded them and brought them to Logan who had just turned off the water.

I screamed to him “Your clothes are done! I’ll leave them outside the door for you. Come to my room when you’re done!”

“Okay!” he screamed

“You could say thank you” I thought to myself and walked away.  I sat on my bed and waited a good 10 minutes waiting for Logan to come to my room.

He walked in holding his leather jacket and said “hey” I just stared at him. He cleaned up well, and boy was he muscular!

“H-hey… how was the shower?” I said stuttering a bit.

“It was good.” he walked over and sat next to me “Thank you.”

I smiled “Your welcome” paused for a second “So where do you live? I know you can’t live here because I would have seen you before.”

“Let’s just say I live close.”

“Ugh! Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Avoid answering the question.”

“You wouldn’t like the answers.”

“Well I still wanna know them. Come on please” I said while giving him the puppy face.

He chuckled “I wish I could.”

 He looked away “I really should get going.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean am I going to find you in a hole again?”

He rolled his eyes and said “no, I’ll be fine” he stood up and made his way to his door.  He reached for the door knob but stopped, looked back and said “Thank you for saving me, I probably would have been killed if it wasn’t for you.”

I smiled and said “My pleasure”

He opened the door and while walking away he said “But you should really learn to mind your own business”. Did he really have to ruin the moment, he couldn’t just say thank you and that’s it? Talk about putting up walls, geez. I spent that entire day thinking about Logan. How adorable he was, how mysterious he was, and how much I was worried he was going to get into trouble. I wondered where he lived, where he went after he left my house and if I would ever see him again. Two weeks went by and I still thought about him all the time so I decided I would look for him. I figured a good place to start would where I found him so Friday after school I entered the woods from the same spot. I must have walked around for hours, I was extremely tired, it was getting dark and yes I was lost.

            I began to scream “Help! Is anyone out here? Hel-“ someone covered my mouth from behind. I turn around quickly only to find out it was Logan.

“What are you doing out here?”

“Looking for you.”

“I left for a reason Makayla, you’re going to get hurt being around me.” he looked around then back at me “Go home.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

“Why are you being so stubborn?!”

“Why can’t you just tell me why you’re always out here?”

“I can’t!” he grabbed my arm “Come on I’m bringing you home!”

“No! I’m not going home all I do at home is think about you!”

I pulled away, rolled my eyes and said “I’m sorry, I just realized how crazy and stupid I sound. I’m just uhm gunna go…home…” I started to walk in the opposite direction.

 I walked for a few seconds but then I heard Logan say “I think about you too” I stop walking, didn’t turn around or say a word. He continued “I don’t know what’s wrong with me I think about you all the time. I just wanna be around you.”  He began walking slowly toward me. “I walked to you house the other day but decided not to go in because I know we are not a good idea. You would only get hurt and I don’t want to see you get hurt but I still want you. Then you come here and put yourself in danger and for what? Me? Do you have any idea how I would feel if something would happen to you? We can’t do this Makayla” he backed up a lot and said “Just go home”

I turned around “Go home to what? There’s nothing there for me! I don’t want home I want you! You stupid freaking idiot!”   I walk over to him “I don’t care if I get hurt, I just wanna be with you.”

His eyes started to water “you say that now but when you find out the truth you’re going to go home as quick as possible.”

All of a sudden there was a group of men holding axes and knives screaming “There he is! Get him!”

Logan looked at me with fear in his eyes “Run!”

“What about you? You must be insane if you think –“I was cut off by the most passionate kiss in the history of all mankind.

He pulled away and said “I’m sorry.” He then pushed me on the ground and right before my eyes he screamed and transformed into the creature I saw. He growled and jumped over me and fought off the army of men. Then I heard howling from every direction and all of a sudden more creatures came out and helped Logan in the fight. One creature came up to me, stared at me and then bowed down as if it was telling me to get on its back. I looked at Logan and back at the creature and went on its back. It ran off very fast. It ran until it got to a big tree. It bowed down once again so I got off. It walked over to the tree and pulled a bush away from the tree revealing a hole. The creature looked at me and then the hole.

 I looked at it and said “Oh hell no! You must me loony if you think I’m going to go in there!” then the creature let out loud growl. “Okay okay I’m going” I walked over to the hole and jumped in and landed in a pile of leaves. The creature must have covered the hole up because the light from it was gone but there was still light from somewhere else coming in. I took a look around, it was a house. Right now I was in the living room, there were couches, television, and a table. I walked to the kitchen, it was normal, a stove, microwave and fridge. How they have electricity underground still escapes me. I waited on the couch for anyone or thing to come in. as I sat there you can only imagine the things going through my mind. It kind went like this, “What the flapjacks is going on?!” over and over again. After waiting for a while, the hole opened back up and a line of the creatures walked by me. They all let out growls and transformed into humans. I look through the crowd for Logan but don’t see him. “Where’s Logan?”

A teenage boy laughed and said “Getting yelled at.”

“Ken this is not funny” a women said as she walked toward me. “Hello honey I’m Penny, Logan’s older sister. Come with me and I’ll explain everything.” she walked to the kitchen and sat at the dining table. “Logan tells me you saved his life?”

“Yeah about two weeks ago.”

“Well I thank you for that. So let’s see where should I begin?”

“Possibly with what you guys are?”

She chuckled “Werewolves silly.”

“So they are real!”

“Yes very” she smiles “But we aren’t quite like the story’s make us out to be. We don’t change only on a full moon and we don’t kill for the hell of it. We change on command and when we get overly angry. All those stories about werewolves attacks are simply people being ignorant. They have no idea that the men you saw before are the ones taking them, using them for experiments then erasing their memory.”

“What kind of experiments?”

“Stupid ones that involve our blood. Anyway, a long time ago your town mayor made a pact with us that stated as long as we stayed in the woods and didn’t harm anyone then we would not be hunted. Then about two years ago they decided to break the pact, attack us and kill me and Logan’s parents in the midst. We scared them off but, every since, they have tried to kill us one by one. Hence why you found Logan in a hole and why we were just attacked."

“Why don’t you guys move somewhere else? You blend in just fine so you can go anywhere.”

“Believe me we have tried it multiple times but we always end up running into the hunters.”

“Makayla! Where are you!?” Logan yelled from the other room

“Logan!” I screamed and ran to him.

                 “You stayed.” he said confused.

“Yeah duh, I wasn’t about to leave without knowing you were okay.”

“So you not freaked out?”

“Nope.”

He smiled and kissed my forehead “You’re amazing,” we spent the night talking about ways to get him and the other werewolves out of the woods and somewhere safe. We came up with the plan for me to distract the town by making a scene.

 After my graduation day I ripped up my gown and started screaming all over town “The werewolves attacked me!” and I directed them to the furthest part of the woods from the road out of town. Every one made it out okay and started walking to their new lives.

Logan waited for me at the road. I went to go meet him while everyone was on the werewolf hunt. There he was in standing there in his leather jacket looking amazing. I walked up to him ask asked “Are you ready?”

He put his hand on my face, kissed me and said “Now I am” he then backed up and changed into a werewolf. I went on his back and we he ran off into the night.

With Hope: A Fan Fiction of Something To Hitch Meat To

With Hope: An Alternative Fiction Story

Artho’s skin began to prickle. Not with fear, not with fever. With hope. He rushed outside the building, put his palm against its dull brick exterior. Clicked. The walls flushed red, then purple. Fluted columns started to sprout beside the doors, which were quickly changing from sliding glass and steel to intricately joined oak. With big knockers.  Artho giggled. Pretty damned tarty. He wondered if that had been the builder’s original dream for the building. He double-clicked. The building reversed to its usual form.

“You’re getting it.”

When he turned towards the voice, Artho wasn’t at all surprised to see the little girl. She was crouched down beside the steps, jam-jar glasses winking at him. Her hair knotted and unknotted itself.

“Can I change everything?” Artho asked.

“Course not, silly! Changing things isn’t your job. You’re not changing things; that’ll happen anyway. You’re helping them peel off the fake skins” (Hopkinson 849).

Artho’s skin began to prickle. This was a moment that he never thought he would get to meet. This girl must have been sent to him from the heavens. He thought about all the years he carried around this bitterness and animosity, how weighed down he felt.

“I don’t want it anymore” Artho cried.

“So let it go”.

                The sky grew into this thick layer of black. The ground shook and debris filled the air as the winds picked up and buildings swayed. Artho stood in disbelief as his skin began to bubble and peel. The hate was literally freeing itself from his physical body. All his heart ache and all his worries in the world were melting away. The skin made piles and piles and piles. First just one but then two, and three, and four and they continued. Tripled and quadrupled, all the way down the boulevard. As far as the eye could see.  These piles of crisp black pieces of skin formed around Artho’s feet until they picked him up. Swirling and tossing him around playfully in the air. The skies parted and the sun shined from behind him and he looked down at the girl. She smiled. It’s almost like these piles were trying to tell him something.

                “Go” the girl whispered to Artho.  

                So he ran. No, more like floated across these piles of skin. He laughed and danced through them, and after his foot left each one, they vanished from behind him. All his flaws and imperfections disappearing into thin air, never to be seen again. The start of something new.

Artho touched everything in sight, changing every dull and bland piece into bright and vibrant colors. He wanted the world to appear like how he felt. This indiscriminate little child had given him this breath of life and inspiration that he had been waiting on for years. How beautiful. He never wanted to come down from this. And so he fell off his high horse in the clouds and hit the ground running. And he ran and ran with such joy and liberty. He had to tell the world about his change. But in the midst of his excitement he stopped at a beautiful realization. She had helped him peel off his fake skins. This meant more than just being able to change physical characteristics of things. This meant that he could show the real him. Artho could be himself, the self he always wanted the people around him to see but couldn’t dare let free.  What this girl had done for him was more than give him superpowers. She had given him a second chance.             

Artho actually took pride in his appearance when he got dressed this morning. Waking up didn’t seem as “routine” as it did yesterday. No more going through the motions. The bus ride to work didn’t seem so agonizing and long, but instead he took an extra look at the flowers, looked out the window today and admired the sunshine for what it was.  It was time to start appreciating the small things.

Although his purpose for attending work today was not the same as it was yesterday, he still recited the same performance as he did every morning. Artho sat in computer chair, and opened up the files as though the editing process would begin. But instead, he deleted it. He opened up the next file, and deleted that one too. Every document deleted. Every program ever downloaded was deleted. Every porn video, every editing software gone. He had done what he came here intending on doing. There was no telling where Charlie was or how soon he would be coming back, but Artho wanted to be nowhere in sight when he came back around.

 He grabbed all the things out his desk, his coat and out the door Artho went. This would be the last time he would ever be seen in this building ever again. No goodbyes to his former co-workers, no one last glance to his desk. None of that. This job and what it stood for was behind him. What he did for a living was completely against everything he stood for now. He didn’t want to be responsible for hiding people behind fake edits anymore and even though the idea around it all was so ugly, it was what transpired such a wonderful new outlook for him. The world should know what it feels like to be free and from now on he promised himself no more walking around with his head down. Everything he would do from this point forward would be WITH HOPE. His mission was complete. He could sleep easy at night now knowing that the software that hid people’s true selves behind artificial revisions was lost in the cyber realm forever. With his things in his hands, Artho put his hat on and walked down the block. To moms for Easter it was.

Something to Drape Skin Over

Something to Drape Skin Over

Amanda Catalano

            The only things on Raven’s mind as she left the studio were a shower and the nonstop itching on her ankle where her high-top sneakers rubbed her skin raw. It wouldn’t scar. She never gave the skin a break or time to heal, always wearing high-tops.

            The shower was a bit more pressing. As soon as she got home, to her tiny apartment, she made a beeline for the bathroom. She never touched her kids after work without first blasting her skin with near-boiling hot water and practically scrubbing off the whole top layer. She always came out red and steaming, and after throwing on shorts and a t-shirt, crept silently into James and Anna’s room and pulled them into her, breathing in the pure scent of their baby skin. She kept dozens of pictures of them in her purse and showed them off to anyone who cared to see every chance she got. She needed the people at work to know that she was more than what they made her do.

            Her kids would never smell the way her skin did.  

            As she was holding them, her husband, Rob, would come in and wrap his arms around the three of them, kiss her on the forehead, and call her Julie. Her body buzzed with the sound of her real name.

            But something about tonight was off. On her way to the shower, she noticed Rob hadn’t left the bathroom light on for her the way he did every other night. Instead, a light shone from the kitchen down the hall. Curiosity overpowered her need to be clean. Her heavy sneakers were impossible to silence as she made her way down the hall, passing by her wedding pictures hanging on the wall, and the framed baby photos that were too big to fit in her purse. From the corner of her eyes, she and her family looked like nothing more than blobs of skin.

            Rob sat at the kitchen table facing her, but didn’t look up as she entered. He was usually in bed when she got home, not waking until the sound of the shower echoed through their bedroom wall. Julie’s ankle tingled, begging her to scratch, but she ignored it. She stayed standing in the doorway, refusing to touch anything when she could still feel the saliva and sweat and fluids of other people on her skin.

            “What are you doing up?” she asked, her voice soft with concern, a complete contrast from her demanding tones in front of the camera.

            Rob still didn’t look at her. Her heart beat heavy in her chest. She needed his loving gaze. His disregard of her presence ate at her.

            “Rob?” she said when he remained silent. She took a step closer, noticing the way the overhead light reflected off Rob’s thinning head the same way it did from the oiled pecs of the guys she worked with. The skin on her husband’s face sagged under his eyes and his beard cut through his skin like needles. She could see every pore in his cheeks and nose. Something was really wrong. She had never seen him like this before.

            “Who’d you work with tonight?”

            The question came out of nowhere, and his voice was so quiet, she had to take a moment to make sure she’d heard him right. He never asked her that. He never wanted to know. She didn’t know what to say other than, “What? Why?”

            Rob shrugged his shoulders, the material of his shirt stretching over them, held down by his arms held tight to his body. “Just curious, I guess.”

            It took her moment to find her voice before saying, “Tania again.”

            “Just Tania?”

            “And John.”

            He pulled his lips into his mouth and nodded. “Were you and Tania supposed to be sisters again? Did John come in as a long lost brother or something?”

            “What? Robert, what is wrong with you? How do you know anything about Tania and me? We never talk about work!”

            When they first started dating, Rob agreed to never watch her videos, and she agreed to never talk about work. Not that she would want to anyway. As soon as she left the studio, she did everything she could to forget about what she did there. She focused on the burn of the shower on her skin and the feeling of her ankle being rubbed by her shoes. Washing away Raven and grounding herself in Julie.

            “Someone said your name at work today,” Rob said, still not looking at her.

            “So what? It’s not like they don’t know you’re married.”

            “No. They said your other name. Raven. And they told me all about what you do at work. The assholes I work with have seen you do things with other people that you haven’t even done with me. Congratulations, I hope you’re happy.”

            He got up from the table and disappeared into their bedroom before she could think of anything to say. In her shower that night, it felt like her skin would melt right off her bones. She was almost disappointed when it didn’t.

            Julie took the bus to school every morning. Sitting in a classroom was supposed to be her salvation. What would soon get her out of that studio. But today, she was hyperaware of every glance sent her way. She couldn’t help but think that they saw her with her face between Tania’s legs. Something about the way her skin crawled every time she made eye contact with someone, the way she could make out every cell on the hand of the girl sitting next to her, tightened up her chest and made it hard to breathe. She needed fresh air.

            She couldn’t ignore the stares as she got up in the middle of class and walked out. The tingling on her ankle was hardly noticeable.

            Taking deep breaths of the cool Toronto air did nothing to calm her nerves. Her heart pounded and her skin prickled. She wanted to rip it all off steal someone else’s.

            “You look very familiar.”

            The voice made her jump. Standing next to her was a man with dark skin. Not dark like night. More like the coffee she drank every morning that always ended up being more milk than coffee. He carried a bag full of avocados, his forearm tattooed with a strange symbol she thought she might have seen before. Probably tattooed on some other guy. People always ended up getting the same things permanently etched into their skin without even thinking about it.

            The idea of needles in her skin made her shiver.

            “I don’t want to hear it,” Julie said. She made a move to step away from the man, but in an instant, he was on one knee, pulling aside the top of her shoe to take a look at her ankle. She screeched and kicked at his hand. “The fuck’s wrong with you? Don’t touch me!”

            “Just had to make sure,” he said calmly, standing up again. “I’ve photoshopped that thing off your ankle plenty of times. And that scar on your stomach from your c-section. And the birthmark off your left ass cheek.”

            “Who are you?” she gasped, horrified at the thought of him doing anything to her bare skin, knowing her body so intimately.

            “The name’s Artho. I work in web design. Tri-Ex Media.” He grinned at her as if it were nothing and held a hand out for her to shake.

            Julie looked from his hand to his face and couldn’t shake the dirty feeling crawling on top of her skin. Even in the cooler fall weather, she could see something oozing from the man’s pores.

            “Sorry,” she said after a moment. “It would feel weird shaking your hand, considering…”

            Artho held his hands up in surrender. “Understandable. I actually wanted to talk to you about something though.”

For a split second, Julie swore she saw a little girl with pigtails and thick glasses peak out from behind the man, but in the blink of an eye, she was gone. I’m losing it, she thought, putting a hand to her head.

“You don’t belong in those videos,” Artho continued. “You’re not like the others. You’re too real. I’m tired of making you not real.”

“What are you talking about? We’re all the same. We’re all trying to get out of it, but that’s easier said than done, ya know? What are the chances of me getting another job, even with a degree? People aren’t gonna want a known pornstar in their company.”

“What if I told you there was a way? Not just to get out of it, but to completely erase it from your history?”

“I’d call you crazy and get the hell away from you.”

“Well, there’s a way.”

“You’re crazy,” Julie said, and with that, she turned to walk away.

Artho reached out and grabbed her hand, squeezing to the point where Julie heard an audible click. She yelped, thinking something in her hand had broken, but she felt no pain. Her entire body buzzed, and the man was gone. She held her hand to her chest, but something on her palm caught her eye. The symbol from the man’s tattoo was emblazoned into her skin, slowly fading, sinking into her hand.

Alarmed, Julie pulled out her phone to call Rob. A thought in the back of her mind stopped her. Her body buzzed again in response to it. Pulling up the internet on her phone, she typed in the address to the site all of her videos featured on. She searched her fake name. Where previously dozens of results had been displayed, no results were found.

With shaking hands, she dialed Tania’s phone number. The girl on the other end had no idea who she was. Her body still buzzing, she took the bus home, and her husband embraced her as if nothing had ever happened.

The Touch Of A Wolf

David Mernan

Fan Fiction

The Touch Of A Wolf 

       Snowlight, moonlight, a confusion of paw-prints. All silent, all still. Midnight; and the clock strikes. It is Christmas day, the were-wolves' birthday, the door of solstice stands wide open; let them sink through. See! sweet and sound she sleeps in granns bed, between the paws of the tender wolf.

She awakes

       “Hey Little Red Riding Hood why don’t you come with me, that was great and everything but I would like to take you to my neck of the wolves.  Im sorry I meant woods.”

“ I don’t know if that’s a good idea Mr. I’m supposed to wait for my Grandmother here, because I have some things to give her”

“We can come back for those in a few minutes I just live up the hill”

“My father told me never go up the hill because  only bad happens up there and plus there are wolves up there”

“It will be fine Red Riding Hood I will protect you from any danger”

Hugging Little Red Riding Hood and comforting her that everything is going to be alright, she still seems skeptical.  The touch of Little Red Riding Hood is amazing to the wolf. He knows he has to convince her to come up the hill with him to satisfy himself.  She finally gives in only making him promise that they will be back shortly for when her Grandmother returns. 

            Borrowing clothes from her Grandmother, Little Red Riding Hood, and the wolf begin to make their way up the mountain.  The smell of Little Red Riding Hood is more than the wolf can handle.  He wants to break down and eat her right here but knowing her father could come looking and find the remains would not be good.  He would come hunting for one of them and no wolf wants that.

            While walking to where the Wolf supposedly lives they are talking about everything from family to schooling to what they do for fun. The Wolf has never had someone talk to him like this but he also never really gives anyone time before he consumes his victims.  The Wolf was very interested in what she had to say and was also very open to telling Little Red Riding Hood about his life before being a Wolf.  She did not know this but the conversation really had the Wolf reminiscing on his days before his wolf state of being.  The innocence of Little Red Riding Hood really had him going with what was going to happen.  It made him return to his past thinking of what was going to happen.  Remembering his victims gave him a thrill every time.

            Arriving at the wolfs' so-called home was interesting. Little Red Riding Hood was scared but anxious to how her visit here was going to turn out.  Going inside the wolfs' home had such a dark feeling.  Little Red Riding Hood didn’t realize this was the place where many of the wolf’s other victims lives had come to an end.

“Can I get you some tea or anything Little Red Riding Hood”

“No that’s ok I’m alright.  What's that you are doing over there”

In the Kitchen the wolf was putting some things together in an oversized pot. Little Red Riding Hood thought it was suspicious but didn’t think anything of it.

“Just putting together somethings for supper later”

“ Ohh ok that’s alright”

            Remembering what had happened at Grandma’s house the Wolf walked over towards little Red Riding Hood with a seductive smile.  Her pale skin was a turn on to him.  Kissing her neck little Red Riding Hood was skeptical about what was happening. The touch of the wolfs' strong arms and body had done something to her. Little Red Riding Hood found herself being seduced but couldn’t do anything about it.

            Awakening clothes-less for the second time today Little Red Riding Hood was wondering where she was. What just happened to her? Whatever it was she thought it was time to get back to Grandma.  Out gathering some things for his “supper” the Wolf was nowhere to be found right now.  Her clothes were scattered all over so she started dressing getting ready to return to Grandma’s house.  While roaming around the wolfs house she started looking through some of his things.  They were some interesting things that were a little out of the ordinary but Little Red Riding Hood being so young and innocent once again didn’t think anything of it.  She came to a locked chest but the lock was undone.  Obviously something the wolf didn’t want her to see but Little Red Riding Hood could not help herself.  She opened it up and inside were necklaces and clothing items of many other women.  She started going through all of them thinking that something wasn’t right with this.  Finding blood on a clothing item she began to freak out.  What could she have done.  Is the man she is with right now a murderer? “ I need to get out of here right away” she says to herself.  She grabs and handful of necklaces to show the village people what she has discover and continues to rush to the door.

            In a rush Little Red Riding Hood knocks over her chair spilling the tea and other items the wolf was using for his supper.  She opens the door only to find the Wolf making his way down the hill with some ingredients he had gathered.  She panics, shuts the door so the wolf does not see her.  She knows that if she stays she will be the main ingredient in the wolfs' supper.  She rushes to the back window opening it and jumping out.  She hits the hard ground rolling a few times before she comes to a stop.  Getting up she begins to run knowing that the wolf could easily catch her if she waits.  She runs in the direction of her grandmother’s house hoping she can get there before the wolf tracks her down.

              The Wolf returns to his house only to find everything spilled on the floor and Little Red Riding Hood nowhere to be found.  Looking through everything in anger he finds the chest open with the contents unorganized and all over the place. Realizing that she had found them he jumps to his feet. Letting out a howl he runs to the door.  Using his powerful sense of smell takes in a big breath of air sensing that Little Red Riding Hood was not far.  There was something about Little Red Riding Hood that made him want her more than his other victims. 

            Arriving at her Grandmother’s house, she hears the sound of the howl in the distance. Little Red Riding Hood rushes inside slamming the door behind her.  Frantically looking for her Grandmother, she still cannot find her.   Looking in every room and every closet she still cannot find her.  Finally opening the bedroom closet she finds her Grandmother unconscious with a lot of blood covering her body.  She knows the wolf must have been there before.  Sprinting out the door, knowing the wolf must not be far behind.  She runs towards her father’s house crying hysterically at what she had just witnessed. The Wolf not far behind picks up her scent following her every step. 

            Little Red Riding Hoods father comes rushing out of the house hearing the sound of his daughter crying.  She jumps into his arms till crying hysterically.  Her father still trying to figure out what is going on holds her and comforts her.  He can’t make out what she is saying but the few words he does are “wolf” and “grandmothers dead”. Realizing something is really wrong he rushes inside and grabs the shotgun by the door.  He comes back out to bring Little Red Riding Hood inside the house.  Little Red Riding Hood suddenly gets a strange feeling like something was brushing the back of her neck.  Looking back she sees the Wolf staring her down from a distance.  She hears a whispering voice “Until we meet again Little Red Riding Hood” as she makes eye contact with the wolfs big dark scary eyes.