FATHER WASN'T HOME. I OPENED the front door, expecting him to be at his usual couch in the living room but he was not there. I peeked through the creak in his bedroom door—somewhere he never allows me to be—but his desk was empty.
"Father?" I called, searching around the house but then saw that the back door was left open.
Staring out at the forest ahead of the plain I knew he had to have gone there. I held the pistol's handle as I walked into the woods. Father would usually be at my side when it came to knowing where to go, however I followed the tracks he left. The large boot imprint was definitely from him.
"That's it fella, just keep on eating."
I heard whispering and crouched down behind some branches. My brows furrowed when my eyes met the dark brown fur of a wolf as it was focused on consuming the flesh of a dead deer—my father was slowly creeping up on its back.
"He's not a big one. I can take him." I whispered and he glanced over his shoulder, his arched brows creating prominent wrinkles under his eyes.
"Lydia?" He whisper-shouted, "You are not supposed to be out here."
"Let me help."
"No, I need this one." He said. "Return to the house immediately, girl."
However I stayed. I noticed that I have only rarely seen wolves in daylight before. Father and I usually hunted by night, but seeing the equipment in his bag on the grass, out from the knives and scissors, what caught my eyes were strange bottles of compounds.
There was also one in his hand.
He did not come to hunt.
I watched as he crouched and continued to creep on the hungry wolf.
However, his shoes stepped on a branch which cracked, alarming the creature who then stopped feeding, turned, and snarled at him. Its canines dripped with blood when it snapped its mouth open.
Father positioned his finger around the trigger of the tranquilizer but he didn't shoot. I furrowed my eyebrows at this, 'what is he doing?'
"Stay back, you little fucker." He pointed the gun and the wolf stepped back a bit but got ready to attack once again. However, father used his teeth to pull the cover off the bottle and splashed whatever mixture that was inside on the creature, "Let's see how much you like that!"
The wolf clawed at its eye and the air smelled of burning flesh. I winced from the horrid scent, covering my nose with my sleeve, "What the hell is that?" I whispered to myself watching as the wolf's body burned and slowly shrunk.
"Holy fuck! It works!" He burst out in laughter, boasting when the wolf retaliated with whimpers. Still, its dark pupils glared menacingly, low growls reverberating from its chest, and my eyes widened knowing exactly what it was planning.
"Shoot it!" I shouted, suddenly, "What are you doing?!"
Father turned to me, "Lydia?! I thought I instructed you to leave!" With his eyes off the wolf, he then turned toward it again only for it to lunge at him.
"Look out!" I shouted when it lunged. The gun flew out of his hand and landed to his far right. Defenseless the wolf snapped at his face but he held its mouth back. Drool dripped from its canines and onto his face and as it's about to snap at his neck I cursed under my breath and ran out from the branches.
I rolled along the floor and pulled out the knife from my boots, "Hey!" I called but the wolf stayed focused on my father.
"Fuck." I removed the gun from my waistband but as Dad continued to move, struggling against the wolf, there was no clear shot.
I pulled back the hammer and pulled the trigger at the ground behind its feet, finally getting its attention. It lunged toward me with a snarl but I pulled the trigger causing it to stumble back, however it wasn't done fighting yet. It caught me by surprise and ripped the gun away from me with its teeth.
With its front legs, it kicked me over and snapped at my throat.
"May your soul rest." I flipped the knife and pushed it into its stomach, holding it there as it took its last snaps until its body finally slowed down and sprawled over me.
I stayed there breathing heavily but then I noticed that its body was becoming lighter and lighter, the wolf's face morphed into skin and its fur slowly evaporated until the transformation was complete, and instead of paws on top of me, there were now fingers.
I gasped and pushed it off of me, standing up and staring in horror at the thing...no, not thing but a person laying naked on the ground.
With pale skin, brown hair, and brown eyes flickering up at me I suddenly felt sick.
I remembered dad's words, wolves are not a part of our nature, they're threats he would say and don't deserve such pity, but as I looked down at the young boy who looked around the age of seventeen I couldn't help but see a person...one of us. Not an 'it' but a 'him'.