The Prison

by Stefano Pastor

  Terry was playing with her doll in the living room. Dad had not returned yet and Mom was preparing dinner. We had to speak quietly, because mom came often to control us.

  To tell the truth she came to check Terry. Since they knew about Foulwolfe, they kept an eye on her. No more sneaking out at night! But she found a way to meet him anyway, however, as now she was bringing him at home.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about”, Terry said without looking at me.

  “It was in your room last night. I heard you.”

  “There was no one.”

  Was I wrong? Was Terry talking in her sleep? I didn’t want to get fooled by her.

  “Who is it? You can tell me.”

  I wasn’t the brother she wanted, but Terry was inclined to forgive easily.

  “You don’t have to tell Mom. Not even dad.”

  “I will not tell them”, I promised. And I was not lying at all, I was just driven by curiosity and nothing else.

  “He’s sick. He’s very sad.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know why. He says a lot of strange things, I don’t always understand. It’s too difficult for me.”

  “But is he your friend? Is he really a wolf?”

  She remained silent for a few seconds, thoughtful. “I don’t know what it is”, she admitted. Then she added: “If you help me get out, I’ll let you meet him.”

  I didn’t like the idea that much. I didn’t really want to know anyone named Foulwolfe, whoever he was. But not knowing and making only guesses was even worse.

  “We can try”, I said.

  She stopped me with a nod. “Not now. At this time, Foulwolfe can’t go out yet. We have to wait for the darkness.”

  I swallowed.

  “Mom, Terry comes with me in my room!” I screamed from the stairs. “I keep an eye on her!”

  “Don’t you want to come and watch television with us?”

  “They gave me a new video game, we want to try it.”

  I heard her snorting. “All right, but don’t be late. At ten in bed!”

  Terry was ready. She had also worn her red raincoat, and I found it unfortunate.

  Getting out was a joke.

  Outside it was dark, but the street was dotted with lampposts that enlighten the street. “Where do we go now?”

  Terry regretted already the idea of making certain confidences, but she was forced to ask for my help and now she couldn’t pull it back.

  “Ahead, there is an abandoned shed. We’ll meet there.”

  I knew what she was talking about, I had seen it sometimes, passing by. Once it was used to collect wood, but for many years it has been in abandon. It was tiny, a cube of a couple of meters, with a metal sheet roof.

  Terry took my hand, but walked slowly, almost in no hurry to get there.

  “I didn’t tell you everything.”

  She kept her head low, a classic attitude of guilty.

  “He doesn’t like you.”

  I stopped. “What does it mean?”

  “I’m not sure he wants to see you. He told me he didn’t like you. I don’t think he likes anyone.”

  Then I frowned. “I told him not to hurt you. In the end, you’re my brother. If he hurts you I won’t talk to him anymore.”

  Here, the desire to move forward was suddenly gone. I stopped completely.

  “It’s better if I go by myself, you know? I’ll talk to him and see what he says.”

  I struggled to answer. Was she teasing me? Was she bugging everyone? No, she wasn’t that kind of girl, she didn’t have enough imagination.

  “Aren’t you afraid?”

  She laughed. “Of Foulwolfe? He is my friend!”

  She let my hand go and ran. “You wait here.”

  But my legs moved on their own and walked right behind her. I saw her reaching the shed, opening the porch and slip in.

  I imagined terrifying things as I approached. After about ten meters I froze completely. The hut was lower than the road, and the street lamps were too far to illuminate it.

  Then I stepped back, even though my sister was inside. I went back step by step, and in the end, I started running.

  I found shelter behind a mound, at the edge of a cultivated field. There were at least twenty meters between me and the hut, and the visibility was poor. I was very ashamed, but I was too scared. I repeated to myself that it was a joke, that she was just kidding me.

  Five minutes passed by, then ten. Eventually the door opened and Terry came out. She was safe, recognizable with her red raincoat.

  She called me. “Where are you? Let me see you!” She was looking everywhere, but I kept hiding. “He said it’s okay! You can come! Don’t be afraid!”

  But I was afraid, very much so, though I knew she would never forgive me. She would have condemned me for the rest of my life to be a coward.

  I almost decided to go ahead and find an excuse for my escape as an urgent physiologic need when Foulwolfe came out of the hut and stood beside her.

  I dropped my jaw. It was actually a dog, as Dad had expected. And he wasn’t so big either. Yes, he looked like a wolf, he was likely to be a German Shepherd or something, but it was too dark to see him properly. He did not seem threatening at all, though it was disturbing to see him next to that Little Red Riding Hood wannabe.

  “He’s gone!” Terry shouted. “That coward’s gone! I left him here! I told him…”

  Her voice faded as she bent to talk to the dog.

  Then I did it. I went on the run. I remained low, just to make sure that I wasn’t seen, and I slipped into cultivated fields until I got home. I forgot to have a sister, to have left her out in the dark. I just ran away.

  “She has a dog”, I said to Dad, still out of breath for the run. “She keeps it out, in the old wood hut.”

  They were astonished. Mom turned off the TV. “Did you go out?” she asked incredulously.

  I knew I was in trouble, that I would remain in punishment for the rest of my life, that Terry would hate me until death, yet I did not feel like Judas.

  There was something unhealthy in Terry’s attachment to that animal, and I didn’t want to hide it anymore.

  “Where’s your sister?” Daddy asked me.

  I lowered my head. “She’s still there.”

  Mom cried: “You said she was in the room with you! Why did you go out with her?”

  Dad saved me, momentarily. “There is no time now. God, a little girl out there alone! At night! Anything could happen to her!”

  He grabbed his jacket and wore it. “With you, we’ll come to terms when I get back!” he threatened me.

  “I’m going to take a flashlight”, mom said.

  “Don’t waste time!” Daddy snorted, but then waited patiently for her.

  Meanwhile he scowled at me. “Immediately in your room, and don’t move!”

  I knew I stirred up some trouble there. I got scared for nothing and now everyone would hate me, I knew it. I would have been forced to run away from home and sleep under the bridges. Friggin’ Terry with all the world’s animal species.

  As far as I could put my ear on the door, there was no way to hear. I could no longer be prisoner in my room, I wanted to know what happened!

  Even opening the door did not help my curiosity, because the voices were too distant.

  One hundred or two hundred years of punishment would not make a big difference to me now, so carefully I went down the stairs.

  I heard my mother’s voice coming from the living room. “It’s pointless to make a phone call now, it’s ten o’clock in the evening, you won’t find anyone there!”

  “This story must come to an end!” my dad mumbled.

  My thoughts keep darkening and haunting. In the end, I could not resist and I had to step forward. “How’s Terry?”

  I saw her immediately, sitting in a corner of the couch, sullen.

  And then again. “Did you find him?”

  “No, we didn’t find an
ything there!” my dad blew. “Your sister let him get away. And now we find ourselves with a stray dog wandering around here.”

  “But it’s just a dog!” mom interrupted. “You saw it too, what harm can he do? Certainly, Teresa was wrong, she had to tell us and she shouldn’t get out.”

  “I call the pound anyway. They’ll have to come and find it!”

  “Tomorrow”, Mom reminded him.

  “Tomorrow, tomorrow! But I’ll call them anyway.”

  Mum smiled at Terry. “Don’t worry. He’ll relax soon.”

  “Stop it!” roared Daddy. “Take her to bed. She has already done enough today.”

  When Terry passed by me, I stopped. I was sure she would slap me, even while Mom held her hand. Instead, she acted as though I did not exist and left without saying a word.

  Dad, on the other hand, needed to let off some steam. “As far as we are concerned, it’s time to have a serious conversation…”

  I could not sleep. I messed up in so many ways and one in particular. I didn’t care that Daddy was angry, or if he’d convict me to forced labor, or lock me in a college. I only knew that Terry hated me, it couldn’t be otherwise.

  It was midnight and I was feeling worse. Soon I was expecting Animal Control to take the dog away. She would blame me for that too.

  I had to explain it, tell her everything. Even at the cost of admitting what a coward I was. I had to apologize for it, and the more I waited, the more difficult it would have been. And if she would tell me off, tough pity. This once, I deserved it.

  So, I did it. I went to her room.

  All was silent now. Maybe she was asleep. That’s why I opened the door slowly, ready to close it back if I had found her sleeping.

  The lamp on the bedside table was on, as usual. Terry was in bed and she was awake, I saw her very well. Sitting beside her, overwhelming her, was Foulwolfe.

  It was not a dog, not a wolf. Whatever it was, he was terrifying. It paralyzed me, even worse, I wet my pants.

  That thing turned to me and his yellow eyes seemed to shine. He had a wide-open mouth and curved teeth like blades. It was worse than any horror movie I’d ever seen.

  “No!” Terry told me, trying not to shout. “Don’t do it! Don’t say a word! Shut up!”

  How could I remain silent? There was a beast on my sister’s bed! A monster that came straight out of hell!

  “He won’t do anything to you! He won’t do nothing to anyone! He came just for me, He’s my friend!”

  I didn’t listen to her. I didn’t hear a word of what she was saying. My eyes were hooked to those of Foulwolfe and they could not get off him. I had already flooded the floor and my pajamas were wet.

  Terry was crying. “Don’t do it! Don’t do it!”

  But I did it. I started screaming like the police siren, backing away. “Help! He’s here! He’s in Terry’s room! Help! Dad, Mom, help! Help!”

  Terry was desperate. “Why? Why?”

  I couldn’t stop. “Help! It’s a beast! Help, hurry, come here!”

  Terry kicked the beast away. “Go away! Please, go away! Run!”

  But he didn’t move and he kept looking at me. He locked his eyes just on me. He didn’t care about Terry, the screams of our parents, the slammed doors, the imprecations. I was sure he would jump on me any moment now.

  Then someone grabbed me and pushed me aside. Mom stood between up to protect me. She saw what was on the bed and her shouts overwhelmed me. “Terry! Oh my God, Terry! Get out, run!” And then: “Soon! He assaulted Terry!”

  Dad was limping in the corridor with a shotgun in his hand. He was still trying to load it. “Is it that dog?” he asked.

  Mom was hysterical. “I don’t know what it is!”

  I heard Terry’s voice, without seeing her. “He’s my friend!”

  Dad arrived, waving the shotgun, and covered my sight completely.

  “My God, he has rabies! That animal has rabies! Did he bite you, Teresa? Did he bite you?”

  Terry was desperate. “He is my friend! He didn’t do anything to me! He doesn’t want to hurt anyone!”

  “Get away from him now!”

  “No! No! Dad! Don’t hurt him!”

  And mom: “Come here, Teresa. Slowly, don’t make any sudden moves. Come here.”

  Then it happened suddenly. I heard two gunshots, one after the other, and Terry’s scream were so loud that I had to cover my ears. I started trembling.

  I knew Dad had shot Foulwolfe. And killed him.

  Then everything was so confused. Terry yelling and crying, Mom trying to comfort her, Terry punching her. Dad dropped Foulwolfe’s body on the floor using the shotgun’s barrel.

  He was really ugly, even dead, terrifying. I couldn’t understand how could Terry be so fond of him.

  Mom was upset. “Did you need to do it in front of her? Can’t you see how you upset her?”

  “Have you seen that beast?” roared Daddy. “He wasn’t a doggie, this one had rabies! We’ve been lucky that he didn’t bite her!”

  Terry noticed my presence, still there in the corridor. “You! It was you! I hate you! I’ll never forgive you! I wish you were dead!”

  And mom: “Come on, be nice, don’t say these things to your brother, he has no fault.”

  “I hate you! I hate you all! I want you all dead!”

  No slap came to her. In fact, Mom turned to Dad again. “You shouldn’t have done it here! You shouldn’t have!”

  I kept looking at Foulwolfe, and something was happening. Something impossible. I couldn’t move or even scream. Again, lost control of my body and more hot urine flooded my pants.

  I only managed to point a finger, shaking.

  Dad jumped back. “But what…?”

  Mom screamed.

  Foulwolfe’s body was shaken by spasm and he was changing. He was getting something else.

  At that moment, I realized that movies do not always lie, they are not all fantasies, that some things really exist. And I screamed: “It’s a Werewolf!”

  No one ordered me to shut up, deriding me. What had been a monstrous wolf until few moments back was taking human form. And I was dismayed to realize that he was small. Young as me. A child.

  Mom seemed to be having a heart attack, Terry was only crying. I went closer to see it better.

  He was just my age. He looked a bit like me. And he was dead. Wolf or child he was definitely dead.

  Minutes passed before some of us found the strength to speak. It was Mom: “We have to call the police.”

  Dad was still holding the gun, but his hands trembled. “Police?”

  “Call them. Call them right away!”

  Dad shook his head. His good sense prevailed. “To say what? That we killed a child?”

  “To tell them what happened!”

  “And what happened? First, he was a dog and now he is a child! Is this what I have to say?”

  “What would you do then?”

  Dad kept shaking his head. “We can’t call the police, we can’t.”

  They exchanged a long-lasting look, then mom turned to me. “Take Teresa to your room. You better leave now.”

  It wasn’t easy. This time I got kicked and punched. But somehow, I managed to get to my room.

  I closed the room and we heard them discuss, scream, argue. It took me a while to understand. Dad was right, we couldn’t call the police, they would’ve never believed that story. There was also the risk that Terry, angry as she was, would deny our version. Mom would have to accept it too.

  I tried to talk to Terry. “Why didn’t you tell me he was a kid? Why didn’t you just tell me that?”

  She ignored me.

  I still tried to break through many and many times. Finally, she shouted a single sentence. “He was not a child!”

  When the daylight came, Foulwolfe wasn’t there anymore.

  I had no idea what they did with him, they must have buried him somewhere. Mom and Dad were destroyed, exhausted. Yet Mom prepared the br
eakfast anyway.

  “They shouldn’t go to school today”, Daddy said.

  He was afraid of what we could tell, Terry especially.

  “He was a child”, Mom said.

  “Again? How many times do you want to repeat it? He was not a child when I shot him, Get it through your head!”

  Mom shook her head. “I didn’t mean it. A kid, you know? A child does not go around alone, even if he’s able to turn into a wolf.”

  Daddy was pale, and it was the first time that happened. “You’re talking about parents, is this what you mean? Can there be others like him?”

  Mum didn’t answer.

  Then Dad turned to Terry, who continued her silence. “Did he have any parents? Do you know anything about it?”

  My sister gave no sign of life.

  We didn’t go to school and didn’t know what to do. No video games, no television, just as we were mourning. And Terry hated me, she would never play with me again.

  Neither mom nor dad had gone to work, pretending to be sick.

  When the bell rang, we all froze.

  “What should I do?” she asked.

  “You have to open, pretend it’s all normal.”

  Easy to say. Mom was upset. She tried to pull herself together, then went to open the door.

  Dad came into our living room, perhaps to check on us, and half-closed the door, standing there beside it.

  I too could see something from the slit. It seemed to me that it was a woman who came to visit us.

  Almost immediately Mom raised her voice. “It’s our neighbor, dear! Come and meet her too!”

  It was clear that it was a cry of help. Mom no longer knew what to do and wanted Dad to take the burden.

  He grimaced, opened the door, and came out with a smile.

  I heard a voice behind me, and I froze. “Now you will see what he will do to you all!”

  There was real hate in Terry’s eyes, and it didn’t predict anything pleasant.

  “They’ve just moved in the home next door a couple of weeks ago, dear.”

  Dad could seem almost normal. “You will definitely be happy here, this is a quiet area.”

  That woman was very beautiful. She must have been a little older than Mom, but she could overshadow her anyway. She had long black hair that reached the waist of her white, simple but elegant dress.