《Babysitting God [A Cult Building Slice-of-Life]》


 01: The Day Richard Died

    01: The Day Richard Died


    Richard wanted to die.


    He was unemployed and broke. He did not have friends, and it had been several months since he had last spoken with his family. He spent most of his days waiting for the next day to arrive.


    It was late October when his apartment lost power. He had lost heat several weeks earlier, but he had managed to keep warm with a dinky little heater he had found dumpster diving. Richard knew there were laws about heat and electricity when it came to apartments, but he had not paid rent in over three months. More than that, however, he was just tired.


    Richard knew his thoughts were unhealthy, but he was just so tired.


    It was late October when he left his apartment late at night. It may have been the first time in days he had stepped foot outside. The apartment had been a farmhouse once, and it was surrounded by open fields. A quiet place, Richard was one of only two tenants. He had lived in the rundown building for several years but had only ever seen his neighbor once. Richard would not have recognized the man.


    Richard had a few items in the plastic grocery bag wrapped around his right hand. He had left a handwritten note inside the apartment on the kitchen counter. He probably could have written more. He probably should have.


    The strangest sensation gripped his chest as he started walking. Car headlights cut through the night around him like hot knives. Open fields may have flanked the refurbished farmhouse, but civilization had settled down elsewhere.


    It was cold out. His body shook slightly as he walked, but not because of the cold. The purr of cars grew softer as he stomped towards the distant refuge of tree and fallen leaf. Richard''s landlord refused to sell the land, though he had received many offers.


    "All that!" Marco would say over and over. "All that is my forest! Until the day that I die! All mine!"


    Richard''s landlord had been a good man... which felt like an odd thing to say when the apartment often lost heat and electricity. But Marco had been kind. He had treated Richard to lunch and dinner every so often. If the old man had been fifty years younger, Marco could have been a...


    "Not a friend," Richard mumbled dully as he squinted at the darkness. He was not lonely enough to pine after the friendship of an eighty-year-old man.


    And none of that even mattered anymore. Richard would find a nice spot deep inside the forest. He had half a bottle of Coca-Cola and a couple Chips Ahoy! cookies. He would have a little banquet. One final birthday bash. And then... sleep.


    He frowned suddenly as quiet pressed against him like a lover. The distant car sounds had completely disappeared. He craned his neck to look towards the busy road and was surprised to find the way clouded with dusk. No headlights broke through the tree line.


    "Weird..." Richard said numbly. He did not feel as if he had walked that far. Silent sentinels towered all around him, their fallen leaves reduced to loud crunches underfoot.


    He shrugged. A sort of giddy emptiness clutched his chest and made it hard to breathe. It felt as if he was floating as he delved deeper and deeper into the murky woods. He did not stumble over roots or smack his nose into a tree''s trunk. Perhaps it was the stars or the moon, but he could see well enough to avoid walking into anything unpleasant.


    "Don''t see any stars, though," Richard mumbled to himself as he looked up at the sky.


    Danger tickled at the back of his thoughts, but he pushed the needless worry aside. Danger did not really matter at this point. He was about to cross the finish line, albeit a little early.


    And so Richard was not alarmed when he heard a low noise reverberate through the sleeping woods. He was not sure how long he had been walking, but he did not think the forest should be this deep.


    He stomped deeper and deeper, however. The mysterious noise grew louder and louder. It sounded... broken. Like the rattle of an engine that had given all that it could give.


    A white shape soon appeared amidst the gloom of the darkened woods. It did not strike Richard as odd that he could see it so clearly. The white shape seemed to glow.


    The rattling noise became more distinct as Richard drew closer. Danger flared in the back of his head, but he brushed it aside as one would an insect.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    His heart skipped a beat the next moment, however, and he froze midstep.


    A pair of golden eyes stared at Richard. The first thing he noticed was the sheer brilliance of the monster''s stare.


    "Am I asleep?" Richard wondered dimly.


    It was too large to be a dog. It felt too massive to even be a wolf. If not for its mangy white fur, Richard would have thought it was an unusually shaped boulder. If its chest did not rise and fall with a halting effort, Richard would not have believed it was a living thing.


    "You don''t look happy to see me," Richard said with a dim smile. The creature wore a wolf''s snarl. Row after row of sharp teeth glistened like ivory knives. Its tongue was a fat slab of jerky that lulled across the forest floor.


    The monstrous creature made no effort to devour Richard. It remained collapsed and immobile.


    His smile faded as he continued to watch the creature''s obvious misery. He forgot his own mission for a moment and clenched the plastic grocery bag in his right hand tightly.


    "Oh..." The thought came to him like the pop of a balloon. His face scrunched up in debate, but he quickly shook away the senseless doubt.


    He had half a bottle of Coca-Cola. He did not even like Coca-Cola that much, but it had enough sugar to make up for the missing birthday cake.


    "Are you... thirsty?" Richard asked the monstrous creature. Its golden eyes continued to follow him unblinking. "Here... Have some Cola."


    He took two steps and then the creature growled. The low rumble unlocked some primal fear in Richard''s heart. He almost turned around and fled. He almost raced out of the woods and back to... back to...


    "I guess it doesn''t matter," Richard said, swallowing his fear. It made no difference if this monster killed him. "Come on. Have some Cola."


    He could feel the horrible heat of the creature''s breath as he drew nearer. It continued to growl, but the noise did not frighten him any more.


    "Here..." Richard leaned forward and poured out a small dribble of Coca-Cola onto the haggard monster''s tongue. "Drink up."


    The creature''s body shivered slightly as the first drop of sugar-infused manna tickled its tongue. Weakly, the creature lapped at the small stream.


    "That''s good..." Richard said with a smile.


    The half bottle of Coca-Cola quickly became an empty bottle of Coca-Cola. He tossed it aside and, motivated by the same giddy emptiness from before, took out the Chips Ahoy! cookies.


    "Do you want a cookie?" Richard asked. It was probably not the healthiest thing for... whatever this creature was, but neither was Coca-Cola. "Here you go..."


    He tossed one cookie into the creature''s open mouth as if it were a carnival attraction. He took a bite out of the second cookie himself and watched as the beast''s long tongue slowly furled back into its darkened mouth. It seemed to like the cookie?


    "We''ll split the last one," Richard said. He broke the cookie in half and tossed part of it into the creature''s open mouth. Or at least that was what he had aimed for.


    "S-sorry..." Richard smiled as the crumbly cookie fell apart as it hit the creature''s impossibly large snout. "They''re not that good anyways."


    He bit into his own half and simply stared at the inexplicable creature. It had to be a wolf. It made no sense for a wolf to be this massive, but here it was.


    Richard swallowed the rest of his cookie, and another light bulb went off in his head.


    "This... This is perfect...!"


    For the first time in memory, Richard''s smile stretched from ear to ear. Fate had offered him the perfect birthday present.


    He had never been the religious type. It definitely would have made what he was about to do a little harder, but he felt compelled to close his eyes and clench his hands together in prayer.


    Because he did not want to be found. He knew his death would be a selfish thing. It would upset his family. It would upset his landlord. It would upset whoever found him out here in the woods.


    And so for the first time in memory, Richard prayed.


    Once I''ve died, please let this creature eat me. I don''t want to be found. I know it''s cruel, but I don''t want people to know. Just let this thing gobble me up. Please.


    It was such a ridiculous prayer. Even Richard knew how foolish it sounded, but he still desperately begged whoever or whatever could listen with the same devout fervor of a Catholic nun.


    His prayer was interrupted by a new sound. His eyes flew open as the beast''s labored rasp disappeared. A new sound, one no less ominous, had replaced it.


    Richard took several steps back as the creature slowly rose from its exhaustion. It had already been massive. It had already been impossibly large...


    ...but second after second, breath after breath, the wolf''s body seemed to thicken and grow.


    "Oh shit..." Richard mumbled as he stared up into the monster''s glowing yellow eyes. The two inflated orbs burned like small suns.


    The wolf towered over him. Its muzzle parted to reveal the many rows of its glistening teeth. Richard knew that in the next moment it would pounce. He knew that it would tear out his throat in a frenzy of blood and gore.


    He did not expect it to speak.


    "I accept your pledge, human!" the monstrous beast roared.


    Richard fell backwards and onto the leafy forest floor. The wolf padded closer, its steaming breath a ticklish sauna. He could have counted the number of teeth in its mouth if it did not swallow him before he finished.


    "Our covenant shall be thy bones and the marrow within!"


    Richard winced as the creature''s massive muzzle pressed against his face. He knew that it would soon make a red fountain out of his throat. His prayer was about to be answered, but his mind spun with the absurdity of the situation.


    He let out a small yelp as the first of the beast''s teeth bit down into...


    ...but there were no teeth. There was no blood. There was no pain. It actually felt... a little nice?


    The monster dragged its sandpaper tongue up and down Richard''s face as if his cheeks had been smeared with peanut butter. The beast loosed one final roar.


    "You shall be my servant, and I thy master, until the hour of your final breath!"

 02: God Has a Fluffy Tail

    02: God Has a Fluffy Tail


    Richard''s head spun like a malfunctioning merry-go-round. He had wandered into the woods without any thought of leaving them. He therefore did not understand why the wind whipped violently at his face. Tree branches clawed at his arms and legs like feral cats.


    The world was a blur as he clutched a pillowy softness. Soft clumps of white fur tickled his face and cushioned his body as he was jostled up and down. He clutched to the monstrous creature''s fur as it raced through the twilight forest. For the second time that night, Richard wondered if he was asleep.


    "What a blessed night!" the beast roared with an almost human delight. "Thou didst well to find me, human! Most well!"


    Richard would have pinched himself if he had a free hand. All of his melancholy talk earlier disappeared as the white wolf continued to dart between trees with all the speed of a certain hedgehog. He held on for dear life.


    Richard blinked, and the gloom of the woods disappeared as if a light switch had been flipped. The human sounds of traffic immediately tickled his ears, and distant headlights bled through the night.


    "Your den is near, human!" the wolf howled as it raced towards the distant cars. "You shall erect my first shrine within thy quarters! Be honored!"


    Richard laughed, though the hysterical noise was swallowed up by the rush of wind and the wolf''s bestial glee. Erect a shrine? He was not sure if he had ever heard those words spoken aloud before.


    The familiar farmhouse soon appeared as the monstrous creature broke through the tree line. The building was cast in darkness, illuminated only briefly by cars passing in the near distance.


    "Hmmm..." Richard almost rolled off the wolf''s back as it came to an abrupt halt. "Thy quarters are... lacking. But they will suffice for now! Come!"


    The rush of wind had deafened him earlier, but now he could hear the wolf snorting noisily as it padded towards the refurbished farmhouse. Several square blocks had been slapped together, addition after addition over the many decades the building had stood.


    Richard continued to clutch to the wolf''s fur as it walked a brisk circle around the property. All while the otherwise majestic beast snorted goofily. He was not sure if he had ever heard a dog snort before.


    "Aha!"


    Richard jumped at the beast''s sudden noise. His hands released its thick tufts of fur, and he slid gracelessly off the wolf''s back. The ground was frozen, and he stifled a frustrated grunt.


    "Your domain, human!"


    Richard looked up from the ground, and his heart caught in his throat.


    The wolf''s eyes glowed yellow amidst the dim darkness of the night. The beast''s massive head turned back and forth between Richard and his front door.


    "It is rather small... but it shall suffice!" Richard flinched as the wolf turned away from him and scratched at his front door with one of its massive paws. He almost yelped as the monster loosed an inhuman screech. "Kyeeeh heh heh! What a blessed night!"


    "Oy!"


    Richard shouted despite himself as the sound of broken wood filled the air. The wolf''s massive paw smashed down his front door as if it were made of papier-mach¨¦.


    He knew a moment of panic, but then he asked himself who cared? None of this made sense. Was he still asleep? Had he already died? A wolf the size of a minivan had just reduced his front door to timber, but who cared?You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.


    "Why do you dally, servant?"


    Despite his stoicism, Richard screamed like a little girl as the wolf closed its teeth around his throat. He was lifted into the air as if he were a child''s doll. It became hard to breathe...


    ...and he realized the beast had merely picked him up by the cuff of his jacket.


    With a jerk of the wolf''s head, Richard was tossed into the darkness of his apartment. He landed in a jumble of limbs on the carpeted floor. Thankfully, he had sold most of his belongings over the last few months. There was nothing in the room for him to crash into.


    "A little small..."


    Richard straightened up and turned towards the floating yellow eyes. The apartment was cast entirely in shadows. Even if he had wanted to flip the light switch behind the monster, there was no electricity.


    The wolf entered the apartment with difficulty. Richard himself had developed a slight slouch living in its tiny rooms. The sheer size of the wolf was made all the more apparent as it struggled to fit its body inside.


    "Bah!" The beast loosed a roar and shook its body like a dog in the rain.


    Richard scarcely believed his eyes. As the wolf shook its fluffy white coat, its body started to shrink. First its head and then its tree-pole legs. Within the span of several breaths, the monstrous creature had deflated into an altogether less monstrous size.


    "Hah hah!" The wolf padded happily into the unlit apartment. Its glowing eyes swerved back and forth as if it could see in the dark. "This will do. It is small, yes, but it will do."


    The beast padded past him and poked its head inside the bathroom. While the apartment was run down and had low ceilings, it was relatively large with four rooms. Richard had never needed more than one, however.


    "We shall have much work to do tomorrow, human!" the beast called from within the bathroom. "But this shall work! Kyeeh heh heh!"


    The world had felt like a dream ever since he had found the white creature in the woods, but the word tomorrow snapped him free from his delusions.


    The apartment was cold. It was freezing, and he had no heat. The rooms were empty. He had sold whatever he could sell and he had never made enough money to replace what was gone. It was an altogether melodramatic thought, but his apartment was just like his life. Cold and empty.


    It would be cold and empty tomorrow.


    It would be cold and empty the day after tomorrow.


    It would be cold and empty until the day that he finally found the courage to-


    "But I tire!"


    Richard jumped. His head snapped towards a ticklish heat. The wolf stared into his eyes with a golden intensity.


    "Tomorrow! Thou wilt have much work to do tomorrow, servant!" The wolf''s tongue raced up and down his face with a sandpaper warmth. "For now, however, I tire!"


    The wolf padded towards his bedroom. He remained on the ground, but only for a moment. Something soft tugged him after the wolf. He looked down and found the beast''s fluffy white tail wrapped around his chest.


    "You will warm me, servant!" the wolf said in a howl. "It hath been many decades since I last enjoyed the warmth of my faithful!"


    Numbly, Richard was forced to stumble and crawl after the wolf as it disappeared into his bedroom. The beast started to snort noisily as it reached his bed.


    "So much work..." the wolf whined softly to itself.


    His bedroom was covered in darkness, but he could vaguely make out the wolf bite down on something and then jerk its head away. He realized it was his blanket a moment later as the beast dragged the blanket to a corner of the room and started to fuss over the bedding.


    "Come! Now we rest!" the wolf said after arranging and rearranging the quilt with her teeth and claws. Richard was convinced he would find the quilt torn to ribbons tomorrow.


    He flinched once more at the word, but he had little time to fall back into his melancholy.


    "Oy!"


    Richard loosed a startled noise as the wolf''s tail tugged him closer. He fell into the wolf''s fluffy white fur.


    "Quiet! We rest now!" The same sandpaper tongue from before assaulted Richard''s face and hair as he was swallowed by an almost motherly warmth.


    He heard the beast settle down. The ticklish heat of its breath was a furnace in his face, but the beast''s glowing eyes had been extinguished.


    "A prayer."


    Richard flinched at the beast''s low growl.


    "I would have thee offer a prayer before you slumber, human."


    Laughter bubbled in his chest at the incomprehensible words. He felt as if he had gone insane.


    A low growl filled the darkness, so Richard clenched his hands together in prayer. But a prayer? What did the creature want? What was this insanity? He remembered his other prayer, however. The first in so many years.


    He closed his eyes. The beast''s white fur tickled him pleasantly.


    "If this... is a dream..." He could not remember the last time he had felt this warm. "Please... let it continue... for just a little while longer."


    His eyes itched as the childish words left his mouth. It was just so warm, and he was just so tired. He had forgotten some of his exhaustion riding atop the wolf''s back, but...


    "Thou art a strange one," the wolf said in a low growl. Its sandpaper tongue tasted the shame of his tears. "Sleep. Your dream shalt begin tomorrow."

 03: God Wants an Animal Sacrifice?!

    03: God Wants an Animal Sacrifice?!


    A familiar foe roused Richard from a dreamless sleep.


    His hands groped for the warmth of his blanket, but he found only empty air. He shivered miserably in the morning chill. Lances of sunlight broke through the curtains, but they offered no warmth.


    Richard rose stiffly from bed...


    ...but he found himself lying instead on the hard floor. His entire body was one enormous ache. He briefly forgot the bite of cold as he stretched his poor muscles.


    "Why am I on the floor...?" Richard muttered groggily to himself. He rubbed his sleep-crusted eyes, and an icy dread filled his chest.


    Yesterday had been his birthday. He had gone out into the woods without any intention of returning. He had made up his mind, had stomped towards that final cliff, but then...


    Richard looked around his bedroom in a panic. His heart hammered against his chest like a battering ram as he searched for some clue to yesterday''s mystery.


    But there was no massive wolf.


    He was alone on his bedroom floor.


    "A dream." Richard loosed a heavy sigh. His breath misted in the air. "Or a hallucination. It must be all this cold. I''m getting sick."


    He sat for a long while. What a pathetic dream. What a childish delusion.


    "Oh well." Richard slowly stood up. He continued to stretch as he wondered idly what he would do today.


    He did not think there was any food in the kitchen, but he still shuffled out of his bedroom after a little morning aerobics. He rubbed his numb hands together. It was particularly cold that morning.


    ...and he assumed it had something to do with his front door. It lay in several shattered pieces on the floor. Because the wolf.


    "The wolf?" Richard''s eyes widened in disbelief as he looked outside. Cars whizzed by in the distance, oblivious to his confusion.


    His stare fell on a white dot racing across the open field in front of his apartment. The white dot was growing larger and more familiar with each breath.


    "It wasn''t a dream?" Richard wondered aloud, and he pinched himself as the monstrous creature bounded into view. Its white fur was covered in red, and a familiar shape dangled from its dripping mouth.


    Before Richard could even think to flee deeper into his apartment, the white shape luuunged through the missing door. The wolf''s deflated body collided with his chest like a cannonball, and the breath went out of him.


    "Thou art awake, my servant!" the beast howled with delight.


    The creature assaulted Richard''s face with its sandpaper tongue.


    "Praise me! Worship me!" The creature''s fluffy white tail wagged back and forth excitedly. "Morning prayer is most important for a devotee!"Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.


    "Wha... wha... what is going on...?" Richard sputtered. He could scarcely breathe with the wolf''s weight atop his chest.


    The wolf relented, and Richard finally noticed the broken shape in the corner of the room. The wolf had tossed it aside mid-lunge.


    "Consider this a boon from your new master, human," the wolf said happily as Richard gawked at a very dead deer. Half of its throat had been ripped out in a tangle of red wet. "Thou art much too pale!"


    Richard was able to collect his breath, but his thoughts remained a tangled mess.


    "Wh-why is there a dead deer in my apartment...?" he asked numbly.


    "Kyeeh heh heh! He finally speaks!" The wolf loosed a familiar screech. The noise sounded particularly ominous as great globs of blood dribbled from its mouth. "The deer is for thy duties as my high priest!"


    A bubble of laughter tickled Richard''s thoughts. That was not the answer he had been expecting. He was not even sure if he had expected the wolf to answer.


    "I allowed my previous high priest a tenth of all my offerings, but for you... I will offer twenty!"


    Richard nodded his head mechanically. He pinched himself a second time. He was awake, but this certainly felt like a dream. The wolf had an almost human smile ringing across its bestial mien.


    "The deer... is your offering?" His throat felt very dry as he slowly rose from the floor. He kept a safe distance from both the dead deer and the bloodied wolf. "I don''t... I''m a little confused."


    The beast''s smile faded. It stared at him with those piercing gold eyes.


    "Mmm, mmm. I understand everything now," the wolf said after several moments of silence. "I suppose I will have to teach you a few things, servant."


    Richard flinched as the wolf placed a heavy claw on the deer''s chest and then tore off a chunk of meat in a mist of blood. Another manic bubble popped in his chest as he watched the beast''s white fur slowly turn a darker and darker shade of red. It was a good thing he had not eaten breakfast.


    "This is your tithe," the wolf said. It flung a severed haunch of meat towards Richard. Strings of innards and globs of red intestines painted his apartment floor.


    "And all of this," the wolf gestured to the rest of the deer''s bloodied mutilation, "thou shalt offer to me as a burnt offering."


    It was the smell that finally pushed him over the edge. Richard looked sharply away from the gore, but he could feel a sickness rising up his chest.


    "Human?" The wolf''s impossible voice was full of concern as he stumbled through his apartment''s shattered doorway and into the crisp outdoor air.


    Cars purred in the distance, and he wondered dimly why nobody seemed to care. The farmhouse was rather far from the road, but not far enough that passersby could not see the broken doorway and the blood-splattered wolf.


    "Are you unwell?" The wolf''s voice appeared behind him as he struggled to keep yesterday''s Chips Ahoy! cookies in his stomach. "Thou art too pale. Here. Sup upon some blood. It will fortify thy spirit!"


    "No, no!" Richard shouted in alarm. He glanced over his shoulder and cringed away from the beast. It had dragged a haunch of dripping red carcass outside. "I''m fine! I''m fine! I''m not fine at all, but I''m fine."


    "But thou art so pale..." The wolf nudged Richard with the bloody haunch in its mouth. Dimly, Richard realized the beast had somehow spoken even with a full mouth. "Drink, my servant."


    "R-really, I''m fine." Richard fought back laughter.


    He had completely lost his mind, and he was not sure how to feel about it. He wondered what kind of breakfast they served at psychiatric hospitals.


    A horrible silence settled over the unusual morning. After it became unbearable, Richard shot a glance over his shoulder. He would not have been surprised if his hallucination had disappeared.


    The wolf had dropped the deer carcass. The creature did not have eyebrows, but somehow Richard knew it was frowning.


    "Thou... Thou art not one of those humans who... don''t eat meat, are you...?"


    "What? No." Richard shook his head hurriedly and looked away. "I''m just not used to all... all that blood and... I feel sick. What is going on today...?"


    "Ahhh." The wolf loosed a happy sound. "Mmm, mmm. I understand everything now."


    Richard did not particularly like the sound of that. He turned around and found the wolf sitting majestically over the dripping red carcass. It was hard to tell from its snout, but the wolf may have been smiling.


    "A high priest must be able to handle at least this much, but you may use The Telleh-Fawn to summon another human. They shall assist you with the morning''s burnt offering!"

 04: God Decides to Commit Petty Theft

    04: God Decides to Commit Petty Theft


    The morning''s chill had disappeared. The hammering of his chest had become a loud tattoo, however.


    "Go on, go on!" the wolf howled happily in his ear. "Use The Telleh-Fawn!"


    Richard was back inside his apartment. He was not sure why, but the wolf was licking every inch of his exposed skin and what felt like each strand of his hair.


    He had no idea what was going on, and it was rather difficult to find the bravado to ask when a shape-shifting monster was nibbling on his neck. He could still remember all the blood as it poured out from the deer''s mutilated corpse.


    "Kyeeeh heh heh!"


    The sound seemed to be a favorite of the wolf. Every so often it would fill the apartment with the high-pitched cackle.


    "I know all about thy human technology. I know all about The Telleh-Fawn!" the wolf roared in his left ear. "Summon a dozen! No, summon a hundred! Thou wilt be most busy this day, servant!"


    It had taken him a little while to understand, but he was fairly confident his hallucination was trying to say telephone. Perhaps it wanted an audience to attend Richard''s mental breakdown. He was actually a little surprised the police had not already shown up outside his door. Or rather his broken door. While Richard had only ever seen his neighbor once, he did have a neighbor upstairs.


    The wolf stopped its incessant licking. Its good humor disappeared like a mirage. A low growl instead shook the very floor. Richard recognized the noise all too well. It had not frightened him deep in the woods, but he had lost so much of his bravado since yesterday.


    "Why do you dally?" the creature asked, each word tinged with violence.


    "I... can''t?" Richard offered up weakly. He remembered the deer and swallowed nervously.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "And what do you mean by that?" the monster asked, each word slow and deliberate.


    "I can''t call anymore," Richard said nervously.


    Silence filled the apartment. He glanced over his shoulder and found the wolf staring intently at the back of his neck. Its white fur was still marred red with blood.


    "Call?" The wolf sounded confused. "I do not want you to call out to anyone. I want thou to use The Telleh-Fawn to summon more humans."


    It took Richard a moment to process the beast''s confusion. When he finally understood, a nervous bubble of laughter tickled his lips.


    Before he could speak, the same low growl from before filled the room.


    "My high priest does not make mock of their god." The fiery furnace of the wolf''s breath needled into Richard''s thoughts. The bubble of his laughter evaporated in its heat.


    "I can''t use my phone, my telleh-fawn," Richard said hurriedly. His heart continued to hammer against his chest. "I... I canceled it. A long time ago. I couldn''t afford it anymore, so I canceled it. And it doesn''t even have a charge. Even if I hadn''t canceled it."


    The words dribbled out from his mouth and tripped over one another. He felt a little embarrassed by his nervous awkwardness. He was fairly certain he had lost his mind, which meant this hallucination could do him no real harm. But then he remembered the bloodied deer.


    The silence that settled over the room was tortuous. If he had a phone, he would have called himself an ambulance. If he had the internet, he would have looked up his symptoms.


    "The Telleh-Fawn..." The wolf''s voice was slow and uncertain. "It was... cancelled...?"


    Richard nodded his head hurriedly.


    "I can''t make any calls. I can''t... can''t summon other humans." He did not mention that his phone had only ever had three contacts in the first place. He was not sure how much help Better than Best Chinese Cuisine would have been either.


    He glanced over his shoulder in time to watch the wolf nod its blood-speckled head thoughtfully.


    "Are... So The Telleh-Fawn... is no more." Richard frowned at the concern in the wolf''s voice. "Was this... Did this happen recently? I know I saw a human with The Telleh-Fawn just a decade past..."


    He did not understand the wolf at first, but then another bubble popped in the back of his thoughts. He almost laughed, but he quickly remembered the beast''s low growl.


    "No, no. The Telleh-Fawn is still around," Richard said. "I just canceled my phone. Everyone else''s should work just fine."


    "Ahhhhh." The wolf loosed a happy noise. Her warm breath tickled the back of his neck pleasantly. "Mmm, mmm. I understand everything now."


    The wolf quickly rose and padded away from Richard. The cold raced to fill the void, and he suddenly realized that he had just thought of the wolf as a she.


    "Where... are you going?" Richard asked his hallucination as she padded slowly past the bedroom door. He winced at the deer''s blood and gore in the other room.


    "To find another human''s The Telleh-Fawn for you," the wolf said, and she slipped out of the apartment without another word.

 05: God Kidnaps a Frightened Human

    05: God Kidnaps a Frightened Human


    The floor was still warm. He had not noticed when he had first woken full of chills and shivers, but the floor beneath his makeshift bed was still warm.


    "What does that mean, though?0" Richard wondered aloud in the familiar quiet of his apartment.


    The wolf had disappeared on its ominous mission. It could not be real. Everything that had happened over the last twelve hours had to be fantasy.


    "But what does that mean for me?"


    Richard was used to talking to himself like this. It was not as if he had neighbors or colleagues to worry about it. And rather than talk to himself, he just thought out loud. It was not as if he was holding a conversation with himself like some kind of loony.


    "Though I''m starting to think I may be one." He scratched his beard and could not help but remember the wolf''s soft fur. If it was all a hallucination...


    "That would be too convenient," Richard said as he leaned over and peered into the other room.


    His stomach did not lurch like before, but he could feel a physical discomfort as he looked at the blood and the guts. The beast had so thoroughly mutilated the deer that it was hard to tell it had even been one.


    "If I''m a loony, is this another hallucination?"


    And possessed by the madness of the situation, Richard tiptoed into the other room. The smell of blood and gore tickled his nostrils unpleasantly. He knelt beside the closest chunk of meat.


    "What a morning..." Richard muttered as he reached out and poked the wet gore. "That''s... that''s real."


    His finger came away red, and another silly thought popped into his head.


    "And I can definitely taste that," Richard said as he gently dabbed his tongue with his bloody finger. "But if I was insane, would I be able to taste a hallucination?"


    If he had the internet, he could have an answer within seconds. His subscription with Spectrum had been one of the first things he had canceled. The library had computers and free internet, which meant he knew at least one place he would visit after he calmed down.


    "Can I just... leave all this, though?"


    Richard''s stare swept over the broken fragments of his front door. The chunks of wood were sprinkled amidst the red viscera. It may have been misplaced optimism, but he felt as if someone driving by would eventually notice the broken door and call the police.


    "And what about Marco?" Richard was not afraid of being evicted. That was a very silly worry amidst all of his other troubles, but his landlord had been a good man. The thought of the eighty-year-old Italian waddling over and finding the door in shambles, the carpet stained with blood... That more than anything made Richard bite his lip.


    He was distracted from his gloom, however, by a white dot in the distance. The wolf could not have been gone for more than ten minutes, but it bounded happily across the open field.


    Richard had enough time to duck away from the shattered doorway this time.


    "Servant!" the wolf howled with delight as she flew through the air like a rocket. She landed with a wet squelch as her body deflated.


    "Oy!" Richard may have avoided the first assault, but the beast quickly spun around and launched herself at his chest. Just like earlier, the air went out of his lungs.


    "Glorify my name! Praise my deeds! I have returned!" The wolf''s sandpaper tongue assaulted his face with its familiar warmth. "Kyeeeh heh heh!"


    Once the beast had finished its ritual, she leapt off his chest and sat upright beside the red carnage. Richard took a moment to collect himself before he turned towards her. Just like before, he found himself thinking of the wolf as a she.


    Richard''s heart was a tattoo as he wiped his face clean. The wolf''s words were nonsense, but it seemed clear that she thought of herself as some kind of... deity. He had never heard of a burnt offering, but it certainly sounded religious. And then there was the matter of glorifying her name.


    The wolf had a name?


    Before he could think to ask, however, the beast made a horribly familiar sound.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Richard instinctually winced as the wolf''s throat bulged with sickness. It made no sense, but it looked like the creature was about to retch.


    "Paaah!" A small rectangle slid out from the wolf''s mouth along with a copious amount of stringy saliva. "The Telleh-Fawn!"


    It was an iPhone. Richard was not sure which model, but the wolf had coughed up a wet iPhone onto the floor.


    "Where... Where did you find that?" Richard asked with an incredulous laugh.


    "Another human!" the wolf said victoriously. Despite having just retched onto the floor, she struck a defiant pose. "I snatched it from their hands! Now summon them! Summon... Summon?"


    The beast tilted its head. She did have the most expressive face, but Richard thought she looked confused.


    "Why did I not just take the human with me, as well...?" the wolf wondered aloud.


    Her confusion did not last, however. Within less than a breath, the beast''s posture was once more regal.


    "But such is the high priest''s job! I have already done too much!"


    Richard fought back a smile. It was all so absurd. He knelt and picked up the slimy iPhone. He was not even sure if it would still work.


    He wiped it against his jacket, which only served to leave great smears across its screen. He had never used an iPhone before, so he spent a minute looking for the right button to press.


    "Ah." The screen flickered on. The phone still worked.


    "Summon them, servant!" the wolf said impatiently. He could feel the ticklish heat of her breath on his neck.


    "Summon who?" Richard asked as he stared at the screen. The face of a woman with long black hair and an unhappy cat stared back at him. He wondered if there was a way he could get this back to her.


    "Sumon the humans, of course!" The wolf nudged him with her long snout. "A hundred! No, a thousand! We shall erect a shrine worthy of my name!"


    "I still can''t do that," Richard said, and he looked away from the phone. The wolf''s golden stare bore into him like a drill.


    "Whyever not? Don''t tell me this The Telleh-Fawn is also cancelled. I saw the human use it!"


    "Th-that''s not the problem," Richard said. He swallowed nervously as the wolf bared the ivory white of its teeth. "The phone is... locked?"


    The wolf blinked several times.


    "Locked...?" The beast padded closer and sniffed the phone as if its scent might hold an answer. "What dost thou mean? Oh... This is a keyhole...?"


    "No, no! Not like that," Richard said as the wolf''s tongue probed the phone''s USB port. "That hole is for... That is not a keyhole. The phone has a password. We can''t use it without the password."


    He showed her the password screen and fought back a hysterical laugh. He was explaining electronics to a magical talking wolf. He had completely and utterly lost his mind, but he was admittedly starting to have a good time.


    The wolf stared at the screen for several moments. Richard could not decipher the look on her bestial face. Her golden eyes were unblinking.


    "Ahhhh." The beast broke its silence with a long sigh. "I understand everything now. This The Telleh-Fawn is sealed."


    Richard wondered if she really understood, but he held his silence.


    "Most unfortunate," the wolf said, licking its left paw. "When it comes to seals... Well, there is a reason I was trapped there for so long! Can you break the seal, servant?"


    Several answers crowded his throat. He suppressed another laugh as he stared into the wolf''s earnest stare.


    "I can''t," Richard said simply. "I don''t know the password."


    "Who would know the password?" the wolf asked, her eyes brilliant.


    "Probably the human you stole this from," Richard said. He coughed into his hand and continued. "Look. Phones are important to people. You can''t just- "


    "Mmm, mmm. I understand everything now," the wolf said, interrupting Richard. She looked away from him and towards the busy road outside. "I will be right back."


    "Right back?" Richard repeated dimly. The wolf had already padded past him and out the door. "Wait, wait, wait. Wh-where are you going? Hello? Wait! Hello?"


    He raced outside after her, but the wolf was already halfway across the field. She was heading towards the road, which meant she had already frolicked amongst the traffic at least once. If she was not a hallucination, Richard could expect to hear a couple sirens soon.


    "This day..." He pinched himself for what could have been the tenth time, but the buzz of traffic continued unabated.


    The wolf had disappeared from view, so he shuffled back inside where it was at least slightly warmer. He scarcely even noticed the gore that filled the room. His attention was focused squarely on the iPhone.


    "An emergency number," Richard muttered to himself as he looked down at the phone''s lock screen. He could call an emergency number. An ambulance. He kind of felt like he could use an ambulance with all the craziness that was happening.


    But what would he tell them? What could they do for him? If he really was insane, they would throw him in a psychiatric hospital. They would wrap him up in leather straps and feed him through a straw. Some would call it a fate worse than death.


    "This morning..." Richard said with a sigh. He looked up from the phone, and his heart caught in his throat.


    It could not have been more than a minute, but a white dot was bouncing back towards the apartment. As it grew larger and larger, the distinct shape of a human appeared in its mouth.


    "You didn''t..." Richard felt no manic laughter as the wolf returned with the same black-haired woman from the iPhone dangling between her clenched jaw.


    "Human!" the wolf roared with delight. "This is the Keeper of the Seal!"


    The beast burst through the shattered doorway and deposited its prize on the floor. Richard stared at the black-haired woman with wide eyes and a slab of icy dread in his chest.


    "Praise me!" The wolf nudged Richard with her long snout several times. He continued to stare at the woman. Her arms and legs were already smeared red with blood. He held his breath...


    ...and then she moved. Her entire body thrashed as if electric life surged through her limbs. She flailed her arms as if she was drowning. When she rolled over, Richard found her almost unrecognizable because of all the deer blood smeared over her body. Bloody viscera stuck to her hair and made her look like a corpse.


    The black-haired woman stared wide-eyed at Richard.


    Richard stared wide-eyed at the woman. He struggled for what to say, and then she seemed to notice the mutilated haunches of meat all around her.


    "Don''t be afraid," Richard sputtered. "This is all a hallucination."


    The woman screamed.


    Richard whined.


    And the wolf cried out happily.


    "Kyeeeh heh heh!"

 06: The Police Finally Show Up

    06: The Police Finally Show Up


    Richard was not used to the boisterous energy of friends and coworkers. He had visited a nightclub only once and only long enough to decide the music was too loud. He had never attended a concert or a packed baseball game. The loudest thing in his life was the distant cars whizzing past the farmhouse and its vacant fields.


    And so as the woman filled his cramped apartment with a deathly shriek, Richard could not help but cover his ears.


    As far as he could tell, the woman was just fine. She was covered from head to toe in blood, but he did not think it was her blood.


    "Oh..." Richard winced as the woman tried to stand up. She slipped on the slimy gore and landed right on top of the deer''s eviscerated torso.


    More red paint was added to the woman''s misery. She recoiled from the sopping meat as if it were a hot stovetop. Amidst the unending shriek, Richard could make out a veil of tears.


    "P-please calm down!" Richard shouted. She jumped at the noise, turned to face him, and resumed screaming.


    He took a step towards her misery, and she crawled away, great globs of wet fear streaking down her face.


    "You...! I''m...!" Richard struggled to find the right words. "D-don''t be afraid! That isn''t your blood!"


    The black-haired woman did not seem to find his words encouraging. Her screams were interrupted by wracking sobs, and she flailed her arms in front of herself as if he were a thief trying to snatch her purse.


    "Please!" Richard could not help but laugh. It was not a healthy sound. He glanced up at the ceiling and reminded himself that he had an upstairs neighbor.


    A white shape padded into view. The woman''s chest swelled like a peacock''s in fear. The whites of her eyes became two full moons as the deflated wolf stomped past the mutilated deer.


    "H-hey!" Richard called out in alarm. The wolf placed one of its massive paws atop the woman''s chest.


    "Quiet," the wolf growled. Beneath her paw, the woman thrashed like a fish out of water. She may as well have been pinned beneath an overturned truck, however.


    "Let''s... not do anything unreasonable," Richard said as he drew closer to the wolf. He licked his lips nervously as his eyes flashed between the howling woman and the frustrated beast.


    The wolf brought its dripping maw close to the woman''s throat. Richard wanted to scream. The woman, however, finally stopped. Her body became deathly still. Even the mad rise and fall of her chest ceased.


    "Undo the seal on thy The Telleh-Fawn..." the wolf growled with a familiar low rumble, "or I will riiiiiiiiiiip out thy throat!"The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The black-haired woman''s mouth became an almost perfect O-shape. Her chest swelled one last final time, and then the life went out of her.


    "S-stop that!" Richard knelt beside the woman. She had either had a heart attack and died or she had just fainted.


    "The impudence of this one!" The wolf pressed its nose against the woman''s face and sniffed noisily. "Will the seal come undone with her death, servant?"


    "N-no!" Richard said immediately. Reluctantly, he smacked the woman''s face a couple times. He was not altogether sure what to do with someone who fainted. "J-just get off of her for now!"


    The wolf huffed as it removed its paw from the woman''s chest. The beast padded away and looked past the shattered doorway.


    "If I had the internet, I would know what to do..." Richard muttered to himself as he frowned at the passed-out woman. It was a small consolation that she had finally calmed down.


    The situation was not good. The dead deer and the broken door had been one thing. The magical talking wolf had been quite another. But this...


    "If I call her an ambulance, maybe they can drop me off at the mad house." Richard scratched his beard nervously. His eyes glanced between the ceiling and the woman. His upstairs neighbor''s silence felt particularly damning.


    "What be those lights, servant?"


    Richard waved away the wolf''s random question. He did not have time for her right now. Perhaps it was the cold or the hunger, but he could not focus his thoughts. It felt as if...


    "Lights?" The word tickled free a familiar worry in Richard''s chest.


    He turned around slowly and found the wolf looking out at the dirt road leading to the farmhouse.


    "Oh no..." Richard muttered numbly as the flashing lights of a police cruiser rolled towards the farmhouse. "No, no. Not now..."


    "My memory fails me, servant," the wolf said. She sat like a watchdog on the cusp of the doorway. "Who are those men?"


    Richard jumped to his feet. He had not eaten a bite the entire day, but his stomach churned with sickness. He felt lightheaded as the colorful sirens grew ever closer.


    The floor was covered in blood. It was covered in bits and pieces of entrails. Slabs of mutilated meat had been flung from corner to corner like some messy child at mealtime. And then there was the woman. She was covered in blood and gore. Bits of unrecognizable slime stuck to her hair.


    And she did not move. She looked like a corpse.


    "I have to... run?" Richard felt as if his knees were going to buckle at any moment. An unhealthy laugh was trapped inside his belly as he remained paralyzed amidst the crime scene.


    He would go to jail. If the police did not shoot him on sight, he would go to jail. But what had he done? Had he done anything? Was the magical talking wolf real? It suddenly seemed a little too optimistic to wish this was all just a hallucination.


    "Ahhhhhhh."


    Richard jumped as the wolf rose from its dignified perch. She filled the room with a happy noise.


    "Those are human soldiers. Naalkaw acts quick!"


    All of Richard''s worries were sent scurrying as the wolf loosed an ominous howl. She turned towards him, the ivory white of her teeth gleaming in salivary excitement.


    "Prepare thyself for battle, servant!" the wolf said. Richard could hear the tires of the police cruiser on the gravel. "Kyeeeeh heh heh!"


    "You''re crazy!" Richard shouted, forgetting for a moment that he was the one talking to a magical talking wolf. "You can''t! You need to... We need to get away from here!"


    The police were close enough that he could see one of them on his walkie-talkie. It did not take much imagination to wonder what he was telling police dispatch.


    "G-get away from the door!" Richard begged. Fear made him bold, and he pulled frantically on the wolf''s thick white fur.


    "Wh-whatever is the matter?" The wolf''s voice was full of confusion as the police cruiser slid to a halt outside his front door. Richard heard two doors slide open and then violent screams.


    "HANDS! SHOW ME SOME HANDS!"


    "POLICE! DON''T YOU MOVE! POLICE!"


    The two uniformed officers filled the morning chill with violent screams. They had their service pistols drawn and aimed at Richard''s face.

 07: God Runs Out of Prayer Power at the Worst Possible Time

    07: God Runs Out of Prayer Power at the Worst Possible Time


    Richard could not count the number of times he had seen guns.


    They were in television shows. They were in movies. Commercials. On billboards. In advertisement plastered across the side of a bus. Holstered at the hip of a police officer.


    Guns were everywhere. Richard had somewhat unconsciously and irrationally thought himself numb to the sight of the popular firecrackers.


    "GET ON THE GROUND!"


    "POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!"


    Richard felt his spine become jelly as he stared down the two steel barrels. It was almost funny, though he could not find a smile. After everything that had happened yesterday, after everything he had planned to happen yesterday, he was paralyzed with fear at the thought of being shot.


    "Thing''s covered in blood!" the taller police officer said. He had a bushy mustache. "That a dog?!"


    "I''M ABOUT TO SHOOT YOU DEAD IF YOU DON''T GET ON THE GROUND!" The mustached officer''s partner was bald with an egg-shaped head. "THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING!"


    "Be this some manner of pre-battle ritual, servant?"


    "STEP AWAY FROM THE ANIMAL!"


    Richard snapped free from his paralysis at the wolf''s voice. She sounded excited and confused at the same time. His hands remained buried in the wolf''s thick fur.


    "Th-this is a misunderstanding!" Richard shouted as he found his voice. The officers did not seem to care for what he had to say, however.


    Both men continued to scream out commands with such violence that their words became white noise. Richard could scarcely form a coherent thought as his chest heaved with dread and hilarity. The only thing he was sure of was that he had to step away from the shattered doorway.


    The wolf made a startled yelp as Richard dragged her back inside the apartment. Or at least tried. The wolf may as well have been a stone statue.


    Richard retreated back into the quiet of the apartment. The wolf turned to him with a tilted head as the police continued to scream bloody murder. Richard knew a moment''s relief as the wolf retreated from the doorway and came deeper into the apartment.


    "Be not afraid of Naalkaw''s servants," the wolf said. "I am surprised they learned of my return so quickly, but- "


    "Those are the police!" Richard shouted in exasperation. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to think. "They aren''t... Naalkaw? What? Those are police! You went and kidnapped that woman, and- "


    A low growl interrupted Richard''s frustrated shout. His stomach did a small somersault as the very air seemed to chill with the wolf''s annoyance.


    "Thou wilt mind thy tone, human..."


    An instinct buried deep in Richard''s DNA demanded that he flee. His body reacted with a primal dread to the wolf''s growl...


    ...but then he heard the police outside of his apartment. At any moment they would burst through the shattered doorway and fill him with lead. Or worse, they would tackle him to the ground and cuff his wrists.


    "This day..." Richard fought back a hysterical laugh as his eyes wandered over the blood-filled room. Death or jail. He struggled to decide which would be worse.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Oh."


    Richard glanced over at the wolf with a distracted frown.


    "Oh my."


    Richard''s frown deepened. The wolf''s words were odd, but there was something...


    ...and his poor stomach did another somersault as he realized the beast was slowly becoming smaller and smaller.


    The police continued to scream outside. Their voices actually sounded as if they were drawing closer. Richard offered them little mind, however. He watched, wide-eyed, as a white steam started to collect around the shrinking wolf.


    "How unfortunate. ''Twould seem I hath run out of prayer," the wolf said. Their snout twisted and bubbled as if a living thing crawled beneath their skin.


    "What...?" Richard''s eyes darted between the wolf and the shattered doorway. Beneath the ever-present screams of the police, he thought he could hear another vehicle tearing down the apartment''s dirt road. "Oy!"


    He loosed a surprised shout as a blast of white smoke shot out of the wolf''s ear. Still more smoke seemed to blast out from each and every hole across the beast''s body.


    "It hath been too long since thy grain and drink offering, human." The wolf was invisible beneath the smoke.


    Richard wanted to laugh. She was disappearing. After everything that had happened, his bestial hallucination was abandoning him.


    "I hath used up too much energy. I cannot maintain this form." Richard heard a pair of car doors open and slam shut. The shouting outside softened for a brief moment. "Bah! Why didst thou dally in making a burnt offering, servant?!"


    The smoke filled most of the room. Richard could scarcely even see his hands, but for one brief moment, the churning white clouds parted to reveal...


    Richard''s heart caught in his throat as he stared into two very human eyes. They glowed a brilliant gold. The wolf had been replaced with a naked stranger, a beautiful woman with two impossibly large and furry ears atop her head.


    And then the smoke churned and the woman was hidden from sight.


    "Bah..." It was the wolf''s voice. It was the same voice he had heard so impossibly all of last night and this dreadful morning. "I suppose this form will hath to suffice for now."


    Slowly, the smoke cleared from the room. Richard had expected to see the same golden-eyed beauty from before, but a second stranger had appeared.


    "Dispatch Naalkaw''s servants and make an offering of their blood!" a fox-eared child said with a voice that did not match their undeveloped body. White hair covered her like a cloak, following behind her for several feet.


    Richard was not allowed to puzzle over the child''s sudden appearance, however.


    "POLICE! POLICE! POLICE!"


    Two men burst into the apartment. They did not have small pistols. The men wore helmets and carried enormous rifles.


    "STEP AWAY FROM THE CHILD! GET AWAY FROM THE CHILD!"


    "GET ON THE FLOOR! HANDS IN THE AIR!"


    "You worms will mind thy tone!" the fox-eared child said. Richard''s heart sank when he realized she was entirely naked.


    "Please!" Richard hissed as the fox-eared child took a step towards the police. "I''m begging you!"


    "DO YOU WANT TO DIE, PUNK!?"


    "HANDS! HANDS! SHOW US SOME HANDS!"


    "Hmmm?" The fox-eared child turned to Richard as fervent prayer filled his chest. He did not want to die like this. Everything was a mess, but if he... if he...


    "Don''t do anything!" Richard begged the impossible human-like creature.


    "STEP AWAY FROM THE GIRL, BROTHER! COME ON!"


    "Ahhhhh." The fox-eared child folded her tiny arms and nodded her tiny head. "I understand everything now. Very well! Prove thy worth, servant!"


    Richard had no idea what she meant, but he was saved from the need to wonder.


    A pain unlike any he had ever felt slammed into his ribs. It became difficult to breathe, and then another blossom of fire-like death rippled through his body.


    He crumpled onto the ground, and the fox-eared child burst into laughter. The noise sounded so horribly wrong coming from a child. While the wolf''s body had transformed, their voice remained the same as before.


    The world became a blur of noise and hurt as bodies fell on top of him. Police shouted in his ear, but all Richard could think about was the pain. Had he been shot? He had been shot. He had to have been shot. And now he was dying.


    The realization was like a bucket of ice over his head. He had become numb to the fear, but something about yesterday had shaken his resolve. An electric fear filled his body as the police continued to scream in his ear.


    "I don''t... want to die." The words were slow to come out. They disappeared under the riotous screams all around him, but the prayer was a rich beacon in his heart. "Please... I don''t want... to die."


    The police did not answer. It was unlikely that they could even hear him over their violent voices.


    But a familiar noise broke through the mayhem.


    Somehow he knew that his prayer had been heard as a heavy weight settled over his eyes.


    "Kyeeeh heh heh!"

 08: Police Interrogation and Detention

    08: Police Interrogation and Detention


    "But Richard Wright, huh? You wouldn''t happen to be related to those... Wright Brothers?"


    Richard smiled softly. His life was over. His life was over. The detective across from him alternated between jokes and threats, but Richard''s life was over.


    He had never been arrested before. He had never even given thought to what being arrested was like. He certainly had not expected it to be so boring.


    Richard had arrived at the police station several hours ago, and all he wanted was for the guillotine to finally fall on his throat. When he had first arrived, a kindly older woman had sat him down at a desk and asked him his name, his date of birth, his home address, his profession, the color of his socks. She had grilled him for every detail of his life, which had not amounted to much.


    A flash of light had sealed his fate as his mug shot was taken. It was really only then that he realized that his life was over. That photo would be entered into every police database in the nation. It would appear on the evening news. The shadow of this madness would follow him for the rest of whatever life he lived.


    He had been thrown into a small cell, but he had not even been given time to catch his breath. Before Richard could decide whether or not he should bash his head into the cement wall, a bald police officer from the apartment had dragged him into a small room. The same room he now sat in. Had been sitting for at least an hour.


    The portly detective across from Richard pursed his lips. The man had a good-natured face, and even this petulant expression seemed kindly. The man leaned forward, his eyes a window into his pearly white soul.


    "Richard. Richard, brother. I want to help you." Richard almost believed the man. The badge on his chest read Detective Thomas Tudor, and he seemed like a good and honest man. "This situation... None of this makes sense. You don''t seem like a bad guy, Richard. And nobody was hurt. You don''t know how important that is."


    Richard continued to smile softly. The detective''s last comment still confused him. Richard had certainly felt a bullet bite into his flesh. He had known the dread of death, and then he had woken on his back without so much as a scratch. Even the police officers had seemed confused, but the EMTs who later arrived verified that he was unharmed.


    Richard had been relieved then, but now he knew his life was over. He had been a nervous wreck when he had first entered the police station. He was ashamed of how terribly he had trembled, how he had tripped over his words.


    And then the camera flash. Bang. His mug shot. His doom. His life was over, and somehow that knowledge was comforting. He had stopped trembling. He did not stammer. He tried not to say anything at all.


    "What about the girl then?" Detective Thomas Tudor asked. His seat creaked as he shifted his weight. "We just want to get her home, Richard. Who is she? I have a daughter myself, Richard."


    Richard nodded his head as the detective continued to drone on and on. The man was so damn considerate and genuine. Richard almost told him everything. Richard almost told him something.


    But if he told the truth, Richard knew that he would end up in a psychiatric hospital.


    If he told lies, he would end up in prison.


    If he told them nothing at all, Richard would likely still end up in prison, but it may take a little longer to get there. And despite all the headaches of the day, the police station was heated. He had been given a can of root beer and a bag of potato chips. The good life!If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Richard sat, nodded, and smiled in that small room for what felt like several hours. Three separate detectives spoke with him, but the only thing he ever said was his name and address. After what felt like several hours, an exasperated Detective Thomas Tudor brought him back to his cell.


    And he was finally alone.


    Richard had never felt so alone. He stood numbly in the middle of the cell for a minute before he sat down on the steel frame of his new bed. An unhealthy laugh escaped his lips as he knocked on the bed. It rang out melodically.


    "My- " Richard began to speak, but then quickly shut his mouth. He was used to talking to himself, but this was not the time for that. He had to assume that the cell was monitored, that anything he said could and would be used against him.


    And so for the hundredth time that day, Richard accepted that his life was over.


    The same giddy emptiness from the night before filled his chest. It almost seemed hard to believe that only yesterday he had marched into the forest for his final birthday bash.


    He was not sure if the cell was soundproof, but he did not hear anyone or anything. He was alone. He was separated from the world. In the many hours of his interrogation and booking, he had wondered on the strangeness of the day. Everything had been real, but how much had been real? The wolf had become a child, and the police wanted to know her name. He had turned the situation over and over in his head.


    And so as he sat in his lonely cell, Richard''s thoughts turned instead to how this could have happened. Unemployed. Friendless. Aimless.


    He had gone to college. He had finished a bachelor''s degree in finance. He had even worked at an office for three years as a financial analyst. What a waste those three years had been. Perhaps that was where it had all started to fall apart.


    "Pa- " Richard clamped his mouth shut as the chastisement touched his lips. His face flickered with frustration at the little pity party he was throwing himself.


    He took a deep breath and shook away the thought. It did not matter how he had reached this point. A single fear had lurked beneath all of his worries since he had been thrown into the police cruiser.


    Because it had been several months since he had spoken to his family. He had cut off contact in preparation for his final birthday. He had wanted to dampen the impact as much as he could. He had not even wanted them to know.


    And he did not want them to know he had been arrested.


    Richard''s fingernails dug into his arms. The fear had been the tickling of a dozen centipedes. He did not want his family to know about the blood, about the woman. It was not embarrassment. It was not even shame. He simply did not want them to care. He did not want them to worry and fret, for them to fume and doom.


    Blood rolled down his arm, and he relaxed his grip. His eyes were ticklish, and he cursed the pity party he continued to throw. Before he realized it, his bloody hands were clasped together in prayer.


    "I don''t want to be here," Richard said softly. He did not want to be arrested. He did not want his mother or his father to pick up the phone and learn he had kidnapped a woman and a child.


    Emotion as rich as prayer filled his chest as he clenched his eyes shut. How much easier everything would have been if he had simply never left the woods.


    After a minute or two, Richard loosed a deep breath and looked up at the door to his cell. There was a tiny window, one large enough to perhaps slip a meal through. He saw a shape dart past its glass. And then another.


    Richard rose from his steel bed at the unusual flurry of movement. He drew closer to the window and looked outside. Noise reached him as a muffled whisper. The police that ran past him wore a mixture of panic and grim determination.


    His first thought was that some terrible accident had occurred. He thought of the police station as a hornet''s nest that had just been rattled.


    And then a uniformed body flew through the air and smashed into a wall. Richard blinked several times as the hurled officer stumbled back onto his feet.


    The muffled noise grew louder, and Richard could make out indistinct shouts. Several officers with guns and tasers and batons stumbled into view. It was as if they were being pushed back down the hallway by some invisible force. All of their faces were vivid portraits of confusion and fear.


    Richard blinked...


    ...and the fox-eared child appeared. He almost did not recognize her. No less than seven police officers pulled and wrestled with her arms, legs, and neck. The fox-eared child was unbothered.


    Her golden-eyed stare latched onto Richard, and he unconsciously took a step back from his cell door.


    "Servant!" the fox-eared child shouted so loudly that he heard it without difficulty.


    Seven police officers were dragged like infants as the fox-eared child marched effortlessly towards Richard''s cell. As she came into view, he saw two more chubby officers clutching her ankles. The fox-eared child dragged them without even breaking a sweat.


    "I hath heard thy prayer!" the fox-eared child shouted as she arrived outside his cell. An ear-to-ear grin ran across her face. "Let us return to my shrine!"