The Man-Wolf
It was a fall afternoon as Amy and Kevin were walking home from school. Every day they would pass the same old, abandoned house, and they never had the nerve to go inside, until that one October afternoon. Amy didn’t have to be home till six so they decided they were going to go inside just to have a look around. All the neighborhood kids always said it was haunted and that there was a wild creature living behind those two large, broken, doors. They called the creature, the man-wolf; because one kid said that he saw a large dog-like wolf coming out of the house one Halloween night. He started to walk towards it because he thought it was his neighbors missing malamute. The man-wolf turned around, and in the light of the moon the boy could see the face of a man, on the head of this great beast. Amy and Kevin were older then all the other kids on the block so they thought that the “creature” living in that dreary, old, house was probably just another wild dog. As they are walking up to the house all the neighborhood kids came out to watch just incase something was to happen, that they could add to this ancient folk tale. Kevin walks ahead of Amy, and goes straight for the door. As he looks through the dusty, dark, window, all he can see is blackness. He takes his flashlight out of his backpack and shines it through the window. In the house he can see an old piano, a large couch and an old grandfather clock, but no creature. He slowly and steadily opens the large, heavy doors, and peers inside. He doesn’t see a thing, so he motions for Amy that the coast is clear and she can precede up the sidewalk, and towards the door. Once they are both inside he tells Amy to wait by the door. It was very dark and dusty in the house and they could hardly see a thing without the light from the windows and the small flashlight that Kevin brought. He starts to walk further into the house and Amy follows close behind, looking in every, which direction to make sure the creature is no where to be found. As they walk into the kitchen Amy hears a noise behind her, she quickly spins around to see a rat scurrying across the dining room floor. She calms down, re-collects herself and follows Kevin into the living room. In the living room, there is an old desk in the corner and a large bookshelf filled with old books. Amy walks to the shelves to get a closer look. On the first shelf, at eye level she sees a large black book, the book is titled, “The Ways of the Dead.” She motions for Kevin to come over there and look at the book. He walks over, picks it up and sets it down on the desk. As he places it down it flies open and the pages start turning. It stops on page 666. On the top of the page it says “The half man half wolf.” They begin to read the ancient folk tale about this half man half wolf creature. The book says that every sixth night, of every month there is a full moon, with this full moon comes the man-wolf out in search for a host body for its spirit to live on. Amy looks up at Kevin as he looks out the window. That night there was a full moon. Amy flips open her cell phone to check the date, it’s October 6th, the sixth night of the month. This puts Amy in a panic. She starts to cry and runs over to Kevin who is also very frightened, but he is trying to act cool and collected for Amy. Kevin Says, “Amy calm down. It’s ok! It’s just another one of those crazy folk tales that people write about when they are board. There’s nothing to worry about.” Amy looks at him, eyes full of tears and says, “Kevin this isn’t just one of those little journals that teenagers write in, this is a huge book called ‘The Ways of the Dead,’ this is real, this isn’t fake. If it was then why did the pages just start turning and land on this page, on this day? There isn’t even any wind to cause the pages to move, none of the windows or doors are open.” Kevin looks at her, holds her hand, and starts to walk into the other room. All of a sudden there is a huge thump coming from the up stairs. Kevin looks at Amy as if to ask if she wants him to go first. She stands there for a second and starts to walk up the creaky stairs. When they get to the top of the stair case they look around to make sure there’s nothing up there. They look to there left and at that moment a door closes. Kevin whispers to Amy, “Stay here, don’t move. I’m going to go check this one out myself, just incase.” He grabs his backpack off his back, pulls out another flashlight, and hands it to Amy. As he starts to walk away he says, “Make sure you stay here and don’t leave unless I tell you that it’s ok to. If anything happens, or I don’t come back in five minutes, then just leave me and get out of here. Ok? Can I trust that you’ll do that for me?” Amy looks at him in shock, and just shakes her head, “Don’t leave me here by myself, I’m scared Kevin, I can’t stay here by myself. I have to come with you. Don’t go without me,” she says wearily. He just stares at her for a moment, gives her a hug, and says, “Amy you will be fine, just stay here, and if I say run, then run like crazy. Don’t wait for me, and don’t come looking for me. I’ll be fine. Just get out ok.” He walks away glances back and sees her with her eyes full of tears. Kevin feels so bad for leaving her, but he believes in this old tale to and doesn’t want her to get hurt if that thing that closed the door is really the man-wolf. He walks over to the door and slowly opens it, his heart is pounding and so is hers, as she watches her boyfriend slowly go into the room, and thinking that may be the last time she ever sees him. He walks in and notices the window in the room is wide open. The room is completely empty, and there is nothing in there except a small envelope on the floor. He picks it up and reads the address; it’s addressed to the very house that he is in. He slowly opens the envelope and peers inside. There is a very long letter, it addressed to a woman by the name of Meredith J. Caldiva. He begins to read it.
“Dear Meredith,
I know that you will understand that I cannot stay here any longer. I am going to England, there is a home there for people like me. They have offered to take me in and care for me, and keep me away from the light of the moon. I cannot stay here because I am afraid that I will harm you, and I can’t risk it. I am very sorry and I want you to know that I love you very much. I will always remember the day we first met, October 6th, 1944. It was in front of this very house, I will never forget all the great memories we shared. To celebrate our love I will come back on the 6th of every month just to see you for as long as I shall live. Please remember me and never let our love and our memories go. I will love you always and forever my dear Meredith.
Love always,
Vincent V. Van Dolf, the man-wolf”
He is amazed, the creature that everyone has been so afraid of, is just a man in love, who comes back on the anniversary of the day he met his one true love. He walks out of the room and walks over to Amy, gives her a hug and kisses her on the cheek. He holds her hand and hands her the letter. Amy is completely confused and does not know what’s going on. She reads the letter and begins to cry. Together they walk back into the room place the letter on the floor and leave the house. They never go back there again. Well at least not for another six years. Amy and Kevin get married, buy the old abandoned house and move into it, they live there their entire lives, and never, ever forget the night they realized that this was a sign, they would be together forever.
