Of Wolves and Potions: A Short Story

T W O: Loneliness and surprises

The next morning I woke up to the feeling of someone staring at me. Big black eyes were piercing through me, and warm breath brushing over my face. I had a monumental headache, and the sudden memories of me emptying a bottle of wine on little to no food came rushing back to me.

'Oh fuck... That was embarrassing...' I put the covers over my head, only to feel a muzzle pulling it back off.

"I'm sorry about last night... Did I hurt your shoulder?", I said apologetically. The wolf shook his head, and started pushing me with his nose to get off the bed. "Hey! Hey! Stop, what are you doing?" I tried to swat him away with my hands, but he was stronger than me and I fell from the bed with a loud thump.

"What the fuck, just because you're bored doesn't mean you have to kick me out of bed! My head hurts, and I'm having second hand embarrassment for whatever I said last night..."

To my frustration, the wolf tilted his head in response, raising an eyebrow and making it look like he was mocking me.

'This is the last time I help a stranger I swear...', I thought while rubbing my temples.

"Ok, ok I'm up. What do you want?", I said annoyed at him while standing up from the floor and untangling myself from the covers.

He grabbed my arm softly in between his front teeth, leading me out of the room. Having part of my body that close to his sharp fangs made my breath hitch for a second, but I wanted to trust him. He hadn't been a threat to me during this time, making all the horror stories I've heard about werewolves a lie, at least with this one. I guess the same thing could be said about witches. There's bad and good people in all communities I suppose.

He led me into the kitchen, and pushed me towards the sink with his head against my back. I looked back at him quizzically, and figuring I didn't understand what he wanted he started pointing towards the tap.

"Oh, water?"

The wolf nodded. After debating on serving him a glass or a bowl of water, I decided to use the latter and set it on the floor. He didn't drink though, pushing me slightly against the sink again.

"Do you want me to drink water?", I asked, confused. He nodded again, wagging his tail at me and pushing some of my stones and crystals off the table behind him. I sighed, looking at the mess.

'He's taking care of me now, how the tables turn...'

I served myself a big glass of water, and sat on the floor beside the water bowl I set for him. We both drank in silence, him making a mess on the floor that I knew I was going to have to clean later.

"Ok, let's go check on your shoulder, I wanna make sure I didn't tore it open again last night. Besides, I need to change the bandages". I stood up, walking over to my potion cabinet to get a dark red bottle and grabbed a few clean bandages. When I came back he was already lying on the floor getting cozy in front of the fire.

I started removing the bandages, noticing that the wound was almost closed. I decided to clean it thoroughly and leave it without covering it. Superficial wounds heal better that way. I also realized that the wolf didn't need to stay with me anymore, the healing potions had done their trick and he could get on his way. He was also probably hungry too, he hadn't eaten anything in two days.

"Well, you're done, you don't need any more bandages. You can stay the night today if you want and get on your way tomorrow early in the morning", I said, to which he looked up at me and nodded slightly. "You're going to change into a human soon right, in a couple of nights?", I asked curiously.

He didn't reply, and instead just stood up and went over to the front door glancing back at me intently. I would be kidding myself if I said I didn't enjoy his company, even if I spent the time mostly speaking to myself, his little expressions and quirks made me feel less alone. I hadn't realized how lonely I felt after all these years in solitary until he came along.