Peter Rumancek Imagines

The strange wolf

As you walked through the aisle of the store you glanced at the meat section. It made you think of the wolf that kept lurking around. It happens once a month. The black wolf would trot it's way into your garden. You weren't all that sure it wasn't just a big dog.

It seemed hungry so you tossed some meat out for it. Now it kept coming back.

Grabbing at one of the packets you tossed it in your basket and continued your way around the store. There was a large pillow that was on sale. Looking it over you nodded and decided to get it too.

It was a hassle to lug it home, squeezing onto a small bus seat with it and your shopping was a hassle. But when you got to settle it in the corner of your porch you smiled. There was a cold wind nipping around and you certainly weren't letting the animal inside just yet, dog or not.

Heading inside you started to pack the food away, glancing out of the window every now and then to see it it had turned up yet. It always seemed to appear around a full moon. A coincidence you assumed.

As the sun started setting you went out and left the meat out for the wolf. Positioning it so you could look out of your living room window and see it had turned up. Just as you were going inside it used its way through the undergrowth.

When you'd first moved in, the forest backing your house, creeped you out. It was never quiet and there wasn't a fence up to seperate your garden from the woods. Which was nice when all you had traipsing through was a curious deer or two.

"You're late." You joked. The wolf always arrived before it was fully dark. Now you were glad that you had turned the outdoor lights on. It growled at you, as if your joke hadn't amused it. "Well eat up." You said to it. The wolf tucked into the raw meat, making a mess of it. You watched it for a moment until it's unsettling eyes looked at you. Deciding not to push your luck you headed inside. Checking on the wolf was a habit by now. You'd peek out the window to see if it was still there. When you thought it was gone you realised, it had settled down on the bed you'd brought.

"Maybe now I'll stick around during the day and I can call a vet to see if it's alright." You muttered as you turned off the lights downstairs, planning to head to bed. You hesitated at the last switch, it was one for the smaller of the outside lights. Deciding to leave that one on, you went to bed.

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Leaving for work was often a rush, which was why when you rushed past you almost, almost, hadn't seen it. Freezing and turning back you saw a sleeping man curled up on the large dog bed. Looking around for the wolf you took a shaky breath.

On the one hand the temptation to find a shovel or a large branch and give the intruder a large whack was overwhelming. On the other, there was something uncomfortably familiar.

"What are you doing!" You yelped. Once the noise was out of your mouth you covered it was a quick swipe of your hand. You hadn't meant to shout at him. That had the advantage until you did that.

"I...I'm sorry!" A confused voice blundered out as the man scrambled to his feet, using teh dog bed to cover himself. "I... must have taken a nap and not... woken up in time. The change is pretty tiring." He muttered the last part to himself.

"Why would you take a nap on a dog bed! What did you do to the wolf?"
"Wolf?"

"Yes, my wolf that visits me. Where is he! You better not have scared him off that poor thing is always hungry!" You shouted.

The man looked less nervous now, more amused. Which irritated you. "I didn't scare him off. He's fine."

"How do you know that?" You snapped and glared at him.

"I just... do. I'm Peter by the way." He introduced, he stuck out a hand for you to shake. You stayed at the foot of the porch steps, not daring to get any closer than you had to.

"I don't care who you are!" You said quickly. Glancing at your watch you realised that you would be late. "You better get out of here!"

The house was locked up tight and in a small town like Hemlock Grove you were sure if you left him on your porch and he broke in, a description of the man and his tattoos,paired with his name, would definitely flag him up. Though you got the idea that he didn't want to intrude.

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When you returned from work Peter was still on the porch. He had a pair of boxers on this time which was a lot better than that morning. But you'd hoped he would be long gone. "What do you want?" You asked wearily and fixed him with a hard stare. At least, as hard a stare as you could muster, it must have been very intimidating as he smiled at you and leant on the railing of your porch as if he owned the place.

"I wanted to know more about your wolf."

"Why?"

"Well. If I did scare him off maybe I can point him the way home."

"Well he's not really mine. He's been coming here to my garden for a few months." You started to explain. He walked down the porch steps, watching you eye him wearily, and passed you leaning against one of the forest trees that bordered your garden. Taking the advantage you moved up to your porch and fiddled in your pocket for the key to the front door.

"You let him in the house?"

"No. It might be sick. I didn't think wolves normally come up close to people in the wild... at least not homes."

"You'd be surprised. You got a bed for it?"
"I did. It's cold and like I said he's been coming by for a few months and he isn't half ravenous when he does crop up. He mustn't be any good at hunting."

"Why would you say that?" Peter replied. He turned to look at you, offence dancing gently across his face for a moment.

"Well I give him food sometimes. Just some table scraps at first, but now he'll each big packs of meat. I've gone and looked for him before but I couldn't find him. He must live nearby."

"I'm sure he does. You should probably stop feeding him though. Might forget how to hunt all together. The bed was a bad idea, you'll domesticate it, never get rid of the creature."

"That poor thing would sit right outside my door and whine all night! I could open the door and it would be sat like it was waiting for something. Excuse me if I want to make it's life a little easier and besides, the vet said they can only catch it in the day and asked if I minded making it more comfortable."

"Vet." He said darkly, turning away from you now.

"Yes. They said they can deal with wildlife and what I described was unusual. They wanted to see if it was alright." You snapped.

Instead of an answer there was a sharp crack. It echoed around your garden making you jump. What happened next was close to horrifying. You watched as the man doubled over, skin tearing and bones cracking. You wanted to rush inside, slam the door and call for help but you were glued to the spot, unable to look away.

Once it was over your wolf stood where Peter had. Heart pounding, eyes wide, you stared at the wolf who looked at you. It started eating the flesh around it and then you had to double over and puke.

As you gather your bearings the wolf trotted over, sniffed around you for food and seemed to huff when you didn't offer any. You backed away from it as quickly as you could and rushed inside. That night you kept all the lights on, waiting up all night for it to get light. Early in the morning you hear a groan. A very human groan that was different from all the familiar noises of the forest.

"Wolf girl. We should talk!" Came a gentle call as Peter knocked on the door. You felt like you couldn't breath, couldn't move. There was no way what you'd seen could be real, and yet. There he was, when you glanced out of the bedroom window, there was Peter knocking at the door, pleading to explain. Deciding to stay home, inside and safe from Peter you fumbled for your phone and rang in sick to work. Hopefully he'd be deterred and go away.