I woke up in a cold sweat. It felt like I had been sleeping for days. I couldn’t recall the night or how I had gotten here. Last I remember, Kyle and I were out with friends, having a great time. We had gone out for drinks at a friend’s birthday party. After having a drinking competition with the birthday girl, I remember feeling sick and telling everyone I’d walk myself home. Kyle offered to walk with me after a couple more shots and I couldn’t recall anything after that.
Suddenly I realized I was covered in dirt and blood, a lot of which was my own. Something wasn’t right. I sat up and saw I was in my backyard. It was still dark out but the moon lit up the lawn. I could hear a faint noise coming from inside the house. I stood up and headed towards the patio door, noticing it was ajar, the wind blowing the curtains around. As I entered the house, I struggled to find the lights. When I found them, they didn’t work. The power was out. The noise was a lot more audible inside. Somehow I knew it was Kyle… and I began to search for him, managing to make it to our bedroom without walking into anything. The bed was empty, he wasn’t here. As I stood at the foot of our unmade bed, I could see a trail of blood leading into the hallway.
It was so dark. The boards creaked as I crept towards the basement. The whimpering was louder…he was down there. I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest. Inexplicably, the lyrics to an Eminem song started playing in my head; “palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy…” I definitely could not let myself vomit already. As I stood in front of the door trying to motivate myself, I forced myself to take a deep breath and found some courage. I was going down.
It was even darker in the basement. The sound of whimpering was coming from the laundry area at the back. I smelt death in the air, and knew I needed to find Kyle. The room was an obstacle course of boxes and furniture, making it difficult to maneuver around. After what resembled a spectacular dance performance, I made it on the other side… I could hear Kyle’s shallow breathing to my right. I stumbled on something and crashed right in front of him.
There was blood everywhere, on and around him, and he was dying. It looked like he had been attacked. I remembered seeing this before, it was savage. His mangled body lay almost lifeless on the ground. Kyle mumbled something inaudible, all I could hear was ‘wolf.’ Was he trying to tell me what happened? I scurried over and grabbed him. I hugged him as his body tensed up, I could sense the panic. “A wolf did this to us?!” He pushed me away with the remaining strength he had left. With an intense stare, he let out his final words. “You did this.”
Author Notes: Editor: James Armes
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Canada • 32 years old