The Macabre Wolf…

Gretta’s nightgown was splattered with dust and dirt with brown blood at the end of her dress from when she fell down the stairs ages ago. Hans’ pajama pants were stained with grime and muck from playing in the backyard one morning, too excited to change clothes for it was his birthday. Their father was mad about that. He refused to do laundry and Gretta never got around to cleaning in a long while, as she had to take care of Hans.

They ventured into their backyard garden, their socks filled with enough holes to give anyone with trypophobia a stroke. They stepped on small twigs and pebbles, the odd shapes and materials of the earth hurting their feet until they made it to the forest lining. Holding each other’s hands tightly, they walked in, immediately feeling splinters hit the soles of their feet. As they walked through the darkness, they tripped over roots and large sharp rocks that hurt their ankles, toes, and bent and broke the nails on their feet when they accidentally kicked them.

They lost track of time as they kept moving but stopped by something that had a horrid smell. A pit lay in front of them. It was the source of the foul odor. The siblings held hands tighter as they stepped forward to look into the pit. As they crept closer and leaned in to look, something large and beastly could be heard inside.

It wasn’t until they were at the edge of the pit that they could see what was inside: a wolf, a wolf that could be larger than a car and meaner than the monster in the house. Its ribs popped out of place and lay on the outside of its skin and fur, its stomach flattened to the near bone, the base of its tail held together by muscle and skin. But its face was the most horrid. Where its face should have been–the snout, the eyes and the nose, laid a cracked skull bigger than its own head as it wrapped around its face like a parasite. The children doubted it even had a lower jaw, as grime and chunks of fluid dripped from the bottom of its boney maw.

The children tried not to scream at the horror they witnessed, but a monster like that truly must rival the one in their house. Gretta had chosen to take the risk, no matter how unsettling or revolting such a creature she dared to call a ‘wolf’ was. It couldn’t be any meaner than the monster in their house.

“Excuse me, Macabre Wolf. Could I trouble you with a request,” she spoke, but the wolf did not answer. “There is a monster in our house. Can you remove it for us? We are too terrified to return. It haunts us in our sleep. We believe a creature like you can defeat it,” she continued.

The wolf attempted to breathe in. Raspy and eerie noises could be heard from the canid shaped skull as it filled its lungs. “Return home, the monster will die, be there before sunrise and you will soon sleep tight.”

The children were confused at the Macabre Wolf’s command but dared not to question it. Gretta and Hans made their way to the old house, where the roaches live and the termites feast, where the maggots are born in the stairs and the millipedes cluster up their wet laundry.

Through the untamed roots of the tall trees and large sharp stones, they wandered back home scratching up their feet once again as they moved, their clothes being caught in the briars, causing fresh blood to paint their clothes. They felt lost and forgotten, but the Macabre Wolf said he’d help—so they pushed on to find their way home. After what felt like an eternity of walking through the horrendous forest, the brother and sister finally recognized their backyard, the one full of pebbles and small stone, the carvings they made in the tree with their dad’s hunting knife.

They ran up to the back porch, hoping to see someone, anyone awaiting them—to welcome their return, but what sat on their porch was not human. The Macabre Wolf lay on the porch, its skull now stained with a substance that stained the children’s nightwear, and a girl sat beside it in a cloak that was a deep red.

“Who are you,” Hans asked, pointing to the stranger who hung their head low.

“You do not need to know my name. Call me by my attire” she claimed as she and the Macabre Wolf stood up.

“You asked we slay a monster, and we answered your plea, but such work does not come without payment,” the Macabre Wolf stated.

“What is it you want from us? Our shoes have holes and our house has bugs. The laundry has millipedes and there are white worms in our stairs,” the siblings remarked. “There is not much for us to offer you, for we have nothing,” Hans shared with the Wolf and the Red Hood Girl.