The Demon Wolf - Chapter 14：Never Go Outside at Night

Driving out of town and entering the woods Red finds herself looking at something other than the woods for once. She pondered if Gerald could be the Demon Wolf, and if he was, why did he attack her and Granny? His body was so badly injured, and his pale skin, he almost looked like a ghost if it weren’t for his eyes. Red like the fresh blood she had seen drip from the jaws of the beast.

“Red,” Jerard says, turning her attention away from the town, “Do you remember the tale of the Demon Wolf, the one Granny told you?”

“Yeah,” She replies, looking up at his focused, yet troubled expression. As he talks he keeps his eyes on the road ahead of him, not even so much as glancing at her.

“Always keep that story in the back of your mind. Never, leave the house at night or go into the woods alone, alright?”

“Of course,”

“For whatever reason if you find yourself in either of those situations…never, ever, talk to it, or anything else you don’t know that my might encounter,” He says in a cold and serious tone, “You understand?” He asks as he finally glances at her with look she’d never seen before from him. It was as cold and serious as his voice, a steely gaze that demanded complete focus. It was almost scary seeing that look in his eyes.

“Y-yes,” She replied, surprised by his expression. Jerard quickly noticed this, looking away from and back at the road. The rest of the drive back was quiet with the radio being the only source of sound. To Red’s relief she saw nothing out of the ordinary in the woods the rest of the way. After having lunch they spent the rest of the day planting the four plants into the planter boxes, one in each box. The surprising amount of effort it took helped keep their minds off what they saw earlier, but it still sat in the back’s of their minds.

…

As the day was coming to an end Pierre was at his desk once more. The officer that had gone to Billy’s store found nothing out of the ordinary, but got a copy of the tapes from the security cameras. Pierre had just put the disk into his computer and started skipping through it trying to find the time where Red and Jerard arrived. He finally finds it, but skips over part of it and quickly rewinds it, putting it to normal speed at the time Red and Jerard walk up to Billy. He closely watches how things go through the slightly fuzzy eyes of the cameras.

Jerard turns to Red before turning back to Billy and she heads off on her own to the back part. Switching camera views he gets a side, angled-down, view of the room. Red walks to the left side of the screen where a lot of plants are. Everything seems perfectly normal, until Red turns around a bit and looks around as if someone might be coming. But no one does. Shortly after the wheels of a cart appear on the right side of the screen with feet pushing it along.

Pierre pauses the video and rewinds it. Pierre changes cameras to one that’s facing the entrance to the back room. Red turns around long before the person pushing the cart comes into reasonable distance for her to hear them. Whatever got her attention, it couldn’t have been the person with the cart, there was too much time between those. He changes back to the previous camera, keeping an eye in the area Red had turned to as it plays the scene once more. Nothing.

He rewinds it again. His face mere inches from the screen, he sees the slightest movement on some leaves like something brushed up against them. They’re pushed towards Red, whatever had moved them was going to her. Jerard said he also saw him.

He continues watching, seeing someone else go into the room. Red moves away. The person picks up a plant she had been in front off and walks out of the room. Jerard soon comes. They pick some plants and leave the room. Changing cameras to one showing the entrance of the back room, he watches them walk out of view to the left. He scrolls through the different cameras, trying to find one that’ll show them.

In the camera right before the one that shows the aisle they stopped at, he sees mostly static. He quickly pauses the tape and see Red looking off to the left, wide-eyed in shock. This must be the moment. He goes back to the other camera and it’s mostly static, the video barely visible between all the distorted lines of white and grey. He’s barely able to make out a large figure wearing something red and black.

He plays the video and barely manages to make out the figure walk to the end of the aisle and turn. Then for some time there’s no movement. The figure than walks back into the aisle and the static disappears, along with the figure. He changes the camera back to Red and Jerard’s aisle and rewinds. He watches as Jerard heads down the aisle and Red stops, staring to the left.

Jerard takes notice and walks over to her, only to do the same thing as her. They stand there for some time and then head back down the aisle, visibly disturbed. Watching the rest nothing else happens. Pierre starts scrolling through every camera that shows the aisle the figure had been and they’re all static as well.

…

Finishing dinner, Red heads upstairs to take a shower as Jerard washes the dishes. As he’s cleaning he finds himself glancing out the window to his right into the woods. He takes a deep breath as he tries to focus back on the doing the dishes. He has stop himself though when he realizes how hard he’s holding the sponge against a plate, almost cracking it. Unable to shake the sight of Gerald out of his mind, he opens one of the top cupboards and pulls out a bottle of beer. He chugs it, slamming the bottle down on the counter with a hard thud, placing a hand over his head

“You’re, not, getting into my head again…” He mutters to himself with heavy breaths. He starts breathing slower to try and calm himself.

Drying off and changing into pajamas Red crawls under the sheets of her bed as she once more fights to fall asleep.

…

“…Red…”

She wakes up to the faintest voice calling her name. As she sits up in her bed she feels a haunting chill in the air. She turns the lamp and looks around her room, half expecting to see someone in their with her, but she’s alone. She can’t shake the feeling of being watched, and knowing she won’t be able to sleep by herself to she gets up, hoping she can make herself a bed in dad’s room for the night.

As she stands in front of her door, she braces herself for the approaching darkness. Turning the knob slowly she eases the door open, trying not to disturb the silence of the night. As she exits her room the empty living room down below seems so far down below, and without seeming inviting in the slightest. As she starts to tip-toe to her dad’s bedroom door she sees movement down in the kitchen.

“…Dad..?” She loudly whispers. No response. She makes her way to the stairs and calls out once more. The only response is the sound of the back sliding doors opening. She makes her way down the stairs and sees a faint figure outside. The moonlight barely shows her the red and black clothing on them. She heads back upstairs and changes into some warmer clothes, grabs her phone, and hurries to the backdoor.

“Never, leave the house at night or go into the woods alone,” Her father’s voice rang in her ears. He was so keen about it, yet here he was doing exactly what he told her not to. She has her phone for a flashlight, and he said all she has to do is not talk to anyone or anything she doesn’t know if she had done either one. After a deep breath she makes her choice.

Stepping outside the faintest chirping of bugs and birds can be heard from the forest. Red looks in the direction her dad had gone and can barely see him. Turning on the flashlight on her phone she makes her way into the woods. The trees soon block the moonlight making her phone being the only source of light in the surrounding darkness. As she’s walking further into the woods the feeling of being watched grows stronger, its practically sitting on her shoulders.

She stops walking when she sees a figure approaching. Before she can get a clear view, something grabs her shoulder.