Episode 3

"Look, I can explain," the man says.

"Naked!" I say, my voice sounding higher than I'd like.

"Do you have any clothes, any cloth?"

"Oh my god, you're naked!" I feel ashamed for having seen something so intimate and invasive without warning. My eyes burned with embarrassment, even though I couldn't see him.

My heart pounded in my chest, and I desperately wanted it all to be just a weird dream that I could wake up from at any moment.

"I'm trying not to be..." he mutters.

I turn around and face away, taking off my coat and then holding out my arm without looking at him, and he takes the coat.

"What the hell are you and where's the wolf?" I ask.

I hear the rustling of my jacket's synthetic fabric.

"I... I am the wolf," he says calmly.

So calm that I wonder if I had heard correctly.

I turn to him.

"How- Oh my god you're-" I cover my eyes again.... He wasn't completely naked now... the jacket was covering his... parts...

But he still had his chest and abdomen exposed...

Without realizing it, I open my fingers just a little and allow myself to look a little....

Heavens....

The guy was built like a tank....

But what catches my attention is his arm.... It's bleeding...

"Your arm.... I'll get you something to wear," I say a little desperately, getting out of there and running into the house.

I grab some of my father's clothes from the closet and a pair of boots, he would need them to go to I don't know where, but he certainly wasn't staying here...

I go to the garage and open the door but don't go in.

I just put my arm in with the clothes and shoes, and then I see his hands take them.

"When you're dressed, come out and come inside, I'm going to bandage your arm before you go..." I say and leave, going into the house.

I get my first aid kit and put it on the table and then I wait...

A while later I hear the door open and hear hesitant footsteps.

"I'm in the kitchen," I say loud enough for him to hear.

A short while later he appears at the kitchen entrance holding my coat.

I avert my gaze, clearly embarrassed.

"Your... coat," he says, holding out the coat.

I take the coat, pinching it with my fingers and placing it on the chair beside me.

"You can leave it, I'll burn it...." I murmur.

"I know this must-"

"It's best if I take care of your arm first.... The bandage came undone and you're bleeding..." I say. "Sit down..." I say and he does. "Put your arm on the towel...."

Looking at the wound like that, on human skin, the cut looked even worse.... it wasn't bleeding as much, but it was still bad....

I carefully lift his arm.... He winces in pain.

"It doesn't look broken.... You're lucky, because if it was the clawless trap your arm would be in pieces," I murmur, placing his arm back on the towel.

I dab it with iodine and soon after I'm stitching it up.

He hisses and groans in pain, but I continue the procedure.

"If you stay still it will be easier for me to finish," I say.

"I'm trying..." he says through gritted teeth, his face contorted in pain.

After stitching him up, I clean his wound and bandage it.

"There..." I murmur. "Now.... what the hell happened in my garage? What's this story about you being the wolf?" I ask.

The man, or rather, the transformed wolf, takes a deep breath before speaking.

"I know this is hard to understand," he begins, his voice laden with sincerity. "But I am that wolf you found caught in the trap.... I... I'm sorry, it's difficult to explain this to a normal person..."

He sighs as if he feels the weight of my bewilderment.

"It's a long story," he admitted, seeming to choose his words carefully. "But what you need to know now is that I am human, just like you, but with the ability to transform into a wolf when necessary... my genetics are the result of a scientific experiment that gives me this possibility..."

I swallow hard, trying to assimilate this extraordinary information....

"What were you doing out in the woods?" I ask. "Looking for Little Red Riding Hood?"

He rolls his eyes slightly, visibly tired.

"I was with a group... I saw that danger was approaching and I ran to distract the other wolves, giving the group a chance to escape safely... The rest was entirely your fault."

"My... my fault?" I say in disbelief.

"Yes.... you are a hunter.... and my paw got caught in your trap," he says.

"That's not my trap.... I don't use those kinds of traps because they torture the animal... You're right I hunt, but only with a bow and rifle...." I stand up, taking a deep breath. "Do you live far from here?"

"A little."

"Hmm... well, I'm going to make us something to eat.... soup, that is, because I left my meat stock behind to save you, so no protein today," I murmur.

As I'm bustling around the kitchen I feel his gaze on me.

"You... seem to be taking it all in stride..." he says.

"Uh-huh.... that's because you're not real...." I turn to him. "At some point in this crazy dream I'm going to wake up and see that none of this happened, and I'm going to be waking up to hunt a 75-kilo deer."

Then I turn around and go back to getting things ready to make the soup.

I wash the vegetables and start chopping them.

"Do you live alone?"

"Uh-huh..." I reply.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you live alone?"

"Because my family is dead.... What else do you want to know? My age? Astrological sign? Favorite color?" I scoff.

"No... I just... it's strange, a normal person living alone in the middle of nowhere... I've never seen this house before, let alone knew anyone lived around here...."

I stop chopping and rest my hands on the counter.

This can't be happening...

It can't....

I take a deep breath and go back to preparing things.

After putting everything in the pot I go to the fireplace and light a fire....

I rub my arms, trying to warm up...

I grab a coat for myself and grab my dad's jacket and hand it to him.

"Put it on, you'll freeze..."

"Thank you...." he mutters.

As soon as it's ready I make our plates and set them on the table in front of him.

We eat in silence... at least I expected him to just eat quietly.

"Why did you save me?" he asks.

I take a deep breath.

"Would you prefer that I had left you there?" I reply.

"You're more polite when you're talking to an animal than a human...." he mutters.

I eat a little more in silence.

"I don't know... I just didn't think it was right to leave the wolf there suffering... I don't think those traps are right... And if I find out who put them there, I'll make a point of trapping their arm in it myself," I murmur, going back to my food.

Is it ironic that I hunt and don't like that?

Very much so.

It's just that my father always taught me to never let animals suffer... so whenever we went hunting, we did it in a way that the animal wouldn't agonize... a quick end.

So much so that on large animals I always used the rifle...

Now who's doing this?

Who's hunting on my land?

In these five years I've never even seen a living soul....

"Would you like some more?" I ask when I see that he's finished.

He nods a little sheepishly.

I get up, take his plate and put some more on, and hand it to him.

"Go on..." I say.

While we were there, sharing the meal, I took a good look at him.

He had a neatly trimmed beard and dark, slightly wavy hair. His brown eyes, so different from the blue intensity of the wolf's eyes, conveyed a mixture of calmness and mystery. His features were very masculine and somewhat rugged, like someone used to living in the woods. And his fair skin completed the picture....

Well.... I couldn't deny the guy was handsome.... And ripped....

He looks at me, realizes I'm looking at him and I quickly avert my gaze to my soup.

"When you leave, for the land of my subconscious, try not to turn into a werewolf, or your stitches will burst," I say.

"And how am I going to get home?"

"That's no longer my problem..." I say, shrugging, feigning indifference.

There is a moment of tense silence between us.

Finally, he looks at me with an expression of calmness mixed with a bit of resentment.

"I understand," he murmurs, his voice softening.

I force a fake smile.

"You don't need to thank me. Just... take care." I murmur.

After eating, he gets up.

"Well... I need to go before dark.... Thank you for everything you've done for me. I'll never forget it," he says, and I nod.

He seems reluctant to go, but soon turns and walks out of the kitchen.

Moments later, I hear the door close....

I push my plate away and rest my head on the table.

"What the hell was that?...." I mutter, trying to make sense of everything that's happened so far. "This is a dream, isn't it?... No.... it's not.... But what...."

I lift my head and look at his plate....

"No.... you're not going to do that, you can just stay put...." I tell myself.

I get up and wash the dishes.

After that I go to the garage to clean up the mess...

As soon as I open the door I see the food spilled on the floor with the bowl and blood in the middle of the garage...

I clean everything up and then I stand there looking at where I just cleaned the blood.

"No.... You're not..." I say firmly. "God, I hate you..."

I go inside, put out the fireplace and grab two beanies.

I spot one and put the other one in my pocket.

I leave the house and head for the four-wheeler, get on and drive down to the lower ground....

I drive for a good distance until I find him walking.

As soon as he hears the noise he turns towards me.

I stop beside him, put my hand in my pocket and hand him the beanie.

"Get on.... I'll take you home.... I don't want to be responsible if you die in the woods..." I say.

He looks at me with surprise, his eyes reflecting the gratitude he couldn't express in words. With a silent nod, he accepts my offer and climbs in behind me.

"Which way is your house?" I ask.

"Just keep going southeast and you'll get there," he says.

"Hold on tight..."

He holds onto the strap on the back of the seat, and then I take off.

We drive for a while in silence, until I spot what appears to be a small town.

My eyebrow furrows....

It was a walled town and everything.... like a village.

"You can stop here," I hear him say, and I slow down and stop.

He gets off, takes off the beanie and holds it out to me.

"Keep it..." I say.

He reluctantly lowers his arm....

"Thank you again." He says and I just nod, accelerate a little, turn around and leave.

I'm not going to prolong this, let alone try to talk to him....

I'm not going to lie... I was completely intrigued by the fact that there was a village around here and I had never seen it.... It was about 30 minutes from my house....

On foot it would take much longer... he would freeze to death on the way....

Why have I never been here?

Let's just say I have my reasons for not straying too far from home...

Fear... trauma...

The forest can be very dangerous when it wants to be.

I realize the sun has already set and I get home just as it gets dark.

I put the four-wheeler away and go inside.

I take a shower, eat something and go up to my room.

I light the fireplace and lie down....

My bed was practically next to the window so I could see what was going on outside.

I lie there looking at the stars, replaying the scene over and over again...

The embarrassment is the same when I remember myself walking into the garage and seeing the guy....

I rub my face as if that would erase the memories from my mind...

Not that they were bad memories, let's face it...

But it was so embarrassing...

I never imagined that the first time I would see a guy like that would be in my garage because he was a wolf....

God, the guy was a wolf....

I knew that wolf wasn't normal.....

I try every position to sleep in, but it seems like none of them can make me fall asleep....

Days go by and I practically go out hunting every day and come home with nothing....

I left my damn hunt to save that werewolf and now I can't catch anything else...

The only thing I'm going to catch is a cold...

At night, after turning off the lights, I go to bed....

My house had solar panels...

Which provided me with the basics, like hot showers, a working refrigerator and lights in the house without the need for a lamp...

I lie down and it's not long before I fall asleep...

But at night I wake up with a feeling of being watched....

I sit up in bed and look around...

Nothing...

Then I look at the window....

Those eyes...

It was the only thing that shone in the darkness...

Those same bright blue eyes....

What the hell is he doing here?

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