5 The Demon Wolf

"Demon wolf?" Red ask, "Why, that?"

"Well, cause it ain't no ordinary wolf. It's believed to have come from the depths of hell itself, and said to have crimson red eyes and be about six feet tall,"

"Whoa..." Red stares off into the woods as something catchers her thoughts. Jerard takes notice of her sudden silence.

"Hey, you alright? I hope what I said didn't scare you,"

"No," She replies turning back to him, "Well...kind of..."

"Kind of?"

"Um...a couple days ago, I saw...something outside the house when I was in the kitchen,"

"Hmm, was it a bear?"

"Um, I don't think so, it went up on two legs,"

"Bears can stand on their hind legs,"

"Yeah, but this one walked, quickly, almost running on two legs. Can bears do that?"

"Not that I know of,"

"Do you think, it might have been the demon wolf?"

"Honey, I've seen all kinds of things in the woods, but I've never seen the demon wolf. It's nothing more than a myth. And plus, if it was the demon wolf, you would have seen it's eyes which are said to glow in the dark, and wolves can't run on two legs,"

"Hmm..." She puts a hand to her chin, now even more puzzled. She's so busy in thought she doesn't catch her dad's look of concern as he stares down the road, thinking about what Gerald had told him.

I know you two don't get along, but you should go and visit some time. People say they've seen someone, or something stalking around the town at night.

Those words started ringing in his head.

"Dad...dad,"

"Hm?" He snaps back to reality.

"What do you think it could have been?"

"...Probably just some drunk guy who got lost. It's nothing to worry about,"

The rest of the way they talked about more creepy stories and Red's schooling. Before they knew it they were in town and parked in front of the diner. No one else is there. They don't get anyone during the evening unless it's tourist season, but stay open anyways.

"Jerard?!" Cindy exclaims as they enter, "It's been so long! Aw, come give me a hug!" She walks to the other side of the counter and gives him a big hug, "And I see you're finally spending some time with your daughter! It's about time," She says sternly.

"Yeah, well you know Granny..I'm only able to do this cause little Red here snuck a ride to work with Randy,"

"She certainly is her mother's daughter," She says, the two of them chuckling.

"Honey what's with all the commotion?" Loo asks as he walks out of the kitchen. He gasps when he sees them, "Jerard?! And you're with Red?!?" He scurries over to them giving them both a tight hug, "Oh, I knew you two would be able to meet one day!" He lets go of them, What can I get you two, some drinks, milkshakes, burgers?"

"I'll just take a coffee, Red here made a cake for me," Loo takes a deep breath.

"Oh, of course! Sit wherever you like, I'll go make your coffee," And he hurries on back, along with Cindy.

The two sit down at a booth by the door, a glass wall one the other side of it. Red takes out the cake and puts it on the table. Cindy comes over and puts down some utensils and plates.

"Thanks," Red says as she takes a butter knife and starts cutting the cake.

"You made this all on your own?" Jerard asks.

"Yeah, though Sheran helped me work on the recipe over the past couple of days,"

"Sounds like you've been very busy,"

"Yeah, I spent almost four hours each day baking cakes," She puts a slice onto a plate and slides it over to him, "Here's your's,"

"Thank, you," He says pulling the plate closer to him and grabbing a fork. She gets herself a slice and picks up a fork. She goes to pick up the slice when there's a sudden shout.

"Damn!" Her dad yells, Red losing grip of her fork, "This is delicious!"

"Jerard!" Cindy and Loo both exclaim. He looks at them, and than at Red whose wiping her fork with a napkin.

"Oh, sorry," He says, lowering his head a bit, "It's been a long time since I've had a chocolate cake,"

"That is no reason to be shouting curse words in front of your daughter," Cindy states.

"Yeah..." He looks at Red, "Uh, don't say that word, alright..?" He asks with an embarrassed smile.

"Don't worry," Red says with a small giggle, picking up a piece of her slice, "I hear worse from kids in school," Jerard seems a bit surprised, "I'm just glad you like it,"

"Aww, how sweet..." Cindy and Loo say as they lean against each other.

"We should call our son," Cindy says.

"But we already called him this morning, he might be in a meeting,"

"I don't care, I wanna talk to him," She walks off to the kitchen, pulling out her phone.

"Do you have phone Red?" Jerard asks between bites.

"Yeah,"

"Mind if I get your number? In case you ever need anything, or have any questions you wanna ask,"

"Oh, sure!" She replies with excitement. She pulls out her phone and opens up her contacts. Then hands it to her dad as he gets his phone out. He puts in his info and puts her info in his phone and slides her phone back to her. As Red starts to put it away she gets a call from Granny.

"Uh-oh," She says staring at the call screen.

"Uh-oh? What uh-oh?" He asks with concern.

"Granny's calling, I gotta take this," she quickly gets up and walks a couple steps away before answering.

"Hello?"

"Where are you missy?" Granny's voice sharply asks through the phone.

"I'm at the Bakery with Sheran," She says trying to sound calm.

"Really?"

"Yeah,"

"That's funny, cause I was just at the bakery,"

"What? Granny you're sick, you shouldn't be leaving the house,"

"I'm feeling better and we were out of chicken noodle soup so I decided to go out and get some myself. Now, where are you?"

"Um..."

"Are you at the Diner?"

"Uh..."

"Don't try to lie to me young lady, I can see you, and you're father!" Red looks out the window and sees Granny holding her phone to her ear, stampeding towards the Diner. As she gets closer Jerard notices her, quickly getting up and out of the booth.

"Oh dear," Loo says as Granny walks in.

"You! What are you doing with Red!?" She shouts, walking up to Jerard who looks slightly concerned.

"I was just-"

"I told you to never come near her!"

"She came to me and-"

"I don't wanna hear any excuses! You know not to ever, EVER, come see her, and we both know why," A mixture of anger and pain is on Jerard's face.

"She came to me," He says slowly, trying to keep calm, "I didn't tell her to come see me at work. She's fourteen, I'm sure she can make some decisions for her own, like seeing her own father,"

"You're no father, you're a drunken mess. Tell me, when was the last time you have some beer or wine? Was it this morning? You look a bit drunk," Jerard just glares at her, breathing heavily through his nose.

"Red," Granny says gesturing to her, "Come on, we're going home,"

"But I-"

"Don't start back talking to me, I'm not in the mood," With a sigh of defeat, Red grabs her basket and cake and walks over to Granny. As they start heading out she glances at her dad, hoping he'd stop them, but he just looks back at her with a look of guilt.

"You barely got to spend time with her," Loo says, "And you're just gonna let Granny take her away from you?" Jerard watches them take off in Granny's car before slowly turning back to them.

"It's...for the best. She's right, I'm no father..." He slumps over to the counter and takes a seat, "My coffee ready yet?" Loo just looks at him with a sympathetic look before walking over to the coffee machine and pouring him a cup.

"I heard shoutin," Cindy says walking back to the front, "What'd I miss?" She turns to Loo who silently nods towards Jerard. She mimes, "Oh," and walks back into the kitchen.

"Here ya go," Loo hands him his coffee, "It's on the house," And he walks back to the kitchen. Mumbles can be heard from behind the door as Jerard blows on the coffee before taking a sip. After finishing he waves goodbye to them through the little window and heads to his truck.

You really showed her how good of a father you are.

He thinks to himself as he drives through the woods. He picks up his phone and calls Randy.

"Hey uh...can I still get the rest of the day off?"

"Sure...and from the tone of your voice I know it's none of my business,"

"Thanks," And he hangs up. As he gets home the sun just starts to set. He unlocks the front door, slamming it behind him.

Guess it was a good thing we didn't come here.

He thinks as he looks around at the dirty cabin. His clothes strewn about the floor and couch. Some beer bottles are scattered around. He takes off his shoes and turns on the TV as he sits down on the couch. As he stares blankly at some detective show he hears a sudden screeching noise from outside. Grabbing a bat by the door he puts on his shoes and quickly heads outside.

The woods, now a bloody-brown from the sun set are dark and empty. Looking around he sees no sign of life. He quickly turns to the left when he hears rustling in the forest. He starts walking in the direction and passes his truck. He stops and turns when he notices something in the corner of his eye.

What looks like claw marks are on the side of his truck. Whatever did it must have made the screeching noise. He sees some weird liquid on the ground under his truck. He quickly kneels down and turns on his phone light to see what it is. It's coming from a gashed wire. Filled with a sudden fright, he stands back up and looks around once more before heading inside and tries to call Red. His heart starts to pound when she doesn't pick up.

"Hey!" Red exclaims as Granny snatches the phone from her.

"Ah-ah! You've lost this for a week, ya hear me? Now go to your room, I'll bring you dinner in an hour," Tired from shouting so much, Red stomps off to her room slamming her door closed. She jumps onto her bed, screaming into her pillow.

Why does she hate dad so much?! And why would she call him a drunken mess?! How could she be such a, such a bitch!?

She screams into the pillow again before rolling over onto her back. She takes her red riding hood off and chucks it at the wall, it doesn't' go far and just dainty falls to the floor. Before she knows it Granny comes to her room, and without a word puts a plate of food on her nightstand, along with her phone. She quickly checks her contacts, and sees her dad's contact information has been deleted. By the time she's finished eating, it's already dark.

Looking out the window she gets a chill again, and closes the blinds, but it doesn't do much. It also doesn't help that she now couldn't stop thinking about what her dad told her about the Demon Wolf. As simple as it was, it did sound a lot scarier than the Big Bad Wolf, it gave the creature a more, sinister, sounding name. She changes into her pajamas and lays down, turning off her bedroom light and tries to go to bed.

There's a sudden bang at the front door. Then another. Red goes to her door and locks it. She dials nine one one as she quickly goes under her bed. There's another bang, a lot closer this time.

"Nine-one-one how can I help you?" The operator asks as Red lowers the volume to the quietest setting.

"Hello," She whispers, "I think someone just broke into my house. I live at one zero three three Bakery Lane, please, send-" She stops at the sound of the faintest growl. She jumps at the sound of a sudden roar and screams. Violent thrashing can be heard outside her door.

"Miss we're sending officers your-" She ends the call, afraid of whatever's out there hearing her. She lays in the darkness, unable to see anything except a faint glow underneath the bedroom door. A muffled sound of something being, eaten can be heard. The noise alone starts to make her feel sick to her stomach. Everything seems to freeze as the noises stop. Then, something moves in front of the door, blocking the light from the other side.

She almost screams when something bangs against her door.

Crack!

Her door breaks open, parts of it flying everywhere. She covers her mouth to quiet her breathing as something walks through the doorway. Black fur covered legs walk up to the bed, it's giant paws with large claws stopping, mere inches from where she lay. Something drips onto the carpet from something she can't see.

Her heart starts to pound as the lower half of a snout comes into view, a liquid dripping down from the chin. She can hear the faint sound of it sniffing, then it starts to snarl, revealing it's razor sharp teeth, soaked in what has to be blood. She can smell it's foul and rotten, stomach-churning breath. The snout raises out of view as the sound of police sirens can be heard in the distance. The thing quickly darts out of her room with loud thuds.

She sits under the bed, too afraid to move when she hears footsteps approach.

"Oh my god!" She hears someone shout. A person enters her room, and turns on the lights, startling her a bit.

"Found someone,!" They say to someone, "Come on out, your safe,"

The person moves out of the way as she gets out from under the bed. She stands up, shaking from the experience. Even at the sight of two officers, she doesn't feel safe in the slightest. One of them is standing in the hall, talking into their radio.

"Are you alright Red?" They ask full of concern.

She shakes her head in response.

"Come on, let's take you to the station," They say as they pick up one of her blankets and wrap it around her. She clings to it tightly as the two of them start walking out of the room.