SAVAGE SOUL
The tale I'm about to tell you is a dark one. If you frighten easily, please leave now. It is a true tale, yet I find it difficult to believe, as though it were a dream. To think this tale began so innocently, with a simple midnight stroll through a black forest.
It seemed to me that the forest remained green and verdant, even at night. The atmosphere was peaceful, yet unsettling. Owls hooted, crickets chirped, and wolves howled towards the lunar sphere in the sky. As I walked, I reminisced on my life. I had held many titles: sex offender, glutton, drunk, hoarder, and others. These derogatory titles left me feeling a potent pang of guilt inside my soul.
Suddenly, from behind a cluster of sylvan pillars, a wolf emerged. The wolf's coat was as scarlet as blood, with eyes as yellow as the sun. I stopped dead in my tracks, frozen with terror. I thought I was about to be eaten, but this was not so. Before I knew it, a goat, pig, and fox also appeared. They all just stood there, looking at me as though I was the biggest freak of nature. I will never know how long I stood there, rooted like an oak. Suddenly, to my shock, the animals spoke! Each of them said only one sentence, but their voices made my spine shiver.
The wolf said: "Greed is a raging river."
The pig said: "Gluttony is a foul pit."
The goat said: "Fornication is a thorny rose."
The fox said: "Words also make wounds."
I had no idea what they meant by these sentences until later. I only understood their messages after a long state of contemplation.
I wish it would've ended there, but it didn't. Two coyotes, one white, one black, emerged from the bushes, one from the left, one from the right. I dared not move, lest they attack me. But they didn't attack; instead, they slowly walked up to me and began pulling at my pants. Both of them pulled with equal force. They looked so emaciated and starved. I couldn't decide which one to feed. I had so little food in my pocket, half of a granola bar. I ultimately decided to break the small half into two bits, and gave one half to each coyote. They seemed to be satisfied, as they quickly ran back into the bushes from whence the came. I turned back to the animals to the animals in front of me, but they had vanished completely. I felt myself growing faint, and son passed out.
I awoke sometime after my slip into unconsciousness. I felt lighter, more joyful inside. I noticed that the forest seemed to be brighter than before. I saw a sun rising through a clearing in the treetops. The sun looked like a ruby shining in the still-dark sky. I suddenly realized how late it was, so I rushed home as fast as I could. I could only hope my wife would let me live.