8

I remained on the ground for a while without attempting to get back up.  I gawked at the immense house.  It was not that the house was too scary.  Well, maybe it was a little scary.  But the size of it was what really scared me.  The house was three stories tall.  It was about twice the size of a human house!  It was made of stone.  There was a staircase leading to the front door.  There were many large windows around the house.  They were almost like evil eyes watching whatever comes near it.  There were no lights on anywhere.  Three immense stone statues stood in front of the Wolf's house.  The two outside statues stood about ten feet tall.  The statue on the left was a statue of a pig with no head.  Real blood covered the neck of the statue and part of the body.  The statue on the right was a statue of a dog with its head crushed in.  Real blood was spilled onto this statue too.  The statue in the middle was the most terrifying to look at.  It was a statue of the Wolf, standing at about twenty feet tall, making it much more sinister.  The statue's enormous mouth was open, revealing the large and very dangerous teeth.  Those huge eyes, those huge claws, that huge mouth!  Nothing is more intimidating than the Wolf.  I was scared to go any further.

"Are you scared?" asked Sam.  "I understand completely if you are."

"I'm not scared," I lied.  "I am just a little…scared.  Okay, I'm terrified.  Look at that place.  I'm not surprised no one wants to go in there.  Look at those statues."

"I don't mind the outside appearance anymore," said Sam.  "Most of the animals have gotten used to it.  But none have gotten used to it enough to go inside."

I stood up and grabbed the flashlight.  "As much as I don't want to go in, it is what we have to do.  The more time we wait, the less time we have to save Arnie.  Let's go."  I started walking towards the house, a little courage flickering in me.

"Wait," said Sam.  "I don't think the best idea is to go through the front door.  He would probably suspect that."

"Do you know another way to get in?" I asked.

"No," said Sam.  "Actually, this is the only way I know except for the windows.  But we shouldn't go through the window.  We'd have to break it open and that will make too much noise.  So I guess we must go through the front."

We walked toward the front door.  I felt more nervous every step closer to the house.  By glancing at Sam, I could tell he was a little scared too.

"Are you scared, Sam?" I questioned.

"Of course I am, Charlie," said Sam.  "This is the Wolf's house we're talking about here.  This is not like visiting a neighbor.  We could be killed and eaten!  The Wolf will kill us if he sees us."

"Just relax," I suggested.

"I don't know about this, Charlie," he said.  "Maybe I should stay out here and wait until you come back.  If you don't show up in an hour, I'll know your dead."

"Just relax," I repeated.  "I'll protect you."

"You'll protect me?" said Sam.  "You are a fat, slow pig who can barely run.  A pig versus the Wolf.  The odds aren't looking too good for you, Charlie.  And I'm supposed to believe that you will protect me?"

"Yes," I said.  "I will protect you.  Just relax."

"Would you stop telling me to relax?!!" yelled Sam.  "No one has been in the Wolf's house in years.  Why?  Because they can be eaten.  Do you know anyone that actually wants to be eaten?  I didn't think so.  That's why I can't relax.  We'll see how relaxed you are when he's chewing at your head!"

"Keep your voice down," I said.  "The Wolf doesn't need to know we're here.  We have to be silent as we go in.  We have to be alive in order to rescue Arnie.  We can't help him if we're dead."

We passed by the three statues.  I tried to avoid looking at the statue of the Wolf.  I was scared enough already.  Reminding myself of what the beast looks like was not going to help me.

"I don't know about this," said Sam.  "I thought I could do it, but I'm too scared."

"If I can do it, so can you," I said.  "I've never met the Wolf until this morning.  You've seen him many times.  I thought I was scared, yet you are worse than I am."

"You haven't seen the Wolf like I have," said Sam.  "He's unstoppable.  Ever since I was young, my parents warned me that I should never go into that house.  In fact, all the animals would tell each other that.  Everyone knows that the Wolf's house is his and his only.  We all knew that going in there would almost guarantee our deaths."

"There is no guarantee," I told him.  "It is only an animal."

"It's a gigantic, vicious, evil animal."

"But it is still an animal.  Therefore it can hurt like us, cry like us, and die like us."

"That is no ordinary animal," Sam said.  "You saw how he was almost completely regenerated.  You could barely notice where he was burned."

"Many animals regenerate," I said.  "He just recovers quicker than other animals.  We don't need twenty minutes to escape from the Wolf.  As long as he's injured for a couple of minutes, we should be able to get out of the house."

We were now at the stairs, only five steps away from the front door.  "Are you coming with me or not?" I asked.

"How about we see the Medicine Pig first?" offered Sam.  "Maybe he will know a way to outsmart the Wolf.  The Medicine Pig has survived many years without the Wolf ever touching him.  His house is not far from here either.  Actually if you look hard, you may just see his house."  Sam pointed into the trees.

I focused in that direction, trying to find the house.  I noticed a little wooden structure far in the Woods.

"Do you see it?" asked Sam.  "It should take no more than a few minutes to get there."

"I'm sorry, Sam," I said.  "But I can't risk my brother dying.  I must save him.  Going to the Medicine Pig first may take away the time I need.  I can't do what's cowardly.  I must be brave.  Do you see where we've gotten without bravery?  Hundreds of animals have died.  Only one animal has been brave so far, and he nearly defeated the Wolf.  Now it's my turn.  I must be brave.  So are you coming or not, Sam?"

Sam did not answer.  He just looked down.

I did not want to go into the house alone.  But it looked like I had to.  I walked up the steps.

"Wait!" called Sam, as he ran up the steps.  "I'm coming with you.  I'm here with you because I wanted to prevent you from dying.  So that's what I'm going to do."

"Thank you," I said.  "I'm glad to have you by my side."

So here I was, at the front door of the house that no one dares go in.  Behind this door was the unknown realm of the most dangerous animal anyone has ever seen.  We were absolutely petrified.  My hand shook violently as I reached and touched the doorknob.  I turned the knob and the door creaked open.  I jumped back quickly, expecting the Wolf to pop up suddenly.  When the door finally opened all the way, the only thing it revealed was darkness.  It was a very long and dark hallway.  Almost too dark.

"This is going to be a long night," said Sam.

We shined our light in the hallway as we approached it.  We were now inside.  I decided to leave the door open for some of the little light the moon and stars provided us.  But the door slammed closed by itself, and I could not open the door again.

"We're locked in," I said.  "I'm sure we can get out through other ways.  But right now, we have other things to do."

I led the walk.  We flashed our lights along the walls, looking at what was there.  For a moment all we saw was gray wall.  Then the wall changed into paintings.  The paintings were horrifying.  On the left wall were paintings of the Wolf killing animals.  One was a picture of the Wolf slicing pieces out of a deer.  Another was the Wolf biting into a pigs face.  Blood was in every drawing.  It was making me nauseous.  I looked at the wall to my right and I saw the most horrendous image.  The Wolf was standing tall on his hind legs, his arms high in the air.  Surrounding the Wolf were all the animals of the woods.  But they were all dead, decapitated, torn apart, and missing limbs.  Even humans were there, completely disfigured and lifeless.  A glowing red color was surrounding the Wolf as if he had some great power.  It looked like he had killed all the living creatures, him having become over the years invincible and unstoppable.  All those animals, all those pigs!  I almost wanted to cry.

"I can't believe what I am seeing," I said.  "What is all this?  Did the Wolf paint this?  Is this our future?  Are we destined to fall under the Wolf's control?"

"It can't be," said Sam.  "It just can't be."

            We walked even slower down the hallway.  If this was just the beginning of the Wolf's house, I was not sure I wanted to see the rest.  I just wanted to get out of there.

            The hallway's end was growing near.  I noticed there were two directions to choose from.  Left or right?  We stopped when we reached the intersection. The path to the right led to a large red door.  The path to the left seemed to lead to a large room, with a dim light.  I did not have any idea where either of the directions would take us.  I decide to let Sam choose.

            "So, where do we go from here, Sam?" I asked.

            "Left," he said.

            "Why left?"

            "Because there's light to the left.  And all this darkness while I'm in the Wolf's house is too creepy."

            "Okay," I said.  "To the left it is."

            We made our left turn, leaving the red door behind.  We felt just a little better as we neared the small amount of light.  But we still did not know what was in the room.  This was the Wolf's house, so prediction was impossible.

            We entered the room and looked around.  There were only two things in the room besides the small torch on the front wall.  One was a large staircase that led to the second level.  The other was a rug with a red and black diamond design.  We thought there might have been a hidden passageway in the room, since it was so empty and simple.  The room was rather large, yet there was only a staircase and a rug.

            "I don't see anything," said Sam.  "I guess we can…"

            "Aaaaahhhhhh!" a voice screamed from somewhere in the house.  It echoed throughout the house.  It sounded like Arnie!

            "Where did that come from?" I asked.

            "It sounded like it came from somewhere upstairs," Sam said.  "Come on!"

            We rushed toward the staircase.  It was made of stone and there was no banister.  I almost fell while running up the steps so quickly, but I managed to keep my balance.  The stairs were rather tall and a lot of my energy was gone by the time I got to the top.

            We arrived on the second level and found ourselves in a room with no light.  We moved very slowly.  We constantly shifted our flashlight from the left to right, to make sure there was no one in the room but us.  I pointed the light at the ground and noticed little red spots on the floor.  They seemed to be everywhere.  It was a liquid.  Some spots was dried and some spots were still wet.  I pointed the light farther ahead on the floor and saw that the entire room had red spots on the floor.  There also was the same black and black diamond rug as downstairs.  Was this blood that I saw?

            I noticed that the room smelled kind of strange.  It smelled bad, like something was rotting.  "Do you smell that?" I asked Sam.

            "It smells like, a dead animal," he said.  "A lot of dead animals."

            Then I felt something drop on my snout.  It was something wet.  Then I felt another drop.  It ran down the side of my snout and dropped off.  I watched the liquid splash onto the floor.  It was red.  I pointed the flashlight at the ceiling and found the red liquid was dropping from the ceiling in many different spots.  It was leaking from all over the ceiling!

            "The ceiling is leaking blood!" I squealed.  Another drop fell on my head and I screamed.

            I instantly started running, Sam running along beside me.  There was a brown door and a gray door ahead.  I did not care which one I went through.  I was nearly out of the blood leaking room when I heard a scream behind me.  I turned to see Sam falling through the floor, where the red and black diamond rug had been.  The rug fell through a large, circular hole in the floor.  Sam was still hanging on, dangling.

            I rushed toward him and dove.  I let the ax go so that I had an arm free.  I slid across the rough stone, bloodstained floor.  I threw out my arm for Sam to grab onto, but it was too late.  He lost his grip and fell through the large hole.  The drop was not very far, but I could no longer see him.  It was too dark to see anything.  I flashed my light in the hole to see Sam lying on the floor, not moving and his eyes closed.

            "Sam!" I called.  "Are you okay?  Wake up!"

            The squirrel's little eyes opened.  He started to move.

            "Sam, get up!" I told him.  "Can you get up?"

            Sam rose to his feet and looked up at me.  "I'm okay!" he answered.  "I fell through a hole!"

            "Yes, I know," I said.  "Do you see anything down there?"

            Sam picked up his flashlight off the floor.  "I see a door.  But I'm not strong enough to open a door like that.  I can only open a pig's door or smaller."

            "Isn't there any holes in the wall big enough for you to fit through?"

            "Yes," he said.  "But it's very small.  It's going to be a squeeze."

            "You can do it," I said.  "Meanwhile, I'll go back downstairs and go through that door we saw.  Maybe that will lead me to whatever room you're in."

            "Good idea.  But hurry, Charlie.  It's dark.  I don't want to be by myself for too long.  I'm a defenseless little squirrel."

            "I'll hurry," I said.  "I don't want to be by myself either.  I'll be right down."

            I looked toward the entrance to the room.  It was not there anymore.  All I saw was a wall.  The entrance disappeared!

            I looked down the hole again.  "The entrance is gone."

            "What do you mean the entrance is gone?" asked Sam.

            "The entrance," I said.  "It's nothing but wall."

            Where did the wall come from?  Did the Wolf trigger it?  Did it happen by itself?  Were we being trapped in an inescapable maze of a house?  We would lose without even facing the Wolf if this kept up.

            "Charlie?" called Sam.

            "Yes?"

            "What's that noise?"

            "What noise?" I asked, but then I heard it too.  It was some kind of scrape.  It sounded like it was something incredibly heavy was being dragged.  It grew louder at an alarming rate.

            I glanced up again to see the wall that had closed off the entrance was moving toward me!  Twenty feet away, fifteen now.  I had a choice now.  I could either jump down the hole with Sam and go on from there, or turn around and go through the door behind me.

            "The wall is coming at me!" I shouted.  "I have to go through this door.  I'll catch up with you soon enough.  You find your way out of there, and I'll see what I can find up here."

            The moving wall began to cover the large hole in the floor.  I quickly spun around and ran towards the door.  I opened it and almost went through, but then I remembered that I had dropped my ax to try and help Sam.  I had to go back for it.

It was going to be close.  But I did it anyway.  I needed more protection than a flashlight.  I sprinted after the ax and grabbed it.  I spun around, started to run, and fell.  The wall was closing in on me.  I struggled to my feet again and dove the rest of the way.  I soared through the door and fell hard onto my stomach.

Slam! went the moving wall bashing against the other wall.  I frantically searched this new room for any traps or major problems that could be dangerous.  I did not see any.  There was not blood falling from the ceiling, no checkered rug on the floor, and the walls looked well in place.  But that does not mean that I safe.  I was still in the Wolf's house.

"The Wolf's house," I said in a whisper.  I realized the dangerous situation I was in.  I was by myself in the Wolf's house!  There was no light except the light from my small flashlight.  I felt very vulnerable.  I felt very scared.  What was I going to do?  Could I really handle this by myself, knowing that an enormous beast could come out at any moment?  This was a beast of great power and strength I had to face.  I had no more help.  Arnie was in his possession.  Sam was lost somewhere in the colossal house.  My youngest brother Timmy was dead.  My best friend Frank was dead too.  I was chillingly alone.  The thought made me want to cry.  I did not think I was going to make it out alive.  Maybe that was my destiny.  Perhaps no one is supposed to escape the Wolf after all.  Perhaps he is supposed to win and us pigs are just his meal.  We are here simply to try and fulfill his insatiable hunger.  Is that what we are?  My mind was losing control.  My fright overwhelmed me.

I was unable to move.  My body was not cooperating.  The Wolf was there recently.  I could feel it.  I was not too far from him.  I had second doubts about my goal.  What was the likelihood that Sam and Arnie would be okay by the time I find them?  Arnie was probably dead by now.  Why would the Wolf wait this long to eat him?  Sam would probably be dead soon to.  He would be killed for trespassing.  No animals come here because they know they will die.  With any other predator, there's usually a chance they could escape, but the Wolf is very different.  There is no other animal with the Wolf's abilities.  He is a nonstop, insane, killing monster.  With a blow of his mouth, he can cause buildings to fall!  I wanted to leave this house.  I wanted to go home.  I wanted never to see the Wolf again.  But that could not happen now.  It was too late to turn back.  I was forced to go forward.  I made the choice to enter, now I had to suffer whatever consequences that may come.

Maybe Arnie and Sam were still alive.  Could I be so scared that I lost all hope?  Maybe this was not over.  I have not seen my brother since he was taken.  How could I be sure if he was dead?  Maybe he escaped before he ever got to the house.  He could be looking for me right now, in the woods.  No.  He may be alive, but he was not in the woods.  If he was there, the Wolf would still be out there, chasing him so he could eat him.  And I knew the Wolf was not outside.  The Wolf's evil energy was strong and fresh.  It was time for me to shake off my fright and do what I had to do.

"Help!!!" a voice screamed from the left wall.  "No!!!!!"

I knew instantly who the screamer was.  It was Arnie.  He was alive!  But his scream was of fear.  He was in danger.  I suddenly broke free of my fear and rushed toward the door on the left wall.  I swung open the door to see only another wall blocking the entrance.  I banged on the wall, but it did no good.  There were two other door is in the room.  I rushed to the door on the front wall.  It was locked.  What could the Wolf be hiding?  There was only one door left, but it was in the opposite direction of Arnie's voice.  That meant it would take longer to find him.  And what if it did not open?  I could be trapped!  But the door did open, although the room was not what I expected.  It was only a few feet long and a few feet wide.  There were no other doors in the room.  How was I supposed to get out of there?

I stepped into the tiny room to examine it.  As soon as I was in the room, I felt a violent shake from the floor, Somehow, the floor shifted suddenly, then moved back in place.  Fear was creeping its way into me again.

"Now what?" I said.

Then the floor shook again, followed by a hasty, breathtaking drop.