Inhuman Nature
MoshPit
It couldn't be that hard. Just one phone call. She'd dialed that number before. She'd lived at that number before. Why then, she asked herself, do my fingers shake every time I reach for the phone?
She couldn't put it off forever. She grabbed the phone. She dialed the number. And then she held her breath.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
"Hullo?" Wolf's sleepy voice echoed in her ear. Virginia clutched her chest, almost as if she were feeling for her heart beat, making sure it hadn't stopped.
"Wolf? It's me."
"Virginia? What's wrong? Did Richard…"
"No," she answered, almost a bit too quickly. "No, Richard didn't do anything. I just… it just…"
"What's wrong, Virginia?"
"I want my baby back." The words came out in a rush, and after she said them, Virginia nearly regretted saying them at all. Dead silence greeted her from the other side of the telephone line. Then, after what seemed like an eternity of dead air—
"I can't do that Virginia."
"What!" she whispered, trying to hide the shock in her voice from Richard, whom she was certain was listening in the next room. "Why not?"
"I'm doing this for your own good, Virginia. For Timothy's own good. I'm trying to protect him."
"You can't deny me my child Wolf!" she screamed. Immediately, she regretted raising her voice, knowing full well that Richard was in the next room. She sighed inwardly, just thinking about the uncomfortable questions she would have to answer.
There was another long, painful pause. Then finally—
"Do you know what wild animals do to protect their young?" And this time, Virginia's heart stopped. Not again, she cried from the inside. Oh dear God not again.
~*~*~*~*~
Then she heard the cry.
And she began to run. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her to the linen closet where Wolf would have been chained.
The chains had been ripped from the wall. Four gaping holes, two in each wall, revealed the pluming from a nearby bathroom. Bits of snow white plaster flaked to the ground, mixing with drops of red. His blood, she realized. He's cut himself.
A piercing cry from the next room commanded her attention. She hurried quickly to the room where it was coming from, and gasped and cried at the same time when she saw where it was—the nursery.
She reached for the knob, and was shocked to find that it was locked. Tears running down her face, she slammed her palms against the door, screaming.
"What are you doing! What are you doing!" she cried, trying her best to keep from becoming a hysterical mess.
"I'm protecting my young!" came the feral growl from the room. Virginia screamed again, pounding on the door, clawing and tearing at the knob, demanding to be let inside.
"Let me in!" she screamed between sobs. "You have to let me in! You have to let me in!" And then came the silence. No growls, no grunts, no cries, save her own. A horrible, animal silence; no sound but the heavy breathing of a wolf.
"Do you know what wild animals do to protect their young?" His voice appeared right there at the door, causing Virginia to jump.
"Well?" he asked again. Virginia swallowed another scream, and leaned close to the door.
"What do they do, Wolf?" she asked in a small, frightened voice.
"They eat them."
Virginia heard the screams. She didn't realize they were her own.
~*~*~*~*~
The screams of her memory blended with the piercing ring of the dial tone. Wolf had hung up on her.
"No!" she said in a quiet whisper. Then, louder, "NO!" Richard came running from the next room.
"Virginia?" She turned to him, eyes wet with tears.
"I have to leave. I have to go see Wolf," she said reaching for her coat. He looked at her, concern and bewilderment lacing his gaze.
"What happened? What did he do?" Virginia looking into her husband's open, honest face, and knew she couldn't keep secrets from him any longer.
"Did I ever tell you," she started, with a heavy voice and an even heavier heart, "that Timothy had a twin?"
A/N: Ha HA! How's that for a cliffhanger?