赤裸裸的滑稽故事

Axel set down his cup. He felt dizzy for a moment. He looked around, confused as to why he was in this room alone.

He looked down; the cup was gone.

‘What cup?’ he wondered.

He walked towards the door; he was surprised to see someone standing there.

“I heard you were looking for someone to play with,” the boy standing at the door said.

Axel was confused, but the boy wasn’t wrong. He had come to the Blood Moon with his parents, but there were so few children here that he had been bored the entire time.

“Yes!” he said quickly.

The boy smiled down at him, his burnt orange eyes sparkled with delight.

“You can play with me.”

Axel was happy to have found a new friend.

***

He hid in the log; he had rolled in the dirt and rubbed the leaves against his skin. He hoped it was enough to cover his scent. Axel heard the soft footfalls of the wolf. He covered his mouth and closed his eyes, hoping to make himself small and unnoticeable.

He failed._.

The sharp teeth bit down on his leg. Axel screamed as he was dragged out of the log. He tried desperately to get away, but the large black wolf with tufts of white had him pinned down.

Axel kicked and kicked. He tried to swing his arms. He tried to shift, but he had only done it a few times, and he wasn’t able to force it now.

The wolf growled at him. It backed away.

Axel stared at it, trying to figure out what was happening. It stared back at him with eyes like flames burning into his soul.

The boy had told him they could be friends. He wanted to play a game with him. All Axel had to do was get away from the black wolf in the woods.

He thought it was a game.

Axel ran, and the wolf gave chase.

The black wolf was faster than Axel. He didn’t get far before he was pounced on and bit at. Axel tried desperately to get away. He tried to crawl, kick, and scream.

He managed to kick it hard in the chest, and the wolf let out a whimper. But it dove at Axel with anger. Opening its jaws and clamping down on his face.

When Corrine and Wyatt found him, Axel’s face was covered in blood. He was in shock and barely able to speak. They rushed him to the doctor, and they were barely able to save his eye.

From that day forward he had hidden his scar, ashamed of how easily he had been fooled by someone wanting to be his ‘friend’.

He had never seen the boy or the wolf again, but sometimes, he saw them in his nightmares.

Axel woke in his hospital bed with a gasp. He lurched forward and threw up the few contents of his stomach.

No longer a child, now a full grown man, he took deep, ragged breaths as the memories of Alice settled over his mind.

***

In a hidden room, of a hidden building, in an unknown location. Alice’s mind was cycling through its own memories.

She was small, only eight years old.

Holden had made her new friend, the boy who smelled sweet, drink the yucky tea. He had said they weren’t meant to be friends and that he would find a new friend for the Sweet Boy.

She knew he lied.

Holden had promised that the Sweet Boy would be safe, that he would get a new friend, as long as Alice stayed away from him. But she saw the other boy that Holden had talked to. He didn’t seem like a nice friend.

Alice followed the boys, she watched them sneaking away to the forest. The boy with the orange eyes told the Sweet Boy to close his eyes and count.

She thought they were playing a game.

But then she saw the boy change, he shifted into his wolf, and he hid and watched her Sweet Boy.

This wasn’t a nice game at all.

Alice watched from the trees as Sweet Boy found a place to hide and as the black wolf followed him there. Although she cried out when he was bit, she couldn’t stand back anymore when she saw the blood.

She grabbed a stick, and she hit the black wolf again and again. Finally, he growled at her, and she ran. Hoping that her friend would be ok on his own.

Alice was a good runner. She had run a lot.

She made sure to take the black wolf far away from the Sweet Boy she had met.

The wolf was fast, and it was angry.

He caught her, and she screamed as he bit her leg. She cried out as she tumbled down the hill hitting her arms and legs and shoulders on the rocks and the trees all the way down.

Alice saw the wolf coming closer and closer. The fiery eyes seemed to glow with delight as she let out soft cries.

Her body hurt, and her head felt fuzzy. But she still smiled, knowing that the Sweet Boy was far away.

Alice was surprised when she woke up in the hospital. Holden ran to her and cried. He told her how happy he was that she was ok and asked why she had run off.

She told him she knew he lied.

Holden got very quiet. He told her that the Winter boy would take her away from him, and he would miss her too much to let her go.

Alice promised to stay, vowed never to leave with the Sweet Boy from Winter if Holden kept his promise, and kept the boy safe.

***

“Where have you been the last couple of days?” Bell asked as Axel entered the house.

Axel lifted his head to see Bell and Ashleigh sitting on the couch of his family home.

“Training, patrolling, the usual,” he replied.

“Wow,” Ashleigh said. “Big brother has gotten serious since he became Alpha.”

Axel gave her a half-heart grin.

“It’s good,” she smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

“Keep your pride,” he sighed as he walked past them.

Bell reached out and grabbed his hand, stopping him.

“Hey,” she said, getting up on her knees on the couch and looking at him thoughtfully. “Are you ok?”

Axel smiled and pulled his hand away.

“I’m fine, just tired,” he replied. “I’m getting a shower and then a nap. So please don’t wake me unless it’s an emergency.”

Axel turned back towards the stairs and continued walking.

“Got it,” Bell said, “Oh! Wait!”

Axel turned around.

Bell had a mischievous smile.

“What?” he asked.

“Here!” she said, holding out something in her hand.

Axel sighed and came back. He looked down into her hand and saw a bar of small chocolate.

“Ash brought me a box when she came home,” she said. “I saved this one for you.”

Axel smiled.

‘Eat this. To remind you of me,’ Alice’s small voice played in his mind.

He shook his head, suddenly understanding why he had developed such a sweet tooth over the years.

“I don’t need it anymore,” he said before turning and heading up the stairs.