Free Wolf House (Potter's Story) by Tim O'Rourke

know. We finally collapsed in each other’s arms lying breathless together. However long it had been, the day had now turned into night and I could see the light of the full moon spinning through the treetops high above us.
    The silence was broken by the sound of shouting. I recognised the voice. It belonged to Drake.
    “There’s been another one!” he roared. “Oh my god, there’s been another one!”
    “Another what?” I whispered against her chest, not wanting those stolen moments with Sophie to end just yet.
    “Oh no!” she said, pushing me off her. But it wasn’t Sophie’s voice, it was different. It was Madison who was talking to me. “Potter!” she shouted. “Hurry up and get dressed. I think the wolf has been back!”
    “What?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes as she hurriedly pulled her clothes back on. “What’s going on here? I thought you were…?”
    “What?” she said, tucking her shirt into the waistband of her trousers.
    I wanted to say, I thought you were someone else – I thought you were Sophie. But I couldn’t. How had this happened? How had I ended up making love to Madison?
    “I can’t believe it,” I breathed, looking at her.
    “Neither can I,” she smiled down at me. “I guessed you had a dark side, Potter, but you were something else!”
    Then she was gone, racing back towards the house.

15
     
    I pulled on my boots and trousers. How had this happened? I wondered. I’d made love to a Lycanthrope! Had I really believed she had been Sophie? Or had the love I still kept hidden for Sophie blinded me? But Madison was beautiful, right? Maybe I had wanted her, and my feelings of guilt for this had tricked my mind into believing that really I had been with Sophie. Whatever the reason – whatever had happened – Drake was yelling from the house that there had been another murder. Now wasn’t the time to analyse my feelings of love, lust, or guilt.
    Throwing my coat on, I raced back through the woods towards the house. By the time I got there, Madison was standing by the open front door and talking frantically to Drake who had a flashlight in his hands.
    “What’s happened?” She asked him.
    “Where have you two been?” he asked her, looking at the both of us.
    “Never mind that now,” she said. “What happened here? What have you found?”
    Stepping aside in the doorway and handing Madison his flashlight, Drake said, “See for yourselves.”
    Brushing past him, Madison stepped into the house and I followed close behind. As if knowing what to expect, she shone the cone of white light directly at the child’s chair which was in the centre of the living room. She gasped and dropped the flashlight. It rolled away from her and I snatched it up. Aiming the light at the chair, I moved forward.
    Just like the night before, there was a child sitting slumped in the chair. Clenching my jaw tight, and the sound of my heart racing in my ears, I reached out and lifted the child’s head. The face of a girl looked back at me, her eyes blank but open. In them I could see the fear that had been captured. Red curls of hair spilt across her brow and down onto her shoulder in ringlets. She wore a Bratz nightdress which was covered in little purple stars. I lowered her head and took my hand from the base of her neck. It felt damp and clammy. Using the flashlight, I could see that it was coloured red with blood. Smearing my hand against my trouser leg, I realised that her hair wasn’t red at all; her blond hair was stained with blood. Hunkering down, I could see she had something in her tiny clenched fist. Very gently, I unfolded her fingers and took the item from her hand. Holding it up in the light, I could see that it was a tiny pink shoe, and I guessed it had probably come from one of her Bratz dolls as she had been stolen from her bed by the wolf.
    Placing it along with the growing collection of toys by the chair, I stood up and turned on Drake who was standing by the open