12.30.2015
The drinks must have been mixed strong, because it was morning before the mother and father realizes they had fallen asleep on the couch together. The woman leapt up and brushed the hair out of her face and the sleep from her eyes. She raced into the bedroom of the boys’ upstairs in hopes of finding them asleep there, but the beds were empty.
The father had stirred when the mother ran upstairs, and he stood now at the base of the staircase as she walked out from the room, speechless. He waved his arms for her to come down to him and she plodded down the stairs, ending up in his hug.
“We’ll look for them,” he told her, and he ran his hands through her hair. Soon, he was headed out the front door, down the little footpath, and into the street. The lantern on the porch had burned itself out.
He went to the houses for a few of his drinking buddies and told them of the missing boys. Each of the people threw on boots and headed out into the foggy morning to round up the rest of the group.
They all headed over to the meadow where the boys has last been known to be. Nothing had seemed different from the night before, and dew sat heavy on the wildflowers and grasses. The group spread out to cover more area, and branches cracked and grass trampled as they scoured the area.
A call ran through the air, followed by a loud whistle. One of the group, a lady with long black hair, waved them all over. She stood in the backward of a house across the street from the meadow, several paces away from the chicken coop.
The front mesh had been ripped out and chicken carcasses lay scattered in the coop and around the lawn. A chicken or two that had escaped were pecking along the fence line up near the house.
Blood lay thick on the grass, and stained feathers that sat about, some stuck in the mesh itself. A vicious attack claimed the poor chickens. A dripping from the roof caught the father’s eye and then he screamed in terror. At the apex of the roof sat his two boys. But only their heads and long, wet spines. Intestines had slipped off the roof and onto the ground. A quick search revealed bloody wolf prints that lead from the coop, over the fence, and into the woods. The boys wouldn’t be back for any more hot meals.