The Withering Wolf: The Birth of Decay

“It’s really pouring outside, did you bring an umbrella Alan?” a coworker asked, he just looked out the window, even though he brought an umbrella he still didn’t want to walk home, he hates walking in the rain. Alan got up from his desk and grabbed his coat, umbrella and bag, once he was out of the building he opened his umbrella, despite him not believing in ghosts he still didn’t like walking by the graveyard, especially when it’s pouring in the afternoon, he usually just looks forward and walks by, but for some reason he decided to look in the graveyard. When Alan looked into the graveyard he saw a young boy sitting, resting against one of the tombstones, the kid had no shoes, shorts, and a black t-shirt, he appeared to have been sitting there for a while, Alan got concerned when the boy didn’t move so he decided to go check on him.

 

When he checked if the kid had a pulse, he shivered from how cold his skin was, but then he felt a pit in his stomach when he realized the kid didn’t have a pulse, just as he was about to call 911 to tell them about the dead kid, he woke up, “who are you?” the boy asked, his voice being very quiet and weak but understandable, Alan felt his blood run cold, he just froze and looked at the kid, “my name is Alan, Alan Malkov” he’d said hesitantly, Alan snapped out of his shock and took off his jacket, “are you cold?” Alan asked the kid, in response, the kid nodded his head, Alan handed him his jacket, when the kid got up to grab the jacket and put it on, Alan noticed the name on the tombstone, it said Alex Delle.

 

“Hey kid, are you hungry? If so, you can come to my place, my wife, Mary, is making soup” Alan asked the kid, “are you sure it’s ok?” he asked, “of course it’s ok” Alan said. They started to walk to Alan’s house, thankfully the rain has almost stopped, during the whole walk Alan couldn’t help but think where he heard the name Alex Delle, before he could dive deeper in thought he’d realized they reached his house, once they stepped in Alan took his shoes off and closed his umbrella, “you can go take a bath, it’s upstairs at the end of the hall” Alan said before walking into the kitchen.

 

“Dear, who was that?” Mary asked, “a kid who was all alone at the graveyard, i offered him some food” he responded. The kid turned the faucet and waited for the tub to fill, after it was full he took off his clothes and sat in the bath, the water quickly became foggy from dirt, but then, the water turned a bit red, he looked to see the stab wound was bleeding, he found it strange he couldn’t feel the pain, he then drained the tub and used the shower to rinse off, after doing so he dried off and changed clothes.

 

“Hey Mary, do you recognize the name, Alex Delle?” Alan asked, “one of my students was named that. The poor boy died a few days ago, someone just stabbed him” Mary said, with some sorrow.