Tale of the Ghost of a Wolf
Flash Fiction Story by Liza Wolff-Francis
Long ago in the town of
St. Stephen, just in the foothills of the mountains, when children’s behavior
challenged their parents, if a parent belted them or belittled them in ways they
would not return from, the children turned into wolves. If able, they whimpered
away from the abuse and so quickly did they begin to sprout fur that they would
soon be unrecognizable to even the parents and would never be known as human
children again.
There was once a family
with a mother, father, and their two daughters. One of the girls had been
adopted into the family when her mother died and the other had been born into
the family. The family treated the girl who was adopted very poorly. They had
heard stories in the town of children disappearing and becoming wolves if the
parents mistreated them, but they believed these were just fables to make
parents spoil children or to keep parents from making their children work at
too young of an age. They didn’t believe the stories were real and they
certainly didn’t ever think this could happen to a child of theirs and so, they
were hateful to the girl they had adopted.
First, they spoke
harshly to her or ignored her. They left her the table scraps to eat and gave
her the oldest hand-me-down clothes that didn’t fit. The other girl who lived
there loved her sister. In fact, both girls considered each other to be sisters
even if the parents did not like the adopted girl. The one sister who had been
born to the parents was given anything she wanted and she secretly shared with
her sister whatever she could, giving her food, toys, clothes, and she tried to
help her feel comfortable and loved.
One day, the parents
called the adopted girl ugly and stupid. They didn’t even think about it, the
words just came out. The girl felt sad, but other than that, nothing happened.
When they did it again, the insults came with a slap across her face. The girl
backed up in fear and then began to whimper. They came after her to hit her
again and she ran out of the house. As she ran, she began to grow fur. Her face
morphed from a human face to the face of a wolf and her body changed shape. The
parents were pleased the child was gone, but in order to not raise suspicion in
the town, they cried and looked for her and acted like they were worried and
wanted her back. The adopted girl had begun a new life. She joined a wolf pack
and would not return to be a girl, but would live among the wolves.
One evening, the new
wolf missed her sister and wished to return to see her. She went as a wolf to
the house of the family and found her sister playing in the garden. She
approached her and even as a wolf, the sister recognized her. The parents came
outside and saw their daughter petting a wolf and they began to yell and throw
things at the wolf. That’s when the wolf turned into a ghost figure of the
little girl and began to walk toward them. They stopped, first unsure if it was
the little girl, then unsure if they were hallucinating or having a vision of
some kind. When the little girl ghost got right in front of them, they
scrambled backwards because they could tell it wasn’t her, but an apparition. As
they backed away from her, the girl ghost then turned back into the wolf and
walked away from them out of the garden.
The wolf came back to
visit her sister again and again. If the parents went toward the wolf, the
ghost of the girl ran toward them again, until they no longer came out when the
wolf came and were always looking to make sure the wolf wasn’t around and if the
wolf was with their daughter, always to watch from behind a curtain in the
window. They had lost a freedom while the girl had gained one. And the sister
who stayed behind, loved the wolf as long as they lived.
photo by
Catherine Lazorko
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