Wolf’s Bane

It was the longest argument they’ve ever had as husband and wife, but Diwana knew that she wouldn’t just give up the fight. Honestly, to her, her moment of silence was just a break since she needed to do something which was equally important…

So right after the fight, Diwana went to check on the kids, wondering now what she could tell them, but determined to find a way to keep them together and with her, despite what her husband said…

Whatever her husband said!

“Erica,” Di called, walking around, knocking on the door of their rooms, without hearing an answer or noises, not their voices, or the normal sound of movement in a kid’s and teenager’s room.

“Macky?” she tried again…

A feeling of anxiety started to grow in the back of Diwana’s mind, and a knot started forming in the pit of her stomach.

Di started walking faster, checking room after room. She then went to the garden, the backyard, and the kitchen. At the end of her search, she ran through the house, yelling their names, but they were not to be found.

She was mumbling angrily to herself by the time she entered the room which she shared with her husband. “Damn you Mason, you had to do this… I can take it when it’s with me, but with the kids, I won’t let you.”

From the slightly open door, she could see him standing near their baby’s crib, looking down at their young son. The furious woman then walked in, banging the door open right after entering, and her husband looked at her surprised, even incredulous, because of what he was seeing.

This genteel lady that had been quiet, even obedient to him from the moment he demanded they had sex for the first time up until now; not saying no to anything, now was looking like a boxer getting ready for a championship fight.

Or a commando soldier about to attack the enemy fort…

“What are you doing, Diwana? If this is still about the children, I already told you that…”

“YOU IDIOT! Do you remember when you told me that I could just leave back then when we first met? Well, I’ll leave alright, and I will take MY SON WITH ME, you understand? If I can’t find those kids, wherever they ran away to, because their uncle is an ASSHOLE who has no feelings or heart, I will take my little boy and LEAVE YOUR SORRY ASS, got that?!”

The heavy silence in the room was broken only by the feral female’s deep furious panting…

“PRAY that I find them,” Di gritted with finality, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets, her cheeks red with rage and her lips trembling with fury.

The beautiful woman’s face was transfigured from angelic to terrifyingly livid. Meanwhile, her husband had not been able to speak a word while his countenance was frozen and pale in absolute shock.

Before he came out of his state, Diwana walked out of the room, once again slamming the door fiercely, and then ran out of the house to try and find help.

Jack had visited the village that day and was walking around the Oro house when he saw Diwana running past him. Feeling that there was something wrong, he ran after her.

“Leena!” Diwa yelled out to the first person she could see in front of her, thankful that she trusted her enough to talk about what had just happened. “The kids!”

The lady neighbor looked back at the shouting woman, suddenly alarmed, hearing and seeing the state of the usually quiet and calm Diwana.

“What’s wrong with the kids?! Di, you’re scaring me, are they okay? Did they get sick from their parents? Need a doctor?” Leena said as soon as the young mother reached her, trying to get the information out from her without getting too excited.

“Leena, the kids are gone! I don’t know where they are, but they’re not in the house,” Diwana answered, not giving out too many details. There was no time to dwell on the reasons why they were not where they should be. The best way was to just focus on the solution for now.

“What’s happening?” Jack asked the two women as soon as he was able to catch up with Di. “Can I help you ladies with anything?”

“Oh Jack, thank God you’re here. The kids, they’re missing. I think they ran away from home, and I don’t have any idea where they’ve gone.”

“OK, let’s look for them. Don’t worry, okay?” Jack replied.

“They must be still here at the village. Let’s split up and look for them. We can update each other through our mobiles, alright?”

Diwana nodded, trying to catch her breath for a moment before they started the search.

And Leena was right, they were still not too far. This trio’s former home was actually at the other end of the village properties.

“Macky…” the youngest sibling whispered with a still very sad tone, making an effort not to make too much noise.

“What is it, sis?” Macky answered. “Tell me…”

He was lying back down on one of the old broken mattresses stored in the attic with his eyes closed, trying not to think for a moment. The boy truly needed it after not taking a rest from his disturbed thoughts since their supposed uncle and Diwa started fighting. He was tired of wondering what they would do now, without a house, without parents or money.

Without food…

“Brother, I’m hungry…” Katya said, which were the exact words that Macky and Erica didn’t want to say or hear, as they tried to ignore their own bodies, which were starting to grumble quite loudly.

It was now Erica’s turn to answer the little girl. “Why don’t we try to sleep a little bit more, Katya? And after some sleep, we can check downstairs. Maybe there’s something we can eat or cook in the kitchen, right?”

“But my belly is getting angry, can’t you hear it?” Katya replied. “Now it’s a grumpy belly, and I don’t think it will let me sleep…”

The little girl tried to show her brother and sister her sad face, while keeping her voice low and still trying not to make too much noise. But in the dark attic, they heard her frown in her words more than they could see it.

Erica sadly smiled while reaching out towards Katya and rubbing the lass’ sore belly. They left the house in such a rush that they didn’t even think about taking any food with them.

Besides, how could they even take anything from there without making more trouble for Diwana and with Mason?

The Wolf kids lay on that broken-down mattress up in the attic of their big house in silence for a moment, thinking what to do next. Then, as if on cue, the three bellies rumbled and grunted in unison…

They sat up and stayed quiet for half a second…

Then they started laughing.

“Ok, ok… not sleeping then… Let’s see what we can find in the kitchen, but we need to be very quiet so nobody finds us, ok?” Macky reminded them as he took the flashlight that he always kept stored in his backpack.

The only brother then led the way to where he knew their parents kept some more flashlights back then when the electricity failed for one reason or another. As he handed out the extra handheld torches, he repeated his reminder…

“Remember not to point the flashlight to the windows, so if someone walks near the house they won’t see our lights, ok?”

Both of his sisters nodded and took one each.

In the kitchen, Erica found some crackers, and Macky found a few canned goods that were hidden in their pantry’s side drawer. These included tuna flakes in oil, and some sweet corn.

“This will have to do,” he whispered to himself, looking for the bowls from the kitchen drawers, and a few spoons. “We can eat these for now. When there’s sunlight we can check for more food, or make a decision about what we will do. It’s gonna be simple, but we’ll be able to eat.”

The girls nodded and walked behind him, Katya being last in line. She was really entertained with the flashlight, remembering how her dad used to play with his hands in front of one to make moving shadows for her, and even telling stories about them.

She smiled widely, as she played with the light and yet the little girl couldn’t help feeling slightly sad. Completely immersed now in her happy memories of her father’s shadow stories, she started moving the flashlight around, trying to recreate the same shadowy shapes by pointing everywhere as her loving and gentle dad used to do.

The other two siblings, who were now focused on putting all the food they found together in a bag; along with the bowls and cutlery, didn’t notice the little one’s actions until later.

“Katya!” Erica hissed-yelled. “The first thing Macky said was to not do that! Stop playing with the lantern and point it at the floor, now!”

“But Rica… you don’t remember what dad used to do for us? You used to like it, and mom liked it too…” the young girl said sadly looking back at her older sister. “See, I think I can make one of the shadows, like he did!”

Erica felt her heart sink, suddenly sorrowful because of what had happened to her loving family… her parents were dead, and now all of them did not even have anything to eat…

Had their parents been alive…

“Katya, I do remember, but this is not the time for that. Stop playing right now or we’ll be found and we’ll get into trouble.”

“No! I want to play like what we did before here in this house!” the youngest cried as she continued making her light beam dance.

“Stop that, Katya. NOW!” Erica said, as she started to lose her patience and was also getting very frustrated.

“NO!” the little girl yelled.

Erica gave Macky the crackers, which she was about to place in the bag, and reached out to close her fist around her little sister’s flashlight.

“I. Said. STOP!” the eldest yelled back, at the loudest volume she could manage but still conscious that they still could be found if she was too loud.

She then started fighting Katya so, she could take the flashlight from her younger sibling’s hands.

“You two, stop it! You’ll give us away! Katya, I promise, I’ll find a way for us to play with shadows in the attic, but for now, let go of the lamp, please!” Macky hissed-exclaimed too, worried and tired but trying hard to keep the peace.

However, the flashlight moved all around between the hands of his two sisters, and the knot in his stomach grew tighter. Finally, to his relief, Erica forcefully wrenched the flashlight from Katya. With tears in her eyes, the eldest turned around and walked back towards their newfound stash.

Katya started sobbing and crying immediately. Macky looked at both his sisters, knowing what was happening, but was helpless to solve it. He could feel his heart breaking for both…

“Come on, sis… I’ll still fulfil my promise, ok? And look, we’re going to have food too. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Macky smiled, trying his best as the older brother that he was for the crying kid.

After a few seconds, Katya sadly nodded, wiped her tears with the back of her hand and started walking in front of him so she could follow Erica as she went out of the kitchen and up the attic stairs. Soon, all three were going up the attic stairs in silence.

Macky let out a sigh and looked around, hoping that nobody was around the house at that moment while his sisters were fighting…

But then… there was.

“Hello? Diwa… I think I found them. I’m in front of their old house, and saw some lights moving inside… Will wait for you, and meanwhile will try to contact Jack in case it’s not the kids, OK?”

“Thanks, Leena I’ll be there in a second.”

+++

Meanwhile, back at the larger villa, Mason was suddenly feeling feverish. He didn’t think much of it really, since he thought, he did get rained on the last time he went to the town hall the day before.

With slight alarm, he realized that he had been carrying and cuddling his little boy for quite some time, trying to find comfort after being torn down by his wife’s sudden and shocking display of anger. He decided to check his son’s temperature while he would take some aspirin to take away his discomfort.

The now shivering husband went to their private bathroom and rummaged through the mirrored cabinet above the bathroom sink for some aspirin and their forehead thermometer. As he was doing so, he suddenly felt nauseous and dizzy right out of the blue.

“What the damn hell is happening to me? I can’t be this upset with Diwana getting furious at me. After all, she’s just a woman I bought to be my wife and bear me a child. But then, is that all she really is to me?” he mumbled to himself as he finally found the items he was looking for.

As he stepped back into the bedroom, everything began to spin and the man found himself kneeling on the floor and then falling on all fours. He felt his breathing getting shallower, faster while his chest started heaving, and aching…

“Diwana…” the heartless man gasped, as he heard his baby crying from his crib.

A few seconds later, Mason fully lost consciousness a few feet from his son, who was now also suffering from a fever.