The Neighbor

     Taylor woke and cautiously looked around the room. It was quiet and dark with no windows. The only light coming in was from a small skylight. He slowly stood and walked to the door and put his ear to it. He could hear faint noises.

     ‘How the hell did I get here?’ he thought. ‘Oh yeah I was trying to look in my neighbors back yard because I heard strange noises.’ Then everything went blank.

      The walls were covered with photos of wolves. He noticed the word ‘Run’ written in what looked like blood on one. He inspected it and decided it might be crayon instead of blood. The pictures resembled a group of family portraits, just not humans.

    Taylor hadn’t ever seen dogs at his neighbor’s house but the fence around the yard was quite tall, which is what he was trying to look through when someone must have hit him over the head.

     His neighbor was rangy with long shaggy dark hair but he didn’t look particularly scary. He’d moved in a month ago and never seemed to have any visitors. The two of them had never spoken. Taylor lived alone and didn’t really have much interest in his neighbor. Until now!

     Taylor slowly turned the door knob and opened it just enough to stick his head out. He heard what sounded like a television but all he could see was a hallway. He walked out and around the corner and suddenly he was in a living room.

     “There you are, how do you feel?” The neighbor was sitting on the couch staring at him. A wolf lay on the couch next to him and two more were sitting on the floor at his feet.

     “Like someone hit me over the head with a baseball bat.”

     “What did you think would happen when you trespassed on my property?”

     “I was just trying to find out what the noises I heard were. I wanted to see if everything was alright.”

     “Why didn’t you just knock on my door?” His dark eyes narrowed and kind of sneer formed on his lips.

     “I don’t know, I guess I wanted to see if there was really something wrong before I bothered you.”

    “Nice try. I think you are just nosy. I bought a lamb yesterday and it wasn’t happy I took it away from its mother. If you had come to the door I would have told you that was what you heard. My name is James. Who are you?”

     “Taylor. I heard the lamb making noises I guess, but I don’t know what that sounds like. I’m sorry I bothered you. ”

     “I bet you are. Are you scared?”

     “No, why would I be? Are you threatening me?”

     “What do you do for a living Taylor?”

     “I’m a writer, or at least I’m trying to be.”

     “That’s nice. Where’s your wife?”

     “I don’t have one. Where’s yours?” Taylor was annoyed at James line of questioning.

     “Now don’t get mad. I just wondered why no one has come looking for you. You have been out for a few hours.” James stood and strode over to Taylor and put his hand out, a gesture as if he were going to be friendly.

     “I’m not your friend. I’m going home now. I won’t press charges since I was trespassing, even if you didn’t have any cause to attack me.” Taylor pushed James’ arm away and started towards the door.

     “Tristan, get the door!” The large silver and black wolf stood and blocked the exit.

     “What the hell! You can’t stop me from leaving.” Taylor started to panic and his eyes showed fear.

      “We’re getting ready to eat dinner, why don’t you join us?” James had a fiery sparkle in his eyes and then he smiled.

        Taylor noticed his front teeth were large and his canines looked like fangs. “No thank you. I have dinner plans. They will come looking for me if I don’t show up.” He nervously started to back away.

     “Don’t lie to me. You don’t have any plans and no one is looking for you. Relax. You will enjoy dinner. Let me get you ready first.” James walked down the hall and motioned for Taylor to follow. Taylor looked towards the front door and the huge wolf was still standing in front of it.

     “Where are we going?” 

     “Back to the family room, the one you were in earlier.” James said and entered the wolf picture room. Taylor followed and noticed one of the other wolves trailed them down the hall.

     “Now what? You’re going to kill me?”

     “Of course not! I’m going to turn you!”

     “What do you mean…”  James was at Taylor’s neck before he could even move. It felt good when his teeth sunk into his jugular. He heard dying was peaceful.

      Taylor woke up on the floor like before, only this time he felt different. His head didn’t hurt anymore. He looked around, the pictures of the wolves were still there but the word ‘Run’ was gone. The door was open so he got up and warily walked down the hallway to the living room.

      James was sitting on the couch with a woman next to him this time. A boy and the large wolf were sitting at their feet.

     “Hi neighbor! Are you feeling better now?” His eyes were locked onto Taylor’s.

     “What happened?”  He had a vague memory but he was sure he must have been imagining things.

     “You passed out in our front yard so I brought you in the house. You came to for a minute and said you needed the pills you had in your pocket so I gave you one. You said you needed to sleep a little. You were breathing alright so I let you sleep. My wife said I should have called an ambulance but you seemed fine. We’re having fresh lamb for dinner would you like to stay?”

     James smiled and when Taylor saw his fangs he quickly ran out the front door.