- Text Size +
6.

Four days earlier.

Brian sat down, scoffing incredulously as his son’s footsteps fled the basement. He had no idea what had gotten into the kid, or Keeko, for that matter, who had returned to crawling under the desk the best she could, just like she’d done when he’d found her. Although he could tell something strange was going on, he didn’t quite understand what it was. His vision seemed compromised, only distinguishing yellow and brown colors. He’d decided that this was the worst hangover he’d experienced in quite a while. He felt kind of funny walking too, and the smells… dear Lord, the smells were literally everywhere.

“Stay back!” A tiny voice said and Brian turned his head, frowning. He was sure there was no one else in the cramped room besides him and Keeko… so…
This day had started out really strange, and it had only just begun too. He’d woken up, had seen Keeko, who was practically frozen in shock. Had tried to calm her down. And then his son had walked in, nearly in the same state as the Maltese. Was he missing something here?

“Stay back! Please, don’t eat me!”

What the fuck?

It came from under the desk and when Brian bent down, he could see Keeko’s shaking form staring back at him.

The small dog squealed pathetically, pressing herself a little further back into the wall.

“G-get back!” the Maltese wheezed and Brian’s mouth dropped open.

Keeko talked.

Keeko. The dog he’d brought home from Japan years ago.

It talked. Why did it talk?

He blinked a few times and shook his head, trying to clear the strange haze that had accumulated in his mind. Stay away from the liquor next time, Brian, he told himself.

“Stay away, I said!” Keeko growled at him and he tilted his head, wondering if he should say anything back.

Sure, he talked to his dogs all the time, but he wasn’t used to them saying anything back.

“Keeko?” he stammered in confusion.

“You know my name. Why you know my name, wolf?” the small dog replied defensively.

“Y-you’re my dog…” Brian said uneasily.

This made Keeko pause for a second. “I’m not your dog, wolf,” she said eventually.

“What are calling me ‘wolf’ for?” Brian asked, feeling more and more confused as the seconds passed by. Keeko observed him intently for a few moments, not understanding.

“I know wolf when I see wolf,” she replied eventually.

“I’m not a w-” Brian started, looking down; then jumped up in shock. “What the hell is happening?” he yelled, panicking. His hands looked like white paws, the nails loudly tapping the wooden floor as he stomped down a few times. He turned around, bumping into a few boxes on his left. He felt his heart almost stop when he looked at the reflection in the mirror. The wolf that stared back was almost entirely white, with only a stripe of colour that ran from the top of its head to the end of the tail. His eyes were unusually blue and whenever Brian raised his hand, the reflection would raise its paw.

This was beyond insane.

Brian tried to look back over his shoulder, stunned by the large white tail that carelessly swept into a pile of lyric sheets, scattering them all over the confined office space.

He must be hallucinating.

“What are you doing, wolf?” Keeko’s voice cautiously asked. Keeko’s voice. It became stranger the longer he considered it.

“I’m not a wolf!” Brian snapped, “I’m Brian!”

Keeko narrowed her stare, then took a tentative forward, “Very funny, wolf,” she growled, “Brian is man.”

“I am a man!” Brian exclaimed, wondering who the hell had drugged him.

“You look like wolf,” Keeko concluded seriously. “I know wolf when I see wolf. I don’t like wolf.”

“I didn’t ask for this!” Brian countered in frustration, not caring that he was basically involved in a heated discussion with his Maltese.

“Wolf don’t wanna be wolf?” Keeko asked in confusion, slowly but surely finding the courage to come out of her hiding spot under the desk. “You strange wolf.”

“I am not a w-” Brian sighed, deciding it was no use. Keeko wouldn’t believe him unless he had proof.

Curiosity seemed to get the better of the small Maltese though as she peeked her head out from under the desk.

Brian studied her for a minute, “You can come on out, I’m not gonna eat you.”

“Wolf not hungry?” Keeko asked.

“No,” Brian grumbled, feeling his stomach growl in response.

“You strange wolf,” Keeko repeated, finally crawling out from under the desk.

“You can say that again,” Brian said absent-mindedly, looking at the door. “We should get out.”

Keeko let out a sound that sounded a bit like a laugh, “Can’t open door, wolf. Human closed it.”

“You don’t know that unless you tried,” Brian muttered the phrase he’d said to his son a billion of times. “We just have to find a way,” he said, pushing one of the desk chairs towards the door with his nose. The chair smelled of sweat and chewing gum, he realized. Once he was sure the chair was solidly pressed against the wall, he jumped up on it, trying to keep his balance as the chair turned with his momentum. He was well aware of Keeko’s eyes following his every move as he pressed one of his paws against the door handle. Closed.

Baylee had locked him in here.

He felt a spark of anger coursing through him before realizing that for all Baylee was aware of, there was a wild wolf in the studio. He snorted, a low growl that could only be of an animal escaping his mouth.

Thankfully, underneath the door handle was a knob that could unlock the door from the inside out. He grinned to himself, but felt his confidence slowly drain away when he realized that his paws could not physically turn the knob. Narrowing his eyes at the thing, he decided that this was the time for some desperate measures. Yet, after having attacked the door knob several times with his teeth, Brian decided that doors were solely something that humans could handle.

“Goddamnit.”

Defeated, he slowly got off the chair and sat on the floor. He started to wonder if Baylee would be brave enough to come back to the basement and rescue his dog.

What if Leighanne came down here? She would probably call the police; have him killed without knowing better. His heart hammering in his throat, he started to pace back and forth, irritated by the constant clicking of his nails on the wooden floor. The studio was soundproof; there was no way anyone could ever hear them down here. He relented a bit in the fact that his wife usually didn’t come here if she knew he wasn’t here. His stomach growled again and the smell of the potato chips that were hidden away in one of the desk’s drawers was so strong, it almost drove him automatically. Grabbing the drawer with strong jaws, he was glad to know he could at least open something.

Standing awkwardly on his hind legs, he rummaged through the drawer until he found what he’d been looking for.

Keeko gasped when he turned around with the bag of chips in his mouth. Her eyes widened and he could practically see the saliva streaming out of her small mouth. He dropped the bag and took a step back, studying it thoughtfully. “Now how do we open this?” he muttered.

Keeko squealed softly, overcome with the desire of having a full bag of potato chips to their disposal, but not being able to eat it because it was the wolf’s food. “Rip it, rip it,” she said quickly.

Brian frowned at the uncivilized thought of having to destroy a bag of chips with his teeth, inevitably scattering the whole studio floor with the food from the force, but his hunger was greater now and before he knew what he was doing, the bag was back in his mouth and he shook his head wildly to break it open. It didn’t take long before chips flew in every direction and Keeko gave an agonized yelp full of longing. Brian didn’t pay her attention, immediately chowing down on the potato snacks, growling in warning when Keeko came closer. The small Maltese immediately shrunk back, deciding to let the wolf finish first. Most of the chips was gone now and Brian realized that he’d never eaten anything this quick in his life. He saw Keeko quivering underneath the desk and took a step away from her, more than a little disturbed how his instinct had completely taken over once he was hungry.

He wasn’t a wolf.

He shouldn’t be acting like one either.

He sighed, curling up after jumping on the desk. He closed his eyes, but opened them again when he heard Keeko whimper in desperation. “Go on,” he murmured.

Keeko squealed, immediately reappearing from under the desk and licking up what little remained of the potato chips. “Thank you, wolf.”

“I’m not a wolf.”

“Okay.”

Brian rolled his eyes, moving around to see if he could get a comfortable enough position on the desk. “How do dogs even do this?” he wondered, grumbling as he put his head on his front legs and sighed in resignation.

When Keeko was finished eating, Brian saw her disappear underneath the desk again. He shook his head, wondering when Baylee would return. He would have to have a serious conversation with that child once he came back.