Page 2 of Jacob Michaels Is Not Jacob Michaels

Pulling my hands away from my ears, I laid there, looking up at the clouds passing in front of the moon through the tree branches overhead.

Did you see that?

“What?” I gasped, trying to rise to a seated position, my body not wanting to cooperate.

Who was I talking to as I laid there? Who was out in the backyard with me? I listened carefully, trying to ignore the sound of my own heart in my head. Off in the distance, a wolf howled.

Did you see that?

Immediately, I pushed myself out of the muck I had fallen into, jumping to my feet. Mud and muck dripped off of me. It had seeped through my pajamas, matted the back of my head, covered the entire backside of me. Dashing across the still nearly frozen ground at the edge of the woods, I ran as fast as my thudding heart and my aching joints allowed, heading directly towards Oma’s house. The whispers had stopped, my vision had cleared, Oma’s house was crisp and sharp in my vision as I crossed the lawn at top speed. Halfway across the lawn, the house getting closer, I noticed the stillness of the night around me. My feet crunching against the ground, my heart in my throat; they were the only sounds I heard. The clouds moving across the sky and me dashing across the lawn were the only things moving in the dark.

Spinning around, I turned and looked off towards the woods as my mind strobed memories and my breath came in gasps.

My mom was making me breakfast.

The shaking of the house and the green light.

My father was tucking me into bed.

“Mom will be back, Robbie.”

He had said that.

Waking up the next morning and being all alone.

Oma showing up.

Dad never coming back.

As I stood there, my hands rising to either side of my head, pressing against my skull as the memories rushed in and then receded, then repeated the process, I sensed movement at the edge of the woods. I looked up; hands still pressed to my head as it did its best to split wide open from the strobe light of memories flashing through my brain. Everything was going so fast—I remembered everything but, then I didn’t, over and over again until I thought I would go mad as I gasped for air, trying to get my lungs working correctly. Just as I felt the memories start to settle back into place, find their home within my consciousness again, the silence of the backyard was shattered by another wolf howl. But this one was close. So very close.

At the edge of the woods, though my vision was still somewhat blurry, I saw dark shapes moving through the trees towards the yard. I let my hands fall from my head as the memories fluttered away like dandelion seeds in a stiff breeze. My body felt frozen in place, from fear or the cold, I wasn’t sure, as three large shapes moved past the tree line into the backyard. Three wolves, larger than I had ever seen before, stalked out of the woods, their red eyes glowing and zeroing in on me. All three had thick black fur, red eyes that seemed to glow in the dark, and toothy snarls affixed on their muzzles. A low, rumbling growl emanated from them as they inched towards me, their massive paws sinking deep into the muck with each step.

My feet began to move of their own accord—my brain was not involved—moving me backward and closer to the house. I screamed out in shock at the sight of the wolves, which only made them growl louder as they continued their forward movements. I slapped a hand over my mouth as I continued shuffling backward, wondering if I should make a mad dash for the house or if that would only make them run after me. There was no way that I could outrun three grown wolves with half of the yard left to traverse. However, if I merely kept inching backward, they would surely catch up to me. They definitely would not continue stalking forward at the same pace once they figured out that I was terrified and unable to make my brain and feet communicate effectively.

Three wolves continued to traverse the backyard, inching towards me as I inched back towards the house. My heart was in my throat again, and my eyes darted from one set of glowing red eyes to another to another. All three wolves snarled, their fangs dripping viscous saliva as they got closer and closer and the house seemed to get farther and farther away. Staring into the eyes of the wolves was like staring into my future—a future full of ripping jaws, clenching teeth, sinew and flesh torn from bones, guttural screams filling the air. I swallowed hard as I started to take more substantial steps backward, my eyes zeroing in on the middle wolf—the one I had decided was probably the leader of this small pack. The middle wolf’s eyes squinted in what seemed like feral anger as I took another substantial step backward. He growled gutturally as the two wolves on either side of him leaned back and howled ferally at the sky.

Something inside of me connected my brain to my body once again, and my mind began to command my body to turn and rush for the house, to do everything I could to outrun these three wolves.

What were wolves doing along the shore of Lake Erie so close to Oma’s house anyway?

What does it matter, idiot?

These wolves are going to tear you limb from limb regardless of the reason.

Then it dawned on me.

I glanced at the sky, but the moon was waning.

Were these werewolves?

How could that be?

The moon wasn’t full.

Looking into the eyes of the wolf I had decided was the leader convinced me further that I wasn’t dealing with standard wolves. There was a human intelligence there. A hunger and longing and anger that a standard wolf could neither express nor convey with their eyes. For several moments, I stared into the leader’s eyes as he squinted ferally back at me. The other two wolves started to inch forward again, coming closer to me as the leader held back. Obviously, the two on either side were going to dash in and attack, and the leader would bring up the rear in case I tried to get around them. I had no choice. I had to turn and run for the house. Even if I could feint and dodge around them, the only place I could run was the woods—and they would surely chase me down before I got close to the tree line.

“Sir?” My eyes widened at the voice that came from behind me.