Howls

I wish it had rained on the day I died. It didn’t. It snowed. I died in the middle of a snowstorm. This is how it happened.

It was the usual day at work. My boss screaming at me about one of his messes and demanding I fix it. The telephone on my desk kept buzzing every ten minutes with another caller complaining about something or the other and a huge stack of files on my desk demanding my attention.

I lived on the outskirts of town, just off the highway. It was a thirty five minute drive to my house from town. House is not exactly what it was. It was a small cabin left to me by a generous uncle. I’d tried to make it as cozy as possible with a bar and some new upholstery for the furniture. It had a large fireplace and above the mantelpiece was an air rifle which my father used to own. It was unloaded.

Back at work, someone turned on the radio. The news bulletin prophesized that a storm of significant magnitude was on the way. It went on to warn us that the snow could reach up to three to four feet in height. The storm was scheduled to hit in two hours. 

Everyone started to look anxious and one or two people went and told the boss they were going home. I was one of those people. Normally the boss man would have raised Cain but this time he just nodded.

Did I mention there was a forest near the highway? It was a little dense and there were wolves in it, hiding in the tundra. That’s why many people venturing on the highway carried flares with them- to frighten off the wolves. I’d recently purchased a few flares and a flare gun. They did a bit of work on the day I died.

I was driving slowly in town and sped up when I reached the highway. Visibility was very poor. Snow was coming down like “manna” from heaven and I couldn’t see more than three feet ahead of me. Just as I was crossing the forest, my car stalled. By then it was night. I tried to get the bloody thing to start but it was out cold.

Not knowing what to do I stepped out of the car and opened the bonnet. It seemed like the engine had gone cold and stalled. I had no idea how to warm up a car engine. I wasn’t an engineer. The snowdrift was worsening. I couldn’t see much. I could have walked the rest of the way and I tried to do that armed with my flare gun. 

Unfortunately I ended up lost in the forest.

So there I was, tired, hungry and feeling scared because the situation was worsening with each passing minute. I could not see where I was going, I was close to a forest or maybe in the forest and I was numb from the intense cold.

This is where it happens. This is when I die.

I heard howls. Wolves! I started to panic, and held out my flare gun. I couldn’t work the trigger with my numb hands. The howls started getting closer and I could see tiny pinpricks of light occasionally. Then I started to hear growls.

I was petrified. I could tell that a wolf pack was nearby, or maybe had me surrounded. I managed to get off a single flare. In the light I saw the snout of a wolf, with its teeth bared.

I saw it jump. That was the last thing I saw. I suppose I died slowly, bleeding out on the snow.

How am I telling you all this? It’s simple. I am a member of their pack now, hunting and running with them. I have been at it for a while now, and will continue maybe unto eternity!

The Bilge Master