I Left My Heart In Cafe Craeneburg

As we drew close to where Charlie was, a feeling of dread crossed my entire body like somewhere inside me- my wolf, probably- knew that something was going to kick off.

We’d managed to track the scent off my t-shirt to an old stately house in the middle of nowhere. It was rather beautiful, painted a stark white colour with rows of windows aligning the front side. There was a long stone driveway leading up to it that had bright green grass and trees on either side.The house could easily house my entire street back home, it was that big. It shouldn’t be classed as a house; it was too big for that. Mansion was more fitting.

On one side, there was a tall, cylindrical tower with a dome on top that looked like it was taken from a Ladybird storybook. Gazing up at it, I would imagine that Rapunzel would be sitting atop it, dangling her hair down, waiting for her prince. Of course, fairytales couldn’t be real for the monsters in the closet. Yes, I can deal with what I’ve become but I still resented it.

The whole set up looked like it should belong in the renaissance period- not in this horror story. I felt as if I should be arriving in a carriage, dressed in a long flowing gown with Taylor in a suit and cravat. Instead, we were dressed up in jeans and ratty old t-shirts. And due to my twisted sense of humour, I’d put on a red hoodie. Taylor was carrying a heavy torch with knives tucked into his belt. In short, he looked hilarious. But I was no better, really, I, too, carried a torch but instead of having knives, I had a rubber mallet which I had no idea where Taylor got from.

“I don’t trust you with a knife. Knowing you, you’d end up stabbing yourself.” Were Taylor’s exact words, which were fair enough but a hammer, really? I’d swing it around, pretending to be a ninja, and end up whacking myself upside the head like an idiot and knocking myself out. I could see it happening. Then Taylor would try to help me, but would trip over the dropped hammer and stab himself with his knives. Then Charlie would come and gobble us up for dinner.

Lovely. My imagination was the best!

“Got your weapon?” He asked for the hundredth time that day.

“Oh no! I left it at home.” I replied sarcastically. I wondered if he thought that if he kept asking, my answer would change. Taylor didn’t like my answer, it seemed, as he gave me a pointed look.

“I’m holding it, doofus.” I conceded with a roll of my eyes.

“Good.” He replied. “Now, if things get rough then leg it back home and wait for me.” Wait- did he think I would be a chicken and give up? Oh he really did not just think that.

Yup, he did, asshole. My wolf snarled in agreement.

“Listen here, I’m not going to give up just because we’re going to face the big bad wolf. I want answers just as bad as you do.” I hissed in reply, being careful not to be too loud. We still needed the element of surprise in this. Tjere may have been two of us, but he was older and, from what I remembered, his muscles alone could crush your spine with the slightest twitch. He was the very definition of the term the ‘big bad wolf’. The one who gobbled up Red Riding Hood’s gran had nothing on Charlie.

By thinking all this wasn’t helping my mental prep talk but it was true. We didn’t have a prayer of defeating him, hence why we needed the element of surprise on our side. Hopefully that could tip the chances in our favour. It may not be much, but it could just be what we needed.

We managed to creep up the drive without making a single noise but, naturally, I was the one to spoil it. I stumbled over my untied shoelace which made the gravel lining the driveway crunch. The sound reverberated around the silent garden. I realised that that was the first defence. An intruder would slip up sometime on the gravel and because the garden was lined with thick, dense trees, the sound would be amplified as the trees acted like a blanket.

“Bugger!” Taylor swore grabbing onto my wrist, dragging me the last few meters to the door. We stood either side of the front door and waited. Gazing up, I saw that there was no porch overhanging to offer us shelter. The quarter moon shone brightly, illuminating the whole front of the house. There were no shadows casted to hide in. We were on our own. And because of me, we lost the surprise tactic.

“Sorry” I whispered guiltily. I had to go ruin everything didn’t I? We could end up dead now because of my lack of equilibrium. Obviously, being what we are didn’t include balance of coordination. Well, probably only for me. Taylor seemed to walk more silently now he’d changed. I was still the same clumsy fool.

“It’s fine” He whispered just loud enough for me to hear. So Good hearing was included, then. Slowly and silently, Taylor reached into his belt and held up a knife in an attack position. He turned his torch off and I did the same. Now the only source of light was the moon. I could sense Taylor stood next to me but I couldn’t see him.

Allow me, my wolf said smugly and suddenly, I could see. Everything was brighter than it would be in normal daylight but there was a slight amber tint to everything. Looking at Taylor, I could see that he’d done the same thing as me and his eyes were bright amber now with his pupil stretching more than was possible in a normal human. But of course, we weren’t human. He nodded at me, looking pointedly at my hammer that I was holding limply in my arm. Immediately I understood what he meant so I raised it up the same position he was holding his knife. I placed the now useless torch on the ground under the window and, with our backs facing the wall, we waited. I don’t know how long we waited but it became apparent that Charlie hadn’t heard my trip. Well either that or he wasn’t in. I hoped he was in; waiting like this was just ridiculous.

Suddenly, the door was flung open viciously. Charlie was stood there illuminated by his house lights, staring down at us with what could only be described as utter hate. If looks could kill then Taylor and I would be buried beneath the Earth’s core by now.

“Boo” Taylor muttered with a wicked grin, his eyes lighting up as he sized his challenge. I no longer believed that he disliked his wolf since he looked so joyously. I grinned and raised the mallet.

“Sorry, the woodcutter wasn’t available so we came instead” I added, putting my hood up. I saw Taylor roll his eyes in my peripheral vision.Well I couldn’t help who I was!

“You can’t defeat me whatever you do so I’m giving you this chance to walk away before I kill you” He growled menacingly. Thank goodness he wasn’t an alpha otherwise I’d be running like hell.

Already ahead of you, bro. I replied with an internal grin. This would be the best fight ever.