A Short Story

It was late August, only a few days before autumn when a young man went for a run. Let’s call him…Matthew. He wasn’t fast. Nor was he in the kind of shape that make people think “hey, that guy’s a runner.” No, he wasn’t the type, but he had built up an endurance over the last couple months.

Matthew ran three-quarters, then walked until his watch logged the mile. Mile two was similar. Lightly jogged most of it, walked a third of it, then ran out the rest. Mile three, he walked almost all of it. His heart rate had peaked around 135 during the second mile, and it still hovered about the 105-111 margin.  When the rate dipped in the 80s, he ran until he got to the grove, a leafy area with a bench that memorialized one of the town’s local heroes. It was also the halfway point on the trail.

He stopped, and checked his watch. It was 3:45 pm, his favorite part of the day. He looked up into the trees, saw the light break through the leaves, then he took a seat on a nearby bench and closed his eyes.

When he re-opened his eyes, it was night.

Stars above him. Midnight sky with hints of navy blue. The open trail, now covered by dead leaves. Ten feet away, seated stoically in a patch of orange foliage—a wolf. It wasn’t moving. It wasn’t growling. It was…watching him, staring, almost like it recognized him from somewhere.

The man jerked upright, heart pounding, adrenaline pumping, then climbed onto the bench.

The wolf raised a paw. “Whoa, whoa, my bad! I’m so sorry, I-I-I didn’t think you were…I thought you were asleep. I didn’t mean to freak you out.”

The man swallowed hard, then blinked. “Did you just—talk?”

The wolf tilted its head. “Uh, yeah, yeah. That’s kinda how communication works here.”

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

“What is here?”

“Here is…the In-Between.”

“The In-Between? What is that?”

The wolf thought about it. “What do you think it is? You’re in between.”

“In between what?”

The wolf shrugged. “Different for everybody, I suppose.” Matthew relaxed, still on edge a bit, and the wolf returned to its curious nature. He took a step, hesitated, then came in for a closer look. “You look familiar.”

“I’m sorry?” Matthew asked.

The wolf nodded, then went for it. “So, I’m gonna be straight with you, this will probably sound weird, but…did you ever have a beagle-border collie mix?”

The man thought about it. “Yeah. I did.”

“Was his name, by chance, Trent?”

Matthew was skeptical. “…Yeah. How do you know that?”

The wolf hesitated. “Cuz…me and him are like bros, you know?”

“You are?” Matthew asked, more intrigued than skeptical.

“Yeah,” the wolf said softly, “we’re…super close.”

The man slid down from the bench slowly, wary but curious. “How does that work? He was a dog, you’re a wolf, like…do you and him run in the same circles or something?”

The wolf smiled—chuckled. “You can say that. If you must know…we like to trade memories from time to time. Relive old days, so to speak. Your boy, Trent, he had a lot of good stories. He talked about you a lot.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?”

The wolf hopped on the bench. “Like…the night you two met. You chose him out of a pack of eight. He said your hair was green. It was temporary, like…you washed it out, but still…it was green.” Matthew’s face rose to the story, so the wolf gave him more. “He told me, which is unusual for the canine world, that you never got on to him for humping the furniture.”

Matthew laughed. “No, no, I always thought it was funny.”

“He told me about the feline garage-mates he had, the King of the Apes and his Bride.”

The man thought about it, then remembered. “That’s right! That’s right! Tarzan and Jane, that was their names, wait, how’d you…” he stopped, then recalled something darker.

The wolf noticed the change. “Hey man, you good?”

The man’s face crumpled. “The thing is…I used to get so mad over the dumbest stuff. I used to yell at him and he did nothing to deserve it. I…I just feel so awful about it.”

The wolf relaxed into the bench. “You wanna know what he told me? He told me you were his best friend. He told me you made life feel like the longest walk…but in the best way.”

Matthew wiped a tear. “You’re just saying that.”

The wolf continued adamantly. “No, dude, you were the best owner, like for real, you made life awesome. Sure, it was simple, but you were there…like, that’s the dream. Having an owner who cares enough about you to be present.” The man laughed, so the wolf went on. “I’m serious. If I could go back in time and do it all over again, I would choose you for round two in a heartbeat.”

The man looked at him. “Really?”

“Absolutely. One hundred percent, every single time.” And then the wolf realized what he had said, then dropped his passion. “I mean, that’s what he told me, you know?”

They sat in silence, until the wolf hopped off the bench. “Anyway, I should let you go.”

The man followed the wolf, his eyes glassy. “Wait…so, when’s your next meetup? When’s the next time you and him meet up to, you know, swap stories?”

The wolf paused, then smiled at the moon. “Soon. Real soon.”

“Tell him I said ‘Hey,’ and ‘I’m proud of you.”

The wolf nodded, then padded off into the trees.

The man woke up with a jolt. His arms were crossed, and there was light still coming through the trees. He checked his watch. 4:04pm. He brushed himself off, then walked back down the trail toward his car. Halfway back…he stopped, then looked to his right. Within the shadows of the trees, beside a thick oak trunk, was a wolf. The same one from his…whatever that was. The wolf watched him calmly, then lowered itself onto the grass.

The man locked eyes with it, nodded, then turned…and kept walking.

THE END