Wolf Painting

The Wolf Painting is a short story written by a user on this website named Dreymon. It’s about a boy who dumps a girl and gets a strange gift in return.

I live in a small town in South Carolina and I went to a pretty small high school. My best friend’s name was Brandon and he was always an incorrigible ladies’ man.

During our sophomore year, there was a new girl in school. Her name was Gracie and she was really shy. She wasn’t beautiful, but she was cute in a funny sort of way. She had dark brown hair, wore dark rimmed glasses and carried a sketchbook wherever she went. Her artwork was incredible and her portfolio was full of sketches and drawings that were better than anything we had ever seen before.

Like he always did, Brandon introduced himself to this girl and quickly swept her off her feet. Within a few days, she had become a constant presence by his side. She stared at him with love in her eyes and really seemed besotted. Unfortunately, the relationship appeared to be a little one-sided. Every day, she seemed to have a gift for him. Some days, it was a poem she had written and other days, it was a little drawing she had done.

However, within a few weeks Brandon lost interest in the poor girl and dumped her without much of an explanation. A few days later, he started dating another girl. Gracie was devastated. I still remember the sad sight of Gracie following Brandon around, pulling at his arm and begging him to take her back. Despite her tears, Brandon just stood there, staring at her with no emotion at all. A lot of people felt bad for her. I know I did. However, I couldn’t help but feel shocked by how attached she had become after such a short time.

Finally, Gracie seemed to understand that Brandon had moved on. She stopped following him around, but she started wearing lots of black as if she was in mourning. Her artwork also became a lot darker and disturbing. She eventually stopped coming to school. The rumor in town was that she had suffered some sort of mental breakdown. Shortly afterwards, her family moved away and nobody thought much about her.

Two years later, during our senior year, Gracie suddenly returned. She looked like a completely different girl. Now, she was confident, assertive and incredibly beautiful. She admitted that she had seen a psychiatrist and spent some time in a mental facility. She said that after spending time in art therapy, she felt much better. She wasted little time making amends with Brandon.

“No hard feelings,” Gracie said while reaching out her hand to him and grinning.

“No hard feelings,” he replied as he accepted her handshake.

Brandon was shameless and a few days later, he asked her out again. Gracie declined but she told him she had something to give him. She described it as a little present. Something to act as a peace offering.

The next day, Gracie brought Brandon a picture that wowed everyone in the school. It was a painting of a werewolf. As soon as I saw it, a chill ran down my spine. It was amazingly lifelike and the wolf’s eyes staring chillingly at the viewer. The detail in the painting was impressive and the glowing red eyes made you shiver just to look at them.

After hanging the painting in his bedroom, Brandon wouldn’t stop talking about it. He spoke enthusiastically about how real it looked and praised Gracie’s talent. He was especially impressed by how the eyes of the wolf seemed to glow in the dark. She must have used luminous paint, he said.

One day, I was supposed to give Brandon a ride to school. When I drove to his house, I found the area was blocked off by police tape. There were police cars everywhere. The sheriff is a friend of my dad’s and he sent me to school with no explanation.

As soon as I arrived at school, I heard the horrible news. It seemed that Brandon had been attacked in his house during the night. They said that his body had been ripped limb from limb. The police said it must have been a wild animal. Brandon had been attacked in his bed that night. His parents were on a trip at the time, and had just got in that morning when they found the horrible scene. Other than a thick trail of blood, and drag marks, there was no sign of him or the creature. His parents were inconsolable rambling about how there were no broken windows, the doors were all locked and there was no way out of the house.

Everyone was in shock. Everyone, that is, except Gracie. We were all sent home early from school because of the tragedy. It must have been hardest on Gracie, because the next day, she was nowhere to be seen. In fact, she never came back to school, and her family left town soon after the incident.