The Future Diary 2: Blood Of The Past

The Wolves

It was later that night when Dalton sat on the porch, nursing a glass of scotch that Jacob had brought her, looking out at the fading light of the sun over the skyline of Manhattan. Jeff stood against the railing, as the back porch ran the entire length of the house, fully decorated with white trim and excessively expensive lawn chairs.

    "What do you think of Dawson?" asked Jeff. Dalton looked at him.

    "I love him, if that's what you mean."

    "I sorta figured that. But, after all he's done, can you really forgive him that easily?"

    Dalton shrugged. "Forgive and forget, I guess."

    Jeff took a swig of his beer. "I'm not here to control you, you know. I'm just looking out for you, that's all."

    "Now I have no idea what that was supposed to mean," Dalton said.

    Jeff ignored her, as Chris stepped out onto the porch. "Do you know that feeling we used to get on the rainy days as kids, when it was right before the storm, and the air was wet and the sky was gray, and we could just feel it coming closer, the cold of the rain?"

    "Yeah, I remember that."

    "Well I feel that now. Something big is going to happen soon. There's a storm coming."

    "No shit, actually," Chris said. "Huge snowstorm is coming our way. Should be here by the end of the week."

    "I meant a metaphorical storm, jackass," Jeff snorted. He drank some more. "I didn't mean that, I'm sorry. I lose my temper sometimes."

    "I know how you feel," Chris said. "It happens."

    "Anyways," Jeff continued. "There's always a calm before the storm, when something feels off, but you can never place the blame on anything. Like, right before a breakup, the other person is really nice to you, but you can feel it's like this... fake niceness, I guess."

    "Like a mask," Chris suggested.

    "Exactly."

    "I wish I got that feeling," Dalton said. "But nope, I'm just poor old Dalton. Come save me everybody, I'm helpless."

"Don't say that," Jeff said. "At least you're hot. I got the bad end of the stick."

"I assume that was glasses and a love for writing?" Chris suggested.

"You got that right. Dalton was the popular one, and I was just the brother that everybody knew."

"None of that mattered anyways," Dalton said, nursing her drink. "They weren't real friends."

"It's hard to find real friends, given how many wolves there are in the world," Chris said.

"Wolves?"

"Yeah, the wolves. They're the ones who dress up in the sheep's clothing, hide in plain sight, and nobody suspects a thing. They're the bad guys, but they're smart bad guys."

"Explain."

"Well, people throughout history have been the wolves. They were the strong ones who dressed up, who put on a mask so they didn't scare anybody. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, all of them were wolves. They were the the bad guys, but they were smart. They put on a mask, one that hid their true selves. They used that mask, they played the part of whoever they needed to be. And when they needed to be the wolf again, they could take the mask off. There are people in the world today, just like that, whether it be that high school bully, or even the fucking president. They know how to appeal to you, they know how to get inside your head, and they know how to be a wolf without you even knowing it."

Jeff was staring at Chris now. "You seem like a smart guy, Chris."

"I like to think of myself as that. I didn't graduate MIT just to wave the diploma around."

"That's ironic," Jeff chuckled. "Are you sure you're not a wolf?"

Chris smiled. "I could be. Aoooooooooh!" Chris blushed.

"That was fucking stupid," Dalton said, crying from laughter.

"I know it was, but you don't need to point it out."

Dalton laughed one more time, then sat forward, remembering the reporter. She sifted through her pocket, pulling out the note with his number on it. "I'll be right back," she quickly told them, walking into the massive back room that mirrored the front lobby. She walked up to the desk, then grabbed the house phone receiver, and dialed in the number.
It rang twice, then it was busy. Dalton sighed and went back outside.