09/01/2026
From SIDESHOW TALES
LYCANTHROPE
(Origin of Wolfman Jim)
*Warning: abuse, sensitive matter*
My father beat me
as long as I can remember.
Seems I was
never good enough, y'know?
I was fearful
of saying the wrong words,
or moving a bit too slow.
For he killed my mother,
when I was just
a wee lad of three.
I still remember her face,
and that she was sweet,
and always kind to me.
She would try to soothe him,
maybe she figured
she could tame the beast.
One evening however,
his dinner grew cold
and he lost control,
to say the very least.
I ran to protect my mom,
but he laid me out
without a sound.
I awoke sometime later,
to the sound of his shovel
breaking the ground.
He told me if I ever
spoke of her to anyone,
he'd kill me with no remorse.
From that day forward
his drunken rage grew,
and the beatings got worse.
He'd frighten me
with tales of werewolves.
Said they eat bad boys like me.
Threatened to leave me
in the woods at night,
when full moon was beckoning.
He took me into the forest
to learn how to hunt,
to make me a man.
When I told him
I would kill no good creature,
he beat me with his hands.
Told me I better get up,
but the pain in my heart
and my body was too much.
He left me to die,
as the forest met,
the full moon's haunting touch.
I hid inside a hollow log,
to cry myself to sleep.
I could hear the howling of the wolves,
and the pattering of their feet.
Then, deadly silence.
I raised my head to see.
The man wolf staring through my soul,
looking straight at me.
A scream rose from my throat.
He put a finger
to his bloodstained lips.
Then he spoke to me
in an eerie voice.
He said this:
"You have suffered much, wee lad,
and lived a life of pain.
I will teach you, ways of the wolf,
how to run as fast as a train.
I bestow the gift of night,
a strength you've never known.
I give this not free but for a promise,
words cast in midnight stone.
Never spill innocent blood,
defend the weak, helpless folk.
You will no longer be chained to man,
I dub thee…lycanthrope!"
And then…he bit me.
The pain was exquisite,
yet it made my insides yearn.
For all that he could teach,
for the fire inside that burned.
And when the nightfall ended,
I returned to my father's home.
I found him kicking our dog,
and raging at the sky.
He turned around to face me,
and I stared into his eyes.
Walked up to me suddenly,
thinking I would run away.
I didn't budge or blink an eye,
I had no words to say.
He raised a hand to hit me,
my eyes became blood red.
I showed him my brand new teeth,
and in seconds he was dead.
I lived with my brethren
in the secret woods,
until I was old enough to be on my own.
After years of rambling
without purpose,
I joined up with a carnival show.
That's my story, now go to sleep.
I must be on my way.
If you hear the howling of the wolf,
please know that you'll be okay.
I am the darkest part of night,
the frayed end of the rope.
I am brother to all good souls,
I am…lycanthrope.
,©️2023
Jimmy Ray Davis
Wordmachinist Publishing
All rights reserved.
