A Person with a Beastly Heart chapter 2

### Trouble at Home

However, the observant Tom noticed that his father had been acting a bit strange recently. He not only had a huge appetite but also loved meat very much. Once, he saw his father take a piece of raw meat and put it directly into his mouth in the kitchen. His father turned around, saw Tom, and smiled sheepishly, “This meat smells so good! When I was a child, my family couldn’t afford meat. When we finally killed a pig, I really wanted to eat a piece of raw meat.” Tom couldn’t help but shiver.

Strange things kept happening one after another. First, Mr. Johnson’s old dog died outside the door, and then Mrs. Brown’s cat died on the roof. The cause of death was that their throats were bitten off. What was even stranger was that there was an open space in front of the building where many people used to take their pets for a walk. But recently, those pets seemed to go crazy. As soon as they got close to that open space, they turned around and ran away. The neighbors were talking about these strange things, and Tom was even more uneasy. Animals have the most sensitive sense of smell. They must have smelled something unusual.

Every night when sleeping, Tom would get up several times to check on his father. One late night, he suddenly heard the door open. He rushed to the door and saw a swift figure running away in a flash. Tom was sitting there restlessly, waiting for two or three hours. In the dark, he heard his father tiptoeing back. Soon, his father was snoring loudly. He quietly walked over. By the light of the street lamp outside, he saw a trace of blood still remaining on his father’s lips.

The next day, there was a news report on TV. Dozens of sheep on a farm in the suburbs were all bitten to death overnight. His father said affirmatively after seeing the news, “It was done by a wolf. But how could there be a wolf in this area?” Tom forced a smile and said, “Maybe the ecological environment is well – protected now, and wolves have come into the city.” Tom knew that the wolf’s heart in his father’s chest was gradually taking effect. During the day, he was a kind – hearted old man, but when night fell, the wildness of the wolf took over. He had no idea what he did at night.

In order to prevent his father from going out at night, Tom started to give his father sleeping pills every night. This method really worked. His father would sleep soundly after taking the pills, and everything was peaceful for a long time. However, his father’s drug resistance was getting stronger and stronger. Tom had to keep increasing the dosage. But if he continued like this, his father might never wake up. But if he didn’t increase the dosage, what if his father went out and attacked others?

His father also seemed to notice something. He asked more than once, “My body is better, right? Why do you still give me so many pills?” Tom pretended to answer naturally, “This is what the doctor told me. Haven’t you heard that it takes a long time to recover from an illness? It’ll take a long time to fully recover.” Every time, he had to watch his father swallow the pills before leaving. One day, just as Tom handed the pills to his father, the phone rang. He went to answer the phone, and his father slyly threw all the pills under the bed. When Tom came back, his father stuck out his tongue playfully and said, “I’ve eaten them all, and I even drank the water.”

The next day, there was another strange news on TV. A young woman who was going home from a night shift was attacked in an alley. Just when she was in danger, a mysterious figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere and knocked the bad guy to the ground. When the police asked her if she could see what the mysterious person looked like, the young woman said in a panicked voice, “It was too fast. I couldn’t see clearly at all. It felt… like a wolf in clothes.” And that bad guy died soon after being sent to the hospital – his throat was bitten off. Hearing this, Tom’s chopsticks fell to the ground. He tentatively asked, “Dad, did you really take the pills last night?” His father looked up at Tom and said hoarsely, “I threw the pills away. And I found there was blood on my clothes this morning!”

Facing his father’s questioning, Tom had to tell him the truth. His father pointed to his chest and asked, “You mean, there’s a wolf’s heart beating here?” Tom nodded. His father threw the cup in his hand to the ground angrily and said, “I’ve never done anything bad in my life. Why didn’t anyone save my human heart but instead put a wolf’s heart in me?” Seeing his father in such great pain, Tom’s heart was like being cut by a knife. When he pressed his fingerprint on the agreement, the blue – eyed man didn’t tell him there would be such consequences. “Go find him and ask him to change my heart back. If he can’t, I’d rather die!” His father was in tears, wishing he could take out his own heart. Tom was at a loss. The place where the blue – eyed man took him was so far away and so hidden that he couldn’t find it at all.

Just then, the doorbell rang. As if by magic, the blue – eyed man was standing outside the door. “I’m here to see how the old man is recovering after the operation,” the blue – eyed man said with a big smile. Tom grabbed him and pulled him in, and growled at him in a low voice, “You liar! You’ve turned my father into this half – human, half – beast state. What do you say we should do?” The blue – eyed man walked around his father in surprise and said, “The old man looks fine.” His father grabbed his collar and said, “Fine? I run out like a wild animal every night, biting dogs, cats, and sheep. I even bit a person a few days ago. Do you think this is fine?” The blue – eyed man said coldly, “Don’t be so excited, old man. If the hospital was willing to treat you, I wouldn’t have forced you to come to my place. Moreover, I have your son’s fingerprint on the agreement. He agreed to this. I was inspired by the idiom ‘wolf – hearted and dog – lunged’ and wanted to do this experiment. Now it seems that the experiment with the wolf’s heart is a success. Goodbye.”

Tom and his father watched him leave helplessly. Tom wanted to call the police, but then he thought that if he did, the fact that his father had a wolf’s heart would spread. What would happen to his father then? Would he be sent to the zoo, the mental hospital, or the laboratory? As the sky gradually darkened, his father found a thick rope and handed it to Tom. “Tie me up, or who knows what kind of trouble I’ll cause!”