The Vixen

The Vixen

by Michael Espinoza



Tod and Lisa Renfield were newlyweds.  Exhausted by the hustle and bustle of the city, they moved far away, to an old abandoned shack less than a mile from the main highway.  The shack was dilapidated, but Lisa was sure it was nothing Tod couldn't fix.  Tod worked his best at it, to give his wife a comfortable home to live in, if not a fancy place, and before too long the shack was ready for a newlywed man and wife to begin their lives together.

Near the shack, not quite close enough to be a yard for the Renfields, there was a forest.  Although sounds could often be heard from the wood, it was rare that either Tod or Lisa saw any wildlife.  Lisa in particular lamented this, having been an animal lover since her childhood.  She would often go into the wood with her camera to try to catch something--anything--but most of the photos she ended up with were of the tails of creatures all but escaping the lens's notice.

The wood seemed a cheery enough sort in the spring months, when the Renfields moved in.  In summer there couldn't have been a happier paradise.  Even in the fall it was ideal for a walk and talk on any subject the loving couple could think of, however trivial.  It was only as the fall became the winter that the woods began to take on a sinister atmosphere, as though echoes of terrible crimes long forgotten were now heard the loudest.

Lisa was not the sort to frighten easily, but even she decided it was best to wait until next spring before heading into the woods again.  Tod agreed.  Besides, the scenery was beautiful enough in a blanket of white from outside the woods, in the safety of the little shack.

********

One morning Tod awoke to find that his wife was already awake.  Lisa put her hand to her chest and did not look at her husband.

"Something wrong, love?"

Lisa shook her head.  "I'm sure it was just a nightmare.  I didn't tell you, but last night I couldn't sleep very well.  As I was going to heat up some milk I heard a yowling from outside.  I thought it must have been from the woods.  I looked out the window in the direction of the forest and saw two pinpricks of light, of a sickly yellow color."

"Some creature of the night, no doubt," said Tod.

"That's what I thought," said Lisa, nodding.  "Still, all the same, I didn't feel safe behind the four walls of our home--I felt exposed, as though I were out in the cold with the creature.  The eyes, they penetrated me, as though compelling me not to look away.  And then as my eyes adjusted to the darkness I caught a silhouette: small, with two pointed ears, a tapered snout, and a long thick tail."

"A fox?" said Tod.

Lisa nodded again.  "A vixen."

"How do you know it was a vixen?"

Lisa shuddered.  "Don't ask me how I know it, I just know it.  She frightened me.  And yet I felt pity, sadness, I daresay love for the lonely creature.  I didn't want to look away, so I reached for my camera and took her picture."

"And did you catch the creature on film?"

Lisa showed Tod the photograph.  When he looked, Tod saw nothing but the dull bark of the trees and the light reflected from the snow.  Not even so much as a brush of a tail.

"Ah, those night creatures are skittish ones," said Tod.  "Better luck next time."

Lisa shook her head again.  "Tod...the vixen never moved once, not even to flee from the camera."

********

Notwithstanding his wife's strange tale that morning, which haunted her all during breakfast, Tod noticed that Lisa seemed to be in better sorts once she had eaten.  Soon it was as though she had forgotten all about that strange tale, as though she had simply dreamed it up, as she'd claimed.

That day, Lisa was even brave enough to go on a walk in the woods with Tod, and they even caught sight of a few birds and squirrels.  Lisa even managed to shoot a photo of a squirrel with a long tail, which she intended to paste into her album when they arrived home.

By the time they went to bed that night, Tod had nearly forgotten all about his wife's strange claims that morning, and if Lisa remembered she gave no sign.  Tod could not remember his wife seeming as peaceful as she did that night, and so he decided not to bring it up with her again.  Soon she went to bed.

But Tod was rudely awakened the next morning.  "What's all the commotion?"

Lisa's eyes scarcely blinked, and sweat drenched her.  "Tod...it was the vixen again last night!"

Tod put his arms around his wife.  "Tell me everything, love."

Lisa took a deep breath, then let it out.  Though the first rays of dawn lit up the room in a warm red glow, she seemed as frightened as though it were still the dark of night.  "Oh, surely I must have been dreaming!  And yet it felt so real--even more real than now.  I went to sleep--I'm sure I went to sleep!--but then I thought I awakened to the sound of the yowling from the night before last.  Tod, it was closer this time!"

Tod stroked his wife's long red locks.  "What happened, dearest?"

Lisa clenched her fists to avoid trembling.  "I don't know what overwhelming force compelled me--I wanted to stay as far away from the window as I could--but I found myself walking out of bed and to the window again.  There were the two sickly yellow points of light, but now they were closer.  And I could see her in silhouette once again.  She frightened me--and yet I still felt sorry for her in her loneliness.  I still loved her.  I tried once more to snap a photo of her, and she never moved, but...."

Lisa turned away from Tod.  "I must have dreamed it, I must have!"  She showed him another photograph.  As before, there was no vixen in the picture--not even the least brush of tail fur.  Only the trees and the snow: nothing more.

"Tod, am I going crazy?"

Tod kissed his wife.  "I'll stay up with you tonight.  If you did see a vixen, I want to see it for myself. Then perhaps we can call a game warden to do something about it.  If I do not see a vixen, I'll take you to a local doctor and he can prescribe something for you to take."

Lisa hugged Tod tightly.

********

Lisa was a bundle of nerves all that morning, notwithstanding Tod's efforts to calm her down, to cheer her up.  Still, by that afternoon, she began to be her usual cheerful self again, and even went out to shoot some more photos of the wood, to add to her album--though she dared not set foot in the wood this time.  She told Tod she would wait for the spring thaw, but Tod knew her better than that.

True to his word, Tod stayed up with Lisa that night.  It was the weekend, and so he boiled a pot of coffee for himself and Lisa, so that neither should fall asleep.  Even as he began to feel drowsy, he pinched himself hard to remain awake.

Suddenly Lisa shot up in bed.  "Tod!  Tod!" she cried, shaking him awake.

"What is it, love?"

"It's closer now, don't you hear it?!"

Tod listened carefully.  He heard nothing.

Lisa hardly seemed to notice him.  "Oh, Tod, can't you hear that terrible plaintive yowling, like a creature all alone in the world?"

She stood up and walked out of the dark bedroom.  Tod followed her to the kitchen window.

"Oh, Tod, there she is!  Can't you see her!  She's nearly outside the forest now!  Look, there are her sickly yellow eyes, her pointed ears, her tapered snout, her brush of a tail!  Can't you see her penetrating gaze?!"

Tod looked and looked.  He saw nothing at all.

"Do you want to take another photo?" said Tod.

"I'm afraid to take my eyes off her gaze," said Lisa, quivering.

"I'll take it, then.  You keep an eye on her."

Tod reached for the camera.  Keeping his head away from the window he said, "Is she still there?"

"Yes.  Oh, Tod, she hasn't moved once in all this time!  Quick, snap the photo!"

Tod aimed the camera in the direction Lisa was pointing, and took the picture.

"There she is, still there, still staring!" Lisa shrieked.

Tod looked at the photo, but did not show it to Lisa.

There was no vixen in the photo.

********

Tod didn't have the heart to tell his wife that she was going crazy, so he told her that he would speak to the game warden himself--but first he called the doctor.  "Something for your nerves," he lied.

For much of that day, Lisa stared out the window where she said she had seen the vixen.  She had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders like a shawl.  She scarcely moved, and Tod had to bring her meals to her.

Taking advantage of the situation, Tod called the local physician.

When he had explained his wife's hallucinations, the doctor said, "The best medicine is bed rest, quite honestly.  And I would keep her away from the forest for now, as that would likely make her condition worse.  I can prescribe something for her nerves, but if she continues to see and hear things you may have to bring her in for a checkup."

"I hate to do that to her," said Tod.  "I haven't told her yet that I didn't see or hear anything.  I didn't have the heart.  Poor Lisa: how much more frightening would it be to know she can't trust her own senses?"

"You may not have a choice, Mr. Renfield," said the doctor severely.  "I really don't think it's this serious but if these hallucinations keep up, we may have to check your wife for a brain tumor."

Tod bit his lip.  "You said you don't think she has one, though?"

"Not from what you've described to me.  I'd say the odds are one to five percent--but that's still a possibility.  At this point she shouldn't be in any danger even if she does have a brain tumor.  I wouldn't worry about it, but don't discount the idea entirely."

"Understood.  Thank you, doctor."

When he hung up the phone, Tod went to check on his wife.  She hadn't moved from the window.

"Do you want to come with me and get the medicine for your nerves?"

For a long time Lisa did not respond.  Then she said in a soft voice, "I want the walls of this house between me and the wood.  I can't bear to go outdoors."

"Will you be all right by yourself?"

Lisa nodded.

"All right, then."

Tod put on his winter clothes and stepped outside the house.  The doctor's office was beyond the horizon but still within walking distance.  He went past the wood outside the shack as he walked.

He paused.

"It's nothing."

He took a step, but some outside force compelled him to pause again.  It was only out the corner of his eye, and he nearly missed it.

Fox tracks in the snow.

********

That was the longest day for the Renfields since they had moved into the shack.  Tod gave Lisa the medicine to calm her nerves, and then he called the game warden.  A thorough search was done in the woods, but that evening just before sundown, the game warden had nothing to report.

"You're sure?" said Tod.

The game warden shook his head.  "Not a trace of any foxes.  No fur, no scent, no scat, not even a den where one could be hiding.  If there ever was a vixen in that forest, she moved on long ago."

"But I saw her!" cried Lisa.  "I heard her yowling!"

"And what about the tracks?" said Tod.

The game warden shook his head.  "No tracks."

Tod began to get angry.  "I saw fox tracks just outside the wood, on the side near our house," he said through his teeth.

The game warden spoke slowly, as though to a child.  "We checked there, and there are no tracks.  Even if the snow had filled them in, the scent would have remained.  Our equipment is extremely sensitive and designed to pick up on that.  There is no vixen in your wood, and if there ever was one she left a long time ago, before your wife started seeing or hearing things."

Tod thought of several things to say, but said none of them.  "Thank you for your time," he said bitterly.  "Sorry to have bothered you."

After the game warden and his men left, Tod turned to his wife.  Lisa was in tears.

"You believe me, don't you, Tod?"

Tod nodded.  "I saw the tracks for myself when I set out today.  But...I didn't see the vixen last night.  And I didn't hear any yowling."

Lisa stared at her husband.

"Tod, what's happening?"

Tod shook his head.  He hugged his wife tightly.

Later, just as the sun was setting, Tod went to check the fox tracks he'd seen before.

They had vanished, just as the game warden had said.

"If they've covered them up to mess with us...."

But there was no sign of any tampering with the snow.

********

"Tod!  Oh, Tod, save me!"

Tod woke in the middle of the night.  Lisa was in hysterics, thrashing about as though drowning.

"Lisa, wake up!  Wake up, you're dreaming!"

Lisa gasped several times, then threw her arms around Tod and wept.

"Oh, Tod, I had the most horrible nightmare!  It was that vixen again!"

"It's all right, Lisa," said Tod.  "It was only a dream, it wasn't real."

Lisa choked twice, then spoke slowly.

"I dreamed she had me by the throat...Tod, she was strangling me!"

Tod kissed her.  "No wild animal is going to hurt my wife."  He had kept a shotgun in the bedroom that night, in case the phantom visitor arrived again.

Suddenly Lisa gasped.  "Tod, it's her!  She's calling me again!  Tod, don't let her hurt me!"

"Don't go," said Tod.  He did not for a moment believe that any wild animal was "calling" his wife, but she seemed to be sinking further and further from sanity.

"Stay here."

Tod grabbed the shotgun, which he had already filled with buckshot.  Then he put Lisa's camera strap around his neck.

"No, Tod!  You can't kill her!  You mustn't!"

Tod put a finger to his lips, and went to the kitchen.

He looked out the window.  As before, he neither saw nor heard evidence of any vixen.  He aimed the barrel of the shotgun toward the window.  Doing his best to keep his aim, he held up the camera and snapped a flash photo of the window.

Never letting his aim down, he looked at the photo that resulted.

Fox tracks, well outside the forest and near the shack.

Tod threw the window open, took aim, and fired his shotgun.

The bang echoed throughout the forest and sent many animals scuttling away and crying out in terror.

Tod fired again, and again.  Then he slammed the window shut.

He came back to find Lisa under the blankets, shivering.

Tod nudged his wife.  "It's all over, love."

"She's not dead," whined Lisa.  "You cannot kill her."

"Anything from here to the edge of the forest would have gotten a spray of buckshot," said Tod.  "No vixen is going to hurt you."

"Please don't let her," Lisa sobbed.

Tod hugged and kissed her.  He gave her another of her pills.  It was well into the night before either got any sleep.

********

The next morning Tod woke up to find his wife gone.

"Lisa?"

He rushed out of bed, putting on his bathrobe and heading out the bedroom door.

"Lisa?  Where are you?"

He heard a faint sound just outside the back door.  Following it, he threw open the door.

"Oh, hello, Tod," said Lisa.  She was a few yards from the door and quickly shifted the soil around.  She smiled at Tod.

"You gave me a fright, love," said Tod.  "I thought something had happened to you.  Are you all right?"

Lisa smiled and nodded.  "Oh, Tod, I haven't felt this good in a long time!  Take me out to celebrate!"

Tod cocked an eyebrow, looking at her dirty hands and fingernails.  "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Of course, my love!  The nightmares are over!  I'm cured!"

"Well, if you're sure...."

Tod dared not say anything to Lisa, but before making restaurant reservations he checked the side effects on her medicine.  As they said nothing about her current state, he tried to trust that his wife was indeed back to normal.

But at dinner that night Lisa's behavior was not like her usual self.  She ordered a steak cooked rare, and when it came she didn't use her silverware.  She gnawed at her meat as though she hadn't eaten in many days.

********

That night, Lisa wasn't the least bit afraid at the possibility of seeing and hearing the vixen again.  Tod didn't ask, but he wondered if perhaps she had found the dead vixen and buried her outside the house, and that was why she had shifted the dirt when he'd found her that morning.  If so, so much the better, but he wondered at her strange behavior at the restaurant.

When Tod got into his pajamas, he found his wife on the bed already, smiling.

"Lie with me, love," she said.

"Lisa?" said Tod.

"I want to have your baby.  I can't wait any longer!"

Tod said nothing.  Though surprised, he knew that they had always talked about when they might begin to raise a family.  And now seemed as good a time as any, now that the vixen was gone.

That night of passion was like nothing Tod had ever experienced before.

********

Within a month it was clear that Lisa was pregnant with Tod's baby, and the newlywed couple were overjoyed.

But as the months passed, and Lisa's belly swelled with her growing progeny, Tod noticed more and more strange behaviors in his wife.

She asked him to trap mice from the woods, and she would eat them raw--sometimes even while they were still alive.  It made Tod sick even to think of it, and he couldn't bear to watch, but he was sure it was simply strange pregnancy cravings, and would go away after she gave birth.

At any rate, Tod had other things on his mind that he didn't tell his wife.  While they didn't happen every night, Tod himself now began to have nightmares.  He dared not remind Lisa of the vixen, lest she suffer a relapse--and there was the pregnancy to consider--but his nightmares were always of the same thing:

The phantom vixen strangling his wife.

********

After nine months had passed, the time came for Lisa to have the baby.  There wasn't time to take her to the hospital, but that suited her fine.  Tod boiled water and had towels at the ready, and after many long hours of labor, a baby boy had been brought into the world.

Tod could hardly separate Lisa from their son.  She clung to him as though she would die if she let him go.

Tod came closer--Lisa seemed almost to be hiding the child from him.

"May I not see my own son?" said Tod with a laugh.

Lisa glared at Tod.

She let out a soft growl.

"Come now, enough playing around," said Tod.  "Let me see him!"

Lisa snapped her teeth.

"Lisa, what's the matter with you?"

Lisa curled her lips in a snarl and backed away from the bed.

"You're sick," said Tod.  "You've come down with something.  It's the medicine: it's given you some terrible side effect."

Lisa let out several loud barks.

"Now stop that!"

She turned and fled, as fast as she could.

"Lisa, where are you going?!" cried Tod, running after her.  "Come back!"

Lisa did not heed him.  He did not see her again, but he followed the sounds of her racing to the back door and crunching through the snow outside.

"Oh, Lisa, this is madness!  You're going to catch your death out here, and so is our son!"

Tod didn't even bother putting on his own winter clothes.  He raced outside following his wife's bare footprints heading in the direction of the forest.

He slowed down, but not because the icy cold stung, or made it difficult to breathe.

He stared at his wife's bare footprints.

The closer they got to the forest, the smaller they became.

And shorter.

And he could see distinct claw marks.

********

Tod shook his head and ran back to the house to warm up and recover his senses.

But before he stepped inside, he paused and looked at the ground.

Though it was covered by snow, he could see the area where, nine months earlier, on that day when Lisa had claimed she was feeling better, he had caught her shifting the soil--as though she were burying something.

Gooseflesh spread all over his body, but he could not look away.

In a rush he dug through the snow and the soil, as though he were himself a wild animal digging desperately for food.

Soon the potent stench forced him to pinch his nose and cover his mouth.

He didn't want to look.

And yet he could not bring himself to turn his head.

There was his wife Lisa, under the soil.

She was naked, and in a contorted position no human being had any right to be in.

Her flesh had long since begun to rot away, but not enough to hide the fang marks in her throat.







THE END