With small hands and short legs, he ran towards his father who tinkered away with small machineries. Some of them even moving to the beats of the old music player. The boy clutched the hem of his father's shirt, motioning the older man to carry him to his lap so that he could better see what invention his father would make this time.

It was a game between them. His father would make something out of the available materials in their surroundings, and before the finished product, the boy would guess what his father made. Sometimes it's a common household item, sometimes it's a new invention, and sometimes it's something that not even his father could explain.

The father once asked his son, "what do you want father to make for you?" And the son answered, "I have nothing I want." His father respected his answer while advising "try looking at something, and maybe you'll find something you want."

His father loves music, especially the ones that talk about sweet love. It's why the old music player never stopped being alive in the house. The boy's been affected by this little obsession of his father, and so he was able to memorize the songs. As long as it's in his father's playlist, then he can sing it perfectly.

On a cold windy day, the old music player was playing a song about lovers having a date near the seashore. It was a relaxing tune that when you close your eyes, you can hear the sound of waves accompanying the vocals and instruments. The boy clicked the power off, only leaving the music player on, so that the various machineries wouldn't affect his enjoyment of the song through their mechanical sounds.

He closed his eyes and listened to the song. The sound of the waves calmed him down that he was too close to sleeping. He inhaled, hoping to catch a whiff of the sea breeze, only to get the smell of oil and rust.

When the song reached the climax, the sounds outside were becoming noisier and so he placed the music player on the highest volume. The sounds outside were drowned out and all he could hear were the instrumentals and a slight sound of the waves.

A thought occurred to the boy, "I want to see the sea."

A chill went up the boy's spine and he stood up. For some reason, he heard the clicking of a clock even when he placed everything off, forgetting that the clock has its own battery.

The ticking were too quiet that you can only hear it when everything else is silent. It was then that he realized that the song had ended and only the sound of the clock can be heard.

No, it wasn't just the clock that he can hear. There was a whistle outside and the chill that he felt must've come from there. An opening, perhaps? But the house was made to be sturdy and...

It was then that the boy realized how wrong it was for him to close off the whole system. With his small feet, he ran towards the switches and pulled them on. It was then that the lights turned red.

There's an intruder in the house.

The boy was shaking, scared of what was able to come in their house. His father was out, looking for more materials and some food. He was alone and he didn't know what to do.

He found a cabinet and hid inside. He closed the door securely and hugged himself.

The boy whimpered and held his tears. He smelled something raw that made him gag. It was the smell of the earth mixed with the smell of blood. What's outside the closed cabinet must've felt him as it continued to knock violently on the cabinet.

The boy was so scared that he shouted, closed his eyes and ears, and prayed for his father.

He heard a slam, a shout, and everything went quiet.

"Red?"

As the voice of his father called his name, the boy, Red, whimpered and called for his father. The boy scratched the cabinet door, telling his father that he was right there, forgetting that it was locked from the inside.

"Father can't open the cabinet. You have to open it inside. Can you do it, Red?"

Red nodded, forgetting that his father couldn't see him. He clutched the lock and twisted it. When Red opened the cabinet door, a big wolf lay dead on their kitchen floors and his father was welcoming him with open arms.

Red was so relieved that he pounced on his father and became unconscious.

When he woke up, he was on the bed and his father was staring at him. "Father..."

"Don't be afraid anymore, Father's here."

Red looked at his father with guilt and apologized for turning off the power in the house.

"I don't blame you, but don't increase the volume again, is that okay?" Red nodded.

And so they were back to their old life. His father would make something and Red would guess what it is. As he's older now, his father allowed him to make his own inventions and his father, in turn, would guess what contraption he would make. Red was very happy, but he couldn't help but feel a sort of discord from everything.

Red talked to his father about this and his father hugged him in return. "It's trauma," his father claimed.

His father kept telling him that as long as he's here, Red would be safe and that there's nothing to worry about. What's important is that Red should be happy.

Red didn't think about it anymore until he came to the living room. The ever present sounds were no longer heard.

"Father, what happened to the music player?"

His father smiled and said, "It was broken so it had to be replaced." Red muttered an "oh" and proceeded to ask, "then where is the replacement?"

"Do you really want the music player back?"

"Is it hard to make a replacement?"

His father was silent for a few seconds and nodded. "Yes, it's hard."

Red didn't believe that such a repair would be hard for his father, so he joked that his father must've been too lazy to do something about it.

His father tickled him. "How did you figure it out?" Red hugged his father and out of the blue, he said "Father, I want to go to the beach."

"Why, don't you like it here?"

Red shook his head. "I've never seen the sea so I wanted to see it."

"Can I come with you?"

Red looked at his father. "Of course. Who else am I going to go with?" His father smiled at him and answered "that's right, I'm the only one who could go with you."

Red looked at their house, and in a moment of inspiration, asked his father. "Father, do you want to change houses?"

His father laughed. "Why do you ask that?"

"It's just that... Since we'll be going to the beach, I wondered what if it was safer there?" Red looked at his toes and muttered in a soft voice, "and maybe there'll be no more bad wolves?"

His father agreed and they packed up for their move. On the night before their departure, Red's father went outside and stopped near a river.

"Congratulations," a voice told him from behind. "You've been very successful in your hunt."

Red's father smiled and said thank you. "We'll be leaving this place now. My son said that he wants to live near the sea."

The voice laughed. "Your son? Wow, you're really into this life. He wasn't even suspicious?"

"Why would he be suspicious of his own father?"

A blue-furred wolf slowly walked towards the man. "How envious. I want a family as well but I don't have a prey yet. I want to be human too."

"Do you want to come with us?"

The wolf snarled. "You know about the curse, how dare you even propose such a thing!" The wolf slowly calmed down. "Eitherway, humans are bound to come to this area. I'll soon leave this wolf-body behind and visit you when I finally chance upon a prey."

"Then I'll welcome you when it happens."

The wolf laughed. "I thank you in advance. Now, be careful on your way and beware of loud sounds."

The man nodded and bowed towards the wolf before he went on his way. The wolf looked at the back of the man that's slowly walking away. When the man disappeared from its sight, the wolf looked at the full moon.

"We cursed beings just want a family, yet why does the method to our happiness be the end of another's own happiness?"

A white, almost transparent woman walked towards the wolf. "Isn't it more interesting that way?"

The wolf snarled, "you Gods keep on playing with your creations." The woman held the wolf's chin, as if challenging it, "and aren't your kind the best creation there is? I'm very proud of you, you know? You can be anyone you want." The wolf tried to bite the woman but all it touched was air. "Silly parasite, you can't touch a God."

The woman sat on top of the rock, a pretty painting that would've scratched a painter's heart. "My dear parasite, when will you take your freedom?"

The wolf snarled, "then lift the curse and give me my freedom!"

The woman laughed. "But then you wouldn't do what I made you for. As your creator, it's my duty to see to it that you're functioning as you should." The woman lifted her foot and touched the wolf's nose. "So go and be the human that you wished to be."

Before the woman vanished in the moonlight, she whispered to the wolf, "may your small wish come true."