They called him a freak long before there was ever a monster.
The Freak
They called him a freak long before there was ever a monster.
Some werewolf stories begin with a bite.
Some begin beneath a full moon.
This one begins with a man running through the woods wearing a cheap werewolf mask.
His name is Daniel Harker.
And for a little while, when nobody is watching, Daniel gets to feel like something he has never really felt in the outside world.
Powerful.
Free.
Unashamed.
Then someone sees him.
And everything changes.
A Different Kind of Werewolf Story
The Freak has always been one of my more unusual tales.
It looks like a werewolf story.
It feels like one.
But the monster isn't where you expect it to be.
Daniel has loved werewolves since childhood.
To him, the wolf isn't simply a creature of horror. It represents freedom. Strength. The ability to run without caring what anybody thinks.
So sometimes Daniel goes into the woods, puts on a werewolf mask and runs.
It's private.
Harmless.
His escape.
Until a group of people film him.
The video spreads.
And suddenly Daniel isn't a man enjoying a strange private ritual.
He's entertainment.
He's something to laugh at.
He's The Freak.
When a Joke Stops Being Funny
At first, perhaps it seems harmless.
A strange man in a mask.
A funny video.
Something people can share.
But mockery has a habit of growing when nobody decides to stop it.
The laughter becomes harassment.
The harassment becomes cruelty.
Daniel's home is targeted.
His car is damaged.
People begin treating him as though he isn't really a person anymore.
And one man in particular, Callum Pryce, helps push Daniel further and further toward the edge.
There is a point in every story like this where you begin asking yourself a question.
How much can somebody take before something inside them changes?
Who Created the Monster?
That is what interested me most when I wrote The Freak.
We often talk about monsters as though they simply appear.
A curse.
A bite.
A transformation.
But sometimes monsters are made.
Not by magic.
By people.
By humiliation.
By isolation.
By cruelty repeated so many times that eventually something gives way.
Daniel is not the conventional victim of a werewolf curse.
There is no mysterious creature stalking him beneath the moon.
The change that takes place is far more human.
And perhaps because of that, far more disturbing.
The people around Daniel decide who he is before they know anything about him.
They give him the name.
They make him the joke.
They treat him like the monster.
And eventually Daniel decides to show them what a monster really looks like.
The Werewolf That Isn't There
One of the things I particularly like about The Freak is that the werewolf is almost an idea.
It hangs over the entire story.
Daniel sees the wolf as freedom.
The people around him see Daniel as something strange.
And eventually the image of the werewolf becomes something else entirely.
A weapon.
Daniel's revenge is not supernatural.
It is calculated.
And when Callum Pryce finally finds himself at the centre of Daniel's plan, the line between a real monster and something made to look like one becomes dangerously thin.
The irony is that everyone has spent so long laughing at Daniel for pretending to be a werewolf...
that when they finally believe they've found a real one, the joke isn't funny anymore.
From Professor Shadow
I've written many werewolf stories.
Some have enormous creatures.
Some have transformations.
Some have battles, curses and blood beneath the moon.
The Freak is different.
For almost the entire story, there isn't really a werewolf at all.
And that's precisely why I've always liked it.
Because underneath everything is a much more uncomfortable idea.
What happens when somebody is mocked for being different?
What happens when everyone joins in because it's entertaining?
And at what point does the victim stop being the victim?
I often describe my work as horror with a soul.
To me, that means the monster should never simply exist to bare its teeth.
There should be something underneath it.
Pain.
Loneliness.
Freedom.
Loss.
Or, in Daniel Harker's case, the consequences of being told over and over again that you are a freak.
Perhaps the most frightening thing about this story isn't what Daniel eventually does.
Perhaps it's how many opportunities people had to leave him alone before he did it.
The Freak
Watch the tale above.
And when it's finished, ask yourself one question.
Who was the freak?
Daniel Harker?
The creature everyone imagined he was?
Or the people who decided destroying another human being was entertainment?
Welcome back to Tales by the Fireplace.
— Professor Shadow
Horror with a soul.
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