There hadn't been a dog in the
house for years but they still kept the bowl.
The last one was something
special, you don't get many like that.
Jo and her dog were as close
as twins, damned inseparable.
Whenever she called her dog
would come running.
It didn't matter if she was at
school or her grandparents - the dog followed her everywhere.
The last time it followed her
was across a road, dogs never know when to look.
Poor thing hasn't talked about
it since, refuses to even look at dogs.
She
seems happy though, like she's finally coming to accept it at last, after
countless nightmares.
Still
sometimes she calls its name out in her sleep like they're still playing.
That dog did love to hide under her bed like a kid playing hide-and-seek.
About
two years after its passing she called her dad into her room, screaming like
the devil was out for her.
Kept
yelling BAD DOG, BAD DOG, OUT JESSIE, OUT! when it was just her in
there.
When her dad entered he saw nothing out of place but his daughter curled up on the bed screaming
at a
dog that hadn't been there since she was six.
His
blood ran old when she said dad, Jessie's under my bed and he won't go to
heaven.
She told him that Jessie had always been there and they'd played in secret all this time.
But
Jessie was changing now and he wasn't her dog any more, he was a monster.
Taking
a deep breath, reassuring Jo that there was nothing there and Jessie was in
heaven he crouched.
As he crawled over right up to the bedside he heard a faint panting noise, the same one Jessie made
whenever
he was excited and especially when hiding under the bed.
Lower
and lower his head went, moving fearfully slow and praying that it was empty.
It wasn't.
Jessie's
eyes peered from the back corner of the bed, far larger than they had been but
still Jessie's.
Voice
shaking he called Jessie like he always had when they played this game.
C'mon Jess-Jess, come on out ya silly pup. Playtime's over, we have to go to bed.
Jessie
began to crawl forward, slower than he had when he was alive, more like a
predator now than friend.
He
paused before his old human, tongue hanging out as he panted.
The man took in the sight of his former companion after two years of death had taken their toll.
Where
fur once was now maggot covered, bloody, pus-ridden flesh remained.
And
those eyes, only so big because the meat had dissolved away.
The white's of his eyes blending perfectly with the bleached looking bone.
His
nose had gone altogether as had his lower jaw leaving his tongue lolling
limply.
Before
Jo's dad could gather the breath to scream Jessie lunged out, predator in every
inch of his rotting form.
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