Day 469

The dogs outside always barked at 10:07pm sharp.
They would howl and screech to one another for reasons beyond our knowledge.
Me and a few others in the area tossed around theories like they were keeping something at bay
or relaying news of some kind or other.

Those of us who'd been in the area for quite a while took comfort in the barking.
Didn't matter that nobody around had a dog nor were there any wild ones.
Still it happened like clockwork every night, kept us safe we reckoned.
Until one day when they were silent.

That's when everything began to go wrong.
Small things at first, little bits of bad luck in our lives, minor bad news and such.
Gradually though more went wrong, the "bad luck" started to physically hurt people.
Then the first death happened.

10:07pm sharp her house burnt down while she and her family made no sound.
After the fire was doused the authorities went in to find the bodies of the four former inhabitants.
They found eight, three adults and five children.
Seems like the kids had been having a sleepover though they still haven't identified them.

A friend of a friend who knew the paramedics who'd dealt with the call gave us the details.
The adults were found in the back garden having clawed their way through a collapsed wall.
The children had been left in the basement to burn alive.
Apparently they'd found them huddled against the basement door.

Judging by the claw-marks that were gouged into its thick wooden surface they'd lasted hours.
Far longer than is humanly possible in such circumstances and especially so for children.
After their funerals the dogs resumed barking at 10:07pm sharp.
We no longer feel safe.