“A dog is a man’s best friend.” I believe every single person heard this line at least once in their life. Dogs are constantly praised as these creatures of purity. However, about 4.7 million bites are reported each year in the USA. Then, people bring up the idea that it’s never the dog’s fault. They either claim that it’s a fault of neglect from the owner or that the dog was provoked. It’s almost like bringing up the nature vs nurture argument, but always blame nurture. Whoever does that couldn’t be more wrong.
My part of the town hates and is afraid of dogs, and for a good reason. When I was 6, my mom took me, my 4 years old sister, and my 7-month-old brother to a playground. My sister and I were playing and running around while my mom watched our brother. It took only a minute for everything to go wrong. We begged her to go buy us some ice cream and she agreed only if we watched after our little brother while she was at the store. We promised to do so, but as soon as she left, we continued playing. We didn’t even take the slightest look at our brother.
“What could happen?” I thought to myself.
After a minute, we heard a cry of a little baby and a woman’s scream. I took a look at a trolley that my brother was supposed to be in and what I saw scarred me for the rest of my life. A dog was standing next to the trolley with my brother’s head in its mouth. My brother was screaming and shaking his arms and legs. I screamed and the woman tried to help but the dog jumped to the side. It shook its head left and right so violently that my brother’s head detached from his body. The body flew through the air and fell onto one of the kids on the playground. The kid started to scream, but through all the screaming, I could hear the cracking of my little brother’s skull as the dog bit harder.
The sight of the dog eating the remains of my little brother while the mothers picked up their children and covered their eyes was terrible. My little sister was too young to remember it properly, but I remembered everything. Every single detail. I remember how it took the dog only one bite to tear off his little arm and another to spill his guts and drag them all over the floor. I will also never forget the wailing scream my mother let out when she saw what happened. She ran at the dog hoping to kill it with her bare hands but it grabbed my brother’s corpse and ran away. She tried running after it, but she was too slow. When she fell down to the floor, my sister and I ran up to her. Instead of pushing us away and blaming us for not looking after him, she just hugged us and never blamed us for the incident.
“You were just kids,” she used to say. “You just couldn’t have done anything differently.”
I knew that she blamed herself because I remember seeing her get very drunk a few times. My dad also didn’t blame us and I was thankful for that. I, however, did blame myself for a long time. It was a terrible thing for a 14-year-old girl to believe and it scarred me almost as much as the incident itself. Thankfully, this entire incident was reported to the police and the dog was put down only a day after my brother’s death. The police said they found it sleeping near an abandoned cottage with the remains of my brother. From that day on, my neighborhood, and especially my street hated dogs. There were a few people who owned a dog, but they never walked it around the neighborhood or let them stay out in the yard too much. They also kept them very quiet. Most people even rehomed the dogs or found a new place to live.
Now you know why so many people in my neighborhood had cats for pets. They fulfilled that part of being ‘man’s best friend’. People walked them around, trained them, played with them… Everything people did with dogs, we did with cats. It was pretty nice because even though cats would bite you sometimes, they couldn’t maul you to death, or devour your little brother while you’re not looking.
At the time this story takes place, I, Taylor, was a 17-year-old living with my parents. It was late November and our town was already decorated for Christmas. “All I want for Christmas is you” already started playing in all of the malls and all over the radio. Unfortunately, the snow never started to fall that year. It was just cold ugly grey skies. It rained almost daily and even the smallest gust of wind made you shiver. There’s just something so disgusting and depressing about having a winter like that. Kids didn’t play outside; people didn’t build snowmen or had snowball fights. It was just a colder, darker, and more depressing version of autumn.
It was my last year of high school and it really wasn’t fun. The classes weren’t much better than the weather. They were long, boring, and completely uninteresting. I usually liked to learn, but I guess that there was just something wrong about that year. I heard that two really common symptoms of depression were losing all interest in the stuff you liked before and gaining some weight. Judging by some other stuff as well, I believe I was depressed at the time, but I didn’t realize it. No one did. I stopped hanging out with people. I still had my little group of friends, but I basically broke all contact with anyone else.
My little sister, Lucy, had it much better. She was very popular at school and she usually spent her days texting her friends. We still spent some time together and got along well. She was always good towards everyone and even spoke up while seeing other popular kids bullying someone. I liked having her as a sister. Sometimes, seeing her would make me think about how my little brother would have turned out. Lucy was 15 at the time and since she didn’t remember seeing what happened to our brother, my parents just told her that a dog killed him. They didn’t go into detail.
Being the second oldest child in an upper-middle-class family made my home life pretty good. Usually, I got everything I asked for. Hearing this, I believe many of you would question my mental state. It seems like I had it all. It sometimes seemed like that to me, but even when you have everything, you need someone to help you go through stuff. I’ve never had anyone for that. I was too scared to speak to my friends since I thought that they’ll just laugh and stop talking to me. I didn’t tell my parents because their reply was always “Don’t say that. You’re just imagining it.”
Something did manage to help me in the end. On Christmas 2 years before the start of the story, my older brother, Daniel, who was 19 at the time, gifted me and Lucy three kittens he found at the shelter. One was light gray with dark gray stripes and adorable blue eyes. My sister named him Bunny. I named Luna, a calico kitten that cuddled up to me immediately producing those adorable high-pitched meows. My brother named the last one. It was a pure black kitty and he named it Darkness. I hated that name. It sounded so stupid but my brother insisted on calling her that.
Two years later, Bunny’s eyes stayed blue, Luna just kept following me around all the time and Darkness grew up to be the biggest female cat I have ever seen in person. Their personalities were vastly different as well. Bunny was always scared and only let me and Lucy pet him. Luna was playful and energetic. She let most of the people pet her but she’d never let them take her away from me. Darkness started acting like royalty. She was elegant and majestic and would usually ignore Bunny’s and Luna’s attempts to play with her. She also avoided being petted by walking away. None of them ever tried scratching or biting any of us. It was a bit surprising since my brother was told that they were wild kittens someone found on the side of the road.
The story begins on the 24th of October, 2018. It was a cold dark Thursday with the constant possibility of rain. I walked through the street covered in puddles filled with dead leaves and broken twigs. The cold wind was blowing from the woods in the North. I stopped to take a look at the naked trees that turned gray and lifeless. There was a presence I felt there. Like something was watching me. Even though I felt it a few times before, it was different this time. It woke up this fear in me… this fear I did not feel for a long time. The fear I felt when I last saw my little brother. I stood there staring at the woods hoping to see whatever made me feel its presence.
“Taylor,” an old lady’s voice called from my left.
She made me jump.
“Oh, Mrs. Gerard,” I smiled. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
The feeling of being watched was still there but I was distracted by the old lady. She was dressed in all black. It was very unusual for her and even the entire neighborhood, but I guess there are times for everything.
“Have you seen Milton?” she said lifting a piece of paper from the stack she was holding.
The paper had a picture of a cat. It was dark gray with beautiful green eyes. Above the picture, it read as follows: “Have you seen Milton?” There was more text all over the paper. It stated that Milton was 12 and would respond to both Milton and Milt. He was a playful cat obsessed with balls. If he saw one, he needed to touch it with his paw.
“Sorry, Mrs. Gerard,” I told her. “I haven’t seen him but I’ll be sure to bring him to you if I do.”
“Thank you, sugar,” she replied in a sweet voice.
Her southern accent made her much warmer but there was sadness in it. Her home was far away, her kids even further and her husband left her for the other side 2 years ago. Cancer took him and with his departure, she stayed a lonely old lady without a purpose in life. She found one when she received Milton as a pet from her son. He knew he wouldn’t be able to visit her often, so he gifted her Milton to keep her company.
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Gerard. I should go home now. I hope you find Milton soon.”
She smiled and continued on her way. I followed her with my gaze for a bit and watched as she put the papers on the light posts and trees. At that point, the terrifying presence was gone. However, I could not continue further if I did not throw another look at the woods. The silence and the depressive appearance of the woods didn’t make me feel much better.
Lucy opened the door for me when I came home. Both of my parents went on a business trip since they worked in the same company. They left the day before on Wednesday, 23rd of October, 2018. They said that they’ll be back by the next Wednesday, 30th of October, 2018. Just before the Halloween. They always loved Halloween since it made them remember making costumes with me and my little sister. They wanted us to stay at home, but one of my friends invited me to a party. I planned on asking them if I could go when they come back, but I doubted that they’ll allow me.
“Did you get any Fs today?” Lucy asked me.
That’s usually what we asked each other instead of saying hello. I don’t remember how it started nor did it have any special meaning behind it. And we always answered.
“No,” I replied. “But I got a B from math.”
“There’s some food on the table,” she told me. “Sorry, I need to go back to my room.”
“Why?” I asked surprised.
“I’m talking to a guy from school,” she smiled and ran up the stairs.
I felt something lean onto my leg and after looking down, I saw Luna standing beneath me with her head pointed upwards. She meowed and I picked her up giving her a kiss on the forehead. She meowed and pressed her paw on my cheek. I put her down on the floor and sat by the table. I pulled out a chair for Luna since she liked to sit by the table while I was eating. She never tried to jump onto the table or snatch some food from it, but she liked to watch. I usually asked her if she was hungry to which she would just slowly blink and look away. She was a cute little beastie.
“What would I do if you disappeared?” I whispered to her while eating.
She lifted her paw and started licking it. They always find the most unusual moments to clean themselves. I never got how they manage it. After I was finished eating, I changed my clothes and went outside. I liked sitting on a rock next to a creek near my house. It was in the woods but close enough to the edge that I was never afraid to be there. Not even when I was 11 and discovered it at 11 PM. My parents tried stopping me from going there when I was younger since gangs and drug dealers were pretty common in my town. It wasn’t really the smallest town out there, but it was no New York or LA.
There were always a few essentials when I went to the creek. A blanket because the rock was rough and, in this part of the year, very cold. Headphones and my phone helped me calm down often. Sometimes I listened to music, and sometimes I liked to listen to the nature around me. During spring, summer, and early autumn, I loved to listen to the rustling of the leaves, the chirping of birds, and the murmuring of the slow-moving creek. However, the most important things were a small notebook and a wooden pencil box with everything I needed to use for drawing. In December of 2017, I decided to go to the creek once a week and draw the scenery each time. I wanted to get better at drawing and wanted to see how the creek changes through the year.
My favorite moments needed to be during the spring and summer. Even if there were a ton of mosquitos and other insects, the creek was beautiful. The greenery from the bushes and trees, the light blue sky, and the clear creek water through which you could see the gray of the gravel and stones beneath it. Sometimes deer would come to drink from the creek and once I even saw a deer with her fawn. They usually noticed me, but since I was further away and didn’t really approach them, they didn’t really care. I saw foxes as well. They were a bit more curious about me and sometimes sat only a few feet away from me.
I rarely brought Luna with me. If I did, I’d hold her on a leash so that she wouldn’t get snatched by foxes or get too close to the deer. They can be dangerous and unpredictable and you don’t need to do a lot to kill a cat when you’re that size. This time though, I didn’t bring her. I never brought her during winter or late autumn. It was just too cold for her. The contrast between the late autumn or winter and other seasons was astonishing. Instead of the chirping of the birds and rustling of the leaves, you heard the swipes of strong winds and cracking of weak branches. Other than that, it was just eerie and uncomfortable silence. It felt like you were alone and that there was nothing you could do but wait for your inevitable demise.
I put the blanket on the rock, sat down, and opened my notebook. First, I wrote the date at the top of the page. The first thing I drew was the outlines. I pressed my pencil on the paper so softly that the line was barely visible but just enough not to be a problem later when I start detailing. Even though it was depressing and uncomfortable, I can’t deny its beauty. I don’t know what the most common type of tree in the forest was, but the tree bark usually turned gray during autumn and stay that all the way until the beginning of spring. The leaves always turn orange, yellow, or somewhat red. They are never brown. Combined with the sky, it makes it the opposite of the same forest during summer. The sky and the trees are colorless boring and ugly while the ground is covered in beautiful vibrant colors. It’s almost like you turned the summer version of the forest upside down.
After some time, the drawing started to look good. I finished adding the basic details that I’d expand on later on the left side of the drawing. I started adding them to the creek and took a quick glance at it. With each look, the creek looked better and better. I turned my eyes back towards the notebook. While trying to depict the movement of the water, I started feeling that unsettling sensation again. I lifted my head and looked around. I could not see anything in front of me. I looked to my sides and behind me, but there was nothing there. I chalked it up to my mind being confused, but I stayed on high alert. The entire time I was wearing headphones so I didn’t hear anything. I sometimes got a feeling like that during the night, but there was no one there so I assumed that was the case this time as well.
Another 15 minutes passed during which I felt the same thing. Through my constant quick glances, I haven’t seen anything but the abandoned lonely forest. The feeling was stronger when I was looking at the notebook and it got weaker while I was trying to see if there was anything around. The next thing I decided to do was to act like I was drawing something but kept my eyes on the forest. Nothing was happening even though I knew there was someone there. At this point, I didn’t even care what their intention was, I just wanted to know who was there. Calling out after them wasn’t the brightest idea since that way it might provoke them to attack me.
It seemed like whoever was doing this knew that I was watching them so I realized there was only one thing left to try. I needed to look at the top of my notebook and immediately turn my eyes back toward the forest. That’s exactly what I tried doing. I took a look at the top of the notebook and kept my eyes on it. Suddenly, at the edge of my eyes, just above the notebook, in the blurry area of my sight, I saw a shadow dart from one tree to another. I instantly lifted my eyes off of the notebook and looked toward the place where the shadow passed. Instead of seeing a person standing there looking at me, or seeing someone’s arm protruding from behind a tree. What I saw was so much simpler, but so much scarier.
There was a trail where the leaves were missing. It led from one tree to another that was a bit above 300 feet away from me. The leaves were flying in the air and slowly falling back to the ground. It was like something dashed from one tree to the other one with such speed it created its own small gust of wind. I’ve seen people do it before, but no one was ever trying to hide from me in such a sinister way. As soon as I realized what that meant, my heart stopped. I jumped up and started breathing heavily. It felt like the time slowed down and like I was about to die. I knew someone was hunting me. I quickly grabbed my pencil box and put it in my bag. It meant a lot to me. I closed the backpack and put it on my back before picking up the blanket and the notebook. After all that, I started booking it back to the street.
My house wasn’t directly next to a forest but it was close enough. It connected perpendicularly to the road on the edge of the forest and was the 3rd house on the right side of the street. The entire time I was running, I felt like something was running after me and trying to catch me, but I heard no footsteps, no rustling of the leaves, no nothing. Just my footsteps and my heavy breathing. After about a minute of running, I burst out of the forest and to the other side of the street. When I looked behind, there was nothing there and the feeling of being watched was gone. I don’t know how I managed to escape from whoever that was, but I was so happy that I crouched down and started crying. I cried out of fear as well because I don’t know what could have happened if I had made even the smallest mistake. It took me another minute to get it all together. I stood up and went home.
“What the hell happened to you?” Lucy asked me after opening the door.
“Nothing,” I lied. “I just had a bad day.”
“Do you want to talk about it?”
“No,” I replied. “I just had to cry for a bit,” I smiled at her.
“Okay, but if you need everything, I can hang up on Thomas. He’ll understand.”
“Ooh, Thomas. Is he cute?”
She nodded as a smile appeared on her face.
“Then don’t let him wait for too long.”
She hugged me and ran up the stairs. While watching her run up the stairs, I noticed Luna standing behind a wall and looking outside.
“Hey, Luna,” I said softly.
She always reacted when I called after her. However, this time she didn’t react. I quickly turned around fearing the worst. I expected to see the person from the forest standing in front of the door with a wide smile on their face and a knife in their hand, but I saw nothing. The view was just of the house on the opposite side of the street. I closed the door and immediately felt safer. Only then, Luna looked into my eyes and meowed.
“You felt it too, little girl?” I asked wishing that cats could speak.