I found Ralphie wandering around my front lawn a couple years ago, when he was just a small pup. It was love at first sight.
It’s not uncommon to see stray dogs where I live, but Ralphie was different. His coat was that of a Rottweiler – shiny and thick with the classic black and brown fur – and his left ear drooped while his right remained straight and rigid. I was having breakfast that morning when I looked out the window and saw him. I opened the front door and observed him for a few minutes as he eagerly sniffed his way around the wet grass.
Ralphie didn’t seem to care as I approached and patted his back, examining him for health problems, of which I could find none. He must have been used to humans. Curiously, there were no tags or collars or anything else that would suggest he belonged to someone. My first thought was that he was part of an abandoned litter, and that he somehow separated from his siblings and ended up on my property. I still don’t have a better explanation to this day. However, Ralphie and I clicked almost immediately after I brought him some clean water in a bowl. He followed me inside that day and has grown with me over the past two years.
Everything has been sunshine and rainbows. Until that night.
I was fast asleep and dreaming all sorts of random scenarios that I can’t fully remember. But I distinctly remember the point where the aimless trajectory of the dreams ceased and the image went black. Whistling started coming from my left side. I woke up startled and sweating, looking around my room. After I scanned the room for demons and killer clowns, I laid my head back down on the pillow and nearly drifted off when I realized something. Ralphie wasn’t sleeping at my side like he did every night for the past two years. I jolted up, fully alert. The bedroom door was cracked just enough to be framed by a glow of yellow light. I always turn off the lights and close my door before sleeping.
I clenched my calves as I attempted to uncover myself and stand up without making a sound. I tiptoed towards the door and pulled it open so slowly that it seemed like it wasn’t even moving. My nerves were tense and my guard was up. I gripped the handle hard as I continued to pull, when I was startled by something outside the door.
I fell back and watched a large silhouette fill the open door frame. As my eyes adjusted to the flood of light, I could make out the features of the person in front of me. It was naked but didn’t have any skin nor genitalia. Its hair was singed and it smelled like gasoline. It opened its mouth slowly, before its lower jaw locked in place.
“Where is my dog?” It asked slowly, in the voice of an old woman. Its eyes were looking straight ahead, staring into the wall behind me. In fact, its whole body was unnaturally stiff and didn’t seem to move at all. Its lips and jaws didn’t move when speaking. The voice just came out of that empty tunnel of a mouth.
I was in shock. What the fuck was I looking at? What the hell does it want with my dog? Where the hell was my dog in the first place? I tried to speak but nothing came out. Too much to handle at once.
It stood there, as if waiting for an answer. I sat there, praying instead of trying to muster the words to speak to this… thing. I had my eyes closed and had just barely finished saying the Lord’s Prayer before I was startled again.
“WHERE IS MY DOG?” The thing asked again. This time, the voice was completely unnatural. It was guttural and heavy. It sounded as if it was choking and yelling at the same time. I don’t quite know how to explain it. I thought I was going to die, but I heard a loud bark followed by a low, sustained growl.
The thing’s body pivoted without moving a muscle, as if it was floating. It turned to face the hall. Ralphie was barking nonstop. The thing’s voice reverted back to that of an innocent old woman. “Cerberus! My sweet! Why has this man taken you from me?”
I heard a bark followed by the pitter patter of Ralphie’s nails against the hardwood floors. I saw Ralphie’s head at the corner of the door frame for a split second, before he chomped down onto the thing’s leg and dragged it off into the hallway beyond my field of view.
Still in shock, I sat there as I heard snarling, ripping and tearing. There were screams – first from what sounded like an old woman, followed by that same disgusting voice that the thing had been using to intimidate me. Then it was dead silent.
I sat staring into the open door frame for what seemed like an eternity, before my heart got a final jolt from the sight of Ralphie appearing in the doorway. His tail was wagging, and he walked up to me completely unharmed. He licked my face and collapsed into my lap, as I resumed control of my muscles and was able to pat him as I came back to my senses. I removed him from my lap and peered into the hallway, hoping that whatever was here was gone.
Nothing. Zilch. Nada. The only irregularity was that the hallway light was turned on.
That night I couldn’t sleep no matter how I tried. Ralphie, on the other hand, was snoozing away at the foot of the bed as usual. The only inkling that anything even happened that night were the images and sounds that were burnt into my brain – that thing had a place in my mind forever now.
Life resumed as normal the next day, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened since. The only problem is that, no matter how many air fresheners and candles I buy, the smell of gasoline still lingers in the bedroom hallway.