About a year ago I lost my dog Sam. This was of course a heartbreaking experience for me as I had bonded with him for the three years I had him. Still, you learn to get over things like this. I moved on and my girlfriend got me a new dog. Sam became nothing more than a distant, but good, memory.
About three months ago I found my dog, and the memories started flooding back. On a walk through the woods, where I often walked with him before, I saw a figure lying amongst the leaves. It was Sam, he was beaten down and starting to fall apart but it was him, however he had a new tag around his neck. As soon as I found that he was still breathing I carried him to the vet.
He was mangy, skinny, and his eyes was bloodshot. To make things worse some of his hair was falling out. The vet didn’t think he would recover and that he would die within the week, apparently the owner who had him this entire time didn’t properly take care of him. So opting not to put him down, I took him home, made him comfortable and waited to lose him once again.
However before he did I took an old picture of us together and showed it to him, hoping to remind him of our better times. It was sentimental nonsense but it helped me as well.
However in the following days he miraculously recovered and with some careful care became healthy and happy, becoming his old self.
A short while later I first started hearing the screams. I woke up in a sweat, it was hotter than it had ever been, and I rushed to my window. The screams were of agony and it sounded like it was coming from multiple people. Through the window I could see a red tint in my neighbors home.
I called the police and by the time they came to investigate, everything was quite again.
When they conducted a wellness check they found something terrifying. The body of my neighbor was lying in his home, burnt to a crisp. However there were no signs of fire anywhere else. Neither were there any signs of what burnt him. All they found was strange hairline cracks in the floor and paw prints.
The investigation continued for a while but the police found nothing, and I don’t think they ever would, until it happened again.
This time a few doors down the road I heard the screams again, saw the red emanating from the windows and called the police.
Upon conducting a wellness check, they found the same situation. A body burnt to the crisp, hairline cracks in the floor and paw prints. What they didn’t know was that shortly before the arrival, I watched Sam walk up the street into my yard.
The third time this happened much further away and someone else called the police, but they found the exact same thing and I found Sam walking from the scene of the crime home.
The general consensus was that it was a serial killer and our small town was put under a curfew, but I knew it was something more.
While I had my suspicions that Sam had something to do with this, I wasn’t sure until one day I randomly saw him walk in front of the mirror. The reflection chilled me. It wasn’t him, the dog in the mirror was completely black and had red eyes with horns. It slumped but also seemed perfectly alert and in it’s alertness it saw me watching it. Sam ran away and with him went his horrifying reflection.
I was terrified and wanted to investigate, which lead me back to the tags I found with him. Unfortunately there was no phone number or contact details. Just a name printed on the front.
Cerberus.
Since the day I saw his true form Sam has been sleeping in my room. It doesn’t matter how well I lock the door, he always finds his way inside. Every night that he stays the room gets hotter, the red light coming from the ground gets brighter and the screams get louder.