We live in a two-floor house in a relatively well off suburb, and there wasn’t much for us to do besides mingle with the neighbors whenever they had a party or social event set up nearby. So oftentimes, my parents would take a trip to a nearby city for their leisure. Not me though, I hated traveling. So it was no surprise that whenever my parents wanted to do something, so I was in charge of the house while they were gone. My duties were mostly just cleaning and making sure to lock the doors at night so that burglars wouldn’t get in.
I was also trusted with taking care of our dogs. We had two of them, one was an old golden retriever named MJ and the other was a noisy and rambunctious toy poodle named Moco. They’re both quite energetic and were a handful to care for. Which is why I was relieved to hear that one of the dogs would be accompanying my parents on their trip. My dad always wanted to take the golden with him on a trip and only now had the means to do so, which meant that my only responsibility now was our mischievous little poodle. It was basically going to be the same routine as usual but with less food prep and less walks.
I kissed my parents goodbye and gave MJ many affectionate pats on the head before they drove off on their white pickup. I held the incredibly distraught Moco in my arms and went back inside, placing him down and letting him wander around the house. He still stared out the window though, my dad was his favorite human and he was always sad to see him go. The day passed quickly, and night fell. It was an overcast night and you could not see a single star in the sky. I was lazing off in front of my computer like usual, watching videos on YouTube and chatting with my friends. Then, I heard high-pitched barking outside my room, it was Moco. For context, this was completely normal, I totally brushed it off at first. He always liked to bark at the smallest things like the sound of a passing car or another dog barking in the distance. But his barking did not let up and I swear he continued to bark for about an hour, crying and whimpering.
Something obviously had the gift so I stormed out of my room and confronted him. Naturally, he shut up as soon as I gave him a glare, I always had that kind of effect with pets. Eying the dog closely, I walked back into my room. Not shorter than 5 minutes later, he started barking again. I stormed out again, trying to get him to shut up. This time, I offered him his favorite treats. But he ignored them, instead scratching at the door as if he wanted to go outside. That didn’t make sense, he usually did his business inside the house. He wasn’t the kind of dog who would go outside for that.
As his barking died down, I heard something that gave me a clue as to what he was barking at: a voice. Someone was calling my dog’s name, and that someone sounded a lot like my dad. I could hear him crying out in his sweet and affectionate tone:
“Moco! Come to Papa, Moco! Come to me!”
Hearing that voice, my dog only became more excited, crying and whining at me to open the door so he could be reunited with his favorite human. But was he human? See, while this voice could fool an incredibly gullible poodle, it sounded… off. You know those text to speech voices that know literally nothing about tone and emphasis? Yes, that’s what this voice sounded like to me. Hearing it more and more, I was convinced that my father was not behind the door.
The voice then called out to me, calmly requesting to let Moco out with an uncanny cadence. I pulled out my phone and texted my dad, asking where he was. I did this as my dog continued to bark at the door and scratch at it desperately. In less than a minute, I heard my phone ring. I look at my messages to find a selfie of my dad in a bar with my mom and his friends. My blood instantly ran cold seeing this as a rhythmic knocking started to emanate from our front door.
“Let me see it, I want to see it.” The entity requested, it’s voice turning more irritated.
Trusting my instincts, I did not trust its intentions. I scooped the dog into my arms and ran for my room. I locked the doors and barricaded it with a nearby closet just for measure. I haven’t heard anything since. It’s currently 2:30 a.m. and I still have no idea what’s going on. The village group chat has been frighteningly active at this hour with many people sharing stories about pets suddenly wanting to leave the house and never returning. I tried contacting my mom and dad about what’s going on but they neither returned my calls nor have they responded to my text messages.
The entity mimicking my father is still drowning on and on outside our door and I don’t think it has any intention to stop. I guess I’ll just have to wait this out til dawn. I’ll keep you all posted.