“Click…” “Sounds of a tape whirring, chairs being pulled out and sat in”
“Mr.Birch feel free to start whenever you want” the scraggly looking old man in a white coat says
“No need for formalities call me Clint” I say taking a drag of the cigarette floating between my fingers
“We’ll go ahead at your own pace” - Doc
“It was about 3 weeks ago as you know, when my wife Lucile came home from work” I say taking a longer puff before resuming
“I remember her being more joyful then usual holding her hands behind her back, when I asked how her day was she smiled and stepped aside to revealed the dog she was hiding behind her”
She said “I saw her just wondering around downtown on my way from work, she looked so tired and lost I couldn’t just leave her” with joy in her voice
“You see Doc?, that’s just the type of person she is… was” I corrected myself trying to hide the dread in my voice
“She would help anybody or anything that needed it and this thing knew doc” I say slamming my fist into the table almost knocking over the ash tray placed in the center
“Stay calm and continue at your own pace Clint” The man says reassuringly
“Okay… okay, so at first we were both happy, it was a cute looking dog a mix between a pit and black lab I think, with a white splat of fur on her chest, she was probably about 2 or 3 years old”
“After about an hour of deciding we settled on the name Freyja and everything was great at first it seemed to be a little trained and after feeding her and bathing we decided to try and walk her outside but she would refuse to leave scratching and squealing anytime we brought her even towards the door”
“After an hour we gave up and just set a pad down on the ground and got ready for be..”
“More clicking sounds and whirring start back up”
“Okay sorry Clint, the recording should be back up and going continue where it stopped”-Doc
“Okay Doc as I was saying, the dog was fine at first, but as we got ready and into bed the dog refused to even lie down, thinking it is just a hyper dog we went to sleep happy at our new addition to the family”
“At about 4 am according to the clock on the nightstand I awoke to see the hallway light on and Freyja just sitting in our doorway… staring intently”
“And you didn’t think something was off?”-Doc
“We’ll honestly we were so distracted I thought maybe we accidentally left the light on or something and dogs can be weird sometimes you know?”
“Using the time I push past Freyja saying something along the lines of you should sleep too brushing the fur on her head and going to the bathroom”
“After doing my business I open the door and I swear for a second she was standing at the end of the hall when the light flicks off”
“Hesitantly I stepped into the hall only seeing by the dim light from the bathroom leaking into the hallway”
“Freyja?” I whisper trying to not wake up Lucile sleeping still in the other room
Slowly making my way back to the room I don’t see the dog anywhere, shutting the door I lock it and flick on the light which wakes up a now annoyed Lucile
“What’s going on?” She said sleepily
After explaining what I saw since I woke we justified it as tiredness and faulty electrical and tried to go back to sleep
“We’ll if there’s something off at least we know she’s out of the room you know” Lucile said
“Then I turned the lights off and sat back into bed” as we began to fall back asleep the bed began to creak from underneath
“You hear that?” I said to her confusingly now sitting up in the bed when we hear a soft growl
“What.. what’s it doing?” I say admittedly fearful
“Then the dog pounced from underneath turns and stares as it lifts itself up onto to two feet at the end of the bed with a menacing well smile on its face I can’t explain it but it was smiling doc actually smiling, I still remember the hauntingly huge teeth”
“Please continue Clint, we’d love to hear your side”
“It pushed itself on top of the bed and stared as we looked to each other fearfully, I break eye contact to grab the bat I kept beside the bed and swung as Lucile tried to leap out of bed to the door” tears fill my eyes as I take another drag
“I hit it but the beast was unbothered it just growled more intensely as it leaped for Lucile as she swung the door open and tore into the back of her neck”
“I tried and tried to get the dog off her but nothing, it was un phased by everything I did I tried beating, choking, and just pulling it off her but it just took bite after bite as Lucile screamed and Flailed, it felt like hours but must’ve only been minutes before silence”
Crying on the floor I sat and accepted my fate when 4 cops came bursting in and found me just laying there in front of Lucile the dog now gone and a message on the floor in blood
“For those who care, I’ll take a share”
“What does that mean you sick fuck” a cop said putting me in cuffs
Now full on balling I scream to the doctor “you gotta believe me I swear I didn’t kill my wife, this thing needs to be stopped I know how it sounds but I’m not crazy… I’m not fucking crazy”
“Maybe you are or maybe there is some phantom murdering dog whose into riddles; either way ill hold up my end of the deal for the story Clint, a reporter will get this recording published but you know it probably won’t help your trial right?”
“To be damned with the trial” I say “People have to know the truth and need to be careful, they need to know to watch out and don’t bring any strays home please for anyone listening be safe, not all dogs go to heaven”
“A final click and whirring sounds as the tape cuts off and slowly stops spinning”