That’s it, OK?
It was an accident. Purely an accident. Gus slipped out the door and got hit on the road. He was the sweetest dog. I felt horrible. He’d been the Henry’s family dog for years.
Mina and I had gone over to babysit their three year old Jack that afternoon. The Henry’s wouldn’t be back for a while- they were tailgating at a football game- so we ordered pizza when we got Jack to bed. That’s when Gus slipped out, chased a squirrel into the road, and got hit by a truck. Asshole didn’t even stop.
“What do we do?!?” I shrieked. “We let the dog die! We are the worst babysitters in history!”
Mina was sobbing. I felt miserable. I love dogs. This was all my fault.
We wrapped Gus in an old beach towel we found in the garage. He was already dead. The truck had killed him instantly, as far as I could tell. His neck was bent at an angle that was sickeningly wrong. Mina gently covered his head with the corner of the towel.
“We’re dead,” I said. “Completely dead. If they don’t kill us, my dad will.”
We stared at the lumpy beach towel on the kitchen floor. There was a long pause.
“I have an.. idea,” Mina said.
“What?”
“Maybe we could bring him back.”
I stared dumbly. “How?”
“Well, maybe we could google it.”
We grabbed our phones and started searching. After a few minutes, Mina held hers up. “Here it is. “How to bring a pet back to life.” It doesn’t look that hard. Just draw a big circle, light some candles, and say a few words.”
I didn’t believe in witchcraft, but I did know I would be grounded for eternity if my parents found out about this. “Ok. Let’s try it.”
We rummaged around the house and came up with the stuff. Mina opened a box of sidewalk chalk.
“Not in here!” I hissed. “Take him outside.”
We both gently grabbed the beach towel mummy of Gus and brought him to the concrete patio out back. Mina pulled out a stick of bright blue chalk and began drawing a circle. Meanwhile, I assembled the candles.
“Do you think I need to light all three of the wicks?” I asked, holding up a large Pumpkin Spice candle. “Or just one?”
“Better safe than sorry. Light them all.”
I had to admit, the candles and circle looked pretty legit when we were done. Sure, they were of assorted sizes and flavors, but I hoped they would work.
“Ahem,” Mina said, reading from her phone. “We have lost our beloved friend Gus. He was a good boy. He’s gone too soon, and we invite his spirit back.” Then she read a long string of words I didn’t understand, before wrapping up with “Blessed Be.”
“What was all that?” I whispered.
“No idea,” she replied. “But it was part of the spell, so I just went with it.”
We both stared intently at Gus. His body didn’t move.
A few minutes passed. The wind picked up suddenly, ominously whipping the tree branches.
“I think it’s going to rain,” I mumbled defeatedly. I think we both hoped he would jump up and start barking.
I felt a raindrop on my face and stood up to go inside.
“We can’t leave him out here,” Mina pleaded. “Let’s bring him back to the kitchen. We can just tell them it was an accident.”
I nodded, and we brought the stiffening body of Gus back in the house just as the rain let loose.
The two of us dejectedly put away the candles and chalk. I went to check on Jack.
The door to his room was ajar, and when I pushed it open his bed was empty.
“MINA!!” I yelled. “Where’s Jack?!”
I heard a muffled “what?” from the other room. I walked quickly out to the main area, scanning for the little boy, and then into the kitchen- where I found him crouched over the unwrapped body of Gus.
“No, Jack! Don’t touch him.” As the words left my mouth I knew something was wrong. Jack turned his head to face me. “Oh shit,” I whispered.
The white’s of Jack’s eyes had turned a sickly yellow, and his pupils were unnaturally red. His skin looked sallow, almost jaundiced, and when he opened his mouth to hiss at me I could see his tongue was black.
Then I noticed Gus. Gus had a big chunk out of his shoulder. Jack had been chewing on him.
“MINA!!!” I screeched. “GET IN HERE, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!”
She popped into the kitchen. “OH God, he’s eating the dog!” She wailed.
“What the hell did that spell do! That was something you just found on the internet! It could have been anything! And now we have a dead dog AND a zombie demon baby!” I yelled hysterically.
“Oh shit,” she wailed, “Grab him! We can’t just leave him out here!”
Jack may have been demonically possessed, but he was still only 3. We each grabbed a pudgy limb and carried the hissing toddler back to his room.
“We have to restrain him!” I yelled. “Go find something to tie him with!”
Mina bounded out of the room and returned a few minutes later with fuzzy handcuffs. I stared at her. “At least they won’t hurt him!” she said defensively. I would have died from laughter had we not been so desperate.
I tightly closed one fuzzy cuff around his upper arm, and clipped the other to the bars of his bed. Jack wailed loudly.
“See if you can find a belt,” I huffed, holding him down. Jack’s face was red from screaming. She returned with one a minute later, which we used to secure his torso.
“That should hold him.” she said. “Or at least prevent him from falling.”
We retreated to the kitchen, ignoring the noises from Jack’s room.
“Bring up that website. Maybe we did something wrong.”
“Shit, shit, shit,” Mina said after a minute of scrolling.
“What?” I asked.
“Forgot the salt. We could have invited in.. anything.”
I jumped as my phone buzzed.
I read the text. My heart fell. It was Mrs. Henry.
Had a great time at the game. Be home soon!