by mike Evans
“Maybe he’ll... sorry that isn’t nice, what I was thinking. I just hope that he leaves you alone. I worry that he’s going to have a long time somewhere hot if he doesn’t change his ways.”
“The only good thing he ever did was married my mom, which only worked out for me and Tony, since she has to deal with him forever.”
“He fought in the war, too, didn’t he?”
“Yeah, he was a soldier in the army. He came back and Mom always would tell her friends that he just wasn’t the same. I don’t really know what that means, though it's the only way I’ve ever known him.”
“Me neither, but he’s probably not alone. Can we swing by my place and get Jasper before we go to your house? I have to walk him every day after school, or my dad will beat me and the dog if he goes pee in the house.”
“Yeah, we can take him with us. With the carpet, we have no one that is going to notice if he has an accident, so long as no one steps in it, I guess.”
“Don’t worry, there’s no way in... well, you know what I mean… that he’ll make it that far without going to the bathroom first. He’s been holding all day, Billy.”
***
The two boys made it to James’s house. James said, “You want to come in? I bet that my mom has some candy or cookies in there that we could have for a snack if you want to?”
“No, if I have to explain to one more adult what happened to me and then get that pity face, I don’t know if I could handle it.”
“They aren’t trying to make you feel bad about being you, you know that right?”
“Yes, I do know that, but it still doesn’t do anything for me. What I want is change. I’m tired of every single person telling me that I’m going to get through this, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve dealt with this my entire life. I don’t think that they understand it isn’t a once in a while kind of thing. This kind of stuff happens all the time—and I mean all the time; it’s crazy.”
“Okay, you stay out here, I just need to toss my books and then get Jasper.”
James opened the door, and the dog was already standing near the door, scratching at it with a leash in his mouth. Billy sat at the front steps, listening to him talk a mile a minute to the dog. He wondered sometimes if people thought that just because they were dogs that they were complete idiots. The same thing made him question how people treated babies and young children. It wasn’t something that he felt jealous of for his brother Tony.
A minute later, James came out with a handful of cookies and two cups of milk. “You got time for these?”
“I do if you do. It is hard to turn down your mom’s cookies.”
“You’d be dumb if you did that’s for sure.”
***
A few minutes later, the two were walking towards Billy’s house. James looked up to the sky, seeing dark clouds beginning to roll in. “You think there’s going to be snow soon? I bet we get it before Thanksgiving break,” James said.
“Nah, it’s been pretty lame lately, just cold and windy.”
“It's Chicago, Billy. You just mean it’s normal, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much. I bet you can’t beat me to my house though!”
Billy took off sprinting, pumping his arms. James yelled, “You’re a cheater, and I’m still going to win!”
They raced the last three blocks to Billy’s house. The dog was keeping up with the two of them and had a few near death experiences, as it almost split the sidewalk with James and would have wrapped its leash around a tree or one of the many light poles. The two boys laughed as they made it to the house. The dog started barking and jumping when they got up to the house, started to try to pull away as well.
Billy was leaning back, trying to catch his breath. “Your dog’s losing its mind, what’s wrong with it?”
“I don’t know, last time I spoke to him he said ruff. I don’t speak dog, man. Jasper, what’s going on, buddy?” He knelt down to pet him and the dog nipped at his outstretched hand. James tried to pull his hand back but the minute he felt the teeth going into his hand, he knew that blood was going to follow.
Billy saw the blood and yelled, “You’re bleeding, James!”
James squeezed his hand in the other, trying to stop the blood from coming out. “Yes, thank you for pointing that out.”
Jasper kept trying to run away, making it impossible for James to look at his hand properly. Billy took the leash and held tight to the little dog—who was jerking left and right in every direction he could to get away in. “I think your dog’s, like, sick, James.”
“He isn’t sick, he’s just stupid, and he’s lucky I don’t beat dogs, because he sure deserves his butt getting kicked right now. He must not feel good or something. I don’t know what else it could be.”
Billy shrugged looking across the street, not seeing Tony in the window or any signs that The Andersons were home. He shrugged. It was fine if he went in without him and got some fresh clothes in case they were there for just one more night. He thought he’d even get stuff for Tony and grab a few of his cars. Billy unlocked the door letting it open. “We can bandage up your hand, if you think your dog will quit freaking out about everything.”
James was really concerned that there was something wrong with the dog. “I don’t know, but he better not be sick. We aren’t poor, but I know my dad, and he ain’t going to go spending good money on a dog he never asked to have at home in the first place.”
“Might just be having an off day. You want me to try to pick him up and carry him in?”
“Only if you want to be bitten. I don’t trust him any further than I could throw him right now, Billy. He’s going in, because at the least I need to rinse out my hand. This dog probably sits and licks his butt hole for, like, a million hours a day; that’s not what I want in a wound.”
Billy chuckled a little. “You said ‘butt hole’. Your dog is the butt hole.”
“Preach on, Billy, there’s no argument today about it.”
Billy pushed open the door and yelled, “Hello, anyone home?”
He was more concerned that his dad might be home and that he’d come back seeking vengeance. The kind that would not leave him a choice but to go to the hospital and to stay there for a couple of days. The idea of how long they had been gone mixed with the amount of drinking he could have done in that time hit him hard, and he thought that was why the hairs on the back of his neck were rising. The dog fought and scraped at the concrete trying to get any traction it could until they were in the house and the door had been shut. Jasper ran to the door scraping at it insanely. Billy flipped the lock on the deadbolt and the dog turned around shaking in place.
Billy knelt down keeping away from its mouth. “Is your dog cold, or something?”
“I don’t know why he is acting like this. He’s never done this before... like, ever.”
James began trying to stroke his head to calm him down and he snapped at him, getting his finger. He popped the dog on his head and he didn’t even back off. The two boys stood back and Billy said, “Gross man, what the heck is wrong with your dog?”
James—who hadn’t seen that he was now in a puddle of urine—tried to get up and step away. Billy put a firm hand on his shoulder keeping him from jumping out of it. “Don’t move, you need to clean that up. Do you know what my dad would do to me if he came in and saw a dog and then saw the puddle? He’d beat you and the dog and not think twice about it. He wouldn’t care if you are his kid, or someone else’s. Don’t even think about moving. Let me go get a couple towels; we can get this wiped up.”
James wanted to move, but he feared Billy’s father almost as much as Billy and Tony did themselves. “Get me something for my hand too. Just hurry, its pee, dude.”
Billy ran into the kitchen, getting towels, and sprinted back. He threw one down and James pushed it around with his feet pulling back the dog. The entire time the dog was trying to scrape at the door. When things were clean and his hand had stopped blee
ding, the two boys entered the house further and headed up the steps, making sure that they were quiet, still not sure that his father, David, wasn’t home.
Billy held up a hand for James to wait and he went on his tip toes to the end of the hall, taking his time setting each foot down slowly and with precision. He knew the socks he had on were about done, because the wood floor had nothing keeping the cold from chilling his heels. The door to his parent’s room was already open and Billy took a very deep breath, not daring to so much as make a noise. He peeked in the room seeing a bed that had still been made from the day before. Therefore, unless his dad had crashed on the couch—but he was pretty sure that he’d have seen him—the two and the dog were okay. Billy let the breath out happily, feeling his heart racing in his chest.
James gave a thumbs up, pulling the dog behind him. Billy said, “You better be careful, or they’re going to stick your dog in the looney farm. Do they have those for dogs?”
“Yeah, it’s called the pound, Billy, and if he goes there, then they’ll stick a needle in him and put him to sleep. They don’t try to fix dogs, they just put them down.”
“That sucks. Come on, I just need a couple things out of my room.”
Billy walked towards his room and as he reached up to open the door, it swung in slowly. James watched it with a mouth sitting agape. “What was that?”
“Probably just the wind, quit being a baby,” Billy said.
“I don’t think so, I didn’t feel any wind. I mean it's drafty in here, and cold as all heck, but I don’t think that was the wind.”
“Well then, what? What was it Sherlock?”
James shrugged and pulled the dog behind him. James tried to push the door open, but it finished on its own with no assistance. The dog seemed to come out of his funk and sprinted into the room. He pulled the leash from James’s hands and threw him off balance. He jumped up very quickly to run after him, thinking of a few words, which he was not permitted to let flow off of his tongue yet. Jasper went to the corner and began barking and clawing at the wind. Both boys stood in the doorway, watching the small dog going crazy. A sound came out of the walls sounding like a request to hush. James and Billy took a step back; the dog did not take the warning. “Did… did you make that noise, James? That was you, right, you’re just messing around with me? I mean what else could it have been?”
“Nothing that I want to know more about. Come on, let's get back out of here. Jasper… Jasper, come on get out here, we are leaving.”
Billy didn’t want him to admit that he was scared in his house. “What, are you scared of my bedroom now? Just go on in and get him, and we can get out of here.”
James puffed up his chest. “If you’re so tough, then why don’t you go on in and get him? Just a little dog right, I mean there isn’t nothing to be afraid of in there, is there?”
Billy took one-step in, watching the dog, thinking in the back of his mind that he was definitely going to get bitten very soon. He really hoped that Jasper was up to date on his shots.
When he bent down for the leash, a yelp like he’d never heard from a dog came. It was no longer a puppy that was upset—this was pain. He watched the fur on the back of the dog’s neck rise, almost as if it was being gripped. He looked back to James, who was seeing the same thing; neither of them were able to understand what was happening.
Billy said, “We better get out of here, there is something horrible going on. It’s just like yesterday when Tony and my dad were here. I'm leaving, I can get new stuff.”
Before he’d made it two steps, his feet went out from under him and he watched as James got further away with every second. He looked down at the floor to see that he was sliding across the wood. James entered the room, and that was when the door slammed so hard that it shook the home. He took hold of the handle, squeezing it, and trying to make it turn, but was not happening; the knob would not move for anything. He pounded on the door and the hush came again. This time, it sent James back four feet in the air, and the boy landed hard on his back. He rolled to his belly and could not believe his eyes. Jasper yelped as he was brought up in the air. Whatever it was begun slamming the dog head first into the wall. The yelps got quieter as the spot where the dog was being slammed into grew red and left bits of hair, skull fragments, and saliva. The dog began to shake violently.
Billy got up off of the ground, trying to move and was thrown back to the ground again. Billy screamed, “Who are you... what are you... what do you want?”
The demon did not care for the questions. James was screaming for Jasper, whose skull was still being crushed against the wall. Tears were forming and running down his face, his heart was breaking as he watched his dog being tortured. The dog was no longer making any noise; the blood that should have been hitting the ground was not making it there, the drips disappeared before they touched the ground.
The two boys were paralyzed on the ground. Billy felt something warm running through his body, something that he had never felt before. He tried to move, he tried to resist it, but he could not. The being began to levitate him off of the ground, and Billy felt like his muscles were going to explode from his body; his arms, legs, and spine were screaming for it to stop.
Tears were freely falling and the hush tones had turned to laughter, the type that you hear when someone enjoys something that should not be enjoyed. Billy fell forward, and the cross slipped from his neck. He felt just a moment’s worth of freedom and brought in his legs and arms, letting his joints and muscles relax for just a moment. The thing screamed as if he’d burned it.
Billy looked down to the small piece of gold dangling from his neck. He held it with his hands, looking to James, and crawled over to him before the demon could react. Billy pulled his necklace out exposing the small gold cross. “I... I think that these are keeping us safe.”
The whisper came across the room, sending chills through the two of them. “You will be mine.”
“I will be yours, what? What are you talking about?” Billy yelled.
“You will be my vessel.”
“We’re out of here, freak!” Billy yelled.
The two started to crawl towards the door. Both of their bodies ached immensely. James thought about Jasper. “What about Jasper? What about Jasper?”
“He’s gone, James, we need to leave while we still can. I don’t think we are going to get another chance.”
James was wiping at the tears with his arm. Billy tried the knob again and let his cross touch it this time while twisting it. This time was successful, and he pushed it completely open letting James come out first and slammed it shut behind him. The two fell to the floor heaving in pain from their joints. James was shaking his head. “You really think that it will make a difference if the door is shut, it’s like a ghost or a demon, or something, Billy!”
“I don’t know, I just want to get out of here, now.”
The two made it to the back door, hitting the knob again before the door finally opened. They spilled out into the alley behind the house taking their first opportunity to try to catch their breath. The two looked up and down, only seeing a couple guys that were friends with his dad, which Billy automatically chalked up to them both being troublemakers. Other than them, he thought that he’d never seen them look so empty in all of their young lives.
James said, “So, where do we go? Do you think that thing, or things, can follow us, or is it trapped in the house?”
“I don’t know James, but we need to move. I’m not staying out front of here. Last thing we need is for it to drop a house on us. We need to get Tony and get as far away from here as we can.”
James asked, “What about the church? We could go to the church. There isn’t any way that they know how to get in there. They’ll probably burn alive, or dead, or whatever they are, if they step one foot in there.”
Billy was nodding his head after he’d heard the word church. “You’re a genius; definitely the church. I know Father Michaels won’t put us o
ut on the street. I don’t know if he’s going to believe me though, we don’t have any proof.”
“Who cares if he believes us, I just want to go somewhere that these things can’t get into if they follow us. I mean, if they’re able to get out of the house… Do you think they are stuck in there, Billy?”
“I hope so, James, I really do. Come on, let’s grab Tony and get out of here!”
***
Al was bent over his pickup parked in the alley, cursing the placement of his truck’s alternator. “You’d think that maybe, just maybe, Ford might consider that there might be some poor sonofabitch needing to switch out something under this truck’s hood. I mean, for god sakes, what were they thinking? You know those boys at Ford are probably making good money. Hell, I’ll bet that they’re making ten grand a year.”
Earl looked around the street; he’d only been half paying attention. “You think they make that kind of money for putting trucks together, Al?”
“No, Earl, it ain’t the ones putting it together making that kinda money. I'm talking about the ones who design the truck from the ground up. They are the ones making the real money in the factories.”
“You think that maybe if I went out to Detroit, that they’d let me tinker with the cars? I'm real good with my hands. I bet I could design some pretty cool shit out there.”
Al stopped fiddling with the socket, trying to get it in place, and said, “You’re kidding, right?”
“What?”
“Earl, you aren’t even able to change your own oil without help. What do you possibly know about designing trucks and cars? You don’t know anything, that’s what.”
“I know enough to take my truck to the damn mechanic if ever it needs worked on.”
“You don’t own a car, Earl. Let me do Detroit a favor and just tell you now that you should stay out of Detroit. I don’t know if they could handle you.”
Earl took it as a compliment, smiling and straightening out his grease-covered, white t-shirt. “Well I'm glad that you can appreciate me once in a while. Besides, I don’t think those ladies out there would know what to do with me.”
