C3 Bitten

That same rainy night in late April, the whole town of Perkins was deathly silent, save for the overexcited crickets and frogs in the bushes, and perhaps one late night driver or two.

The clouds parted to reveal a full moon high in the sky, hanging like a hunter's lantern over the house where Mike Sommers lived with his daughter Lauren. Twelve-year-old Lauren was in her room, reading a book in the warmth and comfort of her bedcovers.

"Mr. Phillips took a chalk crayon and wrote on the blackboard above her head," she read in her mind. "Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must learn to control her temper,' and then read it out loud so that even the primer class, who couldn't read writing, should understand it."

The young girl shifted on her bed and drew the covers closer, "Anne stood there the rest of the afternoon with that legend above her. She did not cry or hang her head. Anger was still too hot in her heart for that and it sustained her amid all her agony of humiliation. With..." She stopped.

There was an almost indistinct creak coming from the door of her room. Any other person wouldn't have heard it, but if nothing, Lauren Sommers prided herself in her impeccable hearing. There was another creak, then a series of taps. Two taps. A scrape like fingernails on wood. Pause. Then three taps. Another pause. Morse code. She smiled. That was definitely her dad. He'd had taught her the special code since she was seven, and it was a special way of communicating with him.

She threw aside the covers and slipped her feet into her pink bunny bathroom slippers. Soundlessly she tiptoed to the door and peeked. The hallway beyond her room was thick with shadows.

"Dad, are you back?" She called into the gloom.

Another couple of creaks, like someone was trying to open the door while making as little noise as possible. Using the yellow light from her bedside lamp, Lauren walked into the hallway.

Immediately she stepped out of her room she heard a grunt, then a sniffle, like a dog smelling the air. Then a growl; low, menacing and full of danger.

"Dad, did you bring another stray dog home?" Her voice became resigned as she rolled her eyes and folded her arms." Her dad loved all animals, perhaps a little too much. He was forever bringing stray animals into the house. Once he'd forgotten she was allergic to cat fur and brought two kittens home.

The growl continued. Lauren walked into the darkness of the hall. There was a distasteful smell in the air: the smell of wet dog. She wrinkled her nose and let out a "Yech!", walking closer to the growl. She reached the end of the hallway, where the kitchen was. The kitchen windows were devoid of curtains, and the room was filled with the light from the full moon outside.

The growling was coming from the direction of the fridge, whose door was wide open. Lauren could see from the illumination of the fridge that the floor was strewn with food items. There was a milk carton on the floor, its milk forming a puddle like liquid moonlight. The bowl of casserole her dad had made the night before was upturned too. Cans of diet coke were flinged everywhere, and two packets of raw sausages had been torn open. A figure–Dog? Raccoon?–was face-deep in the packets of sausages, chomping away.

As if sensing her presence, the animal raised its head. Its eyes glowed with a bloodthirsty light, the pupils slitted. It bared its teeth in a growl and got up from its haunches. The beast was easily taller than Lauren, towering over her in a massive six feet. It continued to growl, its canines bared and dripping with slobber.

Lauren let out a scream and backed out of the kitchen. The beast lumbered after her snapping its teeth and knocking her down before she could escape. She cowered on the floor in fear.

"Please... please don't hurt me" She whispered in tears as the beast pinned her down with its front paws. It raised a paw, ready to take a swipe at her face, then lowered it, its growling reduced to a whimper as it regarded the small girl beneath him. It seemed to reconsider killing her as its pupils dilated in recognition. Then the eyes of the beast hardened as it let out a terrifying growl and buried its incisors in the little girl's neck.