Coyote (Created: Part 1)

2

As a child, I always loved to tell scary stories with Hannah and Daniel. In all honesty, the ones that I told were quite terrible, as they were almost always improvised.

However, there were some good ones that were told by my aunt and uncle. Ones that, though utterly laughable in retrospect, were certainly frightening to me at the time.

The first was about a group of kids who went to visit a farm, only to find the farmer dead--killed by an invisible ghost. The other was about a demon dog that killed people, though I forget most of the details.

For some reason, they keep coming to mind as I recall my childhood events. Unseen forces, mysterious killings and a demon dog... I guess they just seem to fit.

When I was eight, I was staying with my grandparents for the week, and as per the usual, I spent most of my time playing out in the back pasture with my aunt and uncle. We played in the tree clubhouse, chased lizards, and even ate a packed lunch out there.

While we were eating, however, Hannah commented on a strange smell and went to investigate. Being a naturally curious child, I followed her. She walked into the tall grass, but stopped a few moments after.

I moved to her side, only to see the carcass of an animal sprawled out on the ground. I had never seen one before, but I guessed from the sand-colored fur and dog-like features that it was a coyote.

This was confirmed as Hannah called Daniel over, telling him that we had found a dead coyote. He hurried over, and we all stared at its motionless form.

Having never seen one before, I was thoroughly fascinated. And since none of us were the type to be disturbed by an animal corpse, we were there for quite some time, exchanging ideas on how the poor canine was killed.

It was truly a puzzling case; it might have been easier to figure it out if the head wasn't missing. That was the truly baffling part: the body was beaten and bloodied, but the head was missing entirely.

We gave up trying to figure out what had happened. I thought that another coyote had killed it, but that didn't make sense. Another coyote wouldn't be able to tear off the head just like that unless it was some sort of mutant (which we did consider and discuss).

Daniel's theory was about an insane man with a hatchet who went around killing coyotes for fun. We all agreed that that was probably the closest guess and began to theorize more and more.

Soon, we had our very own urban legend: Bobby the Hacker, killer of coyotes. It didn't make much sense, but we didn't care.

Even though we made light of what we saw, it was still strange. One of a few strange things that happened during the week that I stayed with Grandma. Of course, they weren't really related.

Well, they didn't seem to be at first. As I got older though, I put together the pieces. I wish I hadn't seen that coyote body. That was what started everything.

***

I woke up in the guest bedroom of Grandma's house. I was covered in sweat. Mumbling in discomfort, I got out of bed and pulled on my clothes, glancing out the windows as I did so.

The thing I saw in the darkness the previous night... I had seen it, right? Or had it just been a dream? Memory of it was hazy. While I continued to tell myself that it was only a dream, the pit in my stomach grew and grew. I knew I was lying to myself.

It was back.

The day went as every other day that week had. I got up, ate a quick breakfast, then headed outside to meet Grandpa and get my assignments for the day.