The Story of the Black Dogs

Chapter 1.2

     Charles chuckled to himself. There was no way that he was still afraid because of some nightmare. No matter how bad the nightmare was, this was real life, and there was nothing suspicious happening.

     Charles decided to check his phone. Mostly to distract himself from his uneasiness. The first notification that he saw on his screen was a text message from his wife, Linda.

     "Stay safe." it read. "Call me once you get there."

     The message would seem normal to anyone else, but for Charles, it was out of the ordinary. Never once did his wife say to stay safe. It was always something like, "I'm praying for you" or "May God's angels protect you while you're away." It was always something religious.

Never "Stay safe."

     Charles sighed. His wife had been acting odd before he left as well.

     

     "Why don't you skip this one Charles." she had told him as he was preparing to leave. "It don't feel right."

     Linda looked at him with sunken tired eyes and her lips quivered with worry which made Charles regret telling his wife that the route he'd be taking wasn't the safest.

     Charles took his wife's hand in his, her fingers icy cold. He caressed his wife's brow with his free hand as if he could somehow wipe away the lines of worry with comfort alone. "I promise everything'll be alright."

     "I'll call you when I get there." He kissed her forehead, then began heading out the door.

     Charles looked back at his wife before walking out the door, and he wished that he hadn't. He wished that he had never seen that troubled look on his wife's face as if he were never coming back.

     

     Because of how worried she was when he had left, Charles thought it would be best to give her a call while he waited.

     Charles held the phone to his ear, waiting for the humming sound of the call to go through. Unfortunately, he was met with a short silence before he was met by the beep of a disconnected call. He tried once more but to no avail.

     Strange

     He looked at his phone, wondering why his calls wouldn't go through. He found that the signal was weak.

     'Just my luck.' he thought.

     Charles sighed and set his phone on the table. He wished he could ease her worries, but it'd just have to wait. He didn't have any missed calls from her, so it should be fine.

     Charles glanced around the diner, not looking at anything in particular. His eyes settled on one of the black and white photos on the wall across from him. It was what you would've expected in a place like this, an image of a cleaner, newer version of the building he was sitting in now. It was kind of odd how the image seemed both old and new, fresh yet terribly outdated.

     Charles' eyes moved to another photograph. This one was even older though, a picture of a carriage sitting still on a rather sunny day. Perhaps it was an image dedicated to their family ancestry. It was rather average, yet something in the image unsettled Charles. In the corner of the image, in the dark nook underneath the carriage, were two red orbs. So red it nearly glowed. But it was a black and white photograph.

     Yet, those out-of-place red orbs bore into his soul, reminding him of those nightmarish red eyes he had seen before.

     "Here's your meal sir." Charles nearly jumped out of his skin when the waitress suddenly appeared setting down his food in front of him.

     He had been so immersed in his own mind, that he hadn't taken notice of the waitress approaching him.

     "Ah, thanks."

     "Your welcome sweetheart." said the waitress before she set his drink on the table and left.

     Charles was grateful that she hadn't noticed that he had been startled, else he would find himself embarrassed.

     Charles turned his attention back to the eerie photograph, and still, those red eyes stared.

     'It's just a photograph.' he told himself. 'It's just red splotches of ink.'

     A delicious aroma filled his nostrils, drawing his attention back to his food. He could ignore the pang in his stomach no more.

     Charles hungrily dug into his food, the salty flavors of the burger melting into his mouth. Soon all his uneasiness faded away into blissful eating. Perhaps it was simply hunger all along.