The Story of the Black Dogs

Chapter 3.3

     Charles was led down the corridors of the hospital by the ghostly nurse. People paid them no mind as they passed by.

     Strange

     Not a glance was cast in his direction. Not a moment of acknowledgment ever came his way. And even when someone did look at him, it was as if they were looking through him, to something on the other side.

     Never did Charles feel so invisible. He wasn't being ignored. It was like he wasn't there at all. Was he? Or was he losing his mind? Charles wanted to yell, kick something, make a scene, just to see if people would stop and look at him. To see him.

     "This way." With one hand on his shoulder and the other on his back, the nurse led him to turn down another corridor with little to no people.

     She saw him. She heard him as well, but she was so odd and creepy. He wasn't even sure if she was real, or a figment of his imagination. But others saw her and heard her as well. Or was he imagining it? Was he imagining being invisible? Was he conjuring things in his mind?

     The nurse led him into a small empty room. There were no windows in the room for natural light, causing the place to feel cold and lifeless. In the corner sat a large grey chair, next to a small counter that was already laden with the medical necessities for stitches.

     There were no computers or other forms of technology present save for common things such as the small black ticking clock and the light which illuminated the dreary place.

     Charles paused, stopping at the doorway of the room. "What's all this?"

     The nurse walked ahead of him into the room, went straight to a counter, and began to rummage through a drawer. "How is your arm? Could you remove your jacket so I can get a better look at the bite?"

     "The bite? I never told you it was a dog bite." Charles said as he took a step back.

     "Oh, but you did." The nurse insisted as she began to set out a pair of gloves. "Was it not? Then what is the injury?"

     Was he losing his mind? Had he told her? No something wasn't right. No questions, no paperwork, and she hadn't even mentioned insurance. What was up with her?

     Charles took another step back, exiting the small room. "No. I'm sure that I never told you what my injury was. How do you know?"

     The nurse paused, and became eerily quiet, leaving only the ticking clock to break the silence.

     *Tick

     *Tick

     *Tick

     "Why did you come here?" she finally said. "If it wasn't a dog bite Charles. Aren't you here because of the black dog?"

     The room began to grow colder as his old friend, fear, once again greeted him.

     "Black dog? How would you know anything about that?" Charles muttered in a whisper.

     The nurse turned and stared him down with her dead sunken eyes. Her cracked and bleeding lips quirked up into a smile. "When did you first see it, Charles?"

     "What?" Charles asked.

     "Was it the diner? Was it hunting you then?" she said in a whisper.

     Her small shoulders were shaking, and Charles realized that she was laughing. "No, no, no. It was the truck! Y'know they like to hunt weary travelers in the mountains."

     "Huh?"

     A slight tremor shook the building causing the metal utensils to rattle, and the lights to flicker. The nurse threw her head back and looked at Charles with a wicked smile. "See it once, it will be for joy. See it twice it will be for sorrow. And three times... it's gonna getcha!"

     The building shook violently now, causing Charles to stumble backward and collide with the wall outside the room. Still, the nurse stared at him with that creepy smile, ignoring the object that fell around her.

     Then the room went dark. Everything grew still and the corridor was filled with a suffocating silence. As if the air itself was too afraid to breathe.

     *Clatter

     The violent sound of the falling object rattled his heart.

     *Bang

     Something else seemed to fall, and Charles could hear more things in the room shifting and falling as if something big was trying to navigate the room.

     But what?

     *Shatter

     Was it the nurse?

     *Bang

     Or was it something else?

    As if answering his unspoken question, a low rumbling sound began to emanate from the room. The low growls soon became the only thing he heard, before he was met with those familiar glowing red eyes.