Hunting with Hellhounds

III

Once we all arrived at my house we started playing cod:mw3 until about 3:00. Grabbing my keys of the counter I move towards the door "I'm heading to gymnastics!" I yell into the living room. "Can I come?" "Me too?" Marko and Brad. "Sure!" I call back and open the door, leaving it open I walk to my blue dodge pickup. Marko got in the passenger seat and Brad jumped in the back. "Are you guys going to be talking throughout my meet?" Marko laughed "of course!" He reached for the dial and turns up the music. Rag doll. "Love this song!" Yells Marko over the music. I nod my head to the beat as I pull into the school parking lot. "You guys can drive around if you'd like. I'll call you when I'm done." I tell Marko, trying to causally ditch them before going inside. "Ok, I'm driving though." He calls over to Brad and I hand him my keys. "Make sure your phone is on." I call back and walk into the school.

I race down the almost empty hallways and into the girls locker room. After changing into my normal gymnastics clothes I walk into the gym. Audrey and Alyson were already here and I saw Deluxe's bag sitting on the bleachers, telling me she's here. "Hey girls!" I say cheerfully as I walk over to join them. They both smile at me and start telling me what I missed throughout the day. "Where's Deluxe?" I cut in, looking around for our coach. "She went to talk to Lucas." Audrey replied. Figures. Lucas is her boyfriend, he's always hanging around 7 other boys. Calls themselves The Crew or something like that. Kane also known as Shadow was the cutest one in my opinion. "Alright girls sorry for the holdup, Lucas needed my car keys" came Deluxe's voice as she entered the gym. "Everybody to the balance beam!" She continued.
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5:38-
I pull out my phone and dial Marko's number. 2 rings before our gang leader answered, "yeah?" "Come pick me up." I speak quickly. They were locking the doors and it was kinda cold outside. "We'll be there in a minute." "Hurry please," and with that I hung up. I breathed in the October air and looked around, not a bad night to have a meet-up that was supposed to be in about 30 minutes. *crash!* I jump and turn to look through the dark to see what made the noise. A garbage can from an alleyway lay toppled over a few feet from the mouth of the alley. Thinking it was a raccoon and cursing myself for being nice, I walked over and righted the garbage can. Glaring into the alley. A growl like noise came from that direction and I jumped back. Now I was scared. I wanted Simon, the gang, anybody! That growl came from no ordinary dog. Or if it did that dog was huge and vicious. Now I could clearly see two white orbs starring into my own green eyes. I held back a scream and run across the street back to the front entrance of the school. Quickly trying to pull the doors open only to find out their locked. Looking back at the alley, a very ominous growl could be heard and you could see an entity glare out of the alleyway. A big black dog with glowing white eyes and appearing to be made of the shadows itself stepped into the streets, starring right at me. It's fur, if it was fur, was mangled and it's ribs were visible. A very audible growl sounded, coming from it. The dog opened its mouth so I could see the long, white, deadly fangs.

I screamed. Not being able to hold it back any longer... I screamed. My back up against the school doors, I willed it to go away. A screeching sound was heard and doors slamming shut. I closed my eyes and began to shake. Sobs racking my body. Tears streaming down my face, I heard footsteps run over to me. "Tessa!" Marko. I force my eyes opened to be meet by Marko and Brad. The devil dog nowhere to be seen. Marko knelt down beside me and attempted to hush me. He failed as I clung tightly to him. My hands clutching at the back of his jacket. "Shh..." Marko hushed as he stroked my hair. He picked me up bridal style and I never let go, only hugging him tighter. My face buried into his chest. "Brad, drive." Marko ordered as he got in the passenger seat of my pickup, still holding me tightly. Brad only nodded and speed off quickly, towards my house. My father would not be home until 9:00 tonight, so I was suddenly glad that Marko was staying the night. "Tess... It's okay.... You're okay..." Marko attempted once again to shush my sobbing self. I cried even harder and pressed hard against Marko's chest. He only sighed and kissed the top of my head, rocking my slowly. The pickup took an abrupt stop and Brad got out. Marko took his hand away from my legs as he opened the door and shut it again before lifting my legs once more. As soon as we entered my house the gang had surrounded me, "Tess!" "What happened?!" "Tessa!" "What's wrong?" Questions were being asked but I couldn't even answer. "We don't know, she hasn't spoke yet. The meet-up is off." Marko's reassuring voice told the many other voices. I was being moved again and I heard 2 other set of footsteps following our leader up the stairs towards my room. "Tess? I'm going to put you down, ok? Put on your pajamas and then call me back in, okay?" Marko talked again before placing me on my feet inside my room, he flipped on the light switch before exiting my room and closing my door.

I could hear him and Simon talking outside of my room as I pulled off my jeans and T-shirt. I grabbed a pair of loose sweatpants and slid them on, before I put on a big DC batman shirt. My sobs had quieted a little bit were still there. A old stray black cat sat on my bed as I got dressed. He was always in my room, I feed him and he came through the windows into my room. I got used to him so he was basically mine. His name was Grayson. Picking up the cat I returned to my door and opened it, Simon and Marko both turned abruptly and Simon quickly moved forward to pick me up, which I gladly accepted. He carried my slowly down the stairs and laid me in the middle of the couch. Surrounded by the gang members I quickly fell asleep with Grayson by my side. The shadow dog working its way into my dreams.
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