Chapter 2
7 years later
„Dad, why do we have it in our yard?“ I asked, looking through the window in my bedroom. Autumn has just started, and my little dalmatian, Jackie, was running in circles, trying to catch his own tail. He had just a few dots on his back, he was just a little puppy. He stopped, and looked at the totem, or the Thing, how I called it. It definitely was creepy, and that's why I heated having that thing in my front yard, and what's worse, it was right under my window, just a few metres away from it. It was a totem of a little bear, and a lot of our neighbours thought it was cute, that the little bear was kind of, protecting the house, but I didn't. It looked creepy and kind of scary to me, with those sharp, carved pointy teeth and weird eyes. Now, it was looking at the street, but every morning, it would be turned to the house. My parents thought that it was someone's really bad joke, but I didn't know what to think. I was trying to convince myself that someone was pranking on us, but I had a feeling that the bear wasn't „protecting “ the house. I thought he was watching on the house, trying to have the supervision on who was getting in and out.
I tried to convince my dad to remove the totem from our yard, but dad just recently told me that it was covered with concrete, deep into the earth, and it couldn't be dig out without an excavator, and our yard was too small for an excavator to make a mess, and it was too expensive.
Jackie was still looking at the thing, when he started getting close to it. I always feel nervous when he does that, I get a feeling that something bad is gonna happen to him. Jackie sniffed the totem, he jumped like something hit him and then started barking at it. He was getting really hysterical, and he was growling and running around the little statue, preparing to attack it. Along with him, all the other dogs in the street started barking too.
„Dad, can you see this?“ I asked, my sight was on my little Jackie the whole time.
„Something is wrong.“ My dad said, and we ran out. Jackie started growling at me when I got close to him, but when he recognized me, he ran to hide behind my legs, and he didn't stop growling at the statue.
„Jackie, what's wrong boy... Oh my God, dad!“ I said, panicked.
Jackie's upper lip was torn, the skin was hanging from his cheek, and he was bleeding a lot. He looked like something bit him, hard, but there was no other animals around, all our neighbours' dogs were inside the fence, and were still barking like crazy.
„What happened, boy?“ My dad asked and looked at my little Jackie. Dad used to be a vet, and he could help Jackie immediately. We rushed in the house with him in my arms, and dad was trying to fix the damage on Jackie's cheek.
Jackie's eyes were on the window and he was still growling, ignoring everything that was happening around him. He was focused only on one spot- The bear totem.
„Dad, there was no other animals around Jackie when he got hurt.“ I slowly said.
„Look, it can't be, its impossible. He must have scratched himself on the statue or something.“ He said, knowing what I was going to say.
„Scratched? His cheek is torn apart. There is no way, he could do this to himself if he scratched. Something bit him, and you know that.“ My dad just sighed, and I knew that my every try of talking to him would be ineffective. I turned to Jackie and said “Hold on little man. Dad is gonna fix you, I promise.“
I went out, to see if there was any animal hiding somewhere, that could attack Jackie. I started searching bushes and flowers my mom planted here when we came, but I found nothing. I looked at the statue, that was looking at the house again. I couldn't help myself, and I started walking at it. I stopped breathing.
From one of the totem's fangs, there was dripping blood. Fresh blood.
Then, those cold eyes moved
and looked at me.
