The Dog Whisperer

● Prologue

My earsplitting scream was the only thing my ears registered. It echoed inside of my brain, as well as all the way down the familiar, family-friendly suburban street. I was already estimating in my mind the number of concerned parents who would take to their front porch to see what rare crime had been committed within the community.

At the moment, the only thing I could feel running through my veins was pure adrenaline. And fear, sure; maybe I was just a tad bit fearful.

Except I was actually terrified.

My legs were already burning as my flip flop-clad feet smacked against the concrete at a rapid pace. I'd definitely lied to Coach the previous week when I said I was running my hardest at practice, but when your life is on the line, everything is intensified and all of your senses are heightened.

I knew it wouldn't be too much longer. He wasn't going to give out as easily as my twelve-year-old legs would.

The horrified gasps of strangers were all I heard as I sprinted by. Each and every one was too late to react, too late to save me. Some called for help, while others just simply stood back and watched.

I could feel the muscles around my shin starting to tighten up and twitch. The entire surface of my skin was covered in sweat, and I wasn't too sure what was to blame: the excruciatingly hot sun that came straight from Hell, my physically-weakening run from death, or the terror that comes with a life-threatening experience. I could hear my accelerated heartbeat pounding in my ears and drumming against my ribcage. My breath suddenly started to deteriorate, letting me know it was the beginning of the end, one way or another.

I took one last desperate turn as the tears started to roll down my cheeks. Rushing as fast as I could through the parking lot, I knew the public pool was my last chance to find aid.

I let out another howl as loud as my small lungs could manage to alert anyone and everyone in the area. My oxygen was lacking, though, and it came out just above the volume of a mouse. The only way to catch people's attention was to run and push my way through the thick crowd, and even then, they were too confused to be of much help.

I heard a shrill whistle sound off, followed by a sharp voice scolding me with, "No running!"

My lungs started gasping for air, and my legs were so weak that I almost tripped over one of the longue chairs. The tears were pouring out of my eyes and streaming down my face as my throat tightened and choked in lack of oxygen.

I finally gave up and turned around in surrender.

"Please, don't!" I shrieked, bracing myself for physical injury.

But, I didn't feel my skin tearing apart. Instead, I felt a force pressed against my chest, propelling me back in the air. My back smacked against the water, and my body sank like a rock. I flailed my arms about, trying to push myself upwards to receive my already-starved oxygen supply. I was panting the moment my head broke the surface, trying to recover all the air I've lost. That was when I felt something warm and sticky slide against the side of my face.

"Ack! What the-?" I spat, shoving away the German shepherd that had its tongue all over my face.

I swore, just twenty seconds ago, this same dog was trying to kill me.

Unless, I mean, it was just playing around with me.

As soon as the thought struck me, I realized I'd exerted a lot of unnecessary energy into running away from a dog that only wanted to lick my face. My first reaction when I'd seen the German shepherd sprinting away from its owner and towards me was to bolt, as any normal person would've.

I laughed and started to scratch the dog behind its right ear.

"I guess I did get a little bit of conditioning out of this."

The German shepherd moved in closer and started rolling its tongue across my cheek again, sending me into a fit of giggles.

I was only alarmed by another blast of a whistle, this time by a different lifeguard.

"You," he snapped, pointing to me. "No pets allowed, sorry."

"Not a problem," I sighed and climbed back onto the scalding hot concrete. My clothes were much heavier on my body, weighed down by weight of water.

"C'mon, buddy," I said, stroking the dog's back. "Let's get you back to wherever the heck you came from."

There was no denying it after that moment: I have a soft spot in my heart for dogs.

---Author's Note---

"The best time to write is always at 3 in the morning." -Me

God bless Arctic Monkeys and Starbucks. Seriously, I wouldn't have made it through this without them.

So, hey, welcome to my new story! I've had this insane idea in my head for a few months now, and after some planning, I'm pretty freaking stoked to start this.

Believe me when I say that I've got plenty of crazy and humorous things in store for this story! Fun times are definitely ahead.

For those of you wondering, if you're keeping up with mutiple stories of mine, this will have slower updates than Bonfire Hearts, at least to start out. I wouldn't have even started this yet, in all honesty, except I'm struggling with the next Bonfire Hearts chapter. I figured since I already knew what I wanted to here, I'd just go ahead and type up the prologue for this one.

I think that's everything I wanted to get across. I'm going to do my best to condense these author notes as much as I possibly can from now on!

I'd love to hear your feedback/questions on anything, but I realize a short little prologue isn't too much to go off of. I'll probably have the first chapter up within the next week or two, and then I'll try and tackle Bonfire Hearts.

Thank you so much for reading through all of this, and I hope you're just as excited for this book as I am!

~Isabelle