Reflections of Light

The Mutt

"Nibs!" Billy chirped, pouncing on the little puppy that had been so peacefully curled up asleep in its basket just a second ago.

Finally, after much deliberation on young Billy's part, they'd eventually settled on a name from the miles long list of Peter Pan oriented names, bestowing the tiny creature with the title 'Nibs', a name shared by one of Peters more prominent Lost Boys.

The pup shook itself from its slumber at Billy's joyful cry, leaping up into Billy's grasping arms and licking him enthusiastically in greeting, thoroughly bathing his face with its tongue, to which Billy could not stop laughing, and promptly stumbled and fell over.

Sebastian eyed the dog warily. It appeared harmless enough, laying on the boys chest and licking him all over, it's tail wagging like a flag in a blustery wind, absolutely delighted to find the boy down at its level, as Billy squealed and laughed under the puppy's excitable onslaught.

A boy and his dog; A tale as old as time.

But Sebastian could see that this was not just any dog.

The hound was the pale white of the moon, the inside of its ears as red as dawn.
It's tail was carried like a scythe, and it's eyes were two gold obals.
He saw the boy clutching the rabbit-sized pup to his chest as he pulled them both upright; it's pupils were not pure black. As they caught the light, they gleamed like fresh blood painted on a Red Cap.

Then Luci swept into the room, taking in the bedraggled sight of her son and his puppy looking like they'd been thoroughly enjoying themselves, and laughed.
"Rough housing already, boys?" She teased. "Why do I get the feeling this is only going to double the trouble?"

Nibs took that moment to begin attempting to wriggle out of Billy's grip, clearly a signal that he wanted to be put down.
Upon being set on the ground, he scurried over to greet Luci, running multiple figures of eight through her legs as he wound himself up with excitement even more, pawing at her shin for attention; and then charging off, tripping over its own feet as it ran to snatch up a rather slobbered squeaky ball, bashing it playfully against Billy's leg before rushing a short way away, to give him a look that dared him to give chase.

Luci chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Mad dog."

Sebastian decided to ignore them, turning back to the page of sketches he'd been absent-mindedly doodling, only to have a very sticky dog ball land in his lap, followed by the mutt pawing and jumping at his legs in an attempt to reach it.

Irritably, he shoved the ball off his lap with the expectation that the pup would follow it, but instead the little dog managed to worm its way up onto the sofa besides him, and was now investigating him curiously.

He gave the dog a light shove away from him, in an attempt to discourage it, but the puppy mistook it for playing and promptly went nuts, eagerly jumping up at its new 'friend'.

He gave it a slightly harder push away, making it slide off the couch onto the carpet, where the puppy looked slightly stunned for a moment, before scrambling back up to continue the game.

Really irritated now, Sebastian slammed the notebook on his lap closed with a loud Bang!, turning to look the mutt dead in its eyes.
Leaning forwards, he bared his teeth at the small dog, and growled threateningly, low in his throat.

The dog was visibly taken aback, shocked for a second, before fixing him a wicked look with its unnervingly luminescent eyes, and eagerly running back along the sofa to him.

Sebastian fixed the giggling Billy with a flat glare, as the dog attempted to scale his arm to reach his face. "Your dog is deranged."

With thanks to LucindasEveningLight for her contributions to this page. I hope you like it!