Perspectives

Chapter One - "A very bleak point of view"

Jimmy was a grim man. In fact, he had been a grim man all his life. Everything he saw was a horrid shade of grey which clouded his vision like a veil. But it wasn't only his vision which was clouded, his mind was filled with bleak thoughts that resembled the tar on the lungs of a smoker, slowly suffocating him from inside. Sadly Jimmy was unaware of this, since he never looked past what he saw, or at least, what he thought he saw.

It was a day like any other for Jimmy. He opened his eyes and stared at the peeled and faded navy blue paint on the walls before getting up and wearily staggering towards the kitchen. He sat at his small table looking down at the swirling, murky, mess that was his coffee. It tasted bitter and sticky, he never made his coffee properly, but it had become a grisly ritual to make it this way every morning.

The loud ticking of the clock reminded him that it was time to walk his sisters dog. His sister, unlike Jimmy, was a content soul and happily accepted her place in the world. After recently getting engaged she had decided to go on a short holiday to Thailand with her fiancé leaving her older brother to care for the puppy.

The dog in question was now waiting patiently by Jimmy who after putting on his worn, grey coat studied the puppy closer. She was a black Labrador with glistening eyes and a constant need for attention. She yapped at him to hurry up and thumped her tail on the red rug.

Jimmy didn't like her.

All she ever did was bark, it drove him to the brink of insanity. He couldn't for the life of him understand why anyone would want to have a pet. Animals were useless, all they did was bring misery into Jimmy's life.

He remembered how a dog had bit him when he was small. It was a giant, furry monster with dead eyes and ravenous teeth that sunk into anything they could find, including Jimmy's leg.

It had bounded towards him with great speed, snarling and drooling. He didn't even have time to realise was going on before he noticed the crimson blood pouring out the open wound on his leg and trickling onto the pavement.

The dog had let go and ran away quickly but the image of it's snarling mouth and it's long and matted brown fur covered in dark speckles of his blood was stuck in his mind.

Jimmy snapped out of his memories and back into reality where the impatient dog had now begun to bark at the door. He didn't want to imagine what sort of hellish beast that hound would grow into.