Parasitophobia (ONE-SHOTS)

The cranberry bush

Our first story is about a young lady named Winifred who finds something strange inhabiting in the wilderness nearby.

My name is Winifred Tucker, I live alone in a small cabin in San Francisco outside of [————————]. I know, you want to hear the story, so here it is.

It happened yesterday night it was exactly 10:30 pm, I heard barking just outside my home while I was getting comfy and reading one of my favorite books, I didn't have any neighbors, so it was quite strange. I went outside to find a Golden retriever behind a local cranberry with its hind legs covered in gauze tape and a cone around its head, it seemed to have a extension cord leash that looked ripped like it escaped from its owner. It stopped barking once it gave notice of my existence, it just stared at me with its strange deep black eyes. Thinking it was lost, I took the dog inside as I searched or a name or number on its collar, the collar was just a casual black rope around its neck. Not thinking about the consequences, I kept the dog around for some time. I decided to call the dog Cranberry, since I found it nearby the cranberry bush. It's "bandages" and abnormally sharp teeth and long younger seemed to be covered in what I assumed was cranberry juice, I was stupidly wrong. I decided to go back to reading and let the dog wander around my house.

That was when I looked at the time, 11:56 pm. I heard the dog barking like it was in danger, so I sprinted into the hall to find it barking at its reflection in the mirror, I wanted to assume it was like when a cat saw there reflection in a mirror and thought it was another cat, but it definitely wasn't. The barking turned into a snarl as it spun around and looked directly at me with a menacing look in its eyes. I didn't move, I couldn't move, it sprinted towards me and jumped on top of me, knocking me down. I screamed and tried to fight back, it just snarled and taunted me. That's when I felt it, a sudden drop in temperature, the feeling of fear rushed through me, a sudden burst of panic arose, I felt like I was slowly fading and dying, it soon stopped. The dogs eyes turned to a normal hazel, something more natural for a dog, and it stopped snarling. It took a look at me, and it ran off into the night in fear. I seemed to have scared it off somehow.

Then everything played out fine the rest of the night. But this morning, I seemed to be in my room, but I can't seem to stay awake, my body is aching, my ears are ringing, and I could smell the blood of the headless bodies of people that lay on the floor.