31 Days of Halloween

Day Twenty-Eight: Sterling, the Body Snatcher

When I was a kid, all I wanted was a puppy. They always looked so cute with the big floppy ears and wet nose. I begged my parents for one every Christmas and birthday, but I didn't get one until I was eighteen and out on my own. I searched every shelter for the perfect dog, one that was in there the longest so I could show it love one last time. Every animal deserved love.

And I finally found the perfect dog, a twelve-year-old Golden Retriever named Sterling. He was smart and still wanted to run around the yard and chase a tennis ball like a puppy. It surprised me how much energy he had since the shelter told me he had severe arthritis and cataracts. But whenever I looked into his eyes, they looked pure chocolatey brown and full of love.

About a month after I adopted Sterling, things began to get weird. I noticed Sterling would hover over me in bed in the morning. At first, I thought it was because he was hungry and asking for food, but he wouldn't touch it until later in the day. He would follow me into the bathroom and watch me, no matter what I was doing. I know, that sounds like typical dog behavior but when Sterling watches me, it's like I'm undressing for a pervy old man licking his chops. It just felt too human.

Sterling stopped acting like a dog and started acting human. It was slow at first, barely noticeable, but it was happening, and it freaked me out more as the days passed. I started locking Sterling in the kitchen pantry, but he would run into the door until the wood cracked. I was afraid he would hit it until his skull cracked open, so I stopped after two days. Then I tried putting him outside while I showered. Worked if I turned up my music so loud, I couldn't hear his howls and wails that made the neighbors hate me. So, Sterling stayed inside and watched me like a hawk.

One morning, while drying off and getting ready for work, Sterling let out an ear-splitting screech. I only knew it was him because there was no other way such an ungodly noise could come from an empty house. I knotted the towel around my bare waist, slipped a tank top over my head and raced for the source of the noise. As I got closer, Sterling's wail got louder. His jaws were split wide open and his paws were scrabbling against the tile, like when he used to run in his sleep, except his front paws were digging at his throat and muzzle. I stared in shock as thin lines of red broke out across his skin and screamed when a human hand punched its way through his doggy throat.

I fell back into the pantry and watched as the hand turned into a bloody arm, attached to a bare shoulder. Sterling's belly split open like a stitched wound breaking open, steaming intestines splashing onto my freshly cleaned kitchen floor. Feet poked out in the wreckage and as more of a human form emerged, Sterling practically melted into fleshy goop. What was left of my formerly sweet senior dog was no longer recognizable as a dog. At least the screaming stopped.

A naked young man, maybe thirty, emerged from Sterling's remains dripping with the stringy mess of my dog. I gaped at him and then looked back to where Sterling had been, unable to believe I just watched a human man come out of a dog. The man looked around my kitchen, stealing a towel from the oven and grabbing my butcher cleaver from its rack. He inspected the blade before advancing on me, a happy glint in his eye. I tripped backing up and fell onto my butt, the towel coming undone, but I was more concerned about not dying.

The man dropped onto me, his knees hitting my ribs and his hand encircling my thin wrists. I cried out, begging for him to stop that he could leave, and I wouldn't say anything. I wouldn't tell anyone, please let me go. But he gave me a cold, lethal smile and brought the cleaver down on my throat.

It didn't go all the way through, and the pain burned like a hot ember pressed against me. I sobbed without noise and wordlessly pleaded with him to stop, he had to stop. He brought the blade down again and it all went black.

But I got to see Sterling again.