"My friends play in the graveyard, they tug and pull my hair, I tell them to let me go, but they say they like my hair..."
"They told me that they loved me, they told me that they cared, I woke up in the morning, and I had no hair..."
"I wanted my hair back, but they just wouldn't budge, I figured I should steal it, and I got caught..."
"They told me they would hurt me, they told me they wouldn't spare, they showed me no mercy, but I just didn't care..."
"They did what they claimed, they hurt me bland and plain, I didn't show emotion, because that would make me weak..."
"They killed me and left me, in a river on my own, I cried and cried till' someone......"
"Picked me up and brang me home....."
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]