Calling Out

"I’ll be right back—you two sit here and behave while I take Dempsey out to go potty," Mommy says. Meg and I are watching Frozen again. I love Frozen. I snuggle closer to Meg, and she pushes me away. I snuggle back, though. I don’t like when Mommy goes outside after dark.

Dempsey is barking like crazy at something outside, but then the front door opens, and I can hear Mommy coming back in. She must be mad at Dempsey; she’s stomping around up there.

"What was Dempsey barking at?" Meg yells upstairs. Mommy must not hear, though. She doesn’t answer, and Meg goes upstairs to ask her. I just keep watching Frozen, though. I love Frozen.

I watch almost the whole movie before I notice Mommy and Meg still haven’t come back downstairs. Even Dempsey hasn’t come down. I turn off the TV. “Mommy?” It’s so quiet up there.

Maybe they’re all trying to scare me….I get up to creep upstairs, and that’s when I notice it’s not all quiet. I can hear something slurping and chewing up there, louder than Dempsey when he’s eating, even. And something smells bad—like when the trash truck goes by.

Something that looks like Meg’s nightgown is on the floor at the top of the steps. I hear a nasty, ripping sound, like Dempsey pulling at a rawhide bone, but louder. And wetter, somehow. “Dempsey?” I call, softly.

Now it’s all quiet again. I feel creepy, like somebody’s listening, but doesn’t want me to know. I wish I hadn’t called anybody’s name.

Because now I’m scared something might answer.

—credit to Still_A_Firefly (DarkTales @ reddit)