I vowed never to go into that forest alone again.

It’s funny how that all worked out. I figure my mother or father or someone (not me of course) left the gate open to the yard. That’s how Kennedy, our German shepherd got loose. So, once again, I find myself running through the streets searching for the world’s most annoying dog. A leash in one hand and a dog biscuit in the other, I wander down Bixby Road listening for the sound of the mutt. My mutt.

No sign of him. Shoot. As far as I know, he isn’t in the streets and he isn’t in Mrs. Reynolds’s azaleas. The dog has good taste in flowers. Or rather, he thinks they taste good. And thus I find myself in front of the abandoned house on the edge of the forest. Why does my luck always seem to run this way? The wind is picking up and I can hear it brush the leaves along the moist dirt a few yards up. The sun is setting and I have to get this dog home before the parents get back and they freak out over something as minute as a missing dog.

Yep. Just another day in the life.

The darkness is closing in around me now that I’m twenty minutes into the forest. I can’t be sure if it’s the increasingly dense foliage or the end of day or the oncoming of night, but I feel the light leaving the world. And the darkness feels heavy. I shake off the feeling and continue on. This canine has to be somewhere.

Stopping to listen, I lean up against a mighty oak and strain to hear the sounds of this place, which will hopefully have some trace of Kennedy’s howl.

There.

I hear a whimper. I run toward the sound, calling out Kennedy’s name (which is Kennedy), and I know I’m getting closer to it. And there he is, sitting in that pointer position he adopts when he finds something interesting. What’s interesting is that rock outcrop just ahead, some small cliff-looking overhang with some cave behind it.

I call to Kennedy, but he doesn’t move a muscle. He is intense. Something is there.

Then I hear it. A growl emanating from within the cave, bouncing off the walls and echoing with tones as dark as the forest around me. Kennedy barks hysterically. And then a glow from within, as two beady yellow eyes slowly begin to ascend from the depths of that cave. Kennedy continues to howl, but I can’t move, can’t even speak.

Like lightning, the creature is on me, its eyes piercing, its teeth stained and dripping with saliva, its claws digging into the mulch of the forest floor. Kennedy is barking like mad, but of course, he doesn’t come to kill this beast and rescue his master. Good dog.

I struggle to push away this beast. But it is no use. He has his jaws around my jugular. I feel the pressure setting in. The last thing my eyes catch is a peculiar sight. Standing not ten feet behind me is a man, watching as this creature sets its teeth into me. I try to call out, but he just stares at my face. His eyes… those eyes chill my body and turn my marrow into ice. All goes black as I feel the life leave my frame.

And that’s how I died.