It was 11am when Lucy woke up from deep sleep.
She usually didn’t wake up this late, but last night’s incident made her go to bed very late.
Her dog, Cotton, got loose while she was walking him. He was very playful, but something was not right with that little dog last night.
Cotton was not happy. He got loose from his leash and ran away. He never ran too far, always looking back at Lucy as if he wanted her to follow him.
He took Lucy on a wild goose chase around the neighbourhood.
Finally, after over three hours, Lucy managed to catch her one and only companion.
She was happy and upon reaching home from her forced exercise, Lucy went straight to bed without even showering.
Now, realising it was so late in the day, she rushed to the shower as she had a meeting.
While in the shower, Lucy heard people calling her name at the front gate. They sounded angry.
She quickly finished and changed into her clothes to see who was calling her.
Lucy’s noisy guests turned out to be police officers. They told her the neighbours had complained about noises in her house between 7.50pm and 10.45pm.
“But that was the time I was out with Cotton,” Lucy thought.
Before she could explain, an officer said: “According to your neighbours, they heard you screaming for help.”
“We came last night but didn’t see or hear anything,” the policeman added.
Lucy was stunned. The hair behind her neck stood up as a sudden chill went through her body.
She had lived in the house all her life and when her mother passed away three years ago, she had been living there without any drama. Cotton was her only companion.
The police officers asked for Lucy’s permission to inspect her house. They then stumbled upon a box that had been torn up, as if it had been ravaged by a dog.
As the police officers examined the box, they found a strange-looking vase with a black substance oozing out.
Lucy told the police officers that the box was wrongly delivered to her house.
Upon further inspection, the police officers found peculiar inscriptions on the vase.
No one could make any sense of the inscriptions, but they looked ancient. While this was going on, Lucy wondered where Cotton was as he was usually by her side.
She called out his name but no familiar bark could be heard. Lucy walked to the back of the house to check Cotton’s regular spot.
Cotton always hung out at the back of the house as he could look into Lucy’s room window.
Upon reaching the back, she saw Cotton curled up right under the window. She called out but there was no response.
She walked towards Cotton and found him lifeless. It looked like he had been in a fight.
Lucy was devastated. “How could this happen?” she thought to herself.
All of a sudden, the police officers called out to her loudly.
She ran to the front of the house and as she reached them, she noticed the peculiar black substance disappearing.
And all of a sudden, Lucy heard a familiar bark.
This is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of Twentytwo13.
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