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I’d sent Dave back to his house in case the dog found her way home. That’s what I was hoping for, anyway. I didn’t know much about the intelligence of different dog breeds, but I thought spaniels might be smart ones. And there were always stories about how dogs found their way home.
I turned onto the next street, and a prickle went down my spine. I stopped, nearly slipping on the sidewalk. Someone was watching me. Again. I could feel it, a gaze burning into my back. I looked around and snowflakes caught on my lashes. I blinked them away, my vision blurring for a few seconds. When it cleared, I saw a few people on the other side of the street, a few ahead of me, and some behind. Not crowded at all, but not too sparse either.
I didn’t see anyone paying any extra attention to me, or any attention, actually. It must’ve just been one of those weird things. Like a chill when it wasn’t cold or the sense of another presence when alone.
I turned back around and resumed walking, calling for Suzie. I passed a couple of elderly women who smiled at me, and I smiled back. They probably thought I was looking for my own dog, but the only dog I’d ever had died years ago. He’d been one of those big mutts that looked scary but was really a big softie. My parents had gotten him before I was born, and he’d been my protector from moment one.
He died when I was ten, and I sometimes wondered if things would’ve gone differently that day if he’d still been around. Would he have been able to stop my dad from attacking my mom? Or if he would’ve been with me, my mom might have still died, but Petey might’ve been able to stop my dad before he hurt me, before he killed the others.
It wasn’t the first time I’d thought of that. Nearly a decade was a long time to come up with plenty of ‘what-if’ scenarios. What if we’d gotten another dog? What if Petey had still been alive? What if I’d spent the night at a friend’s house? What if Mom and I had left Dad when he started acting weird? What if Dad hadn’t gone to work that day? What if he’d followed all the safety precautions he was supposed to?
I’d quickly learned that it was easy to get buried in those ‘what-if’s, buried so deep that I lost sight of what I did have. Anton had helped me through it the first time, and I’d dealt with it myself after he died. The desire to head down that path was still there, and sometimes it was hard to stop myself, but today, I was able to move past it because I had something more important to focus on.
Namely, a cocker spaniel named Suzie.
I’d gone another three blocks when my phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was Dave.
“Hello?”
“She came home!” In the background, I could hear a dog barking, and I smiled. “I was walking around my yard, calling for her and telling her that I wasn’t going to be mad if she just came home. Then there she was, running toward me. Thank you so much for helping me!”
“I’m glad to hear she’s home,” I said, genuinely happy and relieved for them both, “but I didn’t really do anything.”
“Yes, you did,” he insisted. “I wouldn’t have gone home if you hadn’t taken my case, and she would’ve come back and seen I wasn’t there. She would’ve run away again.”
I wasn’t sure that’s how things would’ve gone, but if he wanted to thank me, that was fine. I’d only been out here a couple hours, so I wouldn’t even bother sending him a bill. I was sure he was the sort of guy who’d talk about what’d happened, and good press was worth a few hours of cold.
“I’m glad she’s home,” I repeated. “Go take care of her and have a nice rest of your day.”
He said goodbye, and I put my phone back in my pocket. Good. I was done. I could head back to my car and go home. I had some leftovers and a nice warm couch calling my name.
I started to turn when it happened again. The feel of someone watching me.
And then pain, sharp and explosive across the back of my skull. Pain in my knees as I dropped to the ground.
Then…nothing.
