Feral Heart

To set the scene, at the time my mum and her partner lived in two separate council houses in the same estate, and as the eldest child it was usually my job to relay messages, take things back and forth, etc. On one night, everyone in our family had decided to sleep in one of the houses, but there wasn’t enough room for me to stay so I had to go to my own bed in the other house. As I was going over to the other house I felt a strange sensation of dread, as if if I turned around I would see something. which was unusual as I did this trip all the time, so I ended up jogging the short distance in fear. Once I got to the other house I bent down to untie my shoelaces, and that’s when I felt and heard a dog panting down my neck. My first instinct was that it was our dog Ben, but when I looked up, Ben was at the end of the hall growling at me. When I turned around to see what was behind me there was nothing there.

The second time I saw the dog, I was alone in the same house. I was drawing in the kitchen late at night with a single light on, and I had gotten to the point where time seemed to melt away as I drew. Then I remember hearing a weird, echoing sound, and the figure of a dog hover across he kitchen. It’s body wasn’t making any movements as if it were walking, it just floated. Once my brain registered what I had seen I pegged it to the other house.

The last experience I had was not with the dog and not in the house. Me, my sister, and our neighbour, had planned to go for a walk up a hill opposite where we lived. This wasn’t odd as we practically went for walks everyday, and where we were going that day was a landmark we affectionately called ”The Horseshoe” for its shape. But when we gathered together that day, we all inexplicably felt on edge, and none of us new why. As we made our way up the hill this feeling of unease kept growing, and the wind, that would have been perfectly ordinary any other day, felt menacing. As we got close to The Horseshoe we started to feel a sense of panic. As we rounded the corner to it we all, at the very same time without looking at each other or following each other’s lead, instantly turned around and bolted back down the hill. None of us new why except that we all felt a sudden surge of fear. As I glanced behind me when we ran I saw a vaguely human looking dark shape dart across the fed toward us, but when I glanced again it was gone. Later my friend would tell me she saw the exact same thing. When we went back up the hill the next day everything was fine and we had a great time, we never experienced anything like we had that day ever again and it continued to be our regular hang out.