Not-Friend
by Renée Tyler
I was asleep on the couch. Then, my family walked in. I love them so much. I ran to meet them. They held and snuggled me.
After dinner, we all sat down on the couch. They played board games while the littlest played with my tail. The big man took out the trash, and when he came back in, there was another funny-looking man.
He was gray with orange eyes. I didn’t like how he slouched or that his knuckles dragged on the ground. Even though he hunched his shoulders, his head nearly touched the roof. I could see all of his bones. A wave of meanness hit me. I put my tail down. My hackles raised. His head slowly twitched to the side. He looked right at me. He had a big smile that almost touched his ears. He had big, sharp teeth. I whined.
The woman stroked my head.
“What’s wrong,” she asked.
I shook. He crouched. He was across the room. I saw a black flash, and then he was right in front of me! He snarled and snapped his teeth. Drool came out of his mouth. I blinked, and then he was right behind my biggest human again. He dragged a claw across my human’s neck.
I snarled and snapped my jaws. I barked loud and mean.
The biggest human snapped at me to “shuddup.”
I only heard that when I barked at people outside. I quieted down. He laughed. I whined. Why did they think he was their friend?
Not-Friend stayed the night. He loomed over the littlest’s bed while her parents said goodnight. She had the covers pulled up to her chin.
“Mommy,” she whispered, “there’s a monster in my closet. I don’t wanna sleep.”
“There’s no monsters. It’s just your imagination.” Mommy patted the bed, and I jumped up. “Here. Lucky will keep you safe- isn’t that right, boy?”
She scratched my ears, and the littlest laughed when I shook my leg. When Mommy left, I curled up at the littlest’s feet.
Everyone was asleep, but I kept one eye open. Nothing would hurt my littlest.
A big shadow flashed by the door. Then, it grew and stood over me. It finally showed itself.
Not-Friend was back.
I growled really low at him, and he smiled. His long nails grabbed the littlest’s favorite stuffed animal. It was a dog that looked like me. He stabbed it, ripped it open, and then threw it across the room. I flew at him, but I couldn’t bite him. He laughed really deep, and before I could get to her, he yanked my human’s feet. She woke up screaming.
The big humans threw the door open. Mommy ran to my girl and held her. The man picked up the ripped toy, and when my girl started sobbing, Mommy made shushing noises.
“It’s okay, sweetie,” the man gave her the toy, and she said, “See? It’s just a little rip. We’ll get the stuffing and put him all back together, okay? We can even play doctor!”
Sweetie pointed to her ankles, and Mommy looked at them. There were long scratches from her ankles to her feet. “What happened to you?” Then, she looked at me. “Did Lucky do this to you?”
“No! It was the monster!”
Mommy looked at my biggest human. I wasn’t allowed in Sweetie’s room after that. I cried all night outside the door.
The next morning, I trotted with my big humans to the kitchen. They looked really sad. While drinking her black drink, Mommy said something about “putting down.”
They didn’t know Sweetie heard them until they heard her cry, “No! You Can’t! It wasn’t him!”
The biggest human said, “Sometimes, you have to-”
“No, daddy!”
Daddy started over. “Sometimes, dogs get too aggressive and then become dangerous. If he bit you, he’s dangerous.”
Mommy put her head in her hands and cried. Soon Daddy was crying too, and Sweetie put her face on his shoulder. I tried to go to Sweetie to kiss her, but Daddy pushed me away. I whimpered and lay down with my chin on my paws.
“We all love him very much,” Daddy said, and that bit about them loving me made my tail wag. “This is the right thing to do. He’ll go up into the clouds and play with all of the other dogs. There’ll be so many tennis balls, he won’t know what to do with all of them!”
Tennis balls? My tail thumped on the ground, and that made Daddy really cry. He got up and walked over to me. His big hand rubbed my head.
“I love ya, boy. I’ll see ya again, and we’ll hunt together in Heaven.”
They put the leash on me. I was going for a walk! But why were they still crying?
I heard a low laugh behind me and whipped around. Not-Friend was standing there waving goodbye, and that’s when I knew I was going to die. I pulled hard against the leash. It bit into my neck. My feet slipped on the floor, so I sank to my rump.
“Don’t make this harder, Lucky,” Mommy begged.
Then, Mommy’s favorite music box crashed into the wall. We all stopped in our tracks. They weren’t looking just yet, but it lay on the ground in pieces. Not-Friend held a handful of knives which he threw all at once. They stuck into the wall right next to us. Daddy dropped the leash and ran with me to Sweetie. He surrounded her with his body. I snarled and barked as meanly as I could. I was looking right at Not-Friend and pointed just like I did pheasant hunting with Daddy. This time, Mommy and Daddy listened and stared right at him.
“What the hell,” Daddy shouted. He looked at me. “Where is it, Lucky?”
My point stiffened. Their eyes squinted. They didn’t react as Not-Friend reached for their heads.
He was right there! Why couldn’t they see him!
Renée Tyler is an artist and writer living in Texas. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in English with a focus on Medieval literature. When she's not writing and creating art, she spends time with her husband and dog or is playing video games. You can follow her on Instagram @renee_draws_for_takis. Her Twitter handle is @artist_deranged, and you can go to her website https://www.reneetylercreations.com/.