Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-4849011-20160201003616/@comment-4849011-20160206035603

Okay, here's an alternate version. Much of it is the same, but the differences can see seen. I may or not may change the ending.

Jared saw it happen again. Since it was a nice day, he and George were eating at one of the concrete tables outside the restaurant. They had just finished a bout of joking around and George had taken another bite of his sandwich. Then, as he was chewing, he had started staring at something in the distance. Jared knew what it had to be, but he looked over his shoulder anyway. Sure enough, in the distance was a stray dog sniffing around the trash cans of a nearby store in search of something to eat. For a couple years Jared had noticed that whenever his friend saw a stray dog, a solemn expression came to his face. It wasn’t that he was afraid of dogs. Any time they met someone with a pet dog George would call to it, let it sniff his fingers or legs, and even scratch behind its ears or rub its belly if it would let him. However, with stray dogs it was different. His whole demeanor changed, as though something deeply troubling had come to mind.

Jared had wondered about this many times, and finally his curiosity got the better of him. “Hey, man, what’s up? Every time you see a dog roaming around, you get this look on your face.”

George turned his attention to his friend, then stared down at his meal and began fiddling with the French fries. “What’s it matter?”

“I’m just curious, that’s all. Did something happen?”

George snorted, indicating that Jared had asked a devil of a question. “Yeah, something happened. You’re not gonna believe me, though.”

“Come on, tell me.”

George looked uneasy. “You’re not going to start making fun of me or anything?”

“No. I really want to know.”

George sighed. “Okay. I- This is a true story, okay?”

“Mm-hm.”

“A couple years ago I was up watching a Padres game. You know how the West Coast is a couple hours behind us.”

“Mm-hm.”

“Well, it was about one o’clock when it was over. It was a close one, and you know how hyped I get when games are tight. I was too wired to go to bed right away, so I thought I’d watch a little more TV, pace around, just something to unwind. I came across one of those syndicated game shows. It cut to commercial, so I started pacing around the room. When I got to the door I looked out the front window to see if anything was going on. I could see pretty clearly because the moon was big and bright.”

Jared chuckled. “So you saw something under the full moon, huh?”

George’s expression quickly became angry and hard. His sudden change in demeanor took the smile off Jared’s face. Just as Jared was realizing he should apologize, George exclaimed, “Man, screw you! I start telling you this story because you ask me to – you insist that I go ahead and tell you the story – and you start crackin’ wise! You’re an a-hole!”

“Look, man, I’m sorry, okay? Go on and tell me the rest.”

“Are you going to start again?”

“I’ll try not to. I didn’t mean anything. Go ahead.”

George sighed and gathered himself before continuing. “I looked out and soon I saw a dog start to cross the lawn. It looked like one of those strays that you see in the neighborhood sometimes. It was walking slowly, like it was looking for something, and then suddenly it… it stood up.”

“What, you mean like... like a person?”

“Exactly! It was standing on two legs just like a person. I was staring at it, and I think it must’ve sensed me because it turned and looked right in my direction.” He pointed to his eyes with his fingers. “It had these dead eyes, and I swear it was staring right at me! All I could do was stare back at it. Then it got freaky.”

“Wait, it got freaky?”

“Yeah. It kept staring, and then its face changed. It was like it was… rippling and warping. For a couple seconds it looked… it looked half-human. As if that weren’t enough, it started whimpering. I ain’t gonna lie to you, I was creeped out! I was frozen in place.

“It seemed longer at the time, but was probably just a few seconds. Next thing I knew the whimpering had stopped and the face was back to normal. The dog stood stone still and then turned and started running away. It started off on two legs and soon dropped down on four again. I watched it as far as I could. Last I saw it the dog was still looking like it was trying to find something. I don’t remember walking back to the couch, but I must have ‘cause the next thing I knew I was on the couch trying to absorb what had happened. That was a rough night.

“I called Animal Control the next day. I didn’t tell them the whole story because I figured they’d think I was a crank or something. I just told them I saw a dog acting strangely, with dead eyes and a messed up face, and gave them a basic description. They said they’d check it out. I don’t know if they ever caught it, and what happened to it if they did. I just know that I never saw it again. Sometimes I wonder… what in the world happened. What all that was about.”

Jared watched George to see if he were serious, and when he saw that he was he stared at the remainder of his lunch as he tried to absorb all he’d heard. After a while he looked up. “Well, you said it was late. Maybe you were half asleep when you saw this dog, or maybe you nodded off without knowing and had one of those weird dreams.”

George shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe it’s like that night when I was six and I could swear one of the socks on my bedroom floor was moving. I dunno. It’s just freaky to see something like that and not know what happened. I’ll always wonder what it was that happened.”

Both friends sat there silently as they mused on what had happened- one once again trying to make sense of what he had seen, and the other trying to offer a reassuring response to what he had heard.