Danielle N. Calhoun

NIGHT STALKER
(A Temporary Title)

Part 1

He was whistling a tune, happy go lucky feelings coursed through his veins.

He had never met anyone more beautiful in all his life.

Their date was a simple one, a candle light dinner, some wine, and at the bottom of her wine glass, the ring he had saved up for the last two years to give her.

She cried as she said yes, and everyone in the entire restaurant smiled and clapped.

Afterwards, they strolled through the park together, hand in hand, smiling, and giddy from the entire experience.

Once he got her home, she kissed him good night, and walked into the house, saying good night, as she closed the door. She pushed the curtain aside as he walked away, smiling, humming a tune.

Her mother was still awake, but she was not angry, she was anxious to find out how the date went. When she saw the ring, they hugged, and through tears, she said “Your Father would be proud!”

As the young man walked home alone in the park, he saw a shadow close behind him. Not knowing if it was a night stroller, or an animal, such as a cat or a raccoon, he cautiously walked a little faster.

The shadow followed him.

As he sped up, his heart racing, he sprinted across the grass as a dog, with fangs showing, snarled, and growled, ready to attack him.

He fell down, hard against the grass, and as he tried to get up, the animal hovered over him, sinister, haunting eyes, staring at his own.

He screamed, a sound so blood curdling, it woke up some people in an apartment complex a couple of blocks away.

She ran to the park, after hearing of the incident on the news, and screamed as she identified the body. She begged them to let her go with him, sobbing and shaking so hard; they had to sedate her to calm her down.

They took the body to the morgue, and took her back to her mother’s house, where she was waiting. She had never seen her daughter so distraught, and could only hold her as she cried herself to sleep.

The morgue doors slammed shut as the examiner started his assessment.

The examiner looked over the body, meticulous in his work, he examined every possible inch he could. There was so much damage to the young man’s upper torso; they had to cover it up before his fiancée even identified him.

He looked over the body again, just to be sure he did not miss anything, and that’s when he saw it.

A fang, stuck in his chest. It was like nothing he had ever seen before, and when he put it under the microscope, he had a colleague examine it with him.

“I have never in my life seen a fang so… “

©Copyright August 29, 2008 by Danielle N. Calhoun

Part 2

She waited an entire week before the results came back.

It was a month now since her fiancé died, and the thought of the possibility of being pregnant, was an excitement to her, because she felt it was God’s way of allowing a part of him to remain with her.

She was indeed pregnant, and even though her fiancé was no longer with her, she felt his presence everywhere. She even went so far as to give her unborn child his name, not even knowing if it was indeed a boy or girl.

The coroner’s report told her that his death was caused by a rabid dog. She took this information in, and decided it was better than trying to find out anything else, she did not want the terrible memories to creep back, not while she was pregnant.

She called her mother the night she found out she was pregnant, and her mother told her about the dog outside the house, where she lived until her fiancé died. She asked her what dog, and her mother told her, that ever since she moved, the dog, a rather large Sheppard, would come to the house and sit and stare.

She would not leave the house until the dog was gone, but the same time, every day; there he or she was sitting there, as if waiting for someone.

She asked her mother if she noticed anything unusual about the dog, and other than its size, she really could not give any more information. She told her mother to call animal control, wondering if maybe this was the same dog that attacked and killed her fiancé.

Animal control came, and every time they tried to find the dog, it was nowhere to be found. After a third try, they did finally catch what they believed to be the dog, but it turned out it was too small, and malnourished. Nothing like the dog her mother saw.

The dog they caught was later given to a married couple who saw it advertised in the paper. They wanted a pet for their son, and although the puppy was sickly, it took to the new couple very nicely.

After she finally convinced herself to move back home with her mother, she never saw the dog her mother described, but found a few clues here and there, around the house and in the yard as to the possibility of its existence.

She was sitting at her mother’s in-ground pond, when the water trickled and she saw what she thought was a shadow, but when she turned, it was gone.

She walked into her mother’s house, took a few pills, and laid down for a rest, and that’s when the nightmares began……

To be continued…

©Copyright September 3, 2008 by Danielle N. Calhoun