Dog Day Evening

Story Sent in by Teena:

On a cold winter evening, Joel brought me to a local botanic garden that had holiday lights on display. Dragons and elves and Santa, it was all superb. Afterward we went to a coffee shop and he ordered us a couple of hot chocolates.

We chatted for a while and talked about old friends and growing up and silly little things like that. Then he told me about his friend, Kyle. Kyle, Joel said, was eaten by dogs when they were very young.

Joel said, “Someone in the neighborhood had these dogs and someone let them out one day. They went right to Kyle’s house where they caught him playing outside and they ate him.”

I was horrified. Joel said, “They caught only one of the dogs afterward. The rest of them are still out there, somewhere.” He shuddered.

I said, “They must be dead by now. How many years ago was this?”

“It happened when I was six.” Joel then stood up and ordered himself another hot chocolate. He then sat back down next to me and said, “I’ll need another if I’m going to tell you the full tale.”

He then went on about how he and Kyle were great friends and always slept over at each other’s houses and played video games and always hung out together and so on. He then said, “And I feel really guilty because I’m the one who let the dogs loose. I was just playing around but I had no idea that they’d kill him. I’m carrying that with me for the rest of my life.”

He cried a little bit and I didn’t know what to think. I asked him, “Did you get in any kind of trouble?”

Joel said, “You can’t prosecute a six-year-old. His parents tried to sue my parents but a judge threw it out.”

I felt pretty ill at that point. I wasn’t sure if Joel was being honest or not. If he was, I was out on a date with a killer. If he had made the whole thing up, it was in very poor taste.

After a little bit he said, “Come with me. There’s something I want to show you.”

We walked for a little bit down some suburban streets and he stopped at a fenced-in, three-story house. He turned to me and said, “This is where is happened. Kyle died here. It’s said he died screaming my name.”

“JOEL!”

I nearly jumped out of my skin. A guy, all in black but with bloody-looking bandages, ran out at us from around the side of the house.

I screamed as he ran right at me but I stood my ground and as he reached out to me I whacked him right in the face with my purse.

The guy, whoever he was, stumbled back and yelled on about his face. Joel ran to his accomplice’s side and yelled at me, “What the hell? He was just joking! What’s your problem?”

The guy grunted and groaned and I took that opportunity to walk away. I was shaken up but ultimately proud of myself for standing my ground. I even let myself laugh about it a bit. As for Joel and his weird friend, who might have been Kyle for all I know, I didn’t hear from them again.

*

The next post will be on Tuesday.