Writings from the car trip

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The next morning he woke after a bad nights sleep. He’d had disturbing dreams that he couldn’t quite remember, except for the fact that they centered around the dogs. Thus he wasn’t sure if he’d just dreamed the encounter last night, or if it had actually happened. He took a few minutes that morning to search the area where he had seen them, but there weren’t any paw prints or marks on the fence or anything to suggest that they had actually been there. Then again, they had been ghost dogs.

He headed into work slightly less disquieted, but alert to anything out of the ordinary. There wasn’t anything strange on the drive in or in the yard surrounding the house, so he more or less relaxed. Most of the work he had to do was inside, which was a comfort. But when they broke for lunch he caught sight of the dog he’d seen the first day waiting under a nearby tree. Although not the same tree.

“Hey, [coworker], you see the dog over there?” The tree was far enough away that it wasn’t an odd question. Well, not -that- odd anyways. He pointed in the general direction of the dog.

“Nah, it’s just a log.” His coworker seemed unalarmed at either the question or the implication that Jon had seen a dog that apparently wasn’t there.

Jon looked over again, and there was indeed a log behind the dog, and that just freaked him out a bit. Because they might be ghost dogs, but they were ghost dogs that only he could see and that was a little creepier.

“Ah, okay, thought I saw something for a minute there. Hey, pass the mustard.” And they went back to normal lunchtime conversation. Sullivan provided lunch for the workers, but it was just basic sandwich stuffs. Everyone chipped in and brought various condiments and extras to make the sandwiches more palatable to their individual tastes. Like the guy who loaded everything with sweet peppers.

Jon steadfastly ignore the dog, and it seemed content to let him. He went back inside and finished off the bathroom plumbing (he was learning the basics of plumbing from [coworker], but only simple things. He still wasn’t ready to actually apprentice to anyone, preferring to do a little of everything instead of committing to a specific skill set.)

When he left the house again for the meeting before everyone headed home the dogs was still there. As he was putting things away in the truck and saying goodbye to everyone a second dog showed up. Then a third. When he looked over the last time all four of them were there staring at him with out of shadowy eyes.

Now suitably freaked out he doesn’t head home, but over to his friend Keith’s Dad’s mechanics shop. Mostly because he knows there will be people there and thus he will not be alone (like he would at the house). Also, Keith is there and he needs some backup because this is really creepy.

The dogs watch him pull out of the parking lot and don’t do anything. They just watch him leave from under the tree, intensive gaze, but no indication they are going to chase him.