- Free Sample
Waiting for her life to begin, while her parents still treated her as if she were a little girl, Kelly became moody as the unbearable waiting for college to begin wore her down. Most of her friends had already left town, and those who remained had jobs now, so they weren’t around.
Once she finished the dishes she went to her room to surf the net, and dream of what may be in her future. What parties she may go to, boys she might meet, and friends she’ll make. The thought thrilled her to the core. Most of all she’s looking forward to having true freedom from her parents.
Her mom suddenly pokes her head in her door, “Hey, Kel, don’t forget the garbage has to be put out tonight.”
Kelly groaned. “What’ll you do when I’m gone? Who’ll put the garbage out then?”
Her mom smiled widely. “Why your father will.”
Kelly laughed softly, and rolled her eyes in an exaggerated way. “OK. I’ll put it out before I go to sleep.”
“Good-night, Kel,” her mom said and left.
Despite her promise, Kelly fell asleep on her bed while reading a book and woke with a start sometime later, around two am.
“Oh crap,” she said as she looked at the time. “The stupid garbage.”
Jumping out of bed, she slipped her flip-flops on and crept out her room so as not to wake her family who were asleep.
*****
Outside, she decides to leave the light off, again so her mom won’t find out she’d forgotten to do it earlier. The soft whirr of the air conditioner can be heard as she grabs the plastic garbage bag from the bin and heads outside. Once outside, a blast of Midwestern humidity hits her and makes her gasp, so she steels herself and heads for the large bin.
Pulling the large bin out the back gate, she places it on the curb so the truck can get easy access to it. Looking along the street, these bins are everywhere. Suddenly, there’s a gust of wind and the lid of her bin flies open and papers and empty cartons fall to the ground and blow up the dark road.
“Oh, fuck,” she muttered as she watched litter fly in the warm breeze.
Looking along the alley, she can see nothing but the outlines of fences, and she runs along the road picking up the papers that had tried to escape her bin. Kelly thought about leaving them, yet knew her mom would see the garbage and be angry with her for it.
So she jogged along the road picking up any paper she found in the dim moonlight, until she reached the street and spotted the last piece of paper against the fence of the local recycling depot. Kelly laughed at the irony, yet she picked it up as the paper may have her parents name on it. Seeing a trash can a hundred feet away, she decides to dump the garbage she picked up there, and not carry it back home.
As she dumped the papers into the bin, a dog suddenly came into view walking along the road toward her. Her stomach tensed at the sight, and as she turned to run back home, the dog snarled at her. His fur is unkempt, and although trying to frighten her, she decided, he isn’t doing a very good job and chuckled. The stray isn’t big, maybe fifty pounds, and looks underfed.
“Good dog,” she said.
Then turned her back to him and headed back along the alley toward home. As she walked up the alley she heard the creaking of a gate and it made her heart leap, then she noticed the mutt is only five feet away, following her. The night is somehow becoming creepy, and the sound of the wind roaring through nearby trees, and the shadows made her feel jittery and she trembled.
Kelly didn’t care about the mutt behind her as much as the noises she was hearing in the alley now. Even in the blackness, she thought she could see a dark figure moving directly in her path. She hears a growl behind her, it’s the damn mutt just a few inches from her feet, she lunged at him, and he ran back a few feet, yet seemed even more agitated than before.
Suddenly, he rushed her, grabbing the corner of her nightie, twisting its head while snarling, the cotton ripped loudly and he pulled a large chunk away in his mouth, throwing his head back and forth as he chewed it.
“Oh, you asshole,” she said, as she looked at her torn nightie and how her pink cotton panties are now exposed.
Deciding it better not to get bitten by a mangy stray, she heads toward home again. Kelly took barely three steps when she noticed the large, dark figure maybe ten feet ahead of her again. She strained her eyes to identify the moving object, however, in the darkness, she can only see the outline of another dog. A huge dog, several of them to be precise.
She feels shaky, hearing her heartbeat race and whoosh in her ears. Kelly tries the nearest gate, but it’s locked, and hearing the large beast snarl at her made images of her getting mauled flash through her mind. The dog is coming at her fast, it looks as taller than her waist, his eyes glowering reddish in the dim moonlight. With her way cut off back to her house, she only had one alternative, so she turned and ran back toward the recycle center.
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