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radiantfracture) wrote2022-10-31 08:41 am
radiantfracture) wrote2022-10-31 08:41 am
Entry tags:
Dog in the rain (story)
It is Hallowe'en, best of days, and I am ill, but I want to mark the day somehow, so here is a morning-scrawled story of unease.
CW: light gore?
Just before 6 a.m., in the dark of the morning, the air shimmered with rain. I set out for work determined to walk it, the whole way, to be glad of the movement, to feel the air fresh instead of damp and dispiriting. My broad umbrella cut off the world at eyebrow height. Beyond it, the forms of things looked uncertain, distorted by vintage static, shredding the view into vertical lines. My eyes stung with tiny cold collisions.
A dogwalker came towards me on my right, pulling his unwilling animal on a black leash. No greeting, no nod, though we passed almost shoulder to shoulder, close enough that the rain between us stirred and I heard the swoosh of his jacket. Man and dog were almost in monochrome, charcoal or deep blue anorak glimmering with rain and shadowy little dog, just an impression of mottled dark and light fur. Smell of animal. Needs a bath, I think I thought.
I heard a small sound at my heel, not even a yip, a squeak, so high and odd that I turned to glance after, thinking I had somehow stepped on the dog's paw.
There was no dog, just the dark wet leash dragging like a loose shoelace. My eye followed its line and saw the flash of his heels. He was barefoot on the pitted concrete, steps splashing through the sidewalk square like a giant crushing a drowned landscape.
Each thought of the next few seconds was perfectly clear.
My eye tracked up and noted his coat was shredded up the back. Stretches of skin gleamed rain-slick underneath. His trousers, too, shredded almost to the knee. The backs of his shins glittering with droplets caught in the thick gleaming hairs.
My gaze danced over his form. Somehow he still presented the gestalt of a dark figure dog-walking, but any point where my gaze lit was torn, ruined, exposed. Rents in his flesh down to the glowing bone. Broad shoulder tattered by the marks of terrible teeth.
His lank hair cast over his face, a naked man, horribly torn, treading along the sidewalk, arms still clenched to his sides. Heavy-footed, huge splashing steps, almost leaping on mangled legs, broad bloody feet landing hard in the silver water.
In the chill currents of air, hoarse whispering rose from no location. I glanced quickly around. Arc of dark branches, scruff of ivy and untrimmed blackberry vines, wheeled grey garbage can, back end of blue car, empty street.
It was no illusion, no, there was nothing, no man there, gone.
Flash and crackle of a cab going by at the end of the road. Dark leash scribbled on the sidewalk like a snake. No blood pinking the pooled rain. No man.
I stood still, eyes flickering between the leash and the absence of man in the air. He had not run. He was nowhere. I stepped towards the leash to touch the last remaining solid thing.
What stopped me? Something wrong in the shapes along the way.
I blinked. Bulk of shadow like an occlusion, nerve-root's dark place in the eye, persisting. In the tangle of thorns and leaves, a crouched form.
Now I could make out a head, but whose, shrouded in ivy, long face pointed towards the leash like a lure on the walk. That head swinging to look left, up to the main road. No cars now. Then right, towards me. Teared with rain and ravening, bloody shining eyes.
Of course I ran. Behind me, wild barking.
When I got to work late, in a cab, my co-workers said: what happened to you? Laughing at the sodden clothes, scuffed shoes, dirt spattered up my pant legs.
Dog scared me on the path I said, and they laughed, and I laughed, cold in the belly.
{rf}
CW: light gore?
Just before 6 a.m., in the dark of the morning, the air shimmered with rain. I set out for work determined to walk it, the whole way, to be glad of the movement, to feel the air fresh instead of damp and dispiriting. My broad umbrella cut off the world at eyebrow height. Beyond it, the forms of things looked uncertain, distorted by vintage static, shredding the view into vertical lines. My eyes stung with tiny cold collisions.
A dogwalker came towards me on my right, pulling his unwilling animal on a black leash. No greeting, no nod, though we passed almost shoulder to shoulder, close enough that the rain between us stirred and I heard the swoosh of his jacket. Man and dog were almost in monochrome, charcoal or deep blue anorak glimmering with rain and shadowy little dog, just an impression of mottled dark and light fur. Smell of animal. Needs a bath, I think I thought.
I heard a small sound at my heel, not even a yip, a squeak, so high and odd that I turned to glance after, thinking I had somehow stepped on the dog's paw.
There was no dog, just the dark wet leash dragging like a loose shoelace. My eye followed its line and saw the flash of his heels. He was barefoot on the pitted concrete, steps splashing through the sidewalk square like a giant crushing a drowned landscape.
Each thought of the next few seconds was perfectly clear.
My eye tracked up and noted his coat was shredded up the back. Stretches of skin gleamed rain-slick underneath. His trousers, too, shredded almost to the knee. The backs of his shins glittering with droplets caught in the thick gleaming hairs.
My gaze danced over his form. Somehow he still presented the gestalt of a dark figure dog-walking, but any point where my gaze lit was torn, ruined, exposed. Rents in his flesh down to the glowing bone. Broad shoulder tattered by the marks of terrible teeth.
His lank hair cast over his face, a naked man, horribly torn, treading along the sidewalk, arms still clenched to his sides. Heavy-footed, huge splashing steps, almost leaping on mangled legs, broad bloody feet landing hard in the silver water.
In the chill currents of air, hoarse whispering rose from no location. I glanced quickly around. Arc of dark branches, scruff of ivy and untrimmed blackberry vines, wheeled grey garbage can, back end of blue car, empty street.
It was no illusion, no, there was nothing, no man there, gone.
Flash and crackle of a cab going by at the end of the road. Dark leash scribbled on the sidewalk like a snake. No blood pinking the pooled rain. No man.
I stood still, eyes flickering between the leash and the absence of man in the air. He had not run. He was nowhere. I stepped towards the leash to touch the last remaining solid thing.
What stopped me? Something wrong in the shapes along the way.
I blinked. Bulk of shadow like an occlusion, nerve-root's dark place in the eye, persisting. In the tangle of thorns and leaves, a crouched form.
Now I could make out a head, but whose, shrouded in ivy, long face pointed towards the leash like a lure on the walk. That head swinging to look left, up to the main road. No cars now. Then right, towards me. Teared with rain and ravening, bloody shining eyes.
Of course I ran. Behind me, wild barking.
When I got to work late, in a cab, my co-workers said: what happened to you? Laughing at the sodden clothes, scuffed shoes, dirt spattered up my pant legs.
Dog scared me on the path I said, and they laughed, and I laughed, cold in the belly.
{rf}