School by Nathaniel Hardman (top reads .TXT) 📕

“No, it was mostly just sleeping. But it growled at me!” Suzy added hurriedly, feeling defensive. “And Mom and Dad are missing!”

Jeff pursed his lips, glanced at his alarm clock and said, “Weren’t Mom and Dad going to the gym?”

A weight lifted from Suzy. In the safety of Jeff’s room, knowing her parents would soon be home, she began to relax, and her breathing slowed. Then Jeff said, “I want to see it.”

Shrugging off her protests, Jeff slid the dresser back out of the way and opened the door wide enough to stick his head out. “I can’t see anything,” he said. “Are you sure it was dangerous? I mean, just because it’s deformed doesn’t mean it wants to hurt you.”

“It growled at me and showed its teeth! But I guess it could have bit me if it wanted.” Suzy had calmed enough now to concede this. “But what is it doing in our house?! And where’s Dusty?”

“I dunno. Mom and Dad will know what to do. They should be home any minute. But they’ll probably want to get rid of it…”

Suzy’s eyes grew wide, and she grabbed Jeff’s arm. “Jeff! They’re going to walk in the garage door, and it’s going to attack them! It’s sleeping in Dusty’s bed right by the door!” He stared back dumbly. “Call ‘em on your phone! Do you have your phone? Call them!”

Jeff rifled through the pile of papers, books, and laundry on his desk. “Hmmm. It was right here, somewhere.” Under a blanket, he found a small, carved jade bowl, which he paused to examine. “Where did that come from?”

“Jeff!” Suzy barked.

“Right. Sorry.” He dropped the bowl, found the charger plugged in to the wall and followed the cord under his bed to his phone. He called their mom, and they waited. Suzy’s heart fell as they heard the ring from their parents’ room. Jeff tried their dad. No answer.

Jeff poked his head out the door again. “Suzy! I can see it! It’s walking around. That is so WEIRD! Which head gives directions to its body?” After a minute, he added. “It is kind of cool, though, you have to admit.”

Suzy squeezed over her brother and moved her head out just far enough to see. She shivered at the sight of the dog, its two heads down, sniffing its way around the floor.

The longer she looked, the less it looked like a dog. There was something to its movements, the way it bent its legs as it walked, the way the tail whipped back and forth, that seemed reptilian. It found Dusty’s food dish and tipped it over with a paw.

Suddenly the dog’s ears shot up, and it snapped to attention. Faintly, Suzy made out the quiet rumble of the garage door opening.

FIVE

Jeremiah was already through the door before he registered the frantic shouting of his kids, and by then, he had seen the dog himself and frozen.

Lori bumped into him from behind and offered a polite, “Excuse me.”

“Honey,” Jeremiah said, careful but urgent, “Back slowly out the door. Don’t make any sudden moves.”

“Oh no,” she said from behind him. “Is it a cockroach?”

He chuckled, but there was a note of panic in it. “Uh, no. Worse.”

As he spoke, he was edging backward, because the dog was slowly advancing, its teeth bared, a rumble coming from deep in its throats. “Kids!” he yelled. He could see them crouching at the top of the stairs, peering down at him, “Are you okay?” They nodded.

“Lock yourselves in Jeff’s room. Do you have your phones? We’ll call you in a sec.” He waited until he saw them go back in the bedroom; then he jumped backward through the open door, yanking it shut as the dog lunged.

The door slammed shut, followed by a heavy thud, a furious scraping of claws, and a series of bone-shaking roars.

Reflexively, Jeremiah reached for the deadbolt, forgetting he was on the outside and couldn’t lock it. There was another huge thud, and Jeremiah scrambled backward. “Jeez! Do you have your phone? We’ll need to call the police.” He turned to Lori, who was trembling, the blood drained from her face.

“No. I didn’t take my phone to the gym. Did you?”

“Shoot! Jeff and Suzy will have to call.” There was a final roar, a, That’s right! And don’t come back sort of sound, and then the click of the dog’s nails on the tile as it walked away.

Jeff had watched with Suzy through the open door as their dad leapt into the garage; then when the roaring began, they had slammed the door and jumped onto the bed. They were still sitting there when a pebble hit the window.

After a moment’s irrational terror, Jeff jumped up and opened the window. His parents were standing on the lawn below, his mom with another pebble cocked for throwing.

“Jeff, Suzy, do you have your phones? We left ours in our room when we went to the gym.”

“We noticed,” said Suzy, acidly.

Jeff got his phone, and feeling awkward calling 911 himself, tossed it down to his mom, who caught it one-handed. As she dialed, Jeff had a thought.

“Hey, wait! If you call the police, they’re just going to take him away.”

His parents both looked up at him, waiting.

“But if you DON’T call, maybe we can keep him!”

“Oh son,” his dad said, while his mom shook her head, hit “send”, and held the phone up to her ear.

Behind him, Suzy said, “You’ve got to be kidding. Did you HEAR it just now? Roaring? Like a lion?”

“Yeah, okay,” Jeff conceded. “That was freaky. I mean, if it HAD been a lion, that would have been scary, but coming from a two-headed dog, it was even scarier. You know? Like, if there were a lion in the kitchen, I’d have