The Dog? That Got Away
Pairing: Martin Blackwood/Reader
Genre: Suspense
wc: 503
Summary: Your dog starts to act... odd
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4
The day started like any other you woke up, drank your coffee, brushed your teeth and then you and Toby were off for the day.
Typically, you just walked along the streets and stopped at your favorite bakery and then came back, but on that day your dog seemed... odd.
Usually, he's really calm on the leash only occasionally pausing to sniff things or mark something. But now he's pulling and barking at random people, you've apologized to more people today than in your whole life.
You decide to cut the trip short, after he lunges at a very friendly looking old man, deciding that it's not worth risking other people's and your dog's safety being outside anymore. You get home and he seems scared and cagey, snaping at you every time you try and pet him. You decide it's best if he sleeps in his crate for the night.
He never acts like this.
You spend the rest of the day on the couch googling what could be wrong with your dog and going down a rabbit hole, only making yourself feel worse.
"why is my dog acting weird"
"why is my dog suddenly reactive"
Followed by results ranging from "allergies" to "neurological conditions"
Let's just say you were scared of what was happening with Toby. You knew he was old to say the least, but you weren't really ready to say goodbye to your best friend of 10 years.
However, after hours of spiraling and looking at the worst-case scenarios, you heard something from the darkness of the kitchen.
A low whine and a few cracks... like a person cracking their knuckles but... sharper...
The whine was unlike anything you had ever heard before and the cracks sounded.... painful
You were... stunned. Obviously, you weren't the only one to hear it as Toby starts to growl and bark from his crate. Maybe because you don't want to be alone or maybe you think that Toby will scare off the big bad in the dark either way you decide to let him out of his crate.
Toby takes the opportunity to dart off into the kitchen, after what you assume made the noise.
You are left sitting on the couch.
Alone.
And in silence.
In one side of your brain, you think "Any second now, Toby is gonna come trotting back out with the largest rat I've ever seen."
You start to feel like a little kid again, afraid of all of the shadows on the wall and any creaks in your floorboards.
Barely breathing hoping that, if anything is out there in the darkness it can't hear the racing of your heart.
...
...
You sit there for what feels like forever, until you can't stand the silence anymore
"toby?.."
"sweetheart?"
A growl comes from the kitchen; a noise you hadn't heard Toby make in the 10 years you had raised him until today. When you see your dog, he's backing out of the kitchen snarling at the, hopefully, empty room.
What the hell just happened.