Something In The Dark

It was a strange night in the house. Everybody had gone to bed. Mom, dad, her little sister Kaitlyn. It was only Anna who was awake. She couldn't fall asleep. She'd been staring at the little star shaped lamp on her dresser for what felt like hours. There wasn't a sound in the house. She could almost hear the tap dripping every now and again downstairs in the kitchen. She heard the wind in the trees outside, but tried to shut it out, because it made her scared. She wished they still had their big old dog, so she could cuddle up with him. She finally started to get restless and walked downstairs to have something to drink. She opened the fridge and stared at the contents for a while. She finally decided on having juice and poured herself a glass. Just as she slammed closed the fridge door she thought she heard a sound coming from the living room. She shook her head and convinced herself she was just being paranoid. She finished the juice and after putting her glass in the sink she was sure she'd heard a growl coming from the living room. She carefully took a step towards the opening in the wall between the kitchen and the living room. Should she wake her parents up? The little table next to the arm chair was pushed by something. Her heart was in her throat. She was numbed with fear. What was this? It couldn't be a racoon, could it? Or maybe a rat? But they'd never had rats. She made an attempt to call on her parents but her throat was suddenly dry and she was frozen. She heard little taps on the floor coming towards her. Whatever creature it was it was smaller than her. Maybe she could outrun it or fight it off if it attacked her. Her hands started shaking as the taps came closer and closer to the couch she was standing behind. Her heart couldn't beat much faster when the creature stopped just around the corner of the couch, exactly out of her sight. It sniffed a few times. She couldn't move. She prepared to fight off whatever had broken into their home and clenched her fists. The creature took two more steps and revealed itself.

"A PUPPYYYYYY!" Anna screamed and fell to her knees in front of the fluffiest, cutest little puppy she had ever seen. She heard the footsteps of her parents on the staircase. The puppy ran to Anna, happy to see company. It jumped into her arms and she picked it up just as her parents entered the living room. She heard her sister's slow sleepy steps on the stairs. "Oh, honey. You weren't supposed to see him until the morning." her mother said to her and then turned to her father: "I told you we should have asked your dad to watch him!" "Well, you know he's not comfortable with animals." her father argued. "I don't care if I saw him early, I love him." Anna said and snuggled her nose against the puppy's nose. Her sister had finally made her way to the living room and her sleepy eyes sprang right open at the sight of the puppy and she rushed to her sister's side and made a high pitched squeeky noise that meant she found the puppy adorable to say the least. "Is he ours?" Kaitlyn asked and scratched the puppy behind his ears. "No, he's the neighbor's." their dad said. Their mother nodged their dad: "Stop it, William. Yes, girls. He's ours. We were gonna reveal him tomorrow morning at breakfast, because tomorrow is the anniversary of..." "Max dying." Kaitlyn finished her mother's sentence. "Yeah, that. We thought we were ready for a new dog." "Oh, I've been ready for ever and ever and ever." Kaitlyn said. "What should we name him?" Anna asked and let Kaitlyn hold the puppy. "Let's sleep on it." their father said. "In your bed?" Kaitlyn asked and turned the puppy towards her dad to manipulate him with cuteness. "Yes... okay, in our bed then. But the puppy stays down he-..." their dad said but the girls were already flying up the stairs to their parents' bedroom with their little puppy in their arms.