THE WATCHDOG This is a story that I just kinda made up one day. It definitely has a classic feel to it, though. The Watchdog By: Amanda L. Bray - © 2003 It was very late, nearly ten o'clock, and Hallie Sullivan was just leaving her friend Stacey’s house. Her mother had told her to be home by ten and if she left now she would have just enough time to walk home. Just as she was leaving the house she heard her friend’s mother say, “Hallie, why don't you wait until I get my coat and shoes and I'll drive you home. I hate to think of you walking after dark.” “That’s ok, Mrs. Jameson”, Hallie called back, “It’s not far. I can cut through the wheat fields and get there even faster.” “Alright, Hallie. Just be careful. Call me when you get home.” “Yes, Mrs. Jameson.” Hallie hurriedly said goodbye to Stacey and opened the door to leave, just then an old gravelly voice said in her ear “Look out for the watchdog.” She turned and saw Stacey’s grandfather Morrison standing beside her. “The who?” she asked. “The watchdog.” the old man replied “I heard him tonight. The howls he makes when he’s out a-huntin. Look out for the watchdog!” “Oh pop!” said Mrs. Jameson, coming in from the kitchen, “Let the girl go. No sense in scaring her with another silly story of yours.” “Look out!” he whispered, winking, as he shut the door. That was weird, Hallie thought. Then again, Stacey’s grandfather was kind of strange. He was a genuine Indian and told many strange stories and myths. Hallie’s dad said he was getting Alzheimer’s and he told the stories because they were all he could remember. Hallie herself wasn't so sure. He seemed to still have his wits about him, although he did smell funny, and sometimes did odd things like mixing milk with his orange juice. Eh, Hallie thought, Let’s just get home. She stepped off the porch and walked down the front path. Just then a lonely howl came floating across the field of wheat to her left. “Look out for the watchdog!” She heard the old man’s voice in her head. “He’s just a senile old man.” She said to herself “What does he know?” She stepped into the field and started across. By now, it was very, very late indeed. It was a dark new moon night. The sky was cloudy, hiding all but the brightest of the stars. The unceasing Kansas wind blew through the wheat, sounding like a thousand whispering voices. She could see the lights of her house across the large field and it brought her a bit of comfort. It had been raining earlier in the week, making the way through a bit muddy, but not enough to slow Hallie down-- not much anyway. She walked through the rows of wheat, listening to the mud suck at her shoes- step, lift, step, lift, step, lift. Squoosh. Shluck! Squoosh. Shluck! Squoosh. Shluck! The sound made her giggle. She walked faster. Now the sound went squeesh-shuck-squeesh-shuck-squeesh-shuck! She was enjoying herself quite a bit and started singing “I may never march in the infantry!” Squoosh-shluck! “Ride in the cavalry” Squoosh-shluck! “Shoot the-” Another howl came floating on the wind towards her. The song died on her lips and for a moment she stood perfectly still. The howl came again, low and mournful, like an animal in great pain. Yet a third howl came. This one sounded closer, like the dog was just on the other side of the field. Hallie was beginning to feel more than a little scared now. She was afraid of dogs to begin with, and this one sounded big. She put her head down and began to walk quickly through the field, no longer enjoying the sound of the mud. The field seemed to have grown. No matter how long or fast she walked, she didn't seem to be getting any closer to her house. The clouds were getting thicker and darker and every once in a while a low, threatening peal of thunder would roll across the ground. The wind started to pick up, whistling and moaning through the stalks. It was starting to get cold. Hallie pulled her little pink jacket close and tied its hood under her chin. Lightning suddenly lit up the entire field. Hallie jumped. She hugged herself and walked even faster through the muck. She heard yet another howl. Now it didn't sound hurt or sad. It sounded angry-- and closer. Too close for Hallie’s own comfort. Thunder BOOMED against the sky and Hallie screamed. She was getting very scared now. She hated storms almost as much as she did dogs. Another howl rang through the field, seeming to come from right next to her. The wind picked up. It sounded like angry warning voices. Another howl came, loud, and angry. Hallie heard a steady sucking noise coming from her left. They sounded like footsteps. The wind whistled, “Look out for the watchdog! Look out, Hallie! The watchdog! Look out!” Hallie started to run. The sucking noise was behind her now, chasing her. “Look out! Look out!” the wind said. Now the howls seemed to be coming from everywhere, surrounding the frightened girl. The lightning flashed and the thunder roared and the wind screamed “The watchdog! The watchdog! Look out!”. Suddenly, Hallie’s shoe sank into the mud and she fell to her knees. As she struggled to get up, she heard a low growl from in front of her. She stopped, listening. The growl came again. She peered between the shafts of wheat and saw a pair of large, red, glowing eyes. The eyes growled, deep and menacing. Hallie was so frightened she couldn't move. She couldn't speak. Each breath whistled painfully down her windpipe and her stomach was tied in knots. She heard the wheat rustle. The lightning flashed and in its brief light, she saw what was attached to those eyes. The biggest, blackest dog she had ever seen in her life was walking through the wheat towards her. His fur was long and shaggy, and his teeth were bigger than any teeth had a right to be. Suddenly, the great beast barked loudly and leapt into the air towards her. Hallie screamed and curled herself into a ball. The dog jumped over her and landed on top of something with a muffled thud. Hallie heard a surprised shout and turned to see what had happened. The dog had a tall, muscular man pinned to the ground. Lightning reflected off the large knife he had clutched in his right hand. In the next flash of light, she saw the dog put its teeth around the man’s throat. Then it stopped, looked back at her and growled, its teeth dripping with saliva. Hallie quickly turned back around. By now, she was too shocked to do anything else. The man’s screams were suddenly cut off short. Hallie heard the dog coming up behind her. What’s he doing?! She thought. The dog grabbed the back of her jacket and pulled her to her feet. Then it left for a moment. When it came back, it had her missing tennis shoe in her mouth. He dropped it at her feet and waited while she put it on. “Good dog” she murmured nervously. The dog started walking towards Hallie’s house. Now that it was very close to her, she could see that it was much larger than she thought. Its huge, shaggy head came nearly to her shoulder and his feet were almost bigger than her own. The dog led her all the way home, matching her stride. Once, when she stumbled, the dog stepped under her, catching her fall. She saw a bobbing light ahead and heard her father yelling “Hallie! Hallie! Where are you?” “Daddy!” she cried. She ran toward him and he caught her up in his arms. She was bawling like a baby, but she didn’t care. “Hallie, what happened?” “Oh daddy,” she said in a tear-choked voice, “A man tried to hurt me with a knife, but that dog saved me!” She pointed behind her. “What dog, sweetie?” Hallie turned around. The dog was gone. It had vanished. “I think it’s time we went inside.” her father said. He brought her inside and she told her mother what had happened. Her mom gave her a bath, took her temperature, and tucked her into her bed. Just before, Hallie fell asleep, she heard a mournful howl, very far away, but she was no longer scared. In the morning, she woke up to here her parents talking downstairs. “The police found the body of an escaped mental patient in the eastern part of the field.” her dad said. “He had a knife with him. It must have been the man Hallie saw last night.” “Oh my” said her mother, “Well, we won’t be letting her walk home through the fields anymore. Stacey’s mother called this morning and felt just awful. I took me ten minutes to get her calmed down.” “It was the strangest thing,” her father continued, “The man’s throat had been ripped out. I mean the teeth marks were huge.” “Didn't Hallie say that she saw a dog last night?” her mother asked. “Oh Ellen,” said her father, “That dog would have to have been the size of a Shetland pony to fit into those teeth. It’s just not logical.” Hallie listened and grinned. She knew what had made those prints. She rolled over and went back to sleep. Hallie never walked through the fields at night again. She never forgot the dog and the dog never forgot her. Sometimes, when it was late and she was all alone and scared, a low howl would come in on the wind. The howl of the Watchdog. RED INDIAN BRIDGE AND OTHER TALES Hi, my name is Manda. I have submitted other stories to this sight, the main one being "Vermilion House". I put it under a different name because I didn't want my parents to find it. Anyway, this story actually comes from my sister, Layne. If you've read Vermilion House, you'll remember her as the one who "wouldn't know a "ghost" if it were dancing on the tip of her nose." Well, after my mother found this site and showed everyone (and I mean everyone!) my story, Layne was able to be more comfortable with what was happening in our home and actually decided to start going on some "ghost hunts" with her friends. These are the stories of what happened on those haunts. RED INDIAN BRIDGE Last summer, Layne's friend Matt told her this story: "In the beginning of the eighteenth century, this area was still inhabited by the Kickapoo Indians (really I didn't make that name up). The settlers that were coming to the area were first afraid of the Indians, but after a few years regarded them mostly as a nuisance. Finally, about ten years after officially naming our small town, the town people got tired of the Indians. One night, while the tribe was sleeping, the men of the town burned out the Indian's camp. They killed every Indian they came in contact with, even the babies. They chased the rest into the woods where they were eventually hunted down and "gotten rid of". One lone Indian remained. I'm not sure why he was allowed to live, maybe he had some importance in the tribe or something. He was very old, so maybe they figured he was harmless and would die on his own anyway. The old Indian built a covered bridge over a small creek and made it his home. He survived by trapping small animals and stealing a chicken or a few eggs from a neighboring farm now and then. The farmers didn't seem to really notice the missing poultry or perhaps wrote it off as coyotes or foxes. A few years after the tribe was massacred, an unmarried town girl was found by her mother to be "with child." Her sin being found out, the girl broke down in tears and told her mother that she hadn't done anything wrong, but had actually been raped and was afraid to say anything. When asked who her attacker was the girl pointed her finger toward the woods and cried "That heathen Indian in the woods!" The girl's father went out to the old Indian's bridge and dragged the bewildered man to town. He told the preacher and mayor what had happened and it was decided the Indian was to be hung. The old man wasn't even allowed to defend himself! A group of men took the Indian to his bridge and hung him from the rafters. As further punishment, his body was not buried and instead was left hanging. The birds and coyotes picked at it until there was nothing left but bones. Soon these too fell and were dragged away. There was nothing left of the old man but dust and a frayed bit of rope." Now Red Indian Bridge is said to be haunted by the ghost of the old Indian. After my sister heard this, she immediately decided that they would go out to the bridge. So Layne, Matt, and Layne's friend Olivia piled into Layne's car and took off. It was a very clear night with a full moon, you know one of those perfectly warm delicious summer nights? They drove to the bridge which, as it turned out, wasn't far from the cemetery where our grandfather is buried. They parked at one end of the bridge. By now, Olivia (who is a bit "chicken") had decided she would just wait in the car. After a bit of teasing, Matt and Layne decided to go by themselves. Now this bridge is very old and there is a giant hole in the middle of it for almost the entire length of the bridge. Because of the hole, Layne had to walk on one side of the bridge and Matt on the other. There was a space of about five feet between them. They walked across the bridge and nothing happened. It was just an old beat-up bridge! Layne turned to Matt and said "Hey, I thought this was supposed to be scary!" Matt looked at her and said "Well, we still have to go back across. The scary stuff doesn't happen until then." As, they were walking back across, Layne was just beginning to think that Matt was playing a trick on her when she felt something brush her face. It couldn't have been Matt because he was on the other side of the hole. She passed it off as a bug, but a moment later began to feel like something was behind her. She saw Matt start to walk a little faster and thought maybe he was feeling the same thing. By the time, they had gotten off of the bridge, they were running and Layne was too terrified to look behind her. And for good reason........ When they got to the car, Olivia was huddled in the passenger seat crying and shaking. After they had gotten back on the road and she had calmed down, Layne asked her what had happened. Olivia said," I was watching you guys come back across and I saw something black between you, but the hole is there, so I knew it wasn't a person." She went on to say, that while only Matt and Layne walked out of the bridge, the full moon revealed THREE person-shaped shadows on the road behind them........ THE UNFAITHFUL Another of Layne's ghost hunts involved the story of a man whose girlfriend found out he was cheating on her with her sister. Neither woman had known he was seducing the other. After the man's antics were found out, the two sisters plotted against him. The elder sister planned to meet the man in the barn near the edge of her family's farm. Little did the man know, the younger sister was also there, hiding in a stall. Once inside, the women attacked the man and hung him from the rafters of the barn. They disposed of the body in a nearby creek, but for some reason, left the rope hanging where it was. Layne, Matt, and about four other teens left after telling me this story to go and find the barn where this was supposed to have happened. It was said that the noose was still hanging in the barn. The next morning, I was sitting at my computer, when I heard this cold cold voice that sent shivers up and down my spine. It was coming from the living room. I walked in and saw Layne and our "baby" sister, Elizabeth, sitting on the floor and staring at Layne's Pressman (tape recorder) in shock. I asked what was wrong. Layne said that the night before, they had gone to the barn and she had taken the tape recorder and let it run while they were out there. They had found a rope in the barn, but figured it was just a prank. She returned home disappointed that nothing came of the trip. Then, in the morning, she remembered the Pressman and took it out to listen to it. In the tape, you can hear Layne and her friends talking and joking around, just having a good time. There were only two girls in the group. As the tape plays, you can hear Layne and the other girl talking about a party that happened a couple of weeks before. In the middle of the conversation, there is a slight fluttery staticy noise, but you can still hear the girls, so you know it wasn't them making the noise. When Layne slowed the tape down and turned up the volume, the fluttery "noise" disappeared. Instead a cold feminine whisper came floating out of the tiny speakers " I'm waiting for you..." It said. Contact me here: Manda_B82@yahoo.com Submitted From: Amanda, IL, USA