Beast in the Park

I don’t live far from my work, within walking distance, but I drive to work. Not because I don’t care about the environment, I do. There’s a park between my work and apartment, I don’t go there anymore, I don’t go out at night anymore. Something happened to me there, I still have nightmares about it.

I was walking home after work, through the park as I usually did, the way I took a thousand times before. It was winter so it was already night. As I walked something felt wrong, like someone was watching me. I looked around but didn’t see anything, I still walked faster though. I herd something in the bushes, so I started walking even faster almost running. I could hear him keeping up with me, so I ran.

One of the things I hate about slasher films is how many of the women in the films trip and are then killed. Well, I tripped. As I started to pick myself up I saw something come out of the bushes. It had a snout like a dog, its eyes were large, and bulged out like the eyes of a tinny dog but much larger, its ears looked like human ears but poked out, its fur was in patches, its front limbs where larger than its back limbs, like a cartoon bulldog, and its skin was black.

It charged before I could get up but it stopped just outside the light. I had fallen just below a light and fortunately for me it didn’t seem to like the light. It ran around the illuminated aria, never coming too far into it. I was petrified, watching as it ran around me. After what felt like forever it lost interest and went away. I stood under the light for almost an hour until I gathered the courage to continue home.

That was the last time I went to that park, to any park.