Isolated

AuthorHouse

Chapter One

Wednesday, June 12, 2002. It's late at night, and William Tuffet, is sitting in his chair by his fire place, with his authentic bear rug laid out in front of him, when the dogs begin barking. "Knock it off!" He yells, as he lifts his beer towards his mouth. The dogs don't stop though; they see something that seems to have them spooked. "Oh jeez." William says, as he slowly stands up, with a grunt and a groan.

William's an older man of his mid fifty's. He lives by himself in Petersville Alaska, about 10 miles north of Anchorage. He moved to Petersville in the spring of 1997, after a very nasty divorce. He was married to a nurse, who worked at the Hospital in Anchorage, for 12 wonderful years. Until one day he found her and his best friend in bed together. He left her, fought it out with his so called friend, and found himself being blamed for everything. He never did understand how everyone could look at it that he was at fault for everything that went wrong in their marriage, but somehow, that was the way that it worked out. Having lost everything, and not having any family in Alaska to turn to, he used what little money that he had and bought a small place in Petersville. He wanted to be off away from everyone. He really did need the time alone. He liked being away from, what he called, The Rat Race, but a lot of the time he just felt like he unintentionally isolated himself.

"What are you barkin at?" He yells, as he opens up the front door, and flicks on the flashlight in his hand. With the dogs still barking as he walks out, he decides that he had better go and get his shot gun, just in case there's a bear or some wolves out there. Whenever they start barking like this they usually stop as soon as they hear the door open, so something's definitely not right here.

He has 3 dogs, all Huskies. The oldest, Sosha, is staring off to the north of the house, and barking away, with the hair on the back of her neck standing up. The other two, Terrance and Sniffer, are pacing nervously, back and forth in the pen, each looking in the same direction that Sosha's looking. William turns, with the flashlight in his hand, and points it off into the trees on the north side of the house. He scans back and forth through the trees, and sees nothing. He looks back at Sosha and sees that she's still staring off in the same direction, with her hair still standing on end.

William slowly walks towards the trees, with his shot gun and the flashlight up. He nervously scans for anything that might be there, but sees nothing. He listens closely, and hears nothing but the wind and the dogs barking. He slowly walks closer, with his shot gun cocked and ready to fire, and the dogs still barking, he stops. I should maybe get the dogs into the house, he thinks. He slowly walks backwards, not wanting to take his eyes off of the trees, and trips. Right when he hits the ground, he hears movement off in the trees. But when he fell, his flashlight pointed up into the air, so he didn't see what ever it was that moved. He lies there, still as can be, and points the light into the trees again, still nothing. He slowly gets up, not taking his eyes off of the trees, and continues over to the pen.

He, cautiously, opens up the pen gate, expecting the dogs to try and run out, but they don't. "What the heck." He says to himself, as he grabs a hold of Sniffer's collar, and literally has to drag her out of the pen. "Come on girl. Sniffer! Let's go!" He says, as he drags her out. Sniffer whines, and crouches down, with her tail between her legs, as William walks her over to the front door.

"What in the heck has got you dogs so spooked?" He says to himself. "Come on Terrance, let's go." He says, as he grabs a hold of Terrance's collar. Terrance doesn't cower like Sniffer did, and right as William pulls him out of the gate; Terrance pulls loose and takes off into the trees. "Terrance, get back here!" William yells. He doesn't go after Terrance, he walks right over to Sosha, who has stopped barking, but still has her hair still standing on end. "Come on girl." He says, as he grabs a hold of her collar. Sosha doesn't cower either, she looks over at the trees, still with her hair standing up, and walks towards the house, never moving her gaze from the tree line.

Right as he gets Sosha into the house he looks back over into the trees, and yells. "Terrance! Come on boy! Terrance get over here boy!" He lifts up his flashlight and slowly, and cautiously, walks towards the trees, carefully scanning for a glimpse of Terrance, but he doesn't see the dog, at all. He listens real close, and hears the dogs in the house start barking again. He looks back over at the house, and as his heads turned, he hears something running through the woods. "Terrance!" He yells again, and shines the light back and forth, but sees nothing. Wow, this is strange, he thinks. If something had them spooked like that, why would he take off? `Terrance!" He yells again, still with no response. He slowly backs away from the trees, and walks back towards the door.

When he gets to the porch he hears Terrance barking. "Terrance!" He yells again. "Get back over here! Let that critter alone and get back over here!" He yells. But the dog doesn't come, he just keeps on barking. William walks back over towards the trees again. But this time he has his shot gun up, and ready to fire. He scans through the trees with the flashlight again, but doesn't see anything but trees. As he gets right up next to the tree line it becomes obvious to him that Terrance is a good ways out there, and won't be easy to get back. Terrance is quite the good hunter. And ever since he got him, once he got a good scent of something, it was hard to pull him off of it. William remembers the last time that Terrance got on to a bear; he almost got himself killed that time. I sure hope that he didn't get onto another bear, he thinks.

He slowly backs away from the trees again, and as soon as he makes it to the porch, Terrance stops barking, so he stands still and listens. In the back of his mind he can't help but think that he's going to hear the dog yelping, or wining, or even screaming, but he doesn't hear anything. Just then he realizes that the dogs in the house have stopped barking. Right then he notices a very strange feel in the air. Very eerie. For some reason he feels like he's being watched. "Terrance!" He yells again, but just like before, nothing.

He walks up on the porch, and just as he gets to the door, he smells something really bad. It's a musty smell. Like a wet dog, but much stronger. He sniffs around by the door; just to see if the smell is coming from inside, but it's not coming from there. He turns his head and smells it very strong again. It's on the wind, coming from the woods. Ok! What's out there? He turns and points the flashlight back over to the trees again. But still doesn't see anything. He can't get over the feeling of being watched. Something's out there, he thinks to himself.

After scanning through the trees, and seeing nothing, he decides to scan through the tree tops. He shines the light up into the branches, which this time of year still have a lot of leaves, and is startled by a set of glowing eyes. A shock runs through his system, and he freezes. He can feel his heart beating hard in his chest, as the thoughts run through his mind, of what it might be. Right then the eyes blink, and move. They come right out of the tree tops, showing him...