Kyle listened to Angie drift off with a profound sense of contentment. The woman of his dreams was not only giving him another shot; she trusted him enough to fall asleep in his arms. He was almost too overwhelmed to drift off to sleep himself. After a few minutes, though, the day caught up with him and he eventually surrendered to his own exhaustion.<br/><br/>The rest didn’t last long, though. Almost immediately after nodding off Kyle remembered the fire was still burning downstairs and that the dog should go out again. He moaned sleepily as he slowly opened his eyes. Doing his best to not disturb Angie, he slipped his arms out from around her as carefully as he could. When she stirred he whispered, ‘be right back…’ before finally slipping away.<br/><br/>Kyle silently crept across the floor and opened the bedroom door before freezing in his tracks. Although they were alone in the house, he felt the odd yet distinct sensation of being watched. Irrational as it was, nonetheless he felt compelled to go back into the room to put on a pair of pajama bottoms.<br/><br/>Kyle’s bare feet hurried down the stairs to the first floor where he noticed a distinct chill in the house. Did he leave the kitchen door open? Rubbing sleep from his eyes Kyle stepped into the dark kitchen to notice the back door was indeed ajar. He called for Alex a few times but there was no response. Was she outside?<br/><br/>“Crap,” he muttered to himself as he flipped on a light switch and only one, flickering bulb turned on in the room. Was the electrical out again?  He stumbled into the dining room and stubbed his toe on the doorjamb in the dark.<br/><br/>“Damn it!” he shouted at himself as he hopped into the dining room to find it, too, in darkness. The candles were completely burned down and the fire was out. That struck him as odd, too, since he put enough wood in it to last several hours. He reached inside and tried to close the flue, but it wouldn’t budge. A cold air seemed to rush down the chimney, blowing fireplace ash everywhere in the process.<br/><br/>Shivering, Kyle stood up and called for Alex again, still with no response. Now that he knew the fire was contained he realized he needed to locate his dog. It was very unusual for her to not respond to his call, so he found himself becoming more and more concerned. “Alex!” he shouted in the kitchen before stepping outside onto the back porch. “Alex comm’ere girl!” he shouted over and over.<br/><br/>For a long time there was no response, which only added to Kyle’s rapidly increasing level of concern. He was about to go back into the house for his shoes and a flashlight when he heard rustling in the bushes.<br/><br/>“Alex?” he asked again, stepping over to the side of the porch nearest to the shaking bush.  “Are you stuck, girl?” he asked as he reached his hand inside the plant looking for his dog.<br/><br/>Suddenly two eyes shot open from inside the shrub, clearly visible in the iridescent moonlight: two angry, unhuman eyes. Before Kyle could say or do anything his hand was suddenly pulled into the mouth of the hidden yet terrifying creature.<br/><br/>“Noooo!!!” Kyle shouted out loud desperately, waking himself up in the process. He had been asleep the whole time. Alex was there, by the side of the bed, trying to wake him up by licking his hand. Kyle shot up in bed with wild eyes and a forehead covered in cold sweat.<br/><br/>“Jesus Christ!” he said out loud before coming to more to his senses, “I am sorry…” he then stammered to Angie who had to be awake by then. “So -so sorry. I had a nightmare… wow…. I haven’t had one like that in a long time.”<br/><br/>Alex whined sadly and urgently by the side of the bed, concerned for her master and also for her bladder.