Chapter Two

“Hello, dears.” Her voice is warm, almost motherly. Joseph unclips her lead and we all follow him to the armchair, but ‘all’ now means five, not four.

None of us speak, as the twins escape to their arms of the armchair and Joseph picks up Sophia, settling her in his lap. I’m not about to run away—as the unofficial leader of our little tribe, I’ve got to face this new dog head-on.

She’s not like whatever’s in the cupboard and she doesn’t seem like any sort of threat. There’s no need to back down. Or, at least, that’s what I keep telling myself.

“I’m Shadow.” A good start. She bows her head a little, moving to lie by Joseph’s feet as he turns on the TV and leans back into the armchair. “Do you… have a name?”

“Tess.” Her muzzle rests on her paws, tired eyes looking into mine like they’re searching for something. “I hope you don’t mind me sharing this house with you—I won’t make any trouble for you. The time for that passed long ago,” with that, she chuckles, shaking her head, “but you seem like a lovely bunch, really.”

Relaxing, I look up—Ruby’s eyes don’t leave Tess. She’s been staring at her since she arrived, and shows no sign of letting up. I can’t expect anything less. With him as our only other close reference, how could she be friendly to another dog?

But Tess is different. I can tell that already, from the way she’s content to curl up and sleep rather than barking or making a scene. Maybe it’s just age—maybe, after a few years, he will be the same. Who knows? All I know for certain is that we’re all safe as we are. That makes me content to climb up and lie in Joseph’s lap, purring at the hand stroking between my ears.

Our four has become five and, for now, that’s okay.

It takes hours for Joseph to begin to nap, his wrinkled face relaxing in sleep and becoming peaceful. Before I even notice, Ruby has leapt down to the floor, tapping Tess’ muzzle with her paws. It comes close to swatting before Tess wakes up, struggling to her feet. Alerted by the movement and uncertain of what’s about to happen, I nudge Sophia and we both drop down to join Ruby and Sapphire, the latter standing close to her twin with anxiety painted across her face.

“It’s nice to meet you, dear. I’m-”

“Tess. We heard,” Ruby cuts her off, agitated. “Another dog, that’s all we need. Sophia’s already terrified of the other one.”

“Ruby,” I try to warn her, but she’s not even listening.

She’s not giving Tess a chance to… to do what? Defend herself? She shouldn’t have to, not really. She hasn’t done anything wrong. In fact, she’s done everything right. If she’d come in with her teeth bared, yowling and biting, then she’d have to defend herself now.

But she didn’t. She just… she just lived within the peace we all keep. It’s like Joseph brought another cat home.

“Be nice. Introduce yourself.”

“Huh. Are you sure you’re not a dog, Shadow?” There’s no need to rise to her, but I still feel my hairs bristling. “I’m Ruby, this is Sapphire. You mess with us once, and I’ll make sure you never do it again.”

Dull silence coats the air after that exchange, with Sapphire circling Ruby, her tail flicking up and down. Sophia stays close to me, not moving past my front leg, her large eyes staring up at this new creature. I don’t know what to do. Carefully trying to defuse the situation, I say the only thing that comes to mind:

“Tess, this is Sophia.”

The old dog turns around, lowering herself a little to address the kitten. Sophia, trembling, takes a tiny step forwards, and I encourage it, brushing a leg by her lightly, just letting her know that I’m still here. She needs to understand that not all dogs are like him, no matter what Ruby thinks. One cat’s opinion isn’t ruining this kitten’s upbringing and making her terrified of all dogs. Caution is one thing, but turning it into an extreme fear is quite another.

“Hello there, little one.” The warmth in Tess’ voice brings out a little boldness in Sophia, prompting her to hop forwards and present her nose to the dog. A little bemused, Tess obliges, meeting the kitten’s small nose with her own. “You’re very brave, child.”

“I’m Sophia.” Simple words, but they bring happiness to Tess’ tired face.

She nods and begins to lie down, as Ruby encourages Sapphire back up onto the chair.

“Where you from?”

“Not too far away,” she speaks slowly and deliberately to keep the kitten’s attention and understanding, “but I’m here now and I’ll likely stay here for a while. You don’t mind that, dear, do you?”

“Dog good. Like dog.”

Not going back to the chair just yet, I sit, attempting to get comfortable on the uneven floor as Sophia does the same. We talk to Tess—mainly just me, with Sophia’s occasional, short comments—while the buzzing of the TV serves as background noise, its electric glow illuminating Tess’ long, patchy fur, with its grey-white colour.

Her eyes are small, orange-red and somewhat faint with age. When she laughs, even a little, her whole body trembles and she seems to like resting her muzzle on her paws, as if it’s too much effort to hold it up. She’s a strange dog, but not one I regret meeting, and Sophia seems to have warmed up to her.

Now, there’s only Ruby and Sapphire to convince.

But that’s a battle for another day. When I see Sophia yawn, I know it’s time for us to go to bed. Joseph’s sleeping down here in the chair—darkness stains the windows, a telling sign of night, and he hasn’t moved upstairs. That means we sleep on the chair, circling and curling up in his lap, and I have no problem with that. I close my eyes, feeling Sophia still wriggling and pawing a little next to me, and allow sleep to take me away.

⁂

Dawn is pale, yellow-gold fingers stretching through the window panes and stroking my back, my face, twinging my whiskers until I wake up. They feel cold, not freezing but cold enough to be different from the air. Cold enough to tell me... this is wrong.

Bolting upright, I pace, alarmed. Joseph. Joseph! He’s not here. There’s no scent, there’s no warmth, there’s no body. He’s gone.

Eyes wide, I turn to see everyone else still asleep—the twins on the arms, Sophia just next to me and Tess at the foot of the chair. I need them. I need help.

“Ruby! Where’s Joseph?” In the moments while she is waking up, I strain my ears to hear the sound of distant footsteps, of furniture being moved around, of anything! There’s nothing. Just deafening silence.

“Is he not here?” She’s up now, hopping past me to get to Sapphire, patting and rubbing her head against her twin to wake her up. “Did you hear anything last night, Saph? Anything?”

“What’s all the fuss about?” Now Tess is awake and Sophia is moving, mewing a yawn, so that’s everyone. “Where has the man gone?”

“Joseph, to you!” Ruby snaps, turning on Tess and arching her back. “What have you done with him, dog? As soon as you show up, he disappears!”

“I’ve only just woken up, the same as you,” Tess assures her, stepping back. “I don’t know anything, dear…”

Ruby’s next outburst is interrupted, by scratching. Whining. The sounds we know well; the sounds that we fear. The sounds that Sophia has whimpering nightmares about. But this time, they don’t stop. The scratching becomes louder as the whining becomes barking.

Bark. Scratch. Bark. Splinter. Scrape.

Flying to Sophia, I put a paw over her and keep her close. Sapphire flees to Ruby, the two almost becoming one.

Howl. Rip. Shred.

Tess begins to near the kitchen door even as I meow at her to stop, to get back before she is torn to pieces. I can see it playing out in my mind, the monster flying out in a storm of wood and rubbish, right into Tess—

With a final crash, he appears. White skin stretched across his ribs so that you can see every bone. Eyes wide, whites showing. Paws shoving buckets of rubbish away as he picks himself up off the floor, rushing out of the crater he’s created and straight towards the brave dog who stands between him and us.

He stops, panting. Short ears flopped over, one huge eye splashed with brown. A body that should be built like a barrel, but it’s all bone and hair. Desperation burning in his eyes, brighter than any emotion I’ve ever seen before. Tail batting against the kitchen door, thud, thud, thud.

No one breathes. I can’t blink. This is it. Joseph is gone and the monster is unleashed. Everything has spiralled into chaos and there’s nothing I can do but watch.