Whimpers

Kohl loved his dog more than anything, but the huge mutt was a born coward. Every night, when Kohl sat down to watch a horror movie, his massive dog, Auggie, would curl up on the couch next to him. 

It was a good thing Kohl had seen most every horror movie a dozen times before. Without fail, in every film, right before the monster or murderer or demon or hellbeast or killer clown appeared on screen for the first time, Auggie would begin to tremble and whine.

Kohl thought Auggie might be picking up on his subconscious reaction to what Kohl already knew was coming, but on the rare occasions it was a movie he hadn't seen, Auggie would still shiver and cry just before the jump scare actually happened, ruining the suspense. 

Kohl didn't really mind. He loved his dog. 

After the movie ended, Kohl and Auggie finished off the remaining popcorn and got ready for bed. 

 

It was a warm night, and Kohl left all the windows open. His house was out in the country, quiet and secluded, and nobody ever came out this way. 

He climbed into bed and checked the nightstand for his handgun. It wasn't in the drawer where it usually was. That's right, Kohl remembered. He had been cleaning it in the basement, and probably left it sitting down there, on the workbench, after he had finished. 

But he was cozy, and drowsy. It would still be there in the morning, he thought. Kohl closed his eyes, and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Auggie began to whimper. 

THE END

Author's Note: This was another blank page story, as we call them around here. I was sitting here on the couch watching Hellboy and trying to think of a story (which admittedly is a terrible way to approach this endeavor) and Mabel, my regular-sized dog who likes to sit in my lap whenever I'm on the couch, started whining at the TV. She does that all the time; she's one of those dogs that does seem to watch what's happening, although she's not augur of anything like the dog in the story (I briefly considered naming the dog Prophet but that's was too on the snoot). Once again it's late and I'm going to be really busy tomorrow but if I were better at this, I would have peppered in more potential setups. Like given him a collection of antique knives. Or have the power go out. Or it was a full moon. Or no moon. Or there had been an eclipse that day. Escaped lunatic, no cell service. Stuff like that. Ah well. This whole thing is an experiment anyway. Perhaps later I'll come back to some of these and expand them. Place your votes on if you'd like to see Auggie become a doggy John Wick and kick some monster ass when he finds his master is finally in real danger.

Goodnight, and I love you all.