The Farms Secrets

Chapter 3: The Scratches

Darling cleared her throat "brother, this Marci our next door neighbor. Marci this my brother Julius."

I gave a little wave to Julius, I was so nervous I couldn't even stand. He gave off this intimidating vibe that says to me why are you here. I could tell he was important however I could barely believe that they were brother n sister, they looked nothing alike, maybe different mom or dad, adopted? My breathing started to pick up the pace and my heart started to flutter.

I started to feel like I was falling down the rabbit hole with anxiety till his cool voice rattled me back to reality "Nice to meet you... Marci, I'm very sorry however you will have to leave. It's dreadfully late."

I snap my head towards the hallway of windows, it was pitch black out. I gave out a nervous luagh rubbing my hands together to sooth my racing blood. I responded back sheepishly "yes, of course. Sorry if I over stayed my welcome."

I got up brushing my pants incase I got any crumbs on me. "it was very nice to meet you Darling and you too Julius... maybe you guys could come over for dinner sometime."

Darling loved this idea "of course we will. I won't be here for a couple months; however Julius will be over Saturday, won't you." she said giving him a death glare. I could feel the tension rising revealing the battle that could not be seen but felt. It felt like I was in a stadium watching them clash in a arena with Roman armor and weapons. Just one after another hit, Darling however was winning she jabbed Julius in the stomach making him fall down to the ground. A smrik appeared on her face claiming victory she put her foot on him while roses came down from the stands.

Julius sighs "yes, you can expect me Saturday" he said walking towards the kitchen still fumbling around with his cufflink.

Darling giggled I swore she knew what she was doing to me. Making me walk down a dreadful hall as if I was about to give a speech to important figures from around the world. I gave a nervous luagh, quickly shuffling to the door as my boot clacked against the marble. Shutting the door behind me I walked as fast as I could to my house. I needed to deep clean the house. Saturday was in a day and thankfully Joseph is already doing everything outside. I slowed down my walking it was so hard to see the road; for some reason it was dreadfully cold outside, every breath I took in burned my lungs exhaling my smokey breathe shivered in the cold, I could feel the hair rise on the back of my neck, I started to feel kind of scared, I looked back at Darlings house it was too far away, I snapped my head to my house it was even father away. I felt as if I needed to run right now I cut through my field of crop knowing in the morning I'd regret it. The corn acted liked a jungle I swore, I could hear fast footsteps gaining on me. I fell feeling the soft dirt engulf my face and body almost welcoming me. I got back up, gripping on to my wet pant legs basically telling my legs to move. I started whispering to myself exhaling out "you can't f**king die right now. Run you stupid b***h."

I desperately tried to remember if I locked the door. I take my chances and to my luck it was open, I open the door slamming it behind me. I slammed it so hard some of the pictures on the wall came crashing down as I locked the door. I slid down the door holding my icey cold legs to my burning chest. I was huffing down air like I was underwater for a long time and finally come back up. I automatically put my hand over my mouth once I heard footsteps on my porch. It sounded more like a animal once it went to one side of my porch, a big one too. It started to pace back and forth on my porch. Once it finally stopped I uncovered my mouth. Which became a huge regret after it started aggressively scratching at my door. It startled me due to the massive strength behind the scratches and I naturally screamed. I started whispering a song my mother would sing to me while tears flowed out of my eyes "Hear, there, hear, there; dont you feel afraid now, as I will always be here. Hear, there, hear, there; the boogeyman isn't here now, you can go to sleep now, as I will always be here..."

I cried softly as I dug my face into my knees, wishing this wasn't happening. Something happened out there; The scratches at the door stopped all of a sudden, I started to hear a low growl, some fighting happened however yelps right after erupted fading away. I was terrified and slowly went to my bathroom. I crawled right into the bathroom shutting and locking the door as quietly as I could. I then crawled into my shower and sat in there. I didn't care how long I had to stay up until dawn.

I stayed up all night, I was exhausted however I didn't move a nudge till I saw my little window reveal the morning dawn. I got up in my shower and slowly went over to my bathroom door. My hands shook the door knob making it rattle. I grabbed my wrist, I was afraid to close my eyes so I just stared at my wrist taking a deep breathe in. Once I exhaled I opened the door slowly looking towards my front door. It was still closed which made me feel a little bit better. Tip toeing to the front door I unlocked it, hopefully I would be safe in the morning light. I gave one more deep breathing to accept any fate that was awaiting behind the door. I opened the door swinging it opened squeezing my eyes shut. I felt the morning sun hit me, it felt so much better then the night as if it was telling me I was safe n not to worry. I slowly opened one if my eyes and to my shock there was no sign of a fight or anything. I swiveled my head to the door the scratch marks cut deep into my door, the left bottom portion was ruined showing the bare color of the door. Many wooden pieces was scattered all on my porch. I shivered in fear as the night recollects itself in my head. I put my hands above my head pulling my hair. I felt like I was going crazy I knew deep down I couldn't go to the police because they'd just assume it was a wild animal. I started to just tell myself it was a wild animal in my head over and over again. All of a sudden a surge of anger burst through me that made me determine to fight back whatever the hell this thing tried to kill me. I didn't have guns or anything of that nature. I got back up gripping my balled up fist. I was so angry I felt as if angry hot tears were ready to burst through my eyes. I shuffled my way to the truck while I was fishing my keys that were in my jacket pocket. I unlocked the truck hopping into it I sped off creating a enormous dust cloud behind me.

I got into town finding the nearest hunting supplies shop. I bought everything bear traps, knifes, axes, wire, and a hunting starter kit. I got to the cash register. The man gave me the weirdest look then I remember. I put my palm to my face looking down at myself... covered in dirt and I can only imagine what's going through his head right now. I gave a nervous luagh at an attempt to not look crazy n spoke out "those damn raccoons are just putting up a fight."

The man just gave me a weak smile I could tell he didn't entirely believe my story. He rang them up telling me "430 dollars please. will you be paying cash or card?."

I responded back "cash."

I already wanted to get this over with so I pull out the money handing it to him. The man counted it and boxed everything up. "here you go thank you for shopping wi..".

I snatch the box walking out of the door as fast I could manage. I set the box of supplies in the back of the truck n went on my way to the animal shelter. Once I got there I came out brushing as much of the dirt off as I could. I gave myself a quick look in the mirror, my face was covered in dirt. I grabbed a water bottle that was half empty in my truck. The water bottle been in there for months now. I pour the warm liquid on my face then use a wash rag to clean of the remainder of the dirt. I sighed looking myself over in the mirror again, I looked a lot better then when I first did. I walked into the animal shelter, expecting to be greeted by a ton of animals however I was greeted by a clerk or maybe even intern in a empty room. I stood infront of her waiting for her to look up from her computer, behind her was a dog and cat looking so happy with big letters written across look to adopt, don't shop. I sighed rethinking about bringing a innocent animal into this. I started to walk towards the door till that lady's raspy voice echoed the room "are you looking to adopt today."

I looked behind me very nervous "y-yes".

She sighed getting up from her chair "right this way please follow me."

I waddled over to the door she was directing me too. Hearing my boot clacking against the tile made my heart race a little. I was excited but scared because I wanted to accept another pet into my life and hopefully help protect me. I entered a hallway full of dog crates with yapping little ones in it. The lady said loudly to me almost screaming it out "usually these guys are perfect for single lonely women looking for company."

I was taken a back at that statement, I gritted my teeth spewing out my most fakest friendliest voice I could "im sorry, but I'm looking for a much bigger dog."

The snarky clerk huffed at me, puffing out her chest. The clerk led me to a very large room with larger kennels. The barks were much deeper and louder then the little ones. The clerk smirked "choose your pick, just watch out some of them are aggressive."

I gave her the most fakest smile I could as I walked pasted her. I scoped out the rows and rows of dogs, each one having a complete different personality then the other. Some were so excited to see me while others were so scared shaking that I even looked at them. Then I got to one in the corner of the very last row, almost hidden away from the eyes view. I looked at the chart giving me the basic detail about the dog.

"Name: Poseidon, Age: 4, Gender: male, Unaltered, Dog Breed: Utonagan Mix, Label: Aggressive."

I looked at him curiously, Poseidon didn't seem aggressive at all. He just laid down piercing me with his deep blue eyes. I sat down getting on to his level I felt like he already knew where he was and what was going to happen. I sighed running my hands through my dirty muddled hair. I closed my eyes thinking about him why is he labeled as aggressive, will he attack me if I even try to pet him, will he run away?

So many thoughts went through my head however when I opened my eyes he was sitting right there on the other side of the gridded fence looking at me. My mind freaked out but my body on the point of exhaustion didn't even budge. "I hope you'll protect me from bad things," I whispered.

I got up after a few minutes and walked back to the entrance of the room. The clerk was tapping her foot impatiently, I really wanted to groan however I contained myself. I walked up to her pointing to the direction of Poseidon "I want Poseidon."

A gasp erupted from her mouth, her hands almost instantly covered her mouth. "wh-why him."

I smirked "we like eachother."

she scoffed at me "well I can't let you have him unless I have a legitimate reason."

I snarled back "why."

I think the clerk was looking for a reason because she started to tap her foot again and look around the room. "because... he's had incidents of people bringing him back due to him either trying to attack random people or the owner itself."

I stayed quiet for a minute pondering once again however I shook my head. I made up my mind "I want him."

The clerk huffed at me resentfully of my decision however she sighed, realizing there was no way she was going to change my mind. "alright, you'll need to sign some paperwork," she said walking back to her desk I assumed.

I followed her completing all the signatures that were required and paid her 150 in adoption fees. I walked back with her and walked to his kennel. Poseidon continued to sit there almost like he was waiting for me. I was opening the kennel door till the clerk slammed it shut. "you must have him wear a collar and of leash," she said as if she was stating the obvious.

The clerk shoved a collar and a leash into my chest making me stumble back a bit. A deep low growl erupted from Poseidon, both our heads snapped a him. Posiden was standing in his kennel; he was enormous, he was fluffy but you could tell he was strong and big underneath, his colors were black all around however his chest had white with a thin line of orange sandwiched between the black and white, and his tail drooped to the ground. The clerk was scared and backed up putting her hands in the air. I was scared however I didn't let that stop me. I opened the kennel door, I knelt down and whisper to him "you'll have to keep the collar on and the leash for right but as soon as we walk out that door the leash comes off."

I think Posiden seemed pleased by that cause he shook his fur and sat down, however he still stared down the clerk watching her every move. I stood up with the leash latch on to the collar. We followed the clerk back to the door Posiden didn't even bother with any of the other dogs as we passed by he followed right beside me. I think what surprised me the most is that she actually seemed to care about Poseidon when she saw how well behaved he was with me. The clerk cheerily smiled "He's so well behaved now, I would've even adopted him if he was this nice with me."

She reached to pet him but he growled giving her a warning to not pet him. The clerks face scrunched up obviously offended scoffed walking back to her desk. Posiden and I walked out the front door just as I promised him I took the leash off and he bolted. My heart sank till I saw he just went to pee, he came right back to me and waited for me to lead him. I smiled and rubbed his head. I walked up to the truck opening it and he hesitated to enter. "come on this is your spot now Posiden."

Posiden looked at me then back at the door he jumped in clearing the gap. I actually believe he could easily jump through the window of my truck if he wanted to. I hopped in and started up the truck making my way back to my house.