clamped onto his throat and is biting down hard. He isn’t just happy with sinking his teeth into the flesh; he starts to thrash around in order to get a deeper penetration. Dave’s eyes are wide open and glazed over. I think he knows that dog is going to kill him.
This whole time, from the moment I saw that dog jump through the bushes, I am frozen with fear. I can’t move. It’s not just the fact that I am afraid the dog will choose me (although that thought did pass through my mind); I am paralyzed with fear. There is even a tree branch right at my feet. I can see it clearly, as it was practically resting on my foot. I want to bend down, grab it, and beat the shit out of that dog, but I just can’t get my body to follow what my brain is screaming. I am petrified. I know that if I don’t do something, the dog will kill my best friend.
The dog is in a blood lust, violently shaking its head. Blood is dripping out of the dog’s mouth, down its throat, and onto my dying friend. All the fight is almost gone from Dave. He lays there as the dog continues its assault.
I just stand there in absolute fear.
I am so scared I am beyond action. With one last violent tear, the dog tears out Dave’s throat. Dave’s eyes bolt all the way open. Death is coming soon for my ten-year-old friend. The dog stops for a second and releases Dave’s bloodied trachea. That son of a bitch dog looks like it is actually trying to make eye contact with Dave in some bizarre dominance ritual. All I hear are gurgling noises coming from Dave’s mangled throat.
As quickly as the dog stops, it seems to get that blood lust in its eyes again. It pounces on top of Dave and goes for his exposed abdomen where his shirt rode up during the attack. It sinks its teeth into Dave’s soft belly and opens him up as if it is gutting a fish. Dave’s eyes are glazing over now and soon, he will pass on. I am crying now, watching this fucking dog butcher my best friend. Each bite gets deeper as it tears into his stomach. When it reaches Dave’s intestines, it begins pulling them out of him and unraveling them like some gory spool of wire.
The tears are burning my eyes. I can hardly see anything through them. Just then, a man comes bursting through the bushes. He sees the bloodied, now-dead body of Dave and kicks the dog hard in the ribs. I hear a couple of ribs snap. I want nothing more than that man to keep kicking that fucking dog until it is as bloody and dead as my friend is lying in the dirt.
“What the hell happened here?” the man screams.
I must have blacked out, because I wake up in the hospital with my parents and brother around me. I passed out from shock and for a split second couldn’t remember what led me to the hospital. Then, in one shocking instant, I remember. Remember my friend’s bloody corpse, remember my friend’s chewed up trachea lying next to his neck, and remember my friend’s intestines splayed out in the dirt.
I remember how I was paralyzed with fear as I watched my best friend get murdered before my eyes.
I cry.
2003 – Austin, Texas
“Wake up, John,” my wife says quietly. “You’re having a bad dream.”
It was no dream. Twenty-eight years ago, I watched my friend being torn apart by a dog while I stood there paralyzed by fear. There were no heroic actions that day.
Chapter Two
1
Present Day – Austin, TX
“Come on sweetie,” I say, trying to urge my five-year-old daughter, Fiona, to eat faster. “We still have a 30-minute drive to the zoo.”
We are having breakfast at Waterloo Ice House, our regular spot. We’ve been eating breakfast there two to three times a week for the last two years. I tell myself it’s because Fi (we always shorten her name) likes staying on some kind of schedule. However, the truth is, I love going there with Fi. It’s “our place.” We’ve had
This whole time, from the moment I saw that dog jump through the bushes, I am frozen with fear. I can’t move. It’s not just the fact that I am afraid the dog will choose me (although that thought did pass through my mind); I am paralyzed with fear. There is even a tree branch right at my feet. I can see it clearly, as it was practically resting on my foot. I want to bend down, grab it, and beat the shit out of that dog, but I just can’t get my body to follow what my brain is screaming. I am petrified. I know that if I don’t do something, the dog will kill my best friend.
The dog is in a blood lust, violently shaking its head. Blood is dripping out of the dog’s mouth, down its throat, and onto my dying friend. All the fight is almost gone from Dave. He lays there as the dog continues its assault.
I just stand there in absolute fear.
I am so scared I am beyond action. With one last violent tear, the dog tears out Dave’s throat. Dave’s eyes bolt all the way open. Death is coming soon for my ten-year-old friend. The dog stops for a second and releases Dave’s bloodied trachea. That son of a bitch dog looks like it is actually trying to make eye contact with Dave in some bizarre dominance ritual. All I hear are gurgling noises coming from Dave’s mangled throat.
As quickly as the dog stops, it seems to get that blood lust in its eyes again. It pounces on top of Dave and goes for his exposed abdomen where his shirt rode up during the attack. It sinks its teeth into Dave’s soft belly and opens him up as if it is gutting a fish. Dave’s eyes are glazing over now and soon, he will pass on. I am crying now, watching this fucking dog butcher my best friend. Each bite gets deeper as it tears into his stomach. When it reaches Dave’s intestines, it begins pulling them out of him and unraveling them like some gory spool of wire.
The tears are burning my eyes. I can hardly see anything through them. Just then, a man comes bursting through the bushes. He sees the bloodied, now-dead body of Dave and kicks the dog hard in the ribs. I hear a couple of ribs snap. I want nothing more than that man to keep kicking that fucking dog until it is as bloody and dead as my friend is lying in the dirt.
“What the hell happened here?” the man screams.
I must have blacked out, because I wake up in the hospital with my parents and brother around me. I passed out from shock and for a split second couldn’t remember what led me to the hospital. Then, in one shocking instant, I remember. Remember my friend’s bloody corpse, remember my friend’s chewed up trachea lying next to his neck, and remember my friend’s intestines splayed out in the dirt.
I remember how I was paralyzed with fear as I watched my best friend get murdered before my eyes.
I cry.
2003 – Austin, Texas
“Wake up, John,” my wife says quietly. “You’re having a bad dream.”
It was no dream. Twenty-eight years ago, I watched my friend being torn apart by a dog while I stood there paralyzed by fear. There were no heroic actions that day.
Chapter Two
1
Present Day – Austin, TX
“Come on sweetie,” I say, trying to urge my five-year-old daughter, Fiona, to eat faster. “We still have a 30-minute drive to the zoo.”
We are having breakfast at Waterloo Ice House, our regular spot. We’ve been eating breakfast there two to three times a week for the last two years. I tell myself it’s because Fi (we always shorten her name) likes staying on some kind of schedule. However, the truth is, I love going there with Fi. It’s “our place.” We’ve had