Nobaby

A full moon night, you were walking through the Starpath Pack's territory, and as you explore around...

Reality shatters around you, the world seems to be broken in some way. You try to find an exit to this, but you find none, the only thing you find is a black puppy right in front of you. Her eyes are as dark as the night sky, and even if you find no pupil or any kind of coloration in them, there's simply emptiness on them, but even like that, you can feel she's staring at you, right onto your soul.

"Who are you?" you ask, trying to keep your voice in a strong tone, trying to hide the fact that you are scared. There's no response. "Are you ok?". Something seems odd about this puppy, she isn't moving, or at least that's what it seems, not even a breathing movement is coming out from her. That's until she tilts her head with apparent curiosity, but the movement was so mechanic, almos like she was some kind of living puppet or machine that makes you feel unconfortable and even more disturbed. She keeps silence, you keep staring at her, onto her hollow eyes, until you notice that the surroundings are now pure black, no trees, no sky, no grass, only emptiness, you were trapped in some kind of void with the pup.

You approach the pup slowly, showing yourself as friendly, "If you need help, I can give you shelter..." you are now unable to keep your voice as firm as it was before, you can hear your own heartbeats and your voice deeply echoes. You remember you were only a few inches away from the pup, but now it looks like if it was really far away from you, even if she didn't move or walked. You run towards the pup, trying to reach her, but it looks like you weren't even moving. From one moment to another, you trip, falling down to the grass, hitting the log of a tree with your head. You get up and look around, everything's back now, you can even hear some birds starting to sing as the dawn arrives, you don't know how much time you spent in there, but it sure was a while. A cold breeze appears, going to the direction you remember the pup was. You're still startled from the fall, and from what you've seen. You check your surroundings again, but, everything's normal now, right?.

A Nobaby short story by Quail Heart (#3278)