General Fiction Sample #1

General Fiction Sample #1

Pitter, patter…pitter, patter…pitter, patter….

“Errrgg…”

Pitter, patter, pitter, patter…pitter, patter….

“I-Isaac… Is… Is that you…?”

Pitter, patter… pitter, patter… pitter, patter…

“Dammit, Isaac! Knock it off! I’m trying to sleep!”

Pitter, pitter… Drip…drip…drip…

“Isaac, I—Owww….”

Jonathan rubbed his head and, pulled off his nightcap. The old fool had tumbled from his bed to the ground. He groaned, looking behind himself to his nightstand and looked for his alarm clock. “Six fifteen on a Saturday morning… What a wakeup call,” he moaned.

From the corner of his eye he spotted a yellow glare coming from his window. He sat up, straining his eyes for the source of the mysterious light, but saw only streaks of rain sliding down the clear glass.

Perplexed, yet intrigued he sat up, climbed onto his bed and pressed his face against the glass, looking upward to the clouds above. The soft, yellow masses nay wavered nor swayed in the gentle winds that bent the flowers and blades of grass about Jonathan’s yard.

Jonathan retreated from his window slowly and grabbed his glasses from his nightstand. He used part of his nightgown to clean off one of the lenses and then the other, begrudgingly he sighed, “I suppose it wasn’t that damn dog this time… But, I can’t help but wonder…” His eyes went from his glasses back to his window. “I’ve never seen anything like this… There has to be some reason for it, I’m sure… But—Bah, I’m spending way too much time on this. Like father always said—I-Isaac!”

To his amazement, he saw the black and white canine bounding about his yard, yapping and howling at anything that moved. He would sit still for only a second before getting up again and barking at the trees or the car. Jonathan jumped up, slipped into his bunny slipper and ran out the front door, forgetting that he was only in a short, blue gown.

As he neared the obnoxious mutt, his blood began to rise at an alarmingly quick pace and Jonathan immediately turned bright red. He kneeled down and patted his knees, attempting to cover up his outrage with a gentle smile saying, “Here Isaac. It’s time to come in now. You’ve had your fun. “ He let out a false laugh and opened his hands, showing his palms to his companion.

Isaac neared Jonathan and then bounded away, neared, then bounded, neared again and then bounded away again. After some time Jonathan finally threw up his hands and shouted, “Aw, screw it! Fine! Run around the neighborhood! Bark at everything and everyone ya see! Tell them I said hello, but I’m not welcoming you back into my home. That’s final! I’ve had it with you, Isaac.”

The man balled his fists and shouted at the dog that now sat in front of his master with deep and attentive eyes. He watched his every moment from his foot stomping to outbursts in which he picked up random items and threw them in any and every direction.

At last, Jonathan fell to his knees, heaving heavily as sweat poured down his face alongside the rain. “Oh God…” he sobbed. “Oh, God why… Why must you punish me with such an uncontrollable rage?” Tears swelled in his eyes and his breathing started to become fractured. “W-why was I given th-this curse… God, God why?!” He shook violently and bit his lip, quickly sending a spots of red liquid onto his soggy dress.

“It’s taken everything from me… My family…my career…my whole life…” He turned to Isaac and glared harshly into his eyes, tensing every muscle in his body as he spoke, “And now all I have left is this stupid excuse of a dog! That’s all I have! That’s all… I. Am.”

He threw his head back just as a bellow of thunder rumbled above him. “ANSWER ME! WHY WON’T YOU EVER ANSWER ME?!”

Isaac slowly crept up to Jonathan, his ears down, tail barely kept from between his legs and his entire body shivering violently. He hesitantly rubbed the side of his head against his master’s, closing his eyes.

Jonathan gently wrapped his arms around Isaac and held him close, closing his eyes along with his dog’s. He listened as the rain fell from above and landed on the trees overhead. Pitter, patter… How they fell into shallow pools and filled them to the brim and over again. Pitter, patter… How they landed, one after another on the concrete, the car, and them.

When at last Jonathan opened his eyes again, he saw that the fireflies were out and they laxly floated about the air, shinning their taillights. All around them the glowing bodies flickered their lights on and off, seamlessly blending in with the yellow light around them. Thunder roared proudly over them as streaks of lightning skirted about the clouds playfully, quickly jumping from one cloud to the other.

The two sat together in the rain for some time, collecting many drops of the fresh liquid. Until finally Jonathan tightened the hug around Isaac and whimpered into his ear, “Please… Forgive me.” The dog merely let out a low growl and began to wag his tail before licking Jonathan on the cheek. Just once.

“Thank you.”