I know what you must be thinking. What a horrible fucking person. I know. I've thought it too. The fact I'm genuinely thinking about sending away my dog makes me feel guilty. Then I remember what he's been doing, and my guilt is replaced with fear.

This started about a month ago now. I came home early from work one day absolutely furious and clutching a parting gift from my boss. My Christmas bonus was a fucking ham or something. I sighed with a hand pressed firmly against my throbbing temple and placed the mystery meat in the fridge. The pounding behind my eyes got more and more intense until I leveled my fist and punched the fridge hard.

The throbbing in my head did not go away yet had a new guest as it was now accompanied by an aching pain in my knuckles. I let out a deep sigh, that was childish. It was at that moment Rufus came padding in, his big brown eyes gazing up at me, quizzical as to what the noise had been. "Your Dad was pretty dumb just know." I said crouching down to run my hands through his thick fur. He wagged his tail and let out an excited noise as I pet him. I raised my eyebrows, "I wish I could just... Curl up in a ball and chill like you do."

Rufus of course paid no mind to this and after realizing he wouldn't be receiving more pets padded away back to his comfortable bed. I rolled my eyes and took a deep breath. While disappointing this whole Christmas bonus thing wasn't the end of the world. Sure my Boss was an evil prick, but I had a whole two weeks of paid vacation stored up and he couldn't stop me from using them. So fuck him. I'm going to relax and spend my vacation doing fuck all. "How bout it Rufus? Wanna do Fuck all?" I asked loudly. Rufus simply yawned.

It was the next morning that I discovered that the mystery meat was still in my fridge. I peeled back the wrapped paper to see a red mass bundled in saran wrap. I furrowed my brow. "Gotta be beef." Rufus sat at my side eagerly awaiting something. "I'm not a butcher how should I know what this is? I'll just.... Fry it. Everything tastes good fried with onions." I leaned down and booped Rufus's snout. "I bet even YOU would taste good fried with onions." He agreed as his tail wagged back and forth wildly. "Well don't you have a high opinion of yourself."

I cut off a large chunk and threw it in a pan with onion, salt, pepper, and Butter. "I hope you taste good Christmas Bonus because you don't fucking look good. I talk to myself to much. Having a full on conversation is probably not healthy." I raised my eyebrow and decided to turn on the TV for my own sanity. It blinked on to the cooking channel. I glared at the TV, "Don't shame me." I then flipped to the news and got right back to frying my beef.

"Thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and families of the lates-" I looked down at the large mass of beef left over "Hey Rufus," I picked up a raw slab. "Want something to chew on?" He dashed on over like any dog would when presented with a hunk of beef. "Okay you want it? Sit." I commanded with my most authoritative voice. Rufus giving no fucks lunged upwards and snagged it from my hand. "Hey fucker!" I said laughing, "That was rude!" Rufus took one last look at me before tearing into the beef with vigor. Still chuckling to myself I once again tuned into the news.

"The search is still on for Maya Kelling a local who was reported missing on December 14th by her boyfriend. She was in the Bellevue area and anyone with information is encouraged to call this numb-" I shut it off. "The news is depressing as fuck huh?" Rufus paid me no mind as he continued munching away with that playful ferocity of a domesticated animal.

I took a deep breath to try and smell my beef and it smelled God awful. "Jesus," I said while furrowing my brow. "What did I do to this thing?" There was something deeply off-putting about that smell. It didn't smell rotten or decayed. It smelt... Foreign. It filled me with apprehension and a strange sense of dread. I shook my head and felt a wave of stupidity roll over me. The feeling was not to disimilar to when you're watching scary ass YouTube videos at night by yourself and you want to turn the lights on.

I felt like a bitch. But the feeling of nervousness and the fact that no one but me would judge me for throwing all this meat out made my decision easy. This was going straight to the garbage. I threw it in and did my utmost to forget about it. "Takeout it is."

Having stuffed myself silly with pizza I crashed hard. I'm a heavy sleeper so it takes a lot to wake me up. Yet, I was woken up. A loud crash echoed around my bedroom as I shot bolt upright and listened for a moment. I heard dragging noises. My heart pounding in my chest, I stood. Having armed myself with my pistol I took a couple careful steps Forward. The noise became more distinguished. There was a gnawing and eager snort. A sense of dread filled me as I rounded the corner expecting the worst.

"RUFUS!" I shouted seeing an absolutely devastating mess. He had torn open the trash and it was scattered everywhere. I groaned and slumped my shoulders. "Not only did you scare the shit out of me, I'm also going to have to clean up your fucking mess! C'mon man." Rufus having pillaged what he was looking for scampered off without even looking at me.

Having fully cleaned up the mess I stood up and stretched, cracking my back in a few places. "You're an asshole for that." I said as I washed my hands. "I'm going back to bed. Goodnight asshole.... Love you." I trailed off. Rufus was sitting on his bed gnawing on something. "Hey what do you have?" I walked forward and reached down and to my great surprise and for the first time I was greeted by a low growl. "Hey," I said my word barely making it out of my throat because of the immediate surprise and fear.

I took a few steps back and knelt down to get a good view of what he was gnawing at. They mystery meat. I reached forward tentatively to get met with the same low growl as before. "Rufus, hey c'mon. Give me that, I think it's foul." What Rufus did next sent an icy chill down my spine. He simply stopped gnawing on it and stared me dead in the eyes. No more movement. No wagging tail. Nothing. I must have sat there for 30 seconds before I did anything. I stood up and forcing myself to turn around despite every single fiber of my being telling me not to take my eyes off him said "Fine have it your way asshole." I couldn't help but take a peek over my shoulder as I walked away. He sat motionless, his eyes still locked on mine.

I turned on my light, closed my door, and laid in bed until my eyes got to heavy to keep open.

After waking up it took a few seconds to recollect the night before. When I did in full I opened my door tentatively to reveal Rufus curled up in a ball on his dogbed fast asleep. I felt a weary tension within me wither away. "I need to get out of the house." I muttered.

I came home that night to a dark abode. Having been drinking my bearings were slight askew and I found myself fumbling with my keys a bit. As I pushed open the door to my home I was greeted by that unfriendly darkness that settles over an empty house. I pawed for the light switch for a moment until I found it flipping it with one hand.

"FUCK!" I cried in fear as my gaze was met my a great black mass standing in the middle of my living room. It wobbled slightly as if unsure of it's footing before it fell to all fours. "Rufus!" I cried, my heart playing my ripcage like the bongos. "What the fuck was that you creepy ass mutt?" Rufus just stared, tail stationary, eyes fixated on me. "I... I'm gonna go relax now. You cut it the fuck out."

Rufus did not blink. Nor did I. I slammed my door closed and sat at the edge of my bed taken aback. "Jesus. That was fucking scary." I said to myself as I took off my shoes. That image of a shadow in the dark, form stretched in a way it wasn't supposed to, was making my skin crawl. I've seen dogs stand up before. But in that goofy cute way. Hell I've even seen dogs do handstands, but this? Standing in the middle of the room in the dark just staring at the door? It unsettled me to my core.

My sleep was troubled, as if I had a nightmare I couldn't quite remember. I woke up to that feeling of unease creeping it's way back up my spine. To stall I scrolled through the news but nothing could take my mind off it. Not Bitcoin plunging in value, not the disappearance of that local girl, not Taco Bell bringing back the Nacho Fries. I just kept imagining what Rufus must be doing at the given moment. Standing there. Just standing there. I growled and punched my pillow. "I'm acting like a pussy. Get up."

I rolled out of bed and crept to my door, heart pounding. I stared at the handle and reached my hand out slowly, my heart began thudding within my chest at an increased tempo with a deep breath that caught in my chest I eased the door open.

I felt fear jolt through my body as I saw him. Standing once again in the middle of the living room, his furry back to me as he stood absolutely motionless staring at the wall. My words caught in my throat I could not speak. I did the worst possible thing I could have possibly done and quietly closed my bedroom door. The fear began to set in worse. I locked my door and collapsed on my bed breathing fast.

He was out there. Standing up right. I couldn't open that door again. I couldn't make it out of the house. Not with him there. Not with him just standing there. I found myself nauseous from the terror that had possessed my body. I sat there staring at my door for the better part of the hour before finally getting up the courage to once again check outside my door.

I crept slowly. Each footfall on the soft carpet surely giving me away to the keen ears of Rufus. My heart pounded in near apathetic terror as I once again laid my hand on the knob. It took me longer than I'd like to admit to open that door. Once it did I peered through the crack to try and see where he might be.

Still. Standing. Trying my best to summon fury I opened the door wide and shouted "RUFUS!" All of the anger I summoned was turned into terrorized vapor when Rufus simply turned his head to face me. He turned his body next. He took a step. He took another step. One more step. I screamed in horror as he began marching towards me one odd, off keelter step at a time. I once more slammed the door and locked it and scrambled backwards in panic.

I didn't hear a sound at my door. But I see the shadow of something standing out there. "R-rufus!" I yell. "Stop it. Stop it right now!" I was not met with silence again. I was met with a terrible sound. It sounded like when a dog yawns and their voice stretches and bends, but this had... Purpose. This wasn't just noises. It was measured. It was meaningful. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HOUSE." I screamed in terror as it continued. "LEAVE!" I cried.

The sound stopped. The shadow at my door then slowly and clumsily plodded away. I shook, my breath coming in gasps. I stayed awake and in my room for the rest of the day until finally thirst gripped me and I could not bear it any longer. I left the room armed with the small pistol I kept for safety. There he was. Curled up in his dogbed. Fast asleep. I kept my eyes locked on him as I tiptoed around gathering food and water before dashing to my room.

I type this now to you to ask a community of people who deal with these things. If I call the cops they'll call animal control. They will either laugh in my face or simply take Rufus. I don't want that. I just want MY Rufus back. My good boy. What's happening to him? Why is he like this?