These late shifts were killing me. I was on my way home after a long and hard day at work. Riding my bike, since it fit my active lifestyle. It was dark, and I just wanted to get back home. As I was nearing my house, I saw my neighbour’s low garden light shining ominously. And at the edge of the dim light, I saw the figure of his white husky dog. Although what I made out didn’t quite make sense. Something was off. I slowly stopped and got off my bike, then i looked at the dog more closely. The dog itself wasn’t off, it looked the same. But the color. It’s fur was somehow duller, not quite as shiny as I remembered it. And the tail. The dog wasn’t wagging the tail. Just looking at me. I looked at it’s eyes and they were milky white. Weird. I decided i had had enough for one day, it was probably my tired mind playing tricks on me. I headed across the street, parked my bike in my garage and went inside. After a few minutes of watching TV, I went to sleep.

Next day was almost as uneventful as the one before. I woke up, went shopping for some groceries, did some chores and went to work. Again, a hard day and another late shift. When I was about to get home, I saw my neighbour’s ominous garden light again. And at the edge of it, the dog. Again, it looked off. I looked at it more closely. The color was simply too dull. Maybe it was sick? I took a step towards it. As I did, the dog stood up on its hind legs. I couldn’t believe what i was seeing. I looked at the dog, and it looked back at me. I blinked a few times, mostly to see if my eyes were deceiving me. The beast tilted it’s head, as if it were observing me. Or calculating if it had time to catch me before i got home. I snapped out of the daze-like trance, and got on my bike. I sped home, got in the garage and locked it behind me before getting inside. My heart was racing. That dog was creeping me out. What was wrong with it? I turned on all the lights, and sat on my couch, deciding to watch some TV until my nerves were somewhat calmed. Eventually I got tired and headed for bed.

During the night, I woke up. Not being quite sure why I did wake up, I tried moving. But there was something wrong. There was unknown pressure on my feet. I turned on the nightlamp. In the blink, I thought i saw a…a shape of sorts. Blurry, I couldn’t make it out to begin with. After a few moments, my eyes adjusted. What I saw terrified me. I screamed, tumbled, tried to get away but to no avail. I threw my arms around in panic as my head raced. Because what I saw could not have come from this world. I saw a shape, kind of similar to the neighbour’s dog. But with some exceptions. For one, there was no fur. Only skin. Rotting skin, it looked like. It had hoofs instead of paws on the hind legs. The front legs were arms, with long fingers ending in sharp fingernails. But worst of all was the head. It was a deer’s head, with antlers. And it’s mouth was agape. It let out a terrifying shriek, as it bore its sharp teeth into my skin.