Often when my wife and I go to bed at night our dog ends up sharing the bed with us as well. He is a black dog that weighs about 100 pounds so you can imagine that he takes up a good portion of the bed at night when he decides that he wants to sleep with us. Since we have black sheets he tends to blend in with the bed making it hard to tell if he sneaks up there before us.

Most nights, after I turn off the lights and TV and am lying there in the dark, I can hear my dog get off of the floor and he props his (heavy) head on the foot of our bed. He eagerly awaits the invitation to come up into the bed with us and claim his spot. I can see the glimmer of his eyes as the moonlight from outside of our windows hits them. Normally I will instinctively pat the bed and tell him to come on and get in the bed without even looking around at him.

On this particular night my wife was out of town and it was just me and the dog hanging out. After staying up late and watching a movie I decided that it was time for bed. I went through my normal routine of showering while my dog lay on the bed trying to get asleep ahead of me. Since it was late I never really paid attention to what was going on. I got out of the shower turned out the lights and never even turned on the TV. I was completely exhausted, just wanting to get some sleep.

Not long after my head hit the pillow I heard the normal shifting sound coming from the floor meaning that my dog was about to “ask permission” to come to bed. I was hoping that he would since I was alone in the bed and I was not used to sleeping in an empty bed. I felt the heavy weight as his head hit the foot of our bed and looked up to see that light glimmering off of those eager eyes again. I reached out and patted the bed with my hand to show that I was ok with him getting up into the bed and said “come on boy, get in the bed”. As soon as I said that I heard my dog lift his head up and growl towards the foot of our bed.

The noise that it made back at my dog is a sound that I wish that I would never have to hear again, of course, these are likely the last sounds that I will ever hear. As I lie here in terror I can see those eager, hungry eyes crawling up towards me…