Walking towards the college’s front entrance, Dwayne carried Julian over one shoulder, his duffle bag over the other, and a French Vanilla in his hand. It was quite a sight to behold if one was a passing student or teacher. Julian, however, was not at all enthused by his current situation, expressed mainly through his dark scowl and red cheeks from embarrassment.
"Put me down!" Julian finally demanded. "I'm not a rag doll!"
With a grin, Dwayne stopped near the front entrance and promptly settled Julian down on the floor.
Julian glared daggers at Dwayne. "That was unnecessary, you asshole!"
"What? It looked like you and Victoria were ‘bout to have an all-out brawl," Dwayne reminded him. "I wasn't gonna risk that."
"Whatever. She would've deserved it," Julian heartlessly said and glanced away.
Dwayne shook his head in disapproval and let out a deep sigh. As he did so, Julian checked his smartphone for the time, which read “6:45PM” then snatched his 'Rhinestone College' duffle bag from off of Dwayne's shoulder and swung it over his own.
"I gotta go," he said and walked away from Dwayne like an angsty teenager retaliating against his parent.
Dwayne, still holding an almost finished French Vanilla, put one of his hands in his jean pocket and shook his head again. What’m I gonna do with ya…
~~~
After about an hour and a half of studying in the college’s library, Dwayne finally decided to leave and took his usual path home. As he walked along the sidewalk he noticed that one of the lampposts was leaning over the road. Seeing the potential hazard of this, he decided to walk on the opposite side of the road just in case luck wasn’t on his side that evening. However, as he approached the other sidewalk he started to hear light whimpering. Curious, he stopped to listen for its source and found that it came from some nearby bushes. He slowly approached them, kneeled down, and lifted the bottom layer of branches to see what was making such a sorrowful cry. And to his surprise, he found a dog lying underneath, but it immediately growled at the sight of him. Dwayne backed up a little, but calmly returned, getting further down to the dog’s eye-level.
"Hey there buddy, what’re ya doin' under there?" He asked in a warm voice. He slowly extended his arm to pet the dog, but it retreated further into the shadow of the bushes. Dwayne left his arm extended and waited. After a few moments, the dog hesitantly approached his hand and sniffed it. Once it got a few good sniffs, the dog found that he was not a threat and came out from underneath the bushes. As it entered into the street light, Dwayne saw that it was a large Mastiff with no collar and matted fur. Upon closer inspection, he also saw that it had a slight limp and seemed as though it had not eaten in several days.
“Man, ya had it rough, huh, bud?” Dwayne said while gently petting the dog. It licked his hand and he returned a gentle smile. He continued to pet it for a few more minutes then stood to leave, but ended up startling the dog.
“Calm down, I ain’t gonna hurt ya,” he reassured. “But I’ve gotta go.” He tried to pet the dog one last time, but it moved away. Disappointed, Dwayne began to walk away. He wanted to help the dog, he really did, but he didn’t know what to do or who to call. I’ll ask Julian what to do when I see ‘im… He thought, but at that moment the ground suddenly started to rumble and shake. Trees and lampposts violently swayed back and forth as the shaking rapidly increased. Beginning to lose his balance, Dwayne stumbled to the most stable tree close by to use as a crutch. Once his own safety was secured, he quickly looked for the dog.
It was still near the bushes, but was quivering uncontrollably.
“H-Hey! C’mere!” Dwayne shouted followed by a whistle, but his voice was masked under the sound of the rumbling ground. So, the dog ran away opposite of Dwayne, but its limp prevented it from going anywhere fast.
“Wait, come back!” He shouted again, but no luck. It was then that his head suddenly turned towards the sound of several metallic pops. The constant shaking had made the bolts of the leaning lamppost pop out of the cement, and it was about to come tumbling down onto the dog.
With little time to think, Dwayne let go of the tree and dashed over to the dog, shielding it. He closed his eyes as the lamppost came crashing down upon his back.
The ground soon stopped shaking, and everything was still. Dwayne slowly opened his eyes to see that the dog was safe and sound. It shook with fear, but it was safe. It then occurred to him that he was also all right, but could feel something heavy weighing on his back. He looked over his shoulder to see what it was: the lamppost, bent into the formation of his torso. Horrified, he swiftly moved from underneath it, allowing it to fall over onto its side. He felt no pain, though. No throbbing or stinging; only a slight tingling feeling as though someone had just poked him. Therefore, in disbelief, he quickly checked his back for injury, but what he felt underneath his sweater was not normal. As he slid his hand along his lower back, he could feel a hard, rough and broken surface covering it.
"What the hell?" He murmured to himself with concern. Curious, the dog sniffed at his back too. As Dwayne continued to rub at it, a piece fell into his hand. Surprised, he brought it up in front of him to see what it was. In his hand he held a small, triangular piece of what looked like a grayish-blue shell. Frightened by the object, Dwayne stood up and dropped it. He then immediately proceeded to remove his sweater and t-shirt, throwing them on the ground, and looked over his shoulder to figure out what substance was on him. He rubbed his shoulders then his upper and middle back. It covered it all. His entire back was blanketed in this shell-like surface.
Panicked, Dwayne began scratching at it. He plucked at the loose pieces; dug his fingers into cracks so he could pry chunks off. He was frantic, desperate, and amidst it all he eventually tripped over the curb of the road and fell back first onto the ground.
Meanwhile, the dog stayed back and watched his potential new owner with an added whimper from time to time. It didn’t understand what was going on, but it sensed something was wrong.
Dwayne lied on the ground for a few seconds, winded from the fall, before he slowly turned over onto his side with a grunt. As he did so, he felt numerous pieces of the shell-like surface slide off his back and, once he stood up to check, he found that there was nothing stuck to him anymore. In fact, his skin felt extremely smooth. He then immediately looked at the ground to find a small pile of broken pieces of the material at his feet as though someone had smashed a priceless vase. However, he was still alarmed and very much confused, so he swiftly scanned the area for witnesses. The last thing he needed was someone else to have seen what had happened. And seeing that no one else was around, he grabbed his clothes and fled the scene, slowly followed by the limping dog that now seemed to trust him more than the lamppost.
Comments (0)
See all