With a gasp, Hali took a step back. Why hadn’t she sensed anything? Was the animal dangerous? She hoped not, because the garbage still needed to go outside. She reached for the door and heard another growl, this time, sounding even closer to the door. She panicked, slamming the door shut and locking before stepping back.

She decided it wasn’t safe to go outside. A potentially vicious dog was outside; hungry and likely a stray. Hali didn’t want to risk getting attacked, but she also didn't want to just leave the garbage for Conan.

She took a moment to think, glancing at the bag of garbage. Perhaps she could do this in the morning before class. Hali was positive if she left a note for him, he would understand. He was a sensible man and wouldn’t want her put in danger.

She wanted to check to be sure the animal was dangerous before she left a note, though, to avoid looking ridiculous. She moved from the open kitchen to the office door that was still open for them to clock out. Hali walked inside the office and over to the window with heavy metal bars —something Conan installed to prevent break-ins for the safe.

Hali moved around his desk and leaned against the wall beside the window, angling herself to see outside. There was only darkness at first, but Hali didn’t have to search too far, because just then, an enormous dog wandered over to the window. It was the largest dog she had ever seen, and a striking shade of reddish brown. It was so large in fact, that she doubted it could be a mere pet dog. The bulky animal turned its head to glance at her, changing its position. It spread its legs, and tucked its head down a little; its eyes burned into hers. The dog opened its mouth and bared its fangs in a snarl. Hali couldn’t hear it through the glass, but she knew it was a warning. Hali stepped away from the window, her heart racing in her chest. It was safe inside, but her fear of the situation was still present.

There was no question now, she was going to leave a note for Conan, clock-out, and just leave for the night. This was too weird, even for her. She grabbed a nearby pen and some paper from the stack piled on his desk, left for the staff to leave notes for each other or Conan, himself. She leaned over the desk, jotted something down, and left the note for Conan:

Hey, Conan. Sorry for leaving this bag of garbage for you. The strangest thing happened! There was this gigantic dog in the alleyway and whenever I opened the door or even looked outside the window, it growled at me! I felt unsafe and left it. I will take it out in the morning before I leave for my classes. I’ll also clean up any mess that seeps out. Please forgive me!

-Hali

Hali grabbed some tape and stuck the note to the top of the garbage bag. Then, she placed the deposit in the safe before clocking-out and locking Conan’s office door. She took the key to the office and opened the refrigerator, placing the spare office key under the egg carton —Conan’s preferred hiding spot. Hali locked the kitchen door with the spare key and headed through the second door towards her apartment. After she was safely inside the tenant section, she double-checked the door to the street, confirming that they locked it, then headed upstairs.

Once in her room, Hali closed the door behind her and locked it as an extra precaution. It was then that Hali realized her body was trembling. She slid to the floor and stayed there for… she didn’t know how long. Her head resting on the back of her bedroom door, but she just couldn’t focus on anything else. It freaked Hali out, and she could feel it in every muscle now. She didn’t want to imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t noticed the dog until a moment later, but she could. Hali wrapped her arms around herself and hugged hard. It was far too easy for her to imagine being pinned down, the large wolf-dog sinking his fangs into her, and that made it all the worse.

The light sound of footsteps on the stairs brought Hali back. She recognized them as Conan’s. All of her roommates had different sounding footsteps; Conan had the softest out of all of them, yet they were also surprisingly the fastest, and she always knew it was him. He must have gotten back from whatever he had gone out to do. Hali leapt to her feet and threw open her bedroom door, startling Conan, and causing him to stop and stare at her with wide eyes.

“Hali?” he questioned.

“I need to tell you something,” she said, far more loudly than she meant to. Amy was sound asleep by now, and Hali didn’t want to suffer her wrath if she woke her up.

He was standing at the top of the stairs, but stepped into the hallway and closer to her. “Yeah? What do you need to tell me?”

“It’s about the garbage,” she stated. “There was a strange dog outside this evening and it growled at me whenever I tried to take the garbage out, so I had to leave it. I left a note in case I missed you.”

He nodded understandingly, “Thanks for letting me know. I was at the neighbourhood meeting for local businesses. We’ve all had reports of a big dog in the area. I’ll call and let them know in the morning.”

“I’ll take it out in the morning,” Hali stated. “Please leave it, and I’ll take it out before class.”

Conan gave her a sidelong glance, but nodded. “Don’t worry, just get some sleep. Put it out of your mind and don’t think about it.”

She gave him a curt nod, and uttered a thank you before entering her bedroom again and closing the door behind her. She heard Conan’s own bedroom door shut and it left Hali with only thoughts of the giant dog she had seen.

* * *

Hali woke up to her alarm, but her eyelids were heavy and she had a hard time opening them. Hali didn’t remember waking up once, and thought she had been in a restful, deep sleep, though she felt anything but. She sluggishly forced herself out of bed, her joints stiff. Hali began to get changed, but when she lifted her arms and shirt up, she noticed that her body had ink smeared all over it!

She gasped, and peered down at herself. Her arms, the inside of her shirt, and her legs… it was everywhere. She shot around to look at her bed, finding it covered with just as much ink. “What the hell?!”

Searching around the room, she searched for the source of the ink. Her eyes landed on the desk and she noticed the ink bottle for her fountain pen that she used for ink art had spilled all over the desk. Her sketchbook, chair and floor were also covered. There were black inky footsteps leading to her bed. On the desk she could see her sketchbook open, when she hadn’t left it open before. Hali tentatively walked over to the desk and looked at the open page. There was a sketch in the black ink that she didn’t remember drawing, but it was her art style; she recognized it with ease, even though she didn’t recall drawing it. She ran her hand over the now dried ink.

The sketch was of a profile of a wolf and stared at her, even though it was just a sketch. It seemed to stare through her into her very soul. Hali reached for the page, but drew her hand back quickly, feeling as if she had been shocked. Hali stumbled and stepped backwards until she bumped into her bed.

“I’m losing my goddamn mind,” Hali thought to herself, “You’re paranoid and sleep walking —or you got up for a late night sketch session, and just don’t remember?”

Hali had no time for this madness despite her sanity needing a simple answer right that second. First, she stripped her bed sheets and discovered that the ink had seeped into the mattress. “Great, now the mattress is stained and I’m gonna need to trash it when I move…”

She suddenly recalled the garbage waiting for her from the night before. Hali had no time to wash anything before class, so she tossed the sheets aside and changed out of her clothes. The Ink had to come off, but she still had to go downstairs and see Conan. Frustration filled her and Hali swore under her breath. She grabbed her robe and towel, and left for the bathroom to take a good long shower, and scrub all this ink off.