THE DEVIL'S AFFECTION

37. CERBERUS

         I TRY TO WAKE Hanes as quickly as I can. Frantically, I shake his arm and loudly whisper his name.

"Hanes... Hanes...." I panic.

He wakes slowly, his eyes peeling open as he looks around for a second to realize where he is. Then he snaps up quick.

"What?! What?!" He panics with me.

"Someone's downstairs! I can hear it. There was shuffling and then a thud. Someone is down there!"

My heart is racing as I feel the panic take over me.

He snaps up from the bed quickly and strides to the door quietly. He peers out of the door and then slips out of the room.

I don't want to be alone in the room. I'm terrified to be left alone without him so I follow him. I slowly go to the door and then freeze up when I hear another thud.

"Hanes?" I whisper.

He's nowhere to be seen. It's as if he had disappeared the second he left the room. I walk out further, looking down the steps but not seeing anything. I begin to walk down and hear a shuffling again.

I feel that something is off. There's something that I'm not noticing. I look around as I move down the steps and realize what it is. The statue is gone. As if it was never there, there's nothing in the small pool sitting where the statue had been.

"What the fuck...?" I whisper to myself.

Then I heard more rustling and two thuds come from the back room. I freeze up again, my heart pounding out of my chest. What if They are here and they have Hanes?

I walk over slowly, bracing myself as I turn the corner. What I see is far from what I expect.

The statue is standing with Hanes attempting to corner him in the back room. It moves like a giant dog. It's jaws still dripping as it's glance snaps up to look at me. It starts growling and this causes Hanes to look back at me with terror.

"Viv..."

I don't know what to say. I'm dreaming. I know I am. This isn't real. How could it be? It feels real but... it can't be.

It chuffs my direction, staring at me.

"I..." I can't speak.

"Viv, please, go back upstairs..." is all Hanes says.

"Up-upstairs?" I widen my eyes. He just wants me to quietly go back upstairs as if this isn't happening?!

"It's not... it's not what it looks like..."

"It's not? I don't... I don't really know what I'm looking at." I admit.

A giant three-headed dog statue has come alive in the living room and it's not what it looks like? What is it supposed to look like?

I step backwards, my mind beginning to wonder what would happen if I just ran out the front door right now. How far would I get before that... thing... catches up with me and inevitably rips me apart?

"What the fuck..." is all I can say again.

"Viv..." Hanes says as I step back. "Viv..."

I then turn and take off on foot. My feet propelling me fast through the front doors. My feet ache as they pound against the stone steps and onto the winding driveway. I move onto the grass, hoping to get more traction there as I run as fast as I can.

I can hear it coming after me, the loud thudding steps shaking the ground. I can hear Hanes' voice calling my name from behind me but I don't stop.

I keep running until I reach the gate. It's shut and I don't know the code to get out. I try to climb it but its bars burn me and I shy away.

"Fuck!" I whine, looking at my hands where the skin is burnt and bubbling. What the fuck is happening?!

I look back to see the massive dog coming after me, its jaws dripping with blood now instead of water.

I look to the stone wall and try to climb it but there's no chance of me getting over it. I can't get a grip and it's eight feet tall.

As the dog approaches, it stops directly in front of me. Each head's eyes seem to glow at me now. I brace myself against the wall, panting and my heart pelting out of my chest.

The heads growl, one licking its jaws while the other pants, blood dripping from its tongue. The one in the middle just bares its teeth as it growls at me.

"Please..." I beg, but just as I do, it's lunges as me.