The Dog Slayer
David Gleeson
I awoke in a pool of sweat. Another nightmare of Roman dying at the party. This has been a reoccurring problem that happens almost every night. Or at least every other night. Everyday my body feels clammy, and I have never been the same since that night.
The days are long, and the weekends are short it’s been hard to even wake up each day. “Why do I feel like crap every day?” I say to myself in the morning. At least I still have Travis, Deion, and Kenny to keep me somewhat company throughout the day. My parents on the other hand have stuck really close to me they are extremely worried about me and my mental health. Ever since that night I have not been to another party. I fear losing my other home dogs.
Tonight, is October 31, 2025, Halloween night. Usually, my favorite holiday but everything seems so gloomy every day, so I don’t really notice anything different about the day. My parents were heading out for the night, and I was home alone bored out of my mind. I decided to invite my boys over for the night. It was just going to be a chill night maybe just a scary movie some pizza and sodies.
When my boys arrived, we just chilled and talked about the week and any crazy stuff that went down at school. Then: DING DONG! The doorbell rang it was just the pizza guy. Two pizzas and sodas. One was pepperoni because that was Travis’s favorite the other was just plain simple cheese for me and the other guys. We all agreed on Fanta and Sprite because those are the superior sodas. While we ate, we decided on which scary movie we should watch. We decided on The Foot Fetish Slayer. It was about this killer that used his disgusting dog’s aka feet to kill his victims. Kenny and Deion were not very fond of scary movie, but Travis and I were fine with it. We just kind of went with the flow.
The night was ominous, and it felt like something terrible was going to happen. Almost like the night that Roman and Sam were killed. It felt exactly like that in the moment. The room was pitch black almost like you were looking in a black hole that never ended, and you could hear a pin drop on how quiet we were. The movie was really building up and the suspense was absolutely killing me. The foot killer was still on the loose and no one can find where he is. It sprinkled outside for twenty minutes and then there was fog that built up out of nowhere. Gave me the absolute creeps. My boys and I decided to play call of duty after the movie. But since it was Halloween, we had to play zombies in the dark and freak each other out. Every time it was my turn to play, I got so scared it felt as though my soul left my skeleton. It was absolutely terrifying. If there is anything I hate the most it’s zombies.
Suddenly I heard a huge CRASH that came from the kitchen. I sprung up and turned on the lights and rushed to the kitchen. There was glass everywhere but no one to be found. Which was sort of odd. All we found when investigating was a rock that said, “I see you and I never forgot.” We all tried to figure out what the hell this meant. But we just eventually gave up and went back to playing our game.
Two hours later we heard one of the doors pried open with something open and jolted when that sound exploded throughout the house. Again, the living room was pitch black so we were naturally on edge. We turned the lights back on and investigated. There was a shadow in the hallway. We peaked over and the shadow got closer and closer til we could see who the mysterious figure was. It was Tyler. He had no shoes just his dogs out for everyone to see. How hard is it to lose or put shoes on I kept asking myself over and over again. He was speaking gibberish and it was hard to make out anything he said. But all I knew was he was out for blood. He had a crazy creepy look. He was wearing blank pants that were ripped to shreds a black long sleeve hoodie and face paint. No knife or gun just his dogs hanging out. The more I looked at his dogs I noticed that they were a little bloody. I asked him what the hell happened, and he said oh nothing. He said, “I just kicked a few kids a couple times that’s all.” I almost vomited because I envisioned him killing the group of kids with his dogs and the thought of this was absolutely disgusting.
Tyler said, “It’s a shame Roman isn’t here to save your life I enjoyed watching his last breaths as he died.” Tyler took off his crusty shoes and exposed the massive five-inch razor toe nail His toenails had to have been at least five inches. Which was gnarly. It all made sense to me and at that moment my home dogs and I ran from the real foot fetish slayer. We sprinted to the phone and tried to call 911 but the wires had to have been cut because I couldn’t dial anyone. Tyler caught me and swung his leg towards my face. He almost nearly nicked my face. I kicked his other leg and tripped him. My boys and I sprinted outside to look for a weapon and potential hiding spot. We each got an object to defend ourselves and decided to go after Tyler.
This was my house, and I wasn’t going to let some weird dweeb take it from me. I climbed in through the broken window and decided to take on Tyler myself. He killed my friends and I had to do this myself to avenge what was lost. It was like the final boss. The final showdown. You get the idea. I just sprinted at him and tackled him to the ground. I just went ham left, right, left, right. That only worked for so long until Tyler cut my arm with his toe. He cut me so bad my bone was almost showing.
I took off running to get my arm situated because I couldn't fight one handed. I wrapped my arm in some gauze and got back to the fight. This time I knew it was over. I went after Tyler and just unleashed everything I had on him. Out of nowhere Kenny, Travis, and Deion came with some two by fours and just cracked Tyler over the head and back a couple of times. Tyler went out cold. I got up and hugged my boys. Everything was perfect then Tyler awoke and stabbed me with his toe. While I lied in a pool of blood Travis took his two by four right across Tyler’s head and cracked his cranium open and it was over.
All I remember was flashing lights and some weird people with masks on working on my wounds. It was probably the best sleep of my life. When I woke up my parents and home dogs were at the hospital with me. I asked what happened and was shocked to hear that Tyler got what he deserved. I said, “Is Tyler dead or what’s the deal?” Travis said, “I took care of him and I’m pretty sure when he woke up in front of the police, he had a splitting headache if you catch my drift.” I knew it wasn’t over not until Tyler was killed by me.
The days are long, and the weekends are short it’s been hard to even wake up each day. “Why do I feel like crap every day?” I say to myself in the morning. At least I still have Travis, Deion, and Kenny to keep me somewhat company throughout the day. My parents on the other hand have stuck really close to me they are extremely worried about me and my mental health. Ever since that night I have not been to another party. I fear losing my other home dogs.
Tonight, is October 31, 2025, Halloween night. Usually, my favorite holiday but everything seems so gloomy every day, so I don’t really notice anything different about the day. My parents were heading out for the night, and I was home alone bored out of my mind. I decided to invite my boys over for the night. It was just going to be a chill night maybe just a scary movie some pizza and sodies.
When my boys arrived, we just chilled and talked about the week and any crazy stuff that went down at school. Then: DING DONG! The doorbell rang it was just the pizza guy. Two pizzas and sodas. One was pepperoni because that was Travis’s favorite the other was just plain simple cheese for me and the other guys. We all agreed on Fanta and Sprite because those are the superior sodas. While we ate, we decided on which scary movie we should watch. We decided on The Foot Fetish Slayer. It was about this killer that used his disgusting dog’s aka feet to kill his victims. Kenny and Deion were not very fond of scary movie, but Travis and I were fine with it. We just kind of went with the flow.
The night was ominous, and it felt like something terrible was going to happen. Almost like the night that Roman and Sam were killed. It felt exactly like that in the moment. The room was pitch black almost like you were looking in a black hole that never ended, and you could hear a pin drop on how quiet we were. The movie was really building up and the suspense was absolutely killing me. The foot killer was still on the loose and no one can find where he is. It sprinkled outside for twenty minutes and then there was fog that built up out of nowhere. Gave me the absolute creeps. My boys and I decided to play call of duty after the movie. But since it was Halloween, we had to play zombies in the dark and freak each other out. Every time it was my turn to play, I got so scared it felt as though my soul left my skeleton. It was absolutely terrifying. If there is anything I hate the most it’s zombies.
Suddenly I heard a huge CRASH that came from the kitchen. I sprung up and turned on the lights and rushed to the kitchen. There was glass everywhere but no one to be found. Which was sort of odd. All we found when investigating was a rock that said, “I see you and I never forgot.” We all tried to figure out what the hell this meant. But we just eventually gave up and went back to playing our game.
Two hours later we heard one of the doors pried open with something open and jolted when that sound exploded throughout the house. Again, the living room was pitch black so we were naturally on edge. We turned the lights back on and investigated. There was a shadow in the hallway. We peaked over and the shadow got closer and closer til we could see who the mysterious figure was. It was Tyler. He had no shoes just his dogs out for everyone to see. How hard is it to lose or put shoes on I kept asking myself over and over again. He was speaking gibberish and it was hard to make out anything he said. But all I knew was he was out for blood. He had a crazy creepy look. He was wearing blank pants that were ripped to shreds a black long sleeve hoodie and face paint. No knife or gun just his dogs hanging out. The more I looked at his dogs I noticed that they were a little bloody. I asked him what the hell happened, and he said oh nothing. He said, “I just kicked a few kids a couple times that’s all.” I almost vomited because I envisioned him killing the group of kids with his dogs and the thought of this was absolutely disgusting.
Tyler said, “It’s a shame Roman isn’t here to save your life I enjoyed watching his last breaths as he died.” Tyler took off his crusty shoes and exposed the massive five-inch razor toe nail His toenails had to have been at least five inches. Which was gnarly. It all made sense to me and at that moment my home dogs and I ran from the real foot fetish slayer. We sprinted to the phone and tried to call 911 but the wires had to have been cut because I couldn’t dial anyone. Tyler caught me and swung his leg towards my face. He almost nearly nicked my face. I kicked his other leg and tripped him. My boys and I sprinted outside to look for a weapon and potential hiding spot. We each got an object to defend ourselves and decided to go after Tyler.
This was my house, and I wasn’t going to let some weird dweeb take it from me. I climbed in through the broken window and decided to take on Tyler myself. He killed my friends and I had to do this myself to avenge what was lost. It was like the final boss. The final showdown. You get the idea. I just sprinted at him and tackled him to the ground. I just went ham left, right, left, right. That only worked for so long until Tyler cut my arm with his toe. He cut me so bad my bone was almost showing.
I took off running to get my arm situated because I couldn't fight one handed. I wrapped my arm in some gauze and got back to the fight. This time I knew it was over. I went after Tyler and just unleashed everything I had on him. Out of nowhere Kenny, Travis, and Deion came with some two by fours and just cracked Tyler over the head and back a couple of times. Tyler went out cold. I got up and hugged my boys. Everything was perfect then Tyler awoke and stabbed me with his toe. While I lied in a pool of blood Travis took his two by four right across Tyler’s head and cracked his cranium open and it was over.
All I remember was flashing lights and some weird people with masks on working on my wounds. It was probably the best sleep of my life. When I woke up my parents and home dogs were at the hospital with me. I asked what happened and was shocked to hear that Tyler got what he deserved. I said, “Is Tyler dead or what’s the deal?” Travis said, “I took care of him and I’m pretty sure when he woke up in front of the police, he had a splitting headache if you catch my drift.” I knew it wasn’t over not until Tyler was killed by me.
Gleeson is a cadet at NMMI.