Good boy?

one of my earliest pieces. Family pet gone horribly wrong.

“I want that one!” Kinsey yelled as she pulled her mom towards a cage.
“I don’t think that’s a very good one,” Shayden said as he continued walking down the aisle of cages. “It looks too…girly. We’re gonna have the dog for a while. I don’t think we should get the first one that the four year old likes.”
“We can try, but I doubt we’ll find one that both of you will like. And besides, you only have "what is it now " a little less than a year until you turn 18 and leave the house? So it makes sense to get one that your sister likes.” Shayden’s mom said as Kinsey ran back and forth between an akita puppy and a chocolate lab.
Shayden had reached the end of the aisle. “I’m gonna go look at some other dogs.” He yelled back to his mom.
“Why are we even getting a pet?” Shayden murmured to himself as he began walking down a new aisle. “The house is already a mess. We don’t need an animal to make it any worse.” Shayden had walked half way down the aisle before he saw it. A giant dog, almost half as tall as Shayden. It had short black fur covering an extremely muscular body. Shayden couldn't help but laugh at how small its tail and legs were compared to the rest of its body.
“That's a mastiff.” Shayden turned to see one of the workers walking towards him. “They were originally used for dog fighting, but, unfortunately, this one was still being used for that purpose. We got him about a month ago.”
Just then Kinsey came running towards Shayden. “You found a big scary one!” She whispered while peaking out from behind Shayden's leg. She looked at it in awe. “It's a big as a horsey!” The mastiff walked towards the front of its cage and looked down at Kinsey. It's mouth curved up slightly. “Look mommy!” Kinsey yelled to her mom who was only half way down the aisle. “It's smiling at me.” She giggled.
* * *
Shayden looked up and down the hall, making sure nobody was near. He walked back into his room and closed the door. He flipped his bedroom light off, and his computer monitor flickered to life. Somehow he had managed to hook his computer up to be turned on and off by the light switch. He usually kept it to switch off when the lights got turned on. If anybody else knew what he searched, he would be grounded for a couple months minimum. He pulled a thin book out of drawer on his left, and flipped to the last page. This book wasn't only his decoy for if somebody walked in, it also held the link he needed.
Shayden looked towards his door one last time before entering the link. “Let's see...where would they have anything on pets...ah! Here we are.” He scanned the page, looking for something suitable. “This one sounds like it would be fun to try.” Shayden whispered. “ But it might be a little over the top. Hmm... This one doesn't sound too bad. And it looks pretty simple too. I think I'll stick with this one for now.” He printed off the page he was on, then went to turn his lights back on.
* * *
“I think we should name her Lady.” Kinsey said as she tried to climb onto the dog.

“Kinsey” Shayden tried not to laugh “I don't think we should name it that. It's a boy dog.”

“How would you know?” Kinsey asked.

Shayden couldn't stop himself from laughing. “Just go ask mom.”
Kinsey got up and slowly walked out of the room. “Let's see how well this works.” Shayden said as he pulled out a folded piece of paper from his back pocket. He read:
Place Left hand on animals head, with middle finger between eyes, and index and ring finger above the eyes. Place pinky and thumb near ears. Then place other hand on animals side, with thumb on the fourth rib from the bottom. Begin chanting: Undaga undaga. let the spirits of Hades rise. Fill this animals soul, and bring the good to it's demise. Repeat three times. Should begin to notices mental changes within five hours. If strong enough caster, may notice subtle physical changes.
Shayden looked out the window. Good, mom is busy with Kinsey He thought. He placed his hands where the spell had instructed, and began the chant.
* * *
“Shayden, Kinsey” Natalie, their mother, yelled. “Can you guys check on Conan? I haven't seen him all day.”

It was the day after Shayden had tried the spell. “He's been sleeping in the basement.” Shayden yelled down the hall from his bedroom. “I'll go check on him. Make sure he's still breathing.” He laughed.
He walked down the hall and turned to go into the basement. “I hate these stairs.” he thought. “They're way too steep.” He reached the bottom and walked into the first bedroom to his right. “Conan?” Shayden said, scanning the room for the dog. He saw a faint trail of fur leading out of the room. He turned and followed it into the main room of the basement. “Conan?” He said sheepishly. “Where are you?...Uh oh...”
Conan didn't look like a mastiff anymore. He had grown at least a foot, and gained a lot of muscle. He had lost most of the fur on his body, and his skin had become almost scaly. It's tail had gotten longer and thicker, and looked almost sharp. He had slight bulges on his back and sides that looked as if they would rip open at any second.
“Don't freak out, Conan.” He said as he walked towards the sleeping dog. “I'm only going to touch you.” He cautiously took his final step towards Conan. He reached his hand out, and guardedly extended his finger. Conan's skin was rough. He touched the bulges, but nothing happened.
“He's alive.” Shayden yelled up the stairs. He turned and started walking back toward the stairs. He placed his foot on the bottom stair and heard a muted rip. Shayden looked down, seeing if he had stepped on something. “Crap.” He though. He turned around, and saw Conan looking around. But it didn't look like the Conan he had just seen. There were no longer bulges on his sides. Where they used to be were now what looked like giant bat wings.
Shayden and Conan locked eyes. He didn't break eye contact when he yelled “Mom, you and Kinsey should go to the car.” He stepped onto the next step up, and Conan followed suit, taking a huge step forward.
Shayden bolted up the rest of the stairs. He stopped and turned when he reached the top. Conan was at the base of the stairs, tail swinging back and forth, with his lips curled up, snarling.
“Does Conan wanna come and play?” Kinsey excitedly squealed. She looked down the stairs and let out a blood curdling scream.

“Run Kinsey.” Shayden said, trying to sound calm. “And tell mom we need to go.

Kinsey took a step back before turning and running. “MOMMY!” She hysterically yelled.
Conan wasn't going to let her get very far. He unfurled his wings and jumped, completely clearing the stairs and landing in front of Kinsey.
* * *
“We need to get her to the hospital. Soon.” Natalie stoically said, adding a third layer of gauze to Kinsey's mangled leg. “ But with Conan right outside the door...” She barely finished wrapping the gauze when she broke down again.
Shayden looked around the room. The had to be something in the closet he could use to buy them at least a little time. He got up and looked. Some dolls and dress up clothes. He looked up and saw an access hole to the attic. “Perfect” He said, smirking.
* * *

“Ok mom” Shayden said. “I'll climb into the attic and find my old baseball bat. Ill stomp once, then you go and start banging on the door. That will distract Conan, and let me know where I need to go. Then we get to the tricky part. I need to somehow get down into the hall without Conan noticing. As soon as I get Conan distracted, ill knock on the door two times. You wait ten seconds before coming out, then run to the car and get Kinsey out of here.”
Shayden thought he had put his old wooden bat in the attic, but it turned out to be a metal one. He couldn't help but laugh “I bet mom put this up here to stop me from breaking anything.” He stomped on the boards beneath him and almost instantly heard a dulled banging. He walked over to where it was coming from, and looked down. Insulation, but no thick boards. “Now or never.” He said. He put one foot over the insulation and felt it sag a little. He put his other foot over, but it didn't break under his weight. He jumped, and heard a faint crack. “Great.” Shayden said, rolling his eyes. He climbed back on the board he had just stepped off of. “Here goes nothing...again.” He jumped off the board, and the ceiling under him caved. He landed on something hard, but heard a second crack. He looked down, and saw that he had landed on top of Conan, and ripped threw part of his wing.
Conan roared and wheeled around, throwing Shayden off of his back. “Oops.” Conan saw what had happened to its wing, and turned to look at Shayden, who was just starting to stand up. “Like that? I can do it to your other wing too.” Shayden taunted, twisting the baseball bat.
Conan howled and lunged at Shayden. Shayden swung the bat, hitting the “dog” in the side of the head. He ran to the bedroom door and knocked twice before running to the end of the hall.

“Come and get me, you little mut.” Conan started padding its way towards Shayden. It was half way threw the hall when it launched itself forward. Shayden didn't have time to move to the side, so he threw the bat, hitting where Conan's good wing attached to its shoulder. He stopped a foot in front of Shayden and whimpered.
“Oh, you don't like that?” Shayden said, trying to sound confident. “Do you like this?” Shayden yelled as he hit Conan's jaw. “And how about this?” He said as he swung from the other side. Shayden could tell that the beating was making Conan more mad then anything.
Shayden ran. Down the flight of stairs that let to their front door. “Down here!” He yelled as Conan looked around. Shayden reached into his pocket, and pulled out a razor blade. “You haven't been used too much lately. Time for you to shine.” He whispered to it, keeping his eyes on the dog. Conan didn't waste any time on the stairs, and just jumped from the second floor. Shayden stepped forward, ready to slash with the blade.
* * *
three weeks later
“I see you like this one?” A worker at the humane society said as she walked up to a little boy. “It's called a mastiff. They were originally used for dog fight. This ones old owners abused it.” The kids mother walked up to the cage. “Don't tell the kid,” The worker whispered to the mother. “But it belonged to the family who was in the news the other day. The ones with the little girl with the messed up leg, and the boy who was found with a razor blade in his slit throat.”

Reviews

[Shantel Moore]

its pretty good. i think you have read it to me once. but i could be mistaken. i really enjoy reading your work. whether its completely random or just down right sad. you have a talent and i hope you continue to share it to the world. :D

[Ash Bute]

Where it says “Good, mom is busy with Kinsey” He thought. Maybe it would be better if it was italicized since it's a thought?
He turned around, and say Conan looking around. It should be saw :)
Amazing story