Loyal Dogs

Confirmation

By Sonny Dae

© 2025, All Rights Reserved

“I don’t like this place,” Khalil said, his fur standing on end as he watched the decrepit building.

Aside from the obvious health hazards, it stood isolated from any surrounding structures, making it resemble the last rotten tooth to be removed. Lacking any lights inside or out, it appeared shrouded in darkness, which only worsened the cracked walls and peeling door.

“Don’t be such a wuss,” Efstratios said, giving his friend a playful shove. “It’s just a haunted house.”

“A haunted house that several folks have disappeared in!”

The wolf tilted his head. “Well, duh. That’s what makes it haunted.”

“How do we know there’s not an Afflicted inside?”

Efstratios scoffed and flagged off the question. “Please, you really think some mutant freak can keep quiet? Besides, you know they would never leave it alone if it was.”

Khalil turned shakily back to the house. The rumors were truthfully the least of his concerns. The whole place just felt unsettling. The feeling of being sucked into a void nagged at him the longer he looked at it. Even now, that feeling returned and grew steadily stronger. The building grew taller as if he drew closer despite knowing he hadn’t moved a step. He fearfully scanned every window, unsure which was worse: seeing movement or seeing nothing but a pitch-black void.

Efstratios sighing heavily brought Khalil back to reality. It took an effort to tear his gaze away, and his mind felt clearer for it. “What is taking Clem so damn long?” Efstratios asked. “He’s supposed to be bringing the drinks!”

“Do we really need to do this? I mean, the building is condemned, right? We could get into serious trouble for going in there. What about all the canids that went missing years ago?”

“If that’s true, then why haven’t they torn the building down?” the wolf asked lazily.

Khalil fell silent. He knew exactly why the building was still standing. Every time the construction crews tried, they fell ill, then the equipment would fail until finally the project was abandoned. Efstratios knew that, too, but when the wolf took that tone, he could no longer be reasoned with.

“Maybe we should go look for Clem?” Khalil offered. “Knowing him, he either got lost or he’s passed out drunk on the sofa.”

Efstratios chewed on his cheek for a moment before responding, “Nah, fuck him. Let’s go in.”

That was not the expected response. Khalil wanted to leave, but could never forgive himself if something happened because he wasn’t there.

The front door was, surprisingly, unsealed. A single turn of the knob, and it opened without resistance. A chilling breeze from behind made Khalil shiver. At least the wind blocked some of the smell that came from inside.

Stepping over the threshold, the stench hit full force. A mixture of old, mildew, and rot that clogged his nose and throat. Luckily, they had anticipated such a thing and put on their face masks. Unfortunately, it did little to block the olfactory assault.

Khalil turned on his flashlight, his eyes still watering as he adjusted to each inhale being a struggle. Sweeping the beam around the room revealed exactly what he imagined: a place full of debris, dust, and cobwebs. His tail tucked between his legs as he aimed upward to look at the crumbling ceiling. Pieces of paint and dust hung like jagged knives waiting to impale the foolish intruder who disturbed their tomb.

“Maybe we should go,” Khalil said shakily. “This place looks like it could come down at any moment.”

“We literally took two steps through the door, and you already wanna turn chicken?” Efstratios replied. He rolled his eyes and continued. “Whatever. You wanna pussy out, the door is that way.”

Swearing under his breath, Khalil followed. He hated his friend for doing this to them. For putting them in this situation. Sure, he could walk away at any time, but what kind of friend would that make him? He knew Efstratios knew it, too. That Khalil’s loyalty made a useful leash.

At least the wolf knew enough to stay downstairs, not that he had much of a choice. The staircase was rotted and missing several rungs, so neither of them wanted to try their luck. The downstairs proved creepy enough for Khalil’s taste anyway.

Dark curtains blocking the windows explained the lack of lights from outside. What it didn’t explain was why the curtains were in pristine condition. Every other piece of furniture was rotted, broken, or both. Khalil could just imagine the myriad of diseases that awaited them if they tried to use it.

The thought was a welcome distraction from the oppressive darkness that threatened to swallow them. He couldn’t be sure, but the flashlights were the only source of light. Nothing existed outside the beam clenched in his fist. That wasn’t right. The light should bounce off the objects in the room, providing a small amount of illumination outside of the flashlight’s initial cone. But unless they pointed to it directly, they saw nothing else. Khalil didn’t like it. The walls seemed to press on them until the light drove it back.

If Efstratios was bothered by any of it, he didn’t show it. The wolf remained calm and relaxed as his crunching steps echoed throughout the house.

“You know they say the last family that lived here killed themselves,” Efstratios said. “They all drank poison or something.”

“I thought they disappeared,” Khalil said. The shiver running up his back was getting worse. He could barely hold his flashlight steady anymore.

“That’s why they disappeared. The government doesn’t want us to know the truth.”

“What truth?”

“That the weavers can’t be trusted.”

Khalil sighed heavily. “C’mon, don’t start this again.”

“Why not? Who knows what those magic users are doing when no one’s looking.”

“Isn’t that why they wear the collars?”

“You mean the collars they can take off whenever they want?” Efstratios replied with an edge to his voice.

“So why would the family off themselves?” As much as Khalil welcomed any distraction from the nagging feeling that something was watching them, he did not want to have this conversation again.

“Because weavers are sick fucks,” Efstratios said. “Probably wanted to test some new spell and decided these poor bastards made good subjects.”

Khalil sighed again and fell silent.

They entered the kitchen, but it was more of the same. Crumbling ceiling, broken, rusted appliances, filth everywhere. But Khalil could swear that the ceiling was lower than before. The floor also felt different. He had to keep pointing the flashlight down because every time he looked away it felt as if he stood over a vast nothingness. Without the light to reveal the filth-encrusted tiles, he would surely plummet into the void.

“Look, there’s stairs here,” Efstratios said, pointing his flashlight at the mentioned path. “We might be able to go up this way.”

Khalil hoped they couldn’t, but he seemed to have run out of favors as this stairwell was not only intact, it was clean of the rot and debris that carpeted the rest of the house.

The upstairs felt no different than the downstairs. So much so that Khalil had to look back at the staircase they had just climbed to confirm they hadn’t gone in circles. The only notable difference was the lack of a front door at the end of the hall, which gave him a mild panic.

They were upstairs, not downstairs, he needed to remind himself. It brought little comfort as the feeling of standing over a massive pit threatening to swallow them returned with a vengeance. Now the walls pressed in on them. More than once, Khalil started to turn sideways to accommodate the increasing confines before looking up and seeing he had plenty of room. Was this some kind of late-onset claustrophobia? He never had problems with tight spaces before.

Efstratios approached the closest door. Unlike the front door, this one refused to budge. The wolf threw his shoulder into it multiple times, but only succeeded in rattling the walls. Each collision sounded like a heavy drum strike or an approaching footstep. Khalil watched the hall but couldn’t shake the fear that something was coming towards them, made worse by the flashlight still unable to reveal anything outside of its direct influence.

Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and grabbed the wolf’s arm. “I think a piece of the ceiling fell in front of it. We’re not getting in through here.”

Thankfully, Efstratios didn’t argue. The presence of whatever was approaching receded but still lingered at the edge of Khalil’s vision. No matter where he pointed the flashlight, it always seemed to remain just out of sight.

“Hey, we’ve seen enough. We should get out before it gets dark,” Khalil offered. His tail hung permanently between his legs, and his trembling worsened. There was no hiding his shaking anymore.

Efstratios didn’t even look at him. “Just one more room.”

Khalil whined, but he followed.

Efstratios went to the door furthest down the hall. This one opened with little resistance. It turned out to be a bedroom. What set it apart from the rest of the house was the “neatness” of it. While still covered in dust and dirt, it showed that the room had been tidied up before it fell into decay.

Khalil swallowed. Something wasn’t right. Now the air itself pressed on them. The walls, the floor, and the ceiling threatened to swallow him if he didn’t leave when he had the chance.

“Wow, these folks were loaded, huh?” Efstratios asked as he looked over the bed. “My grandmother has a bed like this and it cost her damn near 2000 marros.”

“Yeah, that’s nice. Can we go?” The feeling was worsening. His ears rang from the silence. The darkness had all but consumed them now. He frantically swept the flashlight’s beam around the room, hoping to drive it off. A futile attempt, but better than accepting fate. The darkness receded but returned the instant the light shifted.

“But we haven’t found any bodies yet.”

“Fuck the bodies! We gotta go, now!” He wasn’t sure if it was his paranoia or reality, but the flashlights appeared to be getting dimmer. Whether the darkness was getting stronger or they were running out of power, he couldn’t tell.

Either way, their time was up.

“What are you so afraid of?” Efstratios asked.

“Do you not feel that?!”

“Feel wh--?”

His friend turned to him and stopped. Khalil felt the presence of something behind him. Tendrils appeared in his peripherals, slowly snaking their way into his vision.

With a frightened yelp, Khalil lunged forward and spun. He lost his balance and fell to the floor, landing on his tail and sending a sharp spike of pain up his backside. Ignoring the pain, he aimed his flashlight at the door.

Nothing was there.

Khalil shakily stood but made sure to keep the flashlight trained on their only exit. “Uh-uh. Nope. I’m done. You can come if you want, but I’ve seen enough.”

Efstratios didn’t respond.

Khalil risked looking away. Efstratios was gone. There was no sign of him or his flashlight.

“Seriously, you decide to pull this shit now?!” Khalil asked, his voice breaking. “This ain’t funny! Come out!”

His friend didn’t respond. He didn’t know how Efstratios managed to disappear without a sound, but he had had enough.

He carefully made his way to the door. The joke wasn’t funny, especially not now. Efstratios could enjoy the place. He was leaving before his flashlight ran out.

The hall was empty, but Khalil couldn’t forget the feeling from before. The presence of whatever stood behind him, creeping towards him. He shivered and increased his pace. The sooner he got out of there, the better.

The hall had become much narrower; the darkness scraped his arms despite tucking them in. He ignored it as best he could and focused solely on the staircase at the end of the hall. So long as that remained open, he had a chance.

The floor suddenly gave way underneath him. His foot slid effortlessly through the crack, swallowing his leg and sending him to the floor. The flashlight flew from his grasp. Pain flared through his leg as the rotted wood scratched him. Khalil cried out. The misfortune was short-lived as the sound of thumping down the hall reached him.

He didn’t bother looking for the flashlight. At best, he had seconds before whatever caused that sound descended on him. With a pained cry, he wrenched his leg free and ran. For once, he thanked the narrow confines of the hall. It made it easy to tell which way he was going. Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the stairs, and with his injured leg, he couldn’t maintain his balance when he suddenly stepped over nothing.

Khalil managed a single surprised shout before tumbling down the stairs. Pain flared all over his body. The sounds of his tumbling resembled hideous laughter in the dark. But through it all, he still heard the heavy thumping steps of his pursuer.

When he finally reached the bottom, he quickly forced himself back up. Pain be damned, he wasn’t dying here. He couldn’t remember which way to the exit, so he picked a direction and ran, hoping he didn’t run into a wall. He moved with arms outstretched. It didn’t take long before he touched something cold and hard. He immediately pulled his arms back and turned to see the light outside through the front doorway.

Khalil urged as much speed as he could from his aching body. The thumping behind him grew louder. The walls closed in with each step. He saw the puffs of cold air as he panted in exertion. The whisper of something against his tail caused him to move faster than he thought possible, limp and all. The thumping sped up to match his pace. He didn’t dare look back. His gaze was firmly fixed on the ever-shrinking exit.

He burst through the open door, tumbled down the stairs, and rolled onto the sidewalk. He scrambled to his feet, watching the door intently for whatever horrors chased him to burst forth. But once he stood, he wasted no time running as far away from the house as possible.

****

After Khalil escaped, he immediately ran to the nearest Cerberus station and told them what happened. They assumed he was insane or drunk or both. Eventually, they relented and agreed to send someone to investigate the house after an hour of pleading. They even brought along an experienced weaver in case any magical anomalies existed.

They found nothing but a dilapidated old house, Khalil’s flashlight, and half a six-pack of beer. No blood, bodies, or anything else to indicate foul play.

Khalil took the news hard. Knowing that not only Efstratios, but also Clem, who likely arrived at the house ahead of them and went inside to prank them, had disappeared. The officers must have seen how hard the news hit him because they only gave a half-hearted threat about filing false reports and sent him home.

Khalil went home devastated. He couldn’t explain what happened to his friends and knew no one would believe him. One thing he did know was that he was never setting foot in that house again.