Loyalty Of The Beasts
Faith .B.

The beast is a ferocious monster people tell kids about  make them go to bed at night. The beast is a shadow full of darkness, or so everyone thought. Josie W. is a girl everybody looks up to except Alice G. of course. Jay is a lost boy. He is Josie’s best friend from her past, that hasn't been seen since he was young.
“Angel? You inside girl?“ I call for my dog as I step into my apartment. I close the door a few seconds before she runs up to me, jumps up on me and knocks me over while she starts to lick my face.“Aww Angel! I just got this shirt last week! Now you’ve stained it!“ I yell at my dog, but not in a mean way. Angel gets off of me and starts to wag her tail really hard. “You better stop wagging your tail so hard or itś gonna fall off!“ I say.  when she stops wagging her tail, I tell her to go get her feeding bowl. ¨ The spotted one girl, with the blueish violet spots. A few minutes later she brings it to me. “Good girl, now go get your water bowl, the one with yellow stripes!“ I say as she walks away.  She walks back to me and licks my face before trotting off to fetch her bowl.
Angel comes back a few minutes later carrying her bowl out of the side of her mouth, which has water in it too. “Angel! Drop it! There´s water spilling out of it!” I basically scream at my dog. Angel immediately drops the bowl. I start to run over to the bowl to stop it from spilling any further. As I step off of my black carpet onto the hardwood floor next to the spill, I slip and fall on top of the water spot. Angel gives me a look that says ‘ stupid‘. “Don't look at me like that! It’s your fault!” I say as I get up and hear someone knocking on the door.
“Huh, I wonder who that is. “I say in a low, whisper, as I get up off the ground. Another knock sounds, exactly like the one before. Angel starts growling as I walk up to the door. “What’s wrong girl? Who is it?“ I ask Angel in a playful way. I look through the peephole and see nothing there, so I open the door. “ Who’s ther- “I cut myself off. I see a box on the ground with my name printed on the box with something a little smaller writen on a sticky note, stuck on the bottom right side of my name.

TO THE RESIDENTS OF JOSIE .W.
Nobody answered so I left
              the package in the hallway.

Wow, this person couldn’t wait like five seconds for me to get to the door? - Well, it’s kinda my fault anyways, because I didn’t tell the person I would be there in a second.Oh well. I pick up the surprisingly light box and set it on my counter. “See Angel, it’s just a package girl. I don’t get why you're all worked up about it, I say looking at my dog.
Angel whimpers and walks over to the bay window in the front room and jumps up onto it and lays down. Her black, brown, and white coat reflects the light like a mirror. he light Angel reflects is moonlight because it’s almost 9 P.M. Even though Angel is a Doberman, Rottweiler, and German Shepherd cross breed she is so sweet and protective.  Most people  take one look at my dog and run away.  But the day I got her from the pound I just knew she was the one I would take home and make part my small, small family, in New York at least.
Angel was about three months old when I picked her up from the pound. She was abandoned in a ditch because she was born with a clefted front paw deformity. Her front right paw is twisted slightly inward, so I assume the breeder didn't like the look of the paw so Angel was dumped on the side of the road in a ditch. I hate people that make looks the most important attribute They make it more important than the real things that matter like personality and smarts.  Angel might not be the prettiest dog in the world, but she’s definitely smart and very very loving, caring, and obviously loyal.
Angel starts to bark when I get the box cutter out from under the sink,. “Angel, what's wrong with you? You need to stop barking before one of the neighbors calls Kaylen again!“ I whisper shout at my dog. She whimpers and lays her head back on the windowsill, but she is still looking at me. “You want to help me open it girl?“ I ask looking at her. She looks me straight in the eyes stands up and shakes her whole body, that's her way of saying no.
  “Fine then, be like that, I say pouting a little bit. I walk over to the package, but I notice the tape is already open. “Huh, that’s odd,“ I say putting the cutter on my soapstone countertop. Inside is  a lot of wrapping paper.I  take it out and see an envelope. I grab the envelope and start to open it. However, I decide to set it on the counter, because I’m super nervous. My hands are shaking, and I just want to throw the envelope away, but i feel intrigued so see what it is. What if it’s someone sending me a death note or something?
I look over at angel and say, “Are you sure you don’t want to open it?“ She stands up from her position on the makeshift couch and jumps down and shakes one more time.and I get the message. “Fine, but if it’s a death note, then you better protect me!” I say as I grab the envelope and rip it open. It says,
“Meet me at Raven Park tonight at 9 pm -B.” Oh, it must be Brad, we were supposed to hang out today. He looks exactly like me, brown hair, hazel eyes, tanned skin. Basically, we look like twins, even though he´s 2 years older than me. When my mom birthed me, she introduced me to my brother, Brad, on the first day i was born, or so she says.  He is probably being his normal weird self.I go over to my oven to see that the time is 8:30 PM. I run to Angel to tell her to go get her harness.
Angel comes back while I’m curling my hair. She has her leash in her mouth and she managed to slip on her harness. After I finish curling my hair and putting on a light layer of makeup I'm ready to go. I look at the clock on the oven and see it’s 8:55 PM, luckily I live right by the park. I walk over to the windowsill and close the blinds.  That way if I stay out until five in the morning again there will not be too much light pouring into the room.
I lock the front door behind us.  We start to walk to Raven Park. When I get to the park gates it’s 9:03.  I might be a little late, but oh well. It’s really really dark when I step through the gate. Because the normally brightly shining fluorescent street lamps aren't on yet. Which is strange and the trees are blocking out the moon, even though it’s a full tonight. After a little while, I end up having to use my phone light to see.
I start to think about the last time Brad wanted me to come over at night. We ended up playing on his ps4 all night.He also basically ate a world’s  supply of pizza and drank a whole bunch of soda. Probably enough to fill the West Sea.
  Why did Brad even send a letter? He could have just texted me; oh well, I’ll ask him when I see him. As I get deeper and deeper into the park I start to get a little jumpy. Even with Angel I am still uneasy. Every leaf or twig that cracks under my feet or or Angel’s paws makes me jump. I’m so going to tell Brad about this!
The moon is peeking through the trees so I put my phone away after a little while, I look at my phone for a few minutes and see that it’s 10:12 PM.  Wow, it’s already been an hour? I think to myself. Angel starts growling at something in the bushes to my left. “What is it Angel?“ I ask my dog as I start to back away from the bushes. She takes a quick glance at me. I hear someone start laughing.hen Angel hears the laugh, she immediately relaxes. “Brad? What the heck do you think you're doing!?“  I scream.
¨Wow dude I was just messing with you. No need to get your knickers in a twist,” Brad says happily jumping up and down while laughing in my face.
“No Brad, it's honestly not funny. I could have had a heart attack. You almost scared me to death!¨ As I say this Angel starts growling again, but she isn't facing us. I hear footsteps walking towards us. I see brad make a scared face then he turns and runs as fast as he can as far as he can. I try to turn around but I slip on a pile of mud. I fall on my face. I feel a furry tail, so I probably landed on Angel. I see a furry hand reach out to me.
I hesitate to grab it before hearing a really deep voice who says,
“It's okay, I promise.” I decide to grab the hand. He pulls me up.  It's brad! My stupid brother! Brad is holding a voice synthesizer to disguise his voice. He lowers the synthesizer while saying,
“Got ya!”
“I hate you Brad you're the worst brother ever.”
“You know you love me.” 
¨I kinda have to.”
¨Where's your dog.¨
¨I thought she went with you when you ran.¨
¨She didn't,she is supposed to be with you.”
¨Nope she isn't and she has a name, it's Angel,¨ he doesn't reply. We look around for her without any luck. We start calling out her name, but nothing. Then I see a hole in the ground.something I can see from here, moving. I walk towards it and see a furry tail sticking out. I walk closer it is a tail that is moving. Angel is in the hole. I pull her out and pick her up to hold her close
“Brad to help me carry her! She might be hurt!” I call to him. But I see he isn't there anymore. I start walking home with Angel’s big body in my arms. I wonder what happened to Brad, he might have gotten hurt, but Iḿ pretty sure heś fine, Iĺl text him when I get home though, just to make sure.
When I pulled her out of the hole the only thing that was moving was her tail. I can faintly hear her breathing and as I walk farther away from the park gate to the outside of the park, her breathing gets stronger. We reach the park gate and I notice  that her breathing is back to normal.She is now squirming in my arms.I set her on the ground and wait a few seconds before starting to walk, allowing her to get her bearings.
The first street we walk across is all lit up. I look on to the next  street ahead is pitch black.  All that can be  seen is the outline of leaves like, pencil shavings all over the street. Angel starts to walk forward and I notice she doesn't have her harness or leash on any more. I wonder how they came off of her. After a few seconds I follow Angel..
We keep walking until I get that feeling somebody's watching us. ¨Angel! Come! I say as I slowly walk forward a few more steps. I see something moving in the shadows. Angel immediately comes to my side. “ Who’s there? “ I say, feeling stupid talking with no one else around. Angel looks into an alleyway as we pass and is immediately tense. She starts growling. As soon as she starts growling a low growl flows smoothly out of the darkest corner of the alley. “Angel… what is it girl?“ I ask, as she starts walking closer. “ Angel, don’t do it,” I whisper scream at her. She hesitates but still moves forward.
That’s the first time Angel has deliberately ignored what I asked or more like told her what to do. Angel disappears into the darkness of the alleyway. I hear a little scuffle and then see Angel walks out of the darkness with something hanging out of her mouth. “What do you have girl?“ I ask as I get a little closer to her. She shakes her whole body and drops the thing on the ground, it’s a rat. “Really Angel? Gross!“ I say backing away from the thing she dropped. The rat has something glittery in it’s mouth reflecting the moonlight. “Oh, this is gonna suck! “ I whisper to myself.  I reach down and open the rat's mouth a little bit wider than it was before. Angel just stares at me.
“What? You’re the one that had it in your mouth!“ I say looking pointedly at her while raising my voice a little over a whisper. As I take my hand away from the rat's mouth it stays wide open. The thing in its mouth is a candy wrapper. “Really!? Why did I even come check this out?¨ I say as I give Angel a quizzical look. Angel looks back with the same look. ¨Why did you kill it anyways? It wasn´t bothering you none. So why? Gosh, I wish you could talk to me,¨  I say wiping my hands on my pants.
“Whatever, let's go then, I say as I turn around and start walking. It's around ten or eleven,so there isn't anyone around that can see me playing with a dead rat. That will be embarrassing to try to explain. I retreat from the scene of the “crime“ and start to walk away from the rat and Angel.
“Come on girl, let's go. I need to cook dinner and you need to take a bath,“ I say as looking back. When I mention the word “bath“ Angel flinches and slows down her pace. “Oh come on! I'm the one that has to clean the apartment after because you stink it up, you wet dog!“ I say as I start laughing. Angel speeds up a little.  After a little walking we arrive at our apartment.
  We walk up the stairs to our apartment and see that my door is open. I notice the room is pitch black inside,other than the clock on the stove and the tiny bit of light peaking through the closed blinds. “ Hello? Anyone in here?” I feel like I'm in a calculable story or movie because there is always one girl who ends up getting herself hurt by calling out into the darkness and having someone grab her. lus, I'm scared of the dark. I back away from the door when I hear something moving around inside. I noticed Angel and see that she's looking at me.
“What!? You're the dog! You're supposed to protect me! Whatever this isn't the time to fight about it!“ I whisper scream.  Something in my apartment breaks and moonlight spills in like the ocean washing over the sand from the windowsill. “What the! Come on Angel, let's check it out,“ I say. But I feel stupid when I realize that's what almost all people in books or movies say right before the writer or director kills that person off. I walk into my apartment and turn on the light switch and see that none of my furniture is disturbed, other than the pillows in the bay window. The fridge has mud on it.I walk over to it and open it. It looks like someone decided they wanted to eat all the food and chose my fridge.
All the food is gone, well, all but the pieces of food that are half chewed. “Angel, go check the other rooms,” I say in a quiet whisper. She walks to the two other bedrooms. She comes back from her surveillance and shakes her body, signaling no. I walk quietly over to the window to look out and  I see a homeless man that's laid out on the sidewalk on the street below.  The man looks more dead than alive.  However,  even from my second story window I can see he is breathing. I glimpse something moving out of the corner of my eye.
I quickly turn my head to the right glimpse of the hair on something that looked like, wolf orr maybe a coyote. I used to live in the outskirts of Wyoming so I know what both of these animals look. In fact, I raised a baby wolf when I was only 16 years old. That was only about 5 years ago. I remember the day I left the pup like it was yesterday.
“Bubba, you have to be good for grandma okay?“ I said to my baby as I hand him over to my mom. I'm going to be gone in New York for the next few years for my career as an animal rescuer. I moved to New York because of a job. The state's natural animal rates have dropped at an astonishing rate because of the overpopulated cities, mean the animals that were here before we moved in, have started dying off. I’m going to have to stay with my brother Brad at his house before im able to get my own house or apartment. I have to leave Bubba here because there is a law that says exotic animals aren't allowed to be kept as pets in the city. But luckily I have a permit that's say I can keep wild and domestic animals, because, I own a rescue center, for abandoned, or dropped off animals, so I’m allowed to keep and take care of exotic animals here in Wyoming, but the permit does not work for New York, so I have to leave my mom, dad, older sister, and younger brothers, to take care of my rescue center while i'm gone. Bubba shakes his body when I try to give him to my mom.
“It’s okay bubba, I’ll come back and visit, I promise,“ I say as I hand him to my mom. and walk towards the taxi that's waiting for me. A tear slips down my cheek, as I walk away from my baby boy.