A Haunting Morning

It was just another Friday morning for Luke and his family. There was a cool brisk October breeze in the air. Luke usually wakes up around 5:00 to walk their dog Shadow a German shepherd His wife Ella and their daughter Arina were still sleeping, but they soon will be waking up to get ready for school.

They live in a wooded area with surrounding lakes about 20 minutes from town.  It’s a small town where people tend to know each other. The closest major city is about 55 minutes away, which is where Luke drives every day for work.

Ella was slowly stretching her arms trying to wake up as she glanced over to see the clock the time was 5:40 and Luke had not come back yet. Without worrying Arina, she wakes her up and starts to get her ready for school. Even though Arina is pretty independent for an 8- year-old she needs mom to help her out.

Arina was in the bathroom brushing her teeth when she heard a noise coming from the kitchen door downstairs. She assumed it was her dad coming in, but, it wasn’t.  Once again the noise appeared louder and louder each time around. It was sort of a light scratching and banging on the door, she got her mom and they cautiously went down the stairs.

Before they stepped off the last step going into the kitchen, they looked around to see if anything was out of place or out of the ordinary there wasn’t, so they proceeded to go downward.  They could hear the noise outside the kitchen door, slowly they walked towards the door, but not before Ella decided to pick up one of the carving knives from the counter just to be safe.

Ella looked outside the door from the keyhole but could not see anything, but she sensed something was out there. Arina whispered to her mom “perhaps it was Shadow coming back.”  Amy yelled out in a nervous shaking tone “who is out there!” There was no reply, just silence. Ella told her daughter to stand back before she opened the door. Arina told her mom wait, she went to pick up a frying pan to hold in her hand, “just in case”, Arina said.

Ella slowly opened the door much to her surprise there was nothing standing out there. She did see some small footprints near the door, possibly an animal. She stepped outside to look around still clutching the knife with Arina not far behind with the pan.

Ella did not see anything so they were heading back inside, but just before they were about to close the door, this big Alaskan Husky barrels right through the door barking as both Ella and Arina were shaking like leaves on a windy day in their kitchen. They tried to stay still, but it was not easy.

The Alaskan Husky was wet, dirty, and trembling, but at least he was not barking which calmed things down things down for them. Ella slowly walked towards the dog noticing red wet marks and scratches on its face.  They gave the dog some food and some water as Ella looked at the clock again now it was 6:00 and no sign of her husband.

The level of anxiety on Ella was increasing with each passing minute that Luke was missing. Arina started to cry realizing that dad was not home, and neither was Shadow while this strange dog with marks on its face and body was there with them instead.

Who was this dog? Where did it come from and why was it there. But more importantly where was Luke? Where was Shadow?

to be continued…

Bullied

Adara was sitting out on the porch waiting for her aunt to call her for supper while her uncle Brad was in the shed putting his tools away after a day’s work.
You see Adara has been spending the summer with her uncle and aunt on their farm.
Her parents felt it would be good for Adara to get away and be outdoors, hoping to put last year behind her.

She is extremely anxious as summer is coming to an end. Adara is going into the 10th grade this coming fall. The past school year was not a good one for her.
Students bullied her and made fun of her for no reason. They told her she is ugly, fat, wore old clothes and that she was useless.

There were many days that she went home from school crying her eyes out, literally, a waterfall of tears would be streaming down her face. She could not understand why they would be so mean to her. 

Adara is your average girl. She is about 5. 3 ft. tall, slightly overweight but not obese. Her hair is shoulder length, dark and wavy. She is a good student never in trouble, belongs to a poetry club, not good at sports, shy, not too talkative and has very few friends.

As she helps her aunt clean up after supper her thoughts are with the upcoming school year, wondering if anything will change or if it will remain the same.
Okay, right about now you may be wondering if her parents have gone to school officials to express their concerns how their daughter is being treated at school, right?

Well, they did reach out to the school, but as usual, the school was unable to provide them with any satisfactory solutions, other than the usual such as providing counseling for students who are bullied as well as talking to the students about the effects that bullying can cause and blah, blah, blah. Meanwhile, the student who is being bullied
has their life turned upside down when in reality it should be a special time in their lives.

Adara says goodnight to her uncle and aunt and goes up to her room for the night, something she does a lot when she is at home. Adara does not socialize much
so her room is a place where she can relax and feel safe from the outside world, but is she? Social media, let me repeat Social Media. She reads what they say about her on these social sites.

Where in the past there may have been a couple of students who would do the bullying, now it is multiplied many times over. In addition, many of them hide their identities behind these sites while writing hurtful comments. In the last few years how many students have committed suicide because they could no longer handle the pain?

What a tragedy, imagine what these students have gone through to take their own lives.

Poor Adara, not only does she have to endure the verbal and sometimes physical abuse outside, but now she can see and feel the pain that social media delivers right inside
her home. It’s not so bad now, but she knows once school opens it will start all over again.

Adara is getting anxious.  School starts next week.