Ghost Puppy

We were walking through the woods. Just a normal day on a normal camping trip. We came out here to Battle Ground to get out of the city take some time and refresh our spirits. What we didn’t think we would find were other spirits coming to visit also.  We had been hiking up this hill for nearly an hour when we decided it was time to stop for lunch. We had a half hour to rest before we had to start again, we needed to make it to the top and back before night fall. As we sat down on a log and pulled out the peanut butter sandwiches we had made for lunch there was a stream right next to us which gave off some nice cool air. 1

“It is so beautiful out here.” I said turning to Jay2

“I don’t know about beautiful but have you been getting the feeling that someone is watching us, because I have all day” he looked over at me with questions in his eyes3

“I suppose I have but there is no one else out here at least I haven’t heard anyone following us.”4

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed something moving. I looked over to where the sound had come from and saw a dog standing there. He looked hungry, like someone had left him out here for days. 5

“Well look at that, your follower is nothing more then a lost dog.” I gave a weak laugh. “Come here boy” I said as I pulled a piece of sandwich away to give to the dog. 6

I watched as the dog started to walk forward. He was heading right towards a tree. Then all of a sudden he started to walk through the tree then disappeared into thin air. 7

“What the hell? Where did that dog go?” I jumped up from the log and looked around. “Tell me you saw that dog disappear into thin air?”  I stared at Jay before realizing he was just as confused as I was. 8

“I dunno what exactly just happened but what do you say we get moving we need to get back before dark anyways” 9

“Yea alright” I got up a little disappointed and followed him up the hill it was about another two hour hike before we would reach the top. With frequent breaks to stop and look around at the scenery it took us three hours to get to the top. What we saw when we got there was breath taking.  Just beyond the peek of the hill was a beautiful lake and with a cascading water fall. The water looked like millions of diamonds sparkling in the sun. I saw something moving again out of the corner of my eye. Thinking the mysterious dog was back I turned around to look. To my surprise it was a girl, only this was not a normal girl she was floating just above the ground, abnormally pasty with what looked like darker stains on her night dress. Could that be blood? I thought to myself. Strangely she gave off the same type of look as our little follower did earlier. I didn’t notice it then but now that I think about it, I could see through that dog just like I can see through this girl. I soon realized that this was no girl; this was the spirit of a girl, a ghost. My heart dropped into my stomach as this realization hit me. 10

“Jay…. Look… there…. “I grabbed Jays arm spinning him around slowly.11

Jay’s mouth dropped as the girl moved closer to us… she was saying something or rather mouthing something, but I couldn’t make out exactly what.  She raised a butcher knife from behind her back and came charging at us. I screamed as Jay grabbed me pulling me behind him. I stumbled before catching my feet and we ran like hell down the side of the mountain. Suddenly I heard a bark, I turned to look. 12

“Jay, look at that” 13

“Holy shit that’s the dog from earlier. It’s stopping the girl.” His jaw dropped open in disbelief. 14

We watched in amazement as the dog attacked the girl. Barking and growling at her, she turned and vanished just as fast as she came.  What surprised us most was this was no large dog; it was about the size of a beagle maybe. Then it hit me, maybe this dog used to be the girl’s dog. What had happened to them though? I made a mental note to do some research about accidents in this area when I got home.  15

“Thank you boy” I said as I kneeled down to the dog. 16

The dog nodded as if he understood what I was saying, but he refused to come any closer, so I stood up and looked at Jay. We turned to walk back down the hill but we could hear our ghost puppy following us the whole way down. We knew he was keeping an eye out for us. 17

We returned to this camping spot many times after this incident. The ghost puppy, who we now call Nero, always shows up to watch out for us. Though we never did see the girl again, but who knows what could have happen if Nero wasn’t there for us. 18