The Quiet One

Somebody once said “We are either alone in this universe, or we are not. Both thoughts are equally terrifying”. It is an interesting thought, and a mystery that may go on forever. The mistake this generation of people make is assuming that they are untouchable, that they know everything there is to know already, and that anything else is merely a bonus. Let me tell you, there is one almighty assumption that people make, a mistake that has been made for thousands of years. A secret which will continue to haunt the human race until the end of time.

You see, I made this discovery when I was very small. I was taken away from my parents at a young age and have little to no memory of them. I’ve never actively gone about trying to contact them, nor does it any longer seem likely I could even if I tried. Paul and Janet are my life now. They are not ‘Mum and Dad’ to me, and they never will be, as I know they are not my real parents. That’s not to say they haven’t treated me well, they’ve always done an excellent job raising me and I could never criticise them for anything. They’ve done everything for me, despite my condition.

I’m unable to speak. My hearing has always been fine and they were fully aware of this when they adopted me as a baby. Intellectually I’m fine, it is literally just my speech. I remember trying to talk even from a young age, but I couldn’t. The frustration of understand more and more words as I got older, and wanting to speak them and just not being able to formulate them in my mouth crushed me. But I got used to it. It no longer bothers me in the slightest. In fact, it is my greatest strength.

Paul came home from work recently, while Janet was out. I came from my room to greet him and I got the usual hug. I’m 14 now and I don’t quite get the same attention as I did when I was little, but it suffices. I don’t require the attention that I did. It distracts me from working out what he is really up to. I’d seen him bring in huge stacks of cash over recent weeks, often tens of thousands at a time. At first I thought they were casino successes, but that just didn’t add up. He’d been bringing home a similar sized pile of cash once a week for the previous 2 months or so. He brought this cash home, and laid it out on the table each Wednesday night, which just so happens to be when Janet goes out to see her personal trainer.

The phone calls too, they just seemed off. He would constantly look around to see if anybody was watching as he gave brief one word answers. I found it astounding that he was so clumsy that he would never check to see whether I was about, but due to my condition I don’t think he sees me as a threat. A stance he should not have taken.

“Yes it’s done”

“No, you have nothing to worry about”

“I left no traces”

“Yes, it’s here in full”

It is then when it occurred to me that there had been a sudden surge in disappearances recently. School girls from around the district disappearing one by one. It was constant news, but nothing you would ever even dream of linking to your own family. Why would you? Why would they ever do something so sinister?

These meetings kept happening every Wednesday night, but the phone calls stopped. The conversations only ever happened in person now. They must have known they were at risk of being traced, and knew that just talking face to face would eliminate a huge amount of risk. I saw Paul’s internet searches. I knew he was planning on leaving Janet and me. Yet still, whenever I entered the room, he still seemed eerily unaffected by my presence. Almost as if I was incapable of handing him in.

That’s where he went wrong. I overheard him speaking to this mystery man one Wednesday night about meeting in the woods the following morning. I knew a girl would be taken, and I knew that this girl was probably just lying in bed, blissfully unaware that her life would change forever in the morning. I knew I had to do something, but I can’t speak. I may as well be invisible most of the time, but this is something I knew I had to stop.

And so that morning, I followed Paul out of the house a minute or two after he left, on foot, to head to the woods. He dressed in hiking boots and an thick blue jacket, and carried a tool box. This tool box had £50,000 cash inside, but it was a very clever disguise, just incase something were to go wrong. He was about to kidnap, and potentially kill a little girl, and the only one to know about it was me. I knew it was my life, or the life of this little girl. I could never truly become anything in this world, I knew that, but whoever this girl is, her parents will love her, she could have a future. I couldn’t let anything stand in the way of that.

That’s when I saw the other man. He was holding this girl, who was no older than 8. She was sobbing uncontrollably yet Paul’s stone cold expression was motionless. He handed over the toolbox full of cash to this mystery man, who then in exchange handed the girl to Paul.

I did not know what his exact intentions were, but I knew they were evil. It really had been Paul behind all these disappearances, and that this sweet little girl was next. So, I took a deep breath, and stunned Paul by lashing out at him from behind. I don’t even remember what I did to him, but I knew I was killing him. It was the only way. The only way I knew that this girl could be free from this nightmare. Just as I had ripped one last shred of skin from his bloodied neck, I stepped back. I knew my job was done, as Paul looked at me with this heartbroken expression of total betrayal. It was then that he pulled out a pistol, and pointed it right at me. I could tell I was injured, and that I could no longer run. This was it. I was going to die having saved a life, and I felt at peace.

With one last gasping breath, Paul shot me in the chest. I felt very little pain. It was the end for both of us.

With my last eyesight fast fading, I could just about make out this little girl sprinting back in the direction that she had come from. As she disappeared into the distance, I felt pure happiness for the first time in my life.

And with that, the life trickled out of me for the last time.

You see it may well be a frightening prospect that there are aliens out there. It may frighten you to think that there is nothing else out there at all. But don’t make assumptions about Planet Earth. Don’t assume you’re not being watched. Don’t assume that real privacy exists even in your own home. It is truly frightening how naive you humans are. We are always listening, because you hide nothing from us.

You lower your guard around us, and don’t cover your tracks. Well, it’s only a matter of time before we stop acting dumb.

We dogs understand every word you say.