A Dog's Tale... An Electric Dreams/Twenty Four Hour Short Story

"Say Jack, in all my life I 'seen strange things. Hell, I'm a strange thing myself. Still, yesterday was the strangest I ever saw yet."

"Yeah? And why's that?"

"You don't wanna hear 'bout it Jack, b'lieve me."

"Well, alri..."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you."

"Well, here we go again..."

"So you see two nights ago I slept, right there in my own little bed. With no notion of anything uncanny being 'bout to happen. Oh yeah, I slept real good, that two nights ago."

"Now when I woke, when I woke. Now that was different. T'was nothing but a wrong awakening to start with. A wrong awakening to say hello to a mysterious day."

"Like that wasn't enough, then I open my eyes to find I ain't in my corner no more. No, no, no, I wasn't. That place where I woke was the first real sign I got that the day was gon' be real crazy..."

...

It was a strange room, a cell in a strange room. There were white lights everywhere, and the air smelled a little too fresh for my comfort.

My first thought was, Oh poor Charlie, you're in jail. But then I thought again, how come? I wasn't no jail bird. Hell, I ain't no bird even. And then I saw them, two of them...

They both looked like me, dressed like me, acted like me even. T'was like I had two twin brothers I hadn't ever met before. Hell, at the time I must have thought that they both talked like me too. They probably did, who knows?

They didn't speak though, and neither did I. I wasn't about to be the first to have a conversation with a strange look alike. If they ain't saying nothing, then I wasn't as well. So we just sat there and stared at each other, and made small stupid sounds like dumbed out zombies.

...

"Now I know Jack, you musta been wonderin' why I didn't just bolt out of there and reclaim my sanity. Well well, I did say I was locked up didn't I? Oh, I didn't? What do you think was the point of the whole jail reference then? 'Course I was locked up. We all were. Until he came..."

"Who came?"

"Don't interrupt the story Jack."

"Sorry..."

"Still interrupting..."

"..."

"So where was I? Yes, he came... He came to set me free, only I wasn't truly free..."

...

Soon as I saw his face I knew... I knew that this here man wasn't to be trusted.
He unlocked the door of my cell... No, scratch that... He unlocked the door of his cell, where I suppose he had put me in, and led me out to another room, away from those weird looking look-alikes of mine. This new room smell'd bad, like someone put a bunch of unripe fruits together in a freezer, and then opened it up after a few days.

T'was in the center of this acrid smell, there he sat me on a small flat chair, and started playing with some needles.

Now at this point I would have bolted, should have bolted. But then truly, I just couldn't. Because right in front of me was this classic, amazing, beautiful, stunning, tears to your eyes kind of...

...

"Portrait?"

"Oh hell Jack! Do not, do not interrupt the story!"

"Oh, sorry."

"Ugh! And yes, it was a portrait! But you didn't see it, I did..."

...

It held my eyes, oh it held my soul, and I was in love. I was in love with the brush strokes, and the magnificent colours. I was in love with the frame, the texture, and the tone. It wasn't just a picture of beauty, it was perfection in a frame. I couldn't look away even if I wanted to. Until...

"What, in all of heaven's name is that?"

...

"Eh...?"

"Not you Jack, it's the story, the story. Don't interrupt the story!"

"Oh, right."

...

She had just walked in, this young un. She was trying to get chatty with the suspicious man who had brought me there. She called him dad, but ol' Charlie here wasn't deceived. She was probably one of his partners in their mysterious plan they had 'bout me.

Now I would have simply kept quiet and just stared at that beauty on the wall. But the outrageous outfit on that young un broke my concentration and completely riled me up.

"What, in all of heaven's name is that?"

They both stopped their chatty nonsense then, and stared at me. T'was like they both was seeing a ghost. I wasn't so sure at first so I had to turn and look to see if it was right b'hind me. But there wasn't nothing there. These two were looking at me, not at some ghost which just appeared. Hmmph, like I was worth the look. Hell, stare at the painting on the wall instead, she's better!

"What... What did you say?"

Perhaps this suspicious looking man had a bad ear or two.

"Well, her! What in heaven's name she wearin'?"

"It's a Pikachu Onesie. Wow! You can talk. He talks dad!"

I looked at the young un, and though I am at a loss to why she sounded so excited 'bout my 'bility to speak, the presence of that monstrosity in my field of vision felt more pressing.

"Kachu won what? It's outrageous!"

"I can't believe..."

For once I agreed with the suspicious looking man.

"Neither can I! Can you imagine the monstrosity?"

"It's impossible..."

"Outrageously impossi... Wait, we're talking 'bout the Kachu won something she's wearing right?"

But then we weren't. The suspicious looking man seemed in a trance. The way he looked at me, he probably loved me more'n I lov'd that painting on the wall. And that's when I knew I had to run, and boy, run I did...

...

"And Jack, that was the last I remembered of the whole 'pisode. Found myself back in my bed at the corner this morning. I tell you, strangest day I ever saw, that was!"

"I know you must be disappointed at the sudden end of the tale though, but then it's what it is Jacky boy. Can't be telling no lies to spice it up."

"I ain't dissapointed Charlie, just ain't that interested. What I really want is a piece of cherry pie, or any pie for that matter. Better than listening to your crazy dreams every morning while I prepare your bath."

THE END

#SladenSpeaks

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Written for @mctiller's Twenty Four Hour Short Story Contest and @tygertyger's Electric Dreams Contest

Had the two in my head, and decided to do a combo when the beginnings of a tale started to form... A dog's tale no less

Prompts for electric dreams contest...
#1 -your protagonist wakes up in a room with 2 other people who look exactly like him/her and has no idea where he/she is or how he/she got there.
#2 -girl in a Pikachu onesie
#3 -must include the sentence - “What I really want is a piece of cherry pie ”

Prompt for Twenty Four Hour contest...
A veterinarian discovers a dog that speaks english

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