Cecil stared at the entrance to the Dog Park. Was this really the only way to see Carlos? He glanced around at his surroundings. Some guy getting arrested by the Sheriff's police for selling wheat and wheat by products. What a moron. Old woman Josie, fishing old bowling balls out of the dumpster. A raging storm of darkness attacking some seagulls in the alleyway. Typical.
Living without Carlos had been a nightmare. Waking up everyday, expecting to hear scientific noises in the makeshift lab that Carlos had made in the bathroom. He wanted to see him so, so badly, that he would do anything. But...what if he went in an never came out? What if Carlos was wrong about the Dog Park? Carlos is never wrong, he reminded himself, and plunged into the Dog Park without glancing back.
Cecil looked around. Seemed like a normal dog park, nothing out of the usual. Birds chirping, bright grass that was yellow in the sun, and a few chewed up dog leashes. He turned around and started searching for anything that looked like a portal. He had just finished tugging out a brightly coloured flower, thinking it might trigger something, when the birds stopped singing. He turned around and stared at the birds that had been a silvery copper a few minutes ago but were now pitch black with dark, empty eye sockets. The grass Cecil had thought was yellow in the sun was actually yellow from rotting. And the dog leashes...were gone. He had a strange urge to spin in a circle like a little girl. So he did, around and around, until he passed out.