Sometime in the night after her very ordinary day, she was woken up by strange sounds in her garden of… digging?

Not the roses, Violet immediately thought in despair. It had taken no little amount of effort and several attempts to get them to bloom and she was rather partial to them at this point. Though alarmed, she was slower to get out of bed than she should have been, considering there was likely someone trespassing in her yard and ruining her garden. But still a bit hazy from sleep, she first grabbed her phone and groaned upon turning it on.

4:37 am? Whoever it was would pay for waking her up.

Eyes narrowed, wand drawn, and feet bare, she crept to the window and pulled back the curtain in one swift motion, hoping to catch the intruder off guard.

But it wasn't a person. The enormous black mass that had been rummaging through her garden let out a surprised bark and jumped back, ready to pounce at whatever was behind the window.

Violet blinked in surprise. For some reason, the thought of it being an animal in her yard hadn't crossed her mind. The thought of it being the very thing sending her small community into a frenzy? Unimaginable.

As the animal and woman stared at each other in surprise, it dawned on her that she might very well be the first person to see it in its entirety rather than as a blurred shadow through the trees.

But even this view it (him? She couldn't really imagine something that large being a 'she') — unmoving, ten feet away — couldn't provide her a clear picture of what it was.

Its fur was pitch black, blending in so seamlessly with the dark night that she had difficulty seeing the outline of its form. From what little she could make out, its fur looked long and shaggy, perhaps even a bit mottled. The shape of its snout clearly ruled out a bear, but a wolf didn't seem quite right either…

She was disappointed to see that her theory of a coyote was probably incorrect, for although it was the right size, its facial features and paws didn't fit. In fact, she realized, the only thing that it really looked like was a dog. Just a dog. Well, the neighbors would certainly be disappointed. She allowed herself a wry smile at the thought of elderly Mrs. Chatterly's teacup poodle next to this magnificent beast. No one could think those two descended from the same ancestor. To be fair to herself and everyone else in town, it really was quite large for a dog though.

During her long perusal of it, the dog seemed to have realized she wasn't going to harm it and had straightened up. Its light grey eyes, the only part of the animal she could make out clearly, gleamed as it bowed its head toward her and then paddled away into the woods.

She let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Glancing down at the mess in her garden, she decided to let it go for the night and worry about it in the morning. It was too late (or early, maybe). Besides, it may have been just a dog, but she still didn't want to be alone outside with it. Back to sleep it was.


The next morning was a Saturday. Usually Violet would sleep in until 10 and treat herself to an unhealthily satisfying breakfast of waffles covered with maple syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream.

Instead, she was up at 7:30 in the morning inspecting the remnants of her garden. After her encounter with the mysterious dog — if it could even really be called an 'encounter when she was inside the entire time — she was unable to go back to sleep, the memory of the hulking body mass and intelligent eyes keeping her up. When it had finally become light enough outside to officially be daytime, she made her way outside. Violet stood morosely over what had been a plot of carrots; all that remained were small piles of dirt and several holes. The tomato plants and turnips she had been growing for several seasons were similarly ravaged.

Strangely only the edible plants had been ruined; her rose bushes and peonies surrounding some of the carrots remained untouched, as did the other plot in her yard that was all flowers.

It was looking for food, she realized. Poor thing. There probably wasn't much to eat in the forest. She briefly wondered if he had been a pet that got lost but almost immediately dismissed that idea. With his size, it seemed unlikely for him to be a family pet. If he did have a family once, it had to have been long ago, seeing as reports of the animal had first come out in April.

The sudden rumble of her neighbor's car starting up pulled Violet out of her thoughts, a reminder that the world around her was also waking up. She looked over her yard once more before sighing and walking inside to fix herself a strong cup of tea. She'd just deal with the mess tomorrow.

So she made herself some toast, did some laundry, and ran some errands to keep busy.

But right before she went to sleep that night, Violet put out a bowl of water and a large plate of chicken she had picked up with her groceries, careful to place it closer to the woods than her garden plots.

She noted with some satisfaction the next morning that both the food and water were polished off.