Arthur Jackson made his way home on this cold Christmas day; he was exhausted after having to stay all night in the office making sure arrangements were complete for a client's investments. Being an investment banker was lucrative but the hours definitely weren't social or healthy. It was the second night in a row he was stuck in the office.
No wonder Sarah broke off the engagement, Arthur thought to himself as he made his way through the gated community in his luxury Mercedes. He wasn't that hurt when he found the letter with the engagement ring sitting on the table when he came home one day. Sarah made a point to date the letter; it was four days before Author had found it. It was only then he had realized she hadn't tried to contact him since the day he had left for work. He was too busy to notice. "Oh well I was too busy to care," Arthur said to himself.
As he made his way down the quiet street he made passing glances at the houses decorated with Christmas pomp. Some, more than others, some just had a holly wreath on the doors and some lights in the mini evergreen trees at the front of the house. Others got carried away with giant inflatable snowmen, manger display and the house completely decorated with lights on every available inch of wall. Arthur hated it. He saw it as people indulging in fake joy and pretending to be happy.
As he came close to his home, which stood out from the rest of the street because of its complete absence of Christmas décor. Arthur got distracted, in one of the house's windows, as a family sat down to the traditional Christmas dinner with the dad at the head of the table cutting the meat from the full size turkey. Two young children joyfully playing with their new toys and the mum placing the baby in the high chair next to her. For a brief moment Arthur thought to himself, was he missing something from his life? He then came to realize, yes he was, a penthouse apparent in the city, so he didn't have to deal with family suburb rubbish anymore. "It was Sarah's idea to live here, not mine," he thought.
While Arthur came to his epiphany suddenly there was a loud bang and the car jerked up and down. Arthur slammed on the brakes and thought what the hell did he just hit. He glanced at the rear view mirror and he didn't see anything. Then he took a quick look of his surroundings, nobody was about on the street. Arthur then slowly got out of the car continuing to look around making sure no one was about. He went to the front of the car to inspect the damage; it was just a small dent to the right fender. A small inconvenience he would have to get fixed, it took away the pristine look of the car and therefore damaged Arthur's sharp image, this annoyed him greatly. Turning around he headed to the back of the car to see what he had hit. It was a dog, a black pit bull. It wasn't moving. Arthur placed his foot on the canine and pushed it to see if it would react. Nothing. It was dead.
Continuing to monitor his surroundings Arthur picked the dog up and threw it in the trunk of his car and got back into the driver's seat and drove off. He wasn't in the mood to try and find out who the dog belonged to and hear how awful he was for running it over. He passed a river in his way to work. He'd leave the dog in the trunk and dispose of it tomorrow. A problem avoided, he thought to himself.
Arthur reached his house and pulled up to the driveway. He got out of the car, grabbed his work briefcase and laptop bag from the passenger seat and headed to the door. When he reached the doorway at the top of a couple of steps, he struggled to find his keys juggling his briefcase and laptop bag he rummaged through his pockets. Until finally he found it in the inside pocket of his suit jacket. When raising his hand to place the key in the lock Arthur dropped his briefcase, papers and stationery falling out everywhere. With a sigh of annoyance he opened the door, set his laptop bag inside and picked up the mess he made on the steps, bundled it all back into his briefcase and threw it through the doorway. He walked inside and slammed the door behind him.
Having little energy left Arthur went into his living room and sat down on his suede couch, in front of his oversized TV giving himself a second to rest, within a few minutes he fell asleep.
…
Waking a few hours later to a rumbling stomach Arthur made his way to the kitchen. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten something, maybe lunch time the day before? Or maybe even the day before that. All he knew now that he was famished. He went to the fridge, it was empty. He checked the freezer, nothing. He inspected the cupboards, again nothing. He thought "damn it." Though he shouldn't be surprised he barely lived here, spending most of his time in the office he must have forgotten to order groceries. It was something Sarah would have done but she's gone now. Oh well he thought to himself I'll have to order something he looked online from his phone for a nearby take away, they were all closed. It was late afternoon on Christmas day after all. Another reason to hate this day Arthur mumbled to himself.
He went back to the living room and sat down with his stomach almost beginning to growl with hunger. He thought to himself where he could get something to eat then it dawned on him… The unfortunate accident sitting in the trunk of his car. Arthur had eaten dog before on a business trip to South Korea he didn't realize it until after the fact, it was served as part of a provided lunch. He didn't really mind it when in Rome and all that he had told himself. It tasted like strong venison which he wasn't particularly keen on but he could eat anything now his hunger was growing.
He grabbed a garbage bag from a kitchen drawer and made his way outside to the trunk of his car; looking around making sure nobody was about before opening it, placing the garbage bag over the dog as best he could to hide what he was carrying encase anyone seen. He lifted the dog which was now stone cold into the house and set it on the kitchen counter. He grabbed a frying pan from the rack, threw some oil on it and placed it on a high heat. Using a meat cleaver and a selection of knives Arthur managed to get a few bits of meat from the dog and threw them in the pan. They seared and sizzled, cooking them for a few minutes each, then lifting them out and dumping them on a plate. Arthur sat down to his unusual meal and began to eat. The unfamiliar taste filled his mouth but he didn't care; it would appease his hunger.
As he was about half wat through what he had prepared for himself, there was a ring from the doorbell. Arthur groaned to himself, "Who the hell could that be at this time, on this day." Dropping his knife and fork on his plate he made his way to the door. Arthur opened the door. A man he didn't know stood in front of him. This stranger had shoulder length hair, a thick beard. He was wearing what looked like a fitted Italian suit. "Sharply dressed," Arthur thought to himself.
The stranger introduced himself. "Hi, my name is John. I just live a few houses down the street. I'm looking for my dog and the GPS tracker on his collar says he's around this house somewhere. He may have snuck into your back garden. Do you mind if I take a look?"
As Arthur processed the man's question his hunger disappeared, and a sudden surge of dread shot through him. Before Arthur could respond to the visitor standing in his doorway, the man held out his hand with an object in it and said "I found this pencil laying outside your door, you must have dropped it."
…
This Story was Written by Mr. Red
to hear us read our stories and more, check out the Some Dudes Shed podcast on youtube.
This story was taken from the Podcast: "Some Dude's Shed: Christmas Special 2021"
