Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

Still, just to be on the safe side, Steve had joined hor des of locals on sear ches of the local
ar ea such as w oods, str eams and the local quar r y. He had even helped fly poster the usual
local shop w indow s and lampposts.
Steve always ensur ed that he kept one of the photocopied ?missing?photos that he w ould
neatly put into a r ing binder file, alphabetically in the name of the pet, of cour se, so he
w ould always have a memento.
And to think that his teacher had always told him he w ould amount to nothing and he
w ould never make a differ ence to people?s lives. Well, this w ould show his English teacher ,
Mr Or sett, this w ould show all of them. Indeed, all those year s ago Mr Or sett?s cat, Bilbo, a
beautiful tor toiseshell, had been his ver y fir st ?pr ize?and fr om then he had never looked
back.
The ?booty?Steve had collected was plentiful and var ied, as he laid claim to the usual
menager ie as w ell as r abbits and even a fer r et! Time for celebr ation indeed as Steve
pur chased the lar gest tur key that money could buy.
Come Chr istmas Day, Steve, complete w ith cr umpled paper cr ow n fr om a cr acker , ate like
a King and gor ged himself. He ensur ed that no mor sels w er e tossed to the animals below. If
he hear d their cr ies and w himper s, then he w ould just tur n up the volume of the tir ade of
festive r epeats on television to dr ow n it out.
As usual, Steve fell asleep in a dr unken stupor in the chair. As he slept, he felt something
suspiciously like a cat br ush against his leg. Can?t be, he thought, as he knew the door to the
cellar was fir mly bolted. Then he felt his hand licked by something that felt like the tongue
of a dog. He w oke w ith a star t and peer ed ar ound the dar kened r oom, lit only by the flicker
of the television? nothing.
He dr ifted back into sleep. Again, he felt something against him, this time he hear d the
noise of padded feet on the floor. It sounded like a small dog, a Jack Russell he thought. He
r ose fr om his slumber as he r emember ed that he had not 'kept' a Russell for at least a
couple of year s. Suddenly he felt the clenching of teeth against his naked hand. The w ound
bur ned as the Jack Russell hung on for dear life.
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