experience the night before. Normally he would have walked but today he ran. While he was running through town he saw the house.

“No, never again.” he whispered and continued on his way.

            He reached the front of Jenna’s house and howled just loud enough so she could hear it. There was a little bit of clatter as she came down. She stumbled out the door still half asleep.

            She yawned. “What is it Balto? It’s early. The sun isn’t even up.”

            He felt a little guilty, waking her up so early, but he had to tell her the strange things that happened. He was so busy thinking of what to say that Jenna started to worry.

            “Balto are you okay?” she looked at him, worried.

“Yeah I’m alright Jenna. I just have to tell you about something that happened last night.” he told her.

She nuzzled him and looked down and saw the mark. “What happened?” she asked.

Balto started to confess. “I went into the old McMeijer’s house. The house at the end of the lane. When I went inside I looked around. I found a newspaper that said that they disappeared without a trace almost fourteen years ago. When I went upstairs I saw this storage room in terrible shape. In there I saw a charcoaled doll and a stack of boxes. When I entered the room the door slammed behind me and wouldn’t open. The boxes fell over and a wolf’s skull fell in front of me. Then all of a sudden I felt a pain like never before. I tried to go through an open window but it shut right before my eyes, so I headed back to the door and it opened up. I limped down the stairs and out the front door while still in pain. As soon as I got off the porch all the pain was gone and I had this…mark.”

Jenna’s head was reeling from the story. “Why did you go in their?” she blurted out. “No one should go in there.”

“Well-” he began but was interrupted.

It was Kodi. “Hey mom, hey pop. How’s it goin’?”

“Just fine, Kodi. Your father was just talking to me.” Jenna told him.

“About what?” he asked.

Balto looked at him. “Nothing important.”

“Okay, well I have to get back to the other mail dogs before we leave.” Kodi responded and happily hurried off.

Jenna looked at Balto with a concerned look. “I know it’s early but you should maybe get some rest. You went through a lot last night.”

“Don’t worry Jenna. I’ll be fine.” he told her.

If only he knew that, that was not true. He continued his day like normal. Wandering about the town just to waste time.

Soon it was sunset. He was heading back to his boat from Jenna’s house. He was walking along the houses when he passed by an empty alleyway. He almost passed it when something caught his eye. It was a shadow of some sorts.

“Eh, probably just my imagination.” he said aloud.

Sure that our minds play tricks on us once in while, but this time it wasn’t his mind. Just then there was a load bang and a trashcan fell over. Balto jumped in surprise and looked down the alleyway. Nothing.

“Okay, what was that?” he waited a few seconds. “Whatever it was I don’t want to find out.”

He started back towards the boat. Looking over his shoulder the whole way. He got back to the boat to find Boris already asleep and snoring.

“I guess he’s already asleep. Lazy bird.” he chuckled, wondering if that would wake him up, but to no avail. “Oh well. Good night Boris.” he whispered.

“Goooood niiiight.” a mysterious voice whispered.

Haunted

Balto was just about to fall asleep when he heard a voice. It gave an eerie good night. He jumped up to look for anybody who could have said it. No one was there except for a sleeping Boris. He shook Boris awake.

“Boris wake up.” he yelled.

“What, what, what!?” he honked.

“I think there’s someone else on the boat.” Balto said looking around.

Boris did the same. “I don’t see no one! You are paranoid! Go back to sleep!” he grumbled. He did not care to be woken up in the middle of the night for no reason.

“Boris is right. I’m just hearing things.” he murmured.

“Aye! I don’t want to be kept up half of night by your mumbling!” complained Boris, “I am very tired.”

“Okay fine. Bird brain.” he said to himself.

“I heard that!” Boris called.

Balto said nothing more and both tried to go to sleep. Boris of course, had no trouble sleeping. It took Balto a good hour to drift off.

Balto was in a flowery meadow. Different colored flowers dazzled his vision and the sun was shining. Not another soul was insight. In front of him rose a mountain. ‘This is nice.’ he thought.

“Oh look guys. He’s with us now.” said a voice.

“Ooh great. Now we can really have fun.” commented another.

“Yeah, he’s where he cannot escape.” said a third voice.

“Who are you?” asked Balto, looking around.

“No one you need to know about. Like we said, you’re with us now.” cackled the first voice.

“Let’s make this scene more appropriate.” replied the third voice.

All of a sudden black clouds painted the skies. Balto watched around him as the once pretty flowers started to die. A heavy rain started to pour. It washed away all the soil and leaving a rocky wasteland. Balto couldn’t believe it. This once beautiful scene turned to a nightmarish landscape. Balto looked around. “What have you done? Tell me who you are!”

“But why would we want to do that? It’s too much fun.” giggled the second voice.

“You know what else is fun?” the third voice asked Balto. “Causing you to have the worst dreams ever.”

Balto heard snapping and groaning. He felt something slide over his paws and immediately looked down. Root-like things had come up from the ground and ensnared his paws. He couldn’t move. Snakes appeared and started to crawl all over him. A wolf pack came from the horizon and surrounded Balto. They started laughing. Balto also saw some familiar dogs. Nikki, Kaltag, Star, Steele, and Jenna. He couldn’t believe his eyes. his best friends and mate were laughing at him. Complete strangers were mocking him. The next thing that happened hurt, Jenna went over to Steele and nuzzled him. Then, as if told to do so, the snakes that had previously been crawling over him suddenly bit him, hard.

He awoke with a yelp and started breathing heavily. The sun had risen a while ago. It was almost noon. The dream had seemed so real.

“That was a terrible nightmare.” he said. “Hey, Boris, where are you?”

He saw a shadow in the corner.

He turned around. “Ah Boris, I’m happy you’re here. Boris?”

Boris wasn’t there.

“Oh please tell me I’m not insane.” Balto prayed.

He went onto the deck, looking for Boris. ‘Where can he be?’ he wondered. He headed back into the cabin where he always slept.

Boris came up behind him. “Good morning sleepy head.” Boris cheerfully greeted.

Balto jumped almost five feet into the air. “Don’t scare me like that!” he yelled.

Boris looked at him, clearly surprised by his action. “Geez, what is your problem? Yelling at me for saying good morning.”

“Sorry Boris.” he said, feeling sorry. “I just had a nightmare that freaked me out. I’ll be okay.”

“I hope so. You have been acting paranoid since you went in house.” Boris said.

“I know, Boris. I’ve been seeing and hearing things that aren’t there.” Balto sighed.

“You have not been getting much sleep, maybe you are still tired.” suggested Boris.

“That’s what Jenna said.” he began. “But so far I haven’t been able to sleep. I’m going to walk around in town for a bit.”

Boris looked at him and smiled. “Okay, but try to not overreact to anything.”

“Gotcha Boris.” Balto smiled meekly and hopped off the boat, eager to talk to Jenna about the dream.

He arrived at Jenna’s house a few minutes later. There he saw Kodi talking with Jenna.

He smiled at them. “Hi. How’s everyone doing?”

Kodi looked up at him. “Sorry dad.” he looked back at Jenna and she nodded. “I didn’t mean for you to go in there and get yourself hurt.”

“It’s okay Kodi. It’s not your fault.” Balto said and looked at Jenna. “You told him?”

“Of course. Why shouldn’t I have?” asked Jenna. “He did have a right to