FICTION
All In A Night’s Work
Bernie’s leathery nose began to twitch.
His eyes peeled open, and he peered around the sitting room.
Everything was in shadow. The dog could just about make out the silhouette of the nearby table, but that was all.
He cocked his head and sniffed the air. There was the usual musk of wood polish. There was even a tinge of lemon-scented antibacterial spray. But to Bernie’s nose, there was something else, something not quite right.
He heaved his heavy body up from his bed, shook, and began patrolling the house.
First, he checked the bathroom. Mainly because he liked walking on the shiny, white floor tiles. In the daytime, he wasn’t allowed in because of his dirty paws, but now that everyone was in bed, nobody could stop him.
He took great care in checking the bathroom. He slipped into every corner. He slid into every crevice.
He even checked it twice to be sure.
When he was satisfied, he went back into the sitting room.
He looked at the big red cushion that was his bed. Bernie sighed and plodded over to the coffee table.
The table was a bit too high for Bernie. He could get the tip of his nose on it if he stretched. Of course, he could go up on two legs, but unless there was the chance of getting some food out of it, it wasn’t worth the trouble. From what Bernie could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary on the table anyway, just a gnawed pencil and two empty mugs.
The only thing in the entire sitting room he found to be the least bit suspicious was an ornamental owl on a high shelf, but that was for Bernie’s own reasons rather than anything else.
He went into the hallway.
A weak beam of artificial light ebbed from the front door. The neighbour’s motion-activated lights must have come on. Bernie followed the light beam with his eyes. It faded away before reaching the staircase, but he could sense that there was something hidden in the shadows.
He inched forward.
He snarled.
A black snake with two smoky red eyes stared back at him.
Bernie lunged towards it, gnashing his teeth.
The snake dodged out of the way. Its tongue flared, and it let out a scathing hiss. Then, it slivered out of sight.
Bernie spun around so that his back pressed against the first step of the staircase.
He looked for the snake, but it had disappeared back into the darkness.
Then, at the furthest corner of the hallway, two beady scarlet eyes appeared.
Bernie let out a deep growl.
Suddenly, the eyes grew and grew. He saw that they belonged to a giant rhinoceros that was charging straight towards him.
Bernie stamped his feet and lowered his head.
The rhino also lowered its head, revealing its razor-sharp horn.
Then, Bernie gulped. He regretted lowering his head.
The two collided, and the rhino shattered into a thousand splinters of pure darkness.
As the shards spiralled to the floor, they transformed into spiders.
They crawled towards Bernie. They surrounded him. Some of the braver spiders even crept up his front legs.
He kicked the leg that had several spiders on and sent them hurtling into a nearby clog.
One by one, he sprang at the spiders until only a few stragglers remained.
Bernie squished the final spider with an impressive leap as it scampered towards a pair of floral flip-flops.
Then, he heard a purr behind him.
He swivelled his neck.
A black cat with amber eyes was slinking up the staircase. One of the spiders must have slipped away, transformed into a cat, and started climbing up the stairs.
It was nearly at the top.
Bernie gasped.
Just then, a sliver of early morning sunlight sliced through the front door. It went through the hallway and then up the stairs. And once it touched the shadowy cat, the cat disintegrated.
Bernie breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, he proudly trotted back to his bed for some much-deserved sleep.
The next thing he knew, he was being prodded by his child owner.
‘Get up, you lazy thing. All you do is sleep. Why couldn’t you be more like one of those cool guard dogs?’
‘Leave him alone. Come and have your breakfast,’ his mother shouted.
The boy went into the dining room.
‘So, did you see any night creatures last night?’ his mum asked him.
‘I’m nine now. I’m not a baby anymore. I know that there’s no such thing as night creatures.’
