A Savage Mind Connection

The Tonelli family was gathered at their kitchen table, eating dinner together like they did every night. Mr. Tonelli was seated at the head of the table, his wife on his left and his eldest son Mark to his right. On Mrs. Tonelli’s left was their daughter Kelly, and across from Kelly sat the middle child Hector.

But what was a regular family without a pet? Their prized German Sheppard Bruno, their ever faithful protector, slept on the floor nearby Kelly, ears twitching every now and then, listening for any noises that didn’t belong. Even though he was the family dog, he was always following Kelly wherever she went around the house.

They all sat there and ate their spaghetti as the wind outside started to pick up and howl, Bruno’s ears twitching every which way. Once the wind died down, everything went back to normal, except Kelly’s fork dropped out of her hands and clattered onto her plate while her small hands went immediately to her head.

“Kelly, what’s wrong?” Mrs. Tonelli asked in concern as she rubbed a soothing hand on her daughter’s back.

“My head hurts! Ah!” she screeched out a piercing cry while shaking her head violently.

Bruno growled as he slowly rose to his feet. The family became afraid, wondering if there was some unseen force causing their daughter to cry out, and alerting Bruno in the process.

“Bruno, what’s wrong boy?” asked Mark, looking out the window nearby, trying to figure out what was making the dog react.

Kelly had finally calmed down as Bruno stopped and sat a few feet away from the window, his ears perched forward, waiting for any kind of sign.

“Huh, that was stupid,” Hector scoffed as he rolled his eyes, not amused or affected at all by what had just happened.

“It hurts!” Kelly began screaming while holding onto her head again as Bruno started barking viciously.

“She’s stupid. I bet she’s just doing it for attention,” Hector muttered.

“Shut up!” Kelly screamed, her eyes narrowing at Hector while clutching onto her head, trying to make the pain go away.

Out of nowhere, Bruno let out a loud snarl before jumping onto the table and then leaped at Hector, knocking him over onto the floor. Hector’s cries filled the air as Bruno snapped at him furiously, trying to rip into him.

“Get the dumb dog off me!” Hector yelled out in fear, his strength starting to falter from fighting of the rabid canine.

The shrieks stopped and they watched in horror as Bruno clamped down onto Hector’s neck, shaking his head furiously as flesh ripped away and blood started to spurt out of Hector’s neck. He tried grasping his neck, trying to keep the blood in, but it was no use. He choked out one more gasp for air before he lay limp on the floor, his body surrounded by a pool of blood.

“Wh- why did he just do that?” Mark stuttered in fear as he rose from his seat, backing away from Bruno, placing the chair in between them.

“I don’t know,” Mr. Tonelli said as he pulled Mark behind him, motioning for his wife and Kelly to follow suit. “I think we need to take him to the vet and put him down.”

“No!” Kelly screamed as she ran around the table and hugged Bruno.

“Get away from him! He could harm you!” her mother screamed, but the words fell upon deaf ears as Bruno sat there and licked Kelly’s face, wagging his tail happily.

“You can’t put Bruno down! He’s my best friend! My protector! What would I do without him?” Kelly cried, tears falling down her face.

“Your brother is dead thanks to this monster. I’m sorry, but he needs to be put down. We can’t risk having him attack someone else,” her father said sympathetically.

“No!” Kelly yelled in anger as Bruno growled and jumped to attack Mr. Tonelli.

Mrs. Tonelli’s screamed pierced the room as Bruno knocked Mr. Tonelli down, snapping his jaws at him furiously. His face became red as he tried pushing the dog off of himself. He succeeded and sat up, only to have Bruno charge back at him, latching his jaw onto Mr. Tonelli’s neck, ripping the flesh the same exact way as he had done with Hector.

As Mr. Tonelli lay struggling on the floor, Bruno turned and attacked Mrs. Tonelli who didn’t put up a fight, knowing that it was useless against the crazed dog.

Mark backed into the corner, afraid of his fate. His eyes traveled from Bruno over to where Kelly sat, her eyes glazed over, her pupils white as snow.

“Kelly?” Mark said loudly as Bruno sat in front of him, looking as if nothing had happened except for his blood stained muzzle.

Kelly slowly rose to her feet, her body slightly swaying as she walked over to him, her eyes now black as the night as the wind started howling once again.

“I didn’t want to do it Mark,” her voice came out, sounding sincere, “but they made me do it. Hector, well, he just didn’t like me at all. And then mom and dad wanted to take Bruno away from me. I couldn’t let that happen, could I?”

“What are you going to do to me?” Mark stuttered, his eyes wide with fear.

“You always were my favorite brother,” she paused, letting her words sink in. “They were never able to understand me the way you did. You were the nice one.”

“Thanks, I think,” he said, eyeing Bruno warily.

“Promise me that you won’t send Bruno away?” she whispered as she stopped in front of him, teetering on her feet.

“I promise,” he said, his hand stroking her hair.

He reached out and grabbed her small frame as she collapsed. Bruno let out a whine as he walked over and sniffed Kelly, making sure she was alright. Her eyes flickered open in confusion, looking around the room.

“What happened?” she asked, a tremor in her voice.

“You don’t remember?” he asked, looking at her disbelievingly.

Kelly shook her head, and gasped when she saw Bruno. “Why is his muzzle all red?”

Mark racked his brain, trying to think of an explanation, anything but the truth. She didn’t need to know that Bruno did this.

“A stray wild dog broke into the house. You fainted as it attacked Hector. The dog killed mom and dad, but Bruno killed it before it could get to you or me,” he said while giving Bruno an affectionate pat.

“Good boy Bruno,” she said as Bruno happily licked her face.

“We have to get out of here. I don’t want this memory. Pack your bags, and let’s get out of this house,” he said as he went up the stairs.

“Ok Mark,” she said softly as she went to her room, Bruno close on her heels, to go and pack a bag.

Mark was scared at the thought that his little sister was capable of controlling Bruno with her mind. How long has she been able to do this? And would it ever happen again? It would haunt him for the rest of his life, living with the fear that one day his sister could turn on him and do what she did to their family.

Yeah... so this was a short that I wrote like a month or so ago, and I decided to post it because I was bored.

For those of you who read "I Wish It Would Rain" ... if you wonder why I haven't posted in a while, check out my page. It explains all there.