Yet another short story! I wasn’t even thinking about this story. This wasn’t like the other nuggets I keep in my head and let mature until they are ready. This one basically wrote itself and I was just the intermediary to transcribe it all down. As always, read the story, then I’ll talk about it below.
For your reading pleasure,
***Spoilers***
This story didn’t originally come from me. It was born from a conversation I had the other day with a good friend of mine. A good friend who just happens to live next to an abandoned house.
There isn’t too much I wanted to say about the story itself, I wanted to make sure it was a bit ambiguous and not so grim as some of my others. I think what will be more fun is to break down the REAL details from the fiction with some true/false statements.
I have a friend: True
She lives next to an abandoned house: True
She owns a dog: True, and his name is also Oliver!
There is a kind old man that lives across the street? True, and he does invite the neighbors into his garden.
The old man tends the lawn and garden of the abandoned house: True
There is an area in the yard that creeps out my friend: True! (see pictures below)
One-night Oliver got out, ran into the yard, and my friend didn’t want to follow: False; it was her cat.
The rest of the story has parts of truth and fiction, and I would like to keep those as mysterious as the story itself.
I will add, that Rebecca and Mr. Schutz are not real names, as one would expect in a work of fiction. However, I chose his last name for a reason, and it might be worth it for some of you to try and figure out why. What is even more interesting is that after reading the story, my friend remarked that he did indeed talk to his own dog in German. I had no idea.
One last true/false.
My friend approved of the story: True, her exact words were “Gahhh I love it!!”
Thanks for the inspiration, friend!
(slideshow)