Hello, Doggie. Nice Doggie.

I breathed hard, the dead man at my feet. It took a moment, and the feel of the cool night air on my skin, to remember I was naked. How odd: I hadn't felt remorse when I bashed his head in, but my conscience pecked at me now, as I tugged his joggers off him and put them on, hopping about on the dewy grass.

l loped away, banishing the temptation to shift back into a dog-shape. Loping is easy as a dog. I wasn't sure how I Changed, or whether I'd be able to switch back again. Stress seemed to be a catalyst. If I got arrested for murdering the guy I'd probably transform in the cell. But only probably.

Where am I going to go? What will I do? I'm a murderer now.

The thought tasted peculiar in my brain.

Murderer.

The label was like a sweater that didn't quite fit. It occurred to me that for a long while, I'd thought of myself as a victim. A victim of Her, and her magic. It felt good, actually, to be something else.

I hitched up the joggers and kept running.

Running is what an animal does. I'm a person. I need to stop and think. I ducked into an alley, and folded myself up in the shadows behind some dustbins. This was an infinitely worse option. With no energy being channelled into my feet, my panic started rising. My brain felt scrambled. Then-

Footsteps.

My nostrils flared, but it was no good. My nose was useless in this shape. I peeked out.

It was a small white dog. At the sight of me, he perked his ears and trotted forward, tail wagging. Now it could have just been friendly, lots of dogs are, but I got the impression he knew me. Recognised me, somehow.

"Hello, doggie. Nice doggie..."Stupid. You'd think I'd be better at talking to dogs than this.

When I looked up, there were several of them, all staring at me and moving into orderly rows.

The thought had only just struck me that this was strangely human behaviour, when the blast of sirens hurt my ears.

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Edited to add author's note:

Word count - 366

(NB. This excludes the title, subtitle, and authors note.)

Submitted on Sunday 15th September at 22:00

Author's Note

A Year of Stories: I'm writing (and submitting, here) a story every day this year. This continues my 259 daily microfiction story streak since 1st January.

Please consider lending your support to the other creators on this madcap "a story every day" adventure. They're putting out excellent content every day!

Rachel Deeming

Gerard DiLeo

The story behind the story: This is part of a series. I'll pop back and leave the links to the others, but I hope it stands on its own as well! Will you look at that, it's only 10PM!

Thank you

Especially if you are one of the wonderful people who has been staunchly reading these daily scribbles since the start of the year. I see you, and appreciate you very much indeed! Thank you to those who leave feedback/comments. I will do my best to respond to each one and reciprocate the reads.

If you enjoyed this one, the very best compliment you can give me is to share it, or read another!

Here's a recent entry to the Unfiltered (stream of consciousness) challenge:

Here is a recent Top Story of mine:

My new Dollar Challenge! Please give it a look:

A recent Runner Up placement for one of my Wanky Poems:

And now for something completely different:

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Thank you again!