The Flock of Luka

Lately, it seems as if Chris follows Darren everywhere, like the most faithful lapdog. Obviously, he follows Darren when he goes to get the mail one morning.

Unexpectedly, Darren meets Emily. She’s in Darren’s year in school and lives further down the road. She’s nice and Darren admits that she’s pretty.

“Hi Darren,” she greets him, stopping her bike. Her hair is in a ponytail but her fringe hangs down in her eyes.

“Hi Emily,” Darren replies, opening the post box. Chris stands close to him, watching Emily with utter caution.

“What a cute dog,” Emily exclaims, laying her bike to the ground and stepping forward. “Is it yours?” She kneels to pet him but is met by a low position, bared teeth and an angry snarl.

Quickly, Darren grabs the leather collar, tugging at it to silence the dog. He mutters an incoherent lie about Chris not liking new people as an apology. “I should go, then. Nice seeing you, bye.”

Oddly, the fact that Chris probably scared away the only other person Darren could potentially like, doesn’t bother him. Greta seems annoyed for a moment, biting Chris’ ear a bit. Which Darren finds strange, for Greta wasn’t even there. That’s one of the things he finds weird about them; they seems so human, like they understand Darren’s every word and movement.

“Hey Darren?” Albert’s voice breaks his thoughts when he comes to stand next to him, leaning against the fence of the paddock as they watch Darren’s brother Charlie train his brown mare, Pearl.

Darren hums in reply, only breaking his gaze to scratch Chris behind his ear. Albert smiles down at the dog. “You don’t keep them in the barn, do you?” He muses. Darren blushes slightly but shakes his head. “Thought so,” Albert agrees with a nod, watching Pearl gallop past them, her hooves tearing up sand in clouds behind her. “You doing alright, then? With your parents away?”

Darren thinks for a moment, then nods. “Yeah, I’m good.” Truth to be told, Darren feels so at home with the dogs that he’s barely even thought about missing his parents. “Any certain reason for asking?” he asks the older man curiously.

Albert shakes his head. “No, no…Just, you know, keeping a close eye on you,” he winks, laughing.

Darren can’t sleep that night, he doesn’t know why, but he seems completely unable to sleep. It’s not too hot, not too cold. And he’s tired, and he just really wants to sleep.

He twists and squirms between the dogs until 2am, three hours after he went to bed in the first place, and falls into the state between awake and asleep.

He’s sure he’s dreaming, hearing the tap of claws against his wooden floor and feeling the loss of Chris’ fur against his arms. When he feels the weight pushing down on the edge of his bed, he’s almost completely positive that it’s just a dream. Even more so when he feels a body lay down next to him, embracing him protectively.

“I only did it ‘cause I love you,” someone whispers and Darren smiles, leaning into the man’s chest.

The scent, radiating off the body, is odd. It’s sweet, with a hint of bitter smoke to it, and it’s warm and comforting. “Sleep… Just sleep.”

The scent and the voice is the last things Darren recalls before he let’s sleep overtake him.