The Family Dog.

"Mom! Dad!" screamed Lily from the living room. "Where is Bud?! Where is he!?" She burst into tears allowing her knees to give out underneath her. She lay flat on the ground sobbing as both her parents rushed into the room.

"Lily, sweetie, what's the problem?" The mom asked as calmly as possible. She made sure to stare into Lily's deep blue eyes to calm her down. Lily refusing to look up continued crying on the floor. "Sweetie, you have to get up and tell me what's wrong, otherwise I can't help you."

"Bud," was the only thing Lily sput out between tears.

"Honey, now what about Bud?"

"Bud!" Lily said louder fighting back the tears.

"Babe, you keep talking to Lily and I'll go look for the dog." Stan walked out of the room in search of the family dog. He checked the backyard, upstairs, and every bathroom in the house. He was in none of his usual spots. "C'mon Bud, here boy!" After her Dad said this Lily went silent, being hopeful that Bud would soar down the stairs into her arms. After a minute had passed Lily realized the dog wasn't coming. She layed flat on her back and cried louder than before. "Babe, come over here real fast." Lily's mom stood up and walked over to her husband standing in the kitchen, allowing Lily to scream off her tears alone.

"Do you know what happened to the Dog?" Lily's mom asked.

"No, but Maria, look what I found." Stan slowly raised Bud's collar from behind his back. "And look what's all over it." Maria stood there in disbelief. There were blood stains all over the collar. "Maria, I need you answer me honestly, did you get rid of the dog?"

"Me! Why would you accuse me of killing our dog!? I know I complain about it's inability to pee outside but I woud never resort to murder!"

"Maria, do you know where I found this collar?" Stan began to look deep into his wife's eyes. "I found this hanging in our daughter's bathroom, could you imagine how she would've reacted if she had seen this?"

"Stan, it wasn't me I swear!" Maria began to break down tears like Lily was doing in the living room. "I promise I didn't do it Stan! Please believe me!" Maria stood there, eyes filled with tears, with nothing else to say.

"Well, if you didn't do it, then we have a worse problem."

"A worse problem?"

"That little girl in the living room has no idea what happened to her dog, and neither do we. So how did this collar," Stan said raising up the blood stained leather "get into our daughter's bathroom?" Maria got wide-eyed and cupped her mouth. The two parents moved swiftly. Stan quickly made his way to the closet with a baseball bat that he saved for situations such as these. Maria made her way to their daughter, and between her yelling picked her up and made her way outside. Stan slowly walked upstairs, carefully opening every door to minimize the noise. He entered every room, and checked behind every door. There was nobody else in the house.

"Bud! You came home!" came Lily's voice from outside the house. Stan sprinted down the stairs and outside to see for himself. Sure enough it was Bud, but he was sitting at the end of the street. Not moving, not barking. Stan could see Lily chasing after the dog, and Maria chasing after Lily. Stan too ran towards the dog. "Bud, what happened? You need a bath." Maria saw Lily's completely disregard for the blood all over Bud, but even she was relieved that the dog was coming home.

"Lily, do you mind if I check Bud for any ouchies?" Stan asked Lily.

"OK," was the cheerful response that came from Lily. Bud was completely fine, then where did this blood come from? Upon being carried into the house, Bud recieved a bath. Lily fed him and watched her favorite show on TV while using him as a pillow.

"Guess there's nothing to worry about," Maria walked in on her husband watching the dog from the kitchen.

"I just don't understand how that collar was hanging in our daughter's bathroom, why Bud was full of blood, and why he was all the way out down the street. And when we were calling for him, he didn't even move. It's like he doesn't even know us." Just as Stan finished his statement Bud turned his head to look directly at Stan. Stan, staring back found this kind of funny, until he realized that Bud started to bark at him. Over and over and over again. Stan just stood there, without a response.

"It's OK, Bud! You're home now! Go to sleep!" Lily told the dog. And he did. Stan blew it off.

Later that night in bed Maria told Stan to take it easy, beacause everything worked out. "But I still have an uneasy feeling."

"I know you do, but just let this one go. Our daughter's happy, which means I'm happy. And when I'm happy, I can make you happy."

"Oh, can you now?" Stan turned to Maria on the other side of the bed. But they were quickly interrupted by Bud entering the room and staring at Stan. "What's wrong Bud? Are you okay, want something to eat or drink?" But Bud never moved. Just sat there staring at Stan. "You see Maria, this is the tyoe of weird stuff I'm talking about!"

"Stan, look..." Maria's face began to grow pale looking in the direction of the dog. Stan quickly turned to see for himself. The dog's eyes, they were... red.