A Doberman Named Garmer

Garmer is based off the Norse dog Garmr. In Norse mythology, he was the bloodstained guardian of Hel's gate. Enjoy... :)

    The morning sun rising into the October sky dimly lit Eric Molner's bedroom through the closed curtains.   He layed in his bed, a queen mattress and box spring on the floor, and soaked in the relaxing morning of not being woken by his alarm clock.  By all intents and purposes, save for the one beside him, he was awake.  Maria was asleep beside him with her naked back curving under the sheets.  He futily hoped she wouldn't notice the morning chub when she did finally wake up.  It would only perpetuate another incident with Garmer.
    As he knew she would, Maria rolled over and saw the excitement under the sheets and reached her hand over.  Eric remained "asleep" with his goatee mouth slightly open and hoped she would buy the act.  After a few strokes of his member failed to get any reaction, Maria pushed it aside and got out of bed.  Eric waited until she had locked the bathroom door, and the buzzing of electric pleasure perforated the air, before he got out of bed.
    He hated doing it, but the run-ins with Garmer had been increasing.  He liked Maria, but they obviously hated one another.  One, a devout Hispanic Catholic with a raging fear of God, superstition, an award winning a*s, and sexual appetite; the other, a pitch black doberman with beady, yellow eyes that seemed to glow, even during the day.  He had known her for about six months, he, for the last 7 years and Maria grew more bitter to Garmer every time she saw him.
    Eric walked downstairs and heard the creak of the pipes from above.  She was in the shower now so he would be have to use the half bath to hitchhike under the big top.  You just don't let morning glories like these go to waste.  He stepped down into the kitchen, a '70's nightmare reincarnate.  Outside the sliding glass doors beyond the porch, Garmer sat nearly motionless.  Eric tapped on the glass, a silent hello, and Garmer responded with a couple shakes of his stubbed tail.  After a habitual glance at the locked door, he went to the bathroom and shut the door. 
    Normally, the sound of a person screaming after a toilet is flushed would bring on a mischievous grin.  A short burst of hot and cold out of the shower head as the water heater adjusted to the use never really hurt any one.  But this was no yell of surprise or frustration.  It was unbridled fear.  Eric left his circus act to flush away and bolted out of the bathroom.  He headed to the stairs hoping to find Maria held hostage by cockroach or...

something...

    His forward progress stopped at the glass door and he saw who wasn't sitting in his usual spot beyond the porch.  There was only a bare patch of ground in the shape of a dog's a*s.  Eric skipped stairs as he went and threw his shoulder into the bathroom door breaking the latch and frame as the door gave way.  Maria was still in the shower holding a back loofah trying to stuff herself into the corner as far as she could.  She was panicking now, her screams intermittently cut off by her gasps for air.  Garmer sat on the rug in front of the tub watching her intently. 
    "Garmer! Out!"  Eric shouted.  He received a yellow glare of guilty innocence but Garmer stayed.  "NOW!"  A final glare at Maria and he trotted out the door.  Eric reached in the shower to try and calm her down.  "Babe, I'm so-"
    "A*****e!!" She began cursing in English and Spanish, the latter unintelligible.  He tried again to pull her out and this time she lunged.  Hissing, yelling, hitting and slashing with her fingernails, her anger and hatred of Garmer boiled over.  She connected only a couple times before Eric caught her arms and pulled her naked, wet body against his.  Any other time, a happy ending would be in order.  Now, he was just trying to keep from bleeding. 
    "Will you stop it?" She struggled against his grip but he had her tight.
    "Let go of me you f*****g pendejo!"
    "I will if you just calm down."  Maria stopped moving and Eric let her go.  She stood a moment glaring at him then pushed him up against the sink.
    "How do you expect me to calm down when that black perro del diablo appeared out of no where?  I had the door locked, Papi, or don't you remember breaking it down?  I don't like him in the house, in my space, or anywhere near me and you know this!  Go, get out!  Keep that mutt out of my sight so I can get ready!"
    She pushed him out of the bathroom and he listened to her whispering Spanish prayers before he went back downstairs.  He unlocked the glass door, stepped outside, and walked down the steps to where Garmer was sitting, the middle of three steps cracking under his weight.  Damn house is falling apart, he thought.  Standing over Garmer, Eric didn't see any anger in his eyes.  He sat down beside him and let the dog lay on his lap.
    "That's a first old buddy.  You've never been that obvious before.  Is there something you want to tell me?"  The glow in Garmer's eyes had faded somewhat and they held an almost understanding aura in them.  Eric continued mostly to himself, assuming it pointless to even try for an answer.  "How long is this going to last?  I mean, ever since I found you at Petco, it's been the same routine.  Go to the park, pretty much pick out any woman I want, bring her home, f**k, and maybe she'll stick around for a little while, maybe not.  Throw in an ex-wife that was more stubborn than stupid and Maria is the only one that's lasted to any specific degree.  You know Garmer, I don't mind your eccentricities, it's part of you.  But most people can't understand that.  Don't want to.  Maria surely won't be able to after today.  So when does this cycle end?" 
    Eric wasn't to blame for his lack of knowledge.  There was no way for him to know in the first place.  How was he supposed to know that he hadn't found Garmer in Petco seven years ago?  That it was Garmer who found him?  That Garmer had put himself in various kennels for that sole purpose?  That if he had any paperwork, it would have shown that Garmer's body was not a six month old puppy but rather a fifty three year old dog?  Where could this knowledge have come from that would have opened Eric's eyes to the true nature of the world?  Garmer was sure he could have told him, but dogs aren't supposed to talk.  After Eric's self questioning, Garmer felt the time was right for Eric to take that last step.  Eric however, didn't know that ending would come so soon.
    Maria opened the door, dressed in a dark gray knit dress, black tights and a gaudy silver belt above her hips.  She traced the cross over her chest before she spoke.  "I'm going out with Miranda.  I like you Eric, I do, but it's either the mutt or me.  If that thing is still here when I get back, we're done."  He didn't give a response as she left with no intention of receiving one.  This sequence had come around full circle yet again, and it would end just as the others had.  He let a long sigh escape and ran his hair through the brown hair that fell down to his shoulders.
    "Well boy, why don't we go watch some TV before the s**t hits the fan."  He got up and Garmer disappeared. 
    Eric came inside and grabbed a Milwaukee's Best from the fridge before going into the living room.  Garmer was sprawled across the middle of the couch directly in front of the TV.  "Well, either you move or I have some extra cushion to sit on."  Those yellow eyes stared playfully but the body didn't budge.  "You can be stubborn as hell sometime, you know that?"  He started to sit down on top of Garmer and nearly planted his weight when the yellow eyed canine let off a couple barks and crawled out of the way.  Eric sat down and Garmer came back to his lap.  "So what are watching?"
    MTV garnered a quick growl as did The Price is Right and Judge Judy.  Animal Planet received a condescending huff and Eric continued surfing until Garmer jumped off the couch and stated barking at the TV. 
    "Really?  Are serious?  You actually want to watch this"  Garmer jumped back on the couch and plopped on Eric with his full weight.  "You've got to be kidding.  Ok then, Tom and Jerry it is."  They sat there as the morning drifted away and the sun rose higher in the sky. 
    Eric wasn't sure what it was.  The day didn't feel the same.  It was going in the same direction as the rest of his failed relationships but this one seemed off.  It made him restless and eventually he felt the need to be productive to take his mind off the evening in store.  He mowed the yard and thought about Maria.  Did he really love her?  He loved the sex that was for sure.  But was there anything outside of that?  He wasn't Catholic, hated going to her family's house, didn't believe in those stupid superstitions she nagged about consistently.  She pretty much came and went as she pleased.  So what was it?  Why was he worried about this evening if he'd been through this scene before?  She definitely had a knack for hitting, which this morning hadn't been the first time he'd learned the hard way.  Was he worried about what would happen to him?  Maybe.  What would happen?  She'd come home, see Garmer, throw a fit, take what little she kept there, and be gone.  She would think twice to throw a punch if "that mutt" was around.   He wasn't sure what it was at all, but he knew that as long as he stopped for a few minutes, the uneasiness would return and he didn't like it.
    After the yard was done, he showered and took off to the park in his s**t rusted brown Jeep with Garmer waiting in the passenger seat as always.  Their normal spot for pickups and hookups, Eric thought he could clear his mind by window shopping and maybe even have something to look forward to next weekend.  He stood off one of the jogging paths that wound their way through the park and tossed a ragged Frisbee to Garmer.  There was still something off.  He seemed to only play along this time.  Before, he'd be all tongue and barking, showing off his charm and canine persona.  Now he ran and fetched the Frisbee with stout professionalism and no charisma at all.  Eric began noticing the women giving them a wider berth than usual.  Some even deviated off the path to pass them by.  He wasn't used to that.  Seeing the futility in staying any longer, he left, and decided to fix the bathroom door.  Having to stop off at Home Depot for a new door and trim, he hoped Garmer would decide to stay in the Jeep while he was inside this time. 
    With an associate's help, he got a door, a doorknob, and trim to fix the door frame.  He assumed Garmer was placated in the Jeep but still made little small talk to keep his shopping as quick as possible.  Somehow, as he made his way back to the Jeep with the utility cart of supplies, Eric realized Garmer didn't need to make an appearance to become noticed.  He approached and saw three teens, two security guards and four cops standing around his Jeep and those familiar yellow eyes glowing from the front seat.  
    "What's going on here?" he asked as he approached?  No one answered.  They were all staring at Garmer sitting cold as a statue in the driver's seat.  They didn't move for him so he pushed his way between them and his dog.  "I asked what's going on here?" 
    "We.........going to steal..........Jeep looked easy.........the eyes....."  The teen mostly separated from Garmer by Eric looked like a hypnotic patient slowly coming around.  All of them were entranced, slow blinks, blank faces, empty eyes.  He looked at them, no one acknowledged his presence, and he wondered if they realized he was standing there. 
    "Officers, can I leave?  Is there anything you need from me?"  He waited and one cop spoke, though barely audible.
    "No.......punks...........no problem...........leave........."  Never taking his eyes off Garmer.
    Eric grabbed his stuff and left the cart in the middle of the parking lot.  He put it through the back of the Jeep and got in, Garmer silently moving to the passenger seat without taking his yellow eyes off the others.  He started the engine and inched out of the space, trying not to hit the people that had gathered around.  As soon as he was out, Garmer relaxed and sat down as if nothing had happened.  Looking out the side mirror, the group began to compose themselves, looking confused but no worse for wear. 
    "What the hell was that?  What do you think you were doing?"  In the back of his mind, these were rhetorical questions but his conscious refused to answer them.  The rationale didn't exist to comprehend.  That would change soon.
    Eric took a couple beers with him upstairs to work on the door as the sun dipped in the sky in the late afternoon.  After getting some tools from his shed, he left Garmer outside as customary, assuming how the night was going to end.  He removed the old door, now cracked from the top to halfway down, the hinges and latch keeper.  He pried the broken trim off the frame.  The new fixes would need painting but he would save that for later.  He was sure he'd need another stress reliever after this next and last encounter with Maria was over.  Then again, had he known it wasn't going to happen, he likely would have bought paint while he was at it.
    He took the damaged pieces downstairs and left them on the porch.  He went down to give Garmer a couple of pats, the middle step again sent a painful crack into his ear.  "Don't worry boy, just a little longer and it will be over."  He skipped the middle step on his way back inside. 
    Two more beers accompanied him back upstairs to finish the job.  He cut the trim to size, nailing it into place along the door frame and drilled a new hole for the latch keeper.  The new hinges were installed, the door mounted, and doorknob installed.  He worked slower this time, both to extend his time not thinking about the near future and because the beers were beginning to work on him.  It was dark by the time he finished.  He picked up his tools and scraps and went back downstairs.  These he sat just outside the glass door on the porch not bothering to put them back in the shed.
    Now it was time to wait.  He took another beer, feeling the yellow eyes watching him from the yard and sat down on the couch to channel surf.  That lasted all of the thirty seconds it took to put down #5.  Eric got up to bring the rest of the twelve pack to the living room.  If this was ending, he was going out in style, by not remembering it.  Taking the case out of the fridge he turned and stopped in a cold stare in front of the sliding glass door. 
    The porch light was off and yet there was a yellow glow illuminating it coming from Garmer's piercing eyes.  Those eyes, which could have been painted by Picasso himself, had never looked brighter.  That black doberman sat, eyes fixed on Eric, and a dark, rectangular pit had appeared right in front of where he sat.  It was a pit that undoubtedly was not there before, but not a single clump of dirt suggested it had been dug.   The case of beer dropped to the floor causing one can to start spraying a fine mist of alcohol on the floor.
    Eric stepped out on the porch with the neurons in his brain firing all at once; a slow realization of supernatural proportions crept its way to the surface from deep within his subconscious.  He walked to the steps, the first, the second, though never made it to the third.  The middle step finally gave way and his foot went through with a loud crack.  Some of it was the wood itself, but most was his leg, both bones snapping like dry twigs as he fell down.  He screamed in agony as his bent shin pulled free from the steps.  He landed on his back and like any man, his instincts kicked in and he got up to try and walk it off.  Following his pain induced rationale, the first ounce of weight he put on his broken leg sent him to the ground again, this time with his a*s landing on the near side of the pit.  His momentum carried him back and he grasped handfuls of grass trying to keep from going in. 
    He fell.  Into the pit that appeared out of nowhere, Eric Molner fell.  His screams went unheard as the starry sky above him disappeared to black.  He saw Garmer look down, those eerie yellow eyes casting a soft glow down the shaft.  He reached out for anything to grab on to with false hope and growing realization.  His screams were silenced the first time he hit a rock outcropping.  He could no longer breath.  The second tore off his left arm and crushed his ribs.  Another boulder introduced itself to the side of his head, cracking his skull with a hollow thunk.  On he fell, until a squishy thud sounded his abrupt stop at the bottom.  He didn't feel it but he was aware of it.  The only feeling in his mind was intense fire.  His entire body was seering in hot pain for want of oxygen that his lungs could not provide.  His heart beat against crushed ribs slower and slower as blood escaped in streams around him.  At the bottom of nonexistent pit, Eric Molner slipped from consciousness. 
    Then he took a breath.  Another followed.  Then a deeper one.  The awareness of grass, or the smell of it grew.  Distant odors, never even thought about before, triggered olfactory responses.  Hearing made itself known and not the kind you or I are accustomed to.  A cat on the roof of the neighbor's house scratching its claws.  The music coming from the earphones of a woman's mp3 player as she jogged down the street.  A group of teens walked down the sidewalk at the end of the block, four boys and three girls, known by the sound of their footsteps.  The senses heightened themselves in a way that Eric would never remember.
    He finally became aware of himself and that he was lying on the ground.  There was no pain.  He could feel no injuries.  He could smell the night air and hear the crickets chirp with crystal clear clarity.  He slowly opened his eyes and saw the porch to his house in front of him.  For some reason, he was relieved, although he didn't know why.  He felt good, and he thought it was better than he had felt in a long time.  He stretched there on the ground, his black paws flexed beyond his head.  He rolled on his back and let his tongue dangle from the side of his jaw.
    Then he heard it.  A whimper and he knew who that sound belonged to.  He rolled over and sat up.  Garmer sat on the other side of a black hole in the ground looking at him.  Eric let out a happy bark letting him know how glad he was to see him.  He was equally glad he hadn't fallen into that hole either.  They ran off into the yard jumping and nipping at each other under the night sky. 
    Just before midnight, Maria came back to the house.  A growing confidence that Eric had gotten rid of that devil's spawn allowed her to walk inside without hesitation.  She saw the lights still on so he must be awake.  She saw the case of beer on the floor in the kitchen and she called him again.
    "Papi!  I'm back.  Why is the beer on the floor baby?"  She went upstairs and saw the fixed bathroom door, but no Eric.  "Where are you, baby?"  He didn't answer but the sound of dogs barking and yapping sent the answer she wasn't looking for to the front of her brain.  She stormed downstairs and turned on the porch light,  spilling a soft white out into the yard.  Two shadowy figures were jumping around.  Dogs, two of them?  They stopped suddenly and stared at Maria with two pairs of glowing yellow eyes.  Her screams didn't stop until after she'd left the house and were replaced by the peeling of her tires out of the driveway.

Author's Note

2nd iteration, revised for content, flow, and pretty much everything else except for the overall plot. Decided not to keep the Mature rating after all. Your problem with my word choice is simply that. I may expand on the story eventually if I see more direction in it. Nothing of mine is ever safe from revision...