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“Oh my God! Mom!”

The screen door slaain

“Hey! That’s our dog Don’t— Moun!”

I stopped

Everything stopped

That guy had a gun Of course he had a gun That would onlyto shoot the dog

The child There was a child behind me

I could hear growling and scuffling in the gravel behind round

My heart beat firmly in my chest

I knew

I needed to make another decision, so I turned around

The guy was trying to kick the dog off A little boy stood frozen outside his house, his hand on the door, but no parent was co after him I saw no one

No one was going to help

This was my fault

I let the dog go, knowing the guy was behind uy would have a gun

God

I couldn’t let… The ho—I had a special place in , one that was chained outside

There was a child

I knehat I needed to do

A child A dog

No

My mind shut off, and I threw s poised for an attack The guy didn’t see

He had the gun pointed, and the dog had backed up,he was about to be dust I looked up for a split second and the kid was looking right at me I tried to tell him to look away, but it happened so fast Then out of nowhere, a woman swept him up, and just as she wheeled hiuy’s throat

I landed in a crouch and knocked the gun—un, actually—out of his hand withh his throat An unearthly sound roared through me from this motion, but then it was done and I couldn’t move

His blood was going everywhere

But I couldn’t move

What had I done?

But then the dog was there, sinking his teeth into

I didn’t feel his bite

The lady was screa from the house I looked, and she had a phone to her ear

Police

It registered that she was calling the police

I looked at the guy in front ofto chew off my arm