The creature in the apartment yard

Where we lived, there were always stray dogs and cats. After I moved out of my parents' house, I found this apartment to be the only one I can afford. It was rather disheveled if I had to be honest. There were animal fetuses everywhere I went, except my apartment room. Our neighbors were always drinking, and I could often hear their violent yells at night. I was looking to move to another apartment, once I finished university and got a full-time career. The bricks indicated that the building was over a century old. I lived in the fifth storey, with only one layer after mine.

I never entered the yard that was built for our apartment building. It was mainly filled with stray cats, but they only ever came out at night. Even my clothes were hanged outside my balcony, just for the sake of hygiene. I always felt rather lonely living in this new state alone. So I often texted my friends back in Florida, given they wanted me to make some new ones. I never noticed what was wrong with the place, until I met my own fate.

It was a typical evening, as I was astounded that the neighbors were no longer arguing next door. As I closed my eyes and drifted off, I could hear the cat sounds getting louder. I exasperately got out of my bed and went to my balcony. Beneath it, inside the yard were over 50 stray cats. They were surrounding something that was barely visible to me. I took out a torch and shone beneath my balcony. The light illuminated from my storey balcony. The cats began dispersing, with something in the middle of the crowd. I took a closer look at what they were looking at, assuming probably another dead rat.

I was astounded to see a dog in the middle of the crowd. As I leaned against my balcony to take a closer look, I realized something was off about it. I could not see clearly with such a distance of height, but I knew it was looking at me. Unlike other stray animals, it did not move when light shone at it. It continued to stare at me in a way most dogs don't. After what felt like fifty minutes, it began laughing. I knew it was not any other laughter but human's. It sounded just like that of a person, but it came from the dog. I thought someone was pulling a prank on me, so I went back to sleep.

"Those bloody kids!" I muttered to myself as I went back to bed. "What the hell would that ever be cool, at this time of the night!".

The next morning, I almost felt my heart pounding out of my rib cage, as an old woman grasped onto my sleeves. I looked at her. There were wrinkles all over her face and her eyes were swollen. She looked like she hasn't slept in a fortnight. I asked her what she wanted, but she whispered into my ears. I could feel her breathe against my ears, making me grimace.

"You should never have come here, little girl! This place is doomed," she whispered in a tone that made be perturbed.

"I'm sorry, but I've got to head off to university. Newbies are allowed to come here," I said, while walking into the elevator.

"Have fun with the reaper then!!" I heard her call out from behind me. I knew something was wrong, either with the woman or the thing she was saying.

"What?!!" I asked, frowning as I looked at my watch.

"Oh, you don't know what that is?" she asked, almost like she's going to laugh in my face. "The reapers, come on.......anyone living here would know. The intersexual person who transformed into a dog. Legend has it that a mad scientist had did that to him, while other ones suggest it's simply a mixed breed."

I could feel my spine chilling as I recalled what I saw last night. I ignored her smile, as I entered into the elevator. The night I came back from university, it was already 1 am in the morning, as I could recall the complete silence. I saw a dog panting sound approaching me in the distance. I felt something uneasy, so I began running. I could hear it panting from behind me. As it got closer, I could almost feel someone's hand grabbing onto my leg. I immediately entered my apartment, locking the door from behind me. Through the glass of the entrance door, I could see the dog. It just wasn't a dog at all.

The face was that of a person, I recall the eyes staring into my depth. The neck was all that was left to the body, while the remnance was that of a dog. It stared at me for over two minutes, as I wanted to run into the elevator, but my legs were paralyzed. Then, it began laughing with that same spine-chilling sound I heard last night. Except, it was much closer this time and much louder. With only a glass door as shield of protection. I screamed with the strength I had left. The residents in the first storey heard my sound, as they came out.

"Oh my gosh.........it's back!" one of the women shrieked, while they came for my aid.

"What the hell is this thing?" I asked, while trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"The only creature that proves the devil exists, miss," one of the males said.
"We would often pray to God before dawn, hoping that it won't show up again. He's been answering our prayers for the past few weeks, now it's back!"

Since then, I've moved back with my parents. I don't care about the inconvenience anymore, nor about my stepfather constantly getting drunk and beating us up. I would spend an hour from home to university, but I didn't care. I just wanted to get away from that thing as much as I can. I could still hear the haunting laughter in the night, even though I knew I was far away from it.