Chasing Tails
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Domenica Clowes, Grade 12, MacKillop Catholic Regional College
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Short Story
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2016
Finalist in the 'Word Zone 2016' competition
I could hear them louder this time, I didn’t think they’d ever been this loud before. I flung into action, like one of those balls the kids next door used to throw around, and sprinted to the entrance to alert my boss. Panting, he emerged from the door almost immediately after I’d started calling for him. His chest was pulsing like a sheet in a summer breeze, and he stared expectantly at me. I jerked my head and led him to my post. We silently lifted our gaze and stared into the darkness while I listened closely for the aggressive sound I’d heard before. I visibly drooped as I realised it had gone; diluted and ultimately swallowed by the time I’d retrieved my boss. I heard him sigh beside me before giving me a grim look, and walking slowly back to base.
My vigilance is a persistent one. I’ve always been fully aware of my role in the system and I’ve played it out with pride. There’s three of us- Charlie, the boss and me. Charlie is old and likes to tell me how much better he is at this than I am; but I stopped taking him seriously when he tried to convince the boss that Adrian from the floor above was one of the faceless men. That’s who we’re after, the faceless men. I’ve heard them, they make the air sound like its being ripped and rearranged. Charlie swears he’s seen one, but no-one really believes him. I used to want to find the faceless men, probably out of a dehydrated longing to prove my capability. But that was before I found out what happened to the boss’ wife. They punctured her safety, plucking her possessions as she slept. Then they slowly eroded away her strength, her glow, her faith; until she was found snapped and snuffed out, her life another possession pinched.
The noise gave them away, but not because it was loud. Because it was soft. I should’ve seen it coming, should’ve predicted the distraction of a dependency on volume. I’d been going in circles this whole time, narrowing in on the one thing everyone else dismissed. I bitterly acknowledged that the violent din I’d been memorising had nothing to do with the faceless men. I quietly crept behind them and chronicled their appearance. Dark and tall and terrifying, faces curtained in the same darkness I’d been obsessively staring up into. The rage I’d anchored to them blistered and festered before I roared it into existence, attacking savagely and creating the clamour that I'd been waiting for. It wasn’t long before Charlie, the boss, and even Adrian arrived and had secured the faceless men. Astonished, I watched as the boss leant forward and with a tug revealed one man’s face.
“Damn Travis, I never thought you’d catch those robbers,” Adrian said quietly.
“I don’t think I would’ve if it weren’t for this fella,” said the boss, scratching behind my ears.
“Such a good dog.”