Under The Oaks.

"No Conner, that will not work. You are going to need to reschedule. Check my calendar, put her in on a day I have nothing going on. She is going to need my full attention. Yea, that will work. Hey, listen, I will call you later. I have a feeling I am about to-BEEP BEEP BEEP-lose service.."

I hadn't traveled these roads in years yet I knew them like the back of my hand. I knew where communication with the outside world became obsolete. I knew when the road got windy, it meant the trip was nearly done. I knew where old man Watkins used to have his fruit stand set up. And I knew where it all changed. I knew the spot on the side of the road like I knew my name. I saw it every time I closed my eyes.

I flipped through the radio, hoping something would distract me. "Nothing. Nothing worth listening to anyways." I talked myself through my nerves sometimes, it helped. The sign on the side of the road read "Red Bud City 10 Miles".

"15 years. 15 years and it all comes down to this."

As the road continued to bend and wind around me, my palms became sweaty and I felt my heart rate pick up. I directed the car to the side of the road and shifted in to park. The air in the car felt thick, like it was purposely pushing me out in to the world. I rolled the window down and lit a cigarette. A late summer breeze cooled my nerves and a overhead, a barn owl let out a long HOOOOOOTTTTTTTTT....

I shifted the car in to drive and made a right down the dirt road. If you weren't looking, you would miss it. Every bump and pothole felt exactly the same. In the distance, I could see the outline of what used to be the center of my world, my safe space, the place where the world was outside and I was safe inside. The heat rose up from the road in waves and the façade looked like a mirage. The towering iron gates hung by a thread as I passed through to the shade of the tree lined driveway. Well, it wasn't really a driveway anymore, just a shabby dirt road covered by moss covered oaks that had long been left to fend for themselves. I could see a shape in the distance but for the life of me, couldn't decide if it was real or if my eyes were rebelling from the 9 hour drive.

"SHIT! FUCK! SHIT" I slammed on my brakes and slid the truck to a stop. Dust billowed around me as I slammed it in to park. "What the fuck was that?!" It was late afternoon, almost dusk and the dust made it nearly impossible to see anything beyond the hood. As I strained my eyes to make out what had almost cost me my life on this road-again-a small white dog came in to view. "No way. That isn't possible." I knew for a fact that there was zero reason this dog should be in front of my truck. There was zero places it could have come from. The main highway was at least 15 miles the opposite direction. "I bet some asshat dumped it. What a prick." I pushed the door open and the barn owl from earlier let out another HOOOOOOTTTTTTTT. The little white dog was sitting in the middle of the road, clean and healthy, looking like he had marched out of some little girls backyard. I turned back to the truck to grab my phone, maybe the non emergency number could get me through to the local animal shelter. "No service" blinked across the screen. "I guess I just got a dog. That will get chicks. A fluffy little white-" I turned back and my blood ran cold. The dog was gone. "What the fuck is going on..." I backstepped to the truck as quickly as I could and slammed the door shut, the locks snapping behind me. What the hell did I just see? No way. Fuck this. I am out. I shifted in to reverse, on a one way track to anywhere but where I was. I had a sick feeling in my stomach and I wasn't hanging around to find out why. As I shifted in to reverse and began backing up something in the rear view camera caught my eye. It was the dog! "You little fucker!" There was nothing going on, the damn dog wanted to play! I spun the truck around in the now dim, dusk light, the headlights piercing the dust from the road. "Alright pup, play time is over." I opened the door of the truck and stepped out, before I could start forward a small blonde girl, no more than 5 or 6 emerged from the trees. I froze in my tracks as she approached the little dog. "DAISY! There you are! You have to stop running off! You know how mad Pa gets!" She was dressed in a flowered dress that ran the length of her arms and legs, she looked like-no she was-a little pioneer girl. As she scooped up the dog, I half yelled, as not to scare her, "Hey, hey there! Hi, where do you live? Are you alone?" She paid no attention to me, as if I wasn't there, or she couldn't see me. It was then that I noticed her legs. She had no feet, her legs ended in some sort of mist like fog and she was floating off of the ground, about 2 inches. I stumbled backwards and threw myself in the truck. The sweat poured off of my head and in to my eyes as I punched the gas and hurled myself toward the gates. As I sped off, throwing up gravel and dirt in my wake, I glanced in the rear view mirror to see the little girl, strolling down the driveway with her little dog in tow. She turned her head as I crossed the gate, her eyes glowed. Hollow and white. I put my foot to the floor.

There was a fortune under that house and it was guarded by that little girl and her dog.