EMILY

The sun was starting to rise to the east of me, just winking between the peaks of the mountains. I slowed my pace down for a few moments to watch, giving both my legs and Lucky a slight break. Having a rambunctious and energetic running partner had really stepped up my game these days.

For the last two weeks we went out just after dawn every morning to get our run in. I was proud to say I was up to five miles a day between running in the morning and again at night.

At first I groaned when the alarm clock went off. Telling myself just five more minutes of sleep, but when Lucky, watching me with those big green eyes of his, would drag his leash onto the bed to let me know time was wasting away, I had to get up. Now the routine was set, and I thought I was enjoying it more than he was.

We were both thriving and healing. The melancholy days were becoming less frequent, and though dreams of Elliot were always in my heart, the hurt was disappearing. The thought of moving on with my life wasn’t as scary as it was even a few months ago. I guess time does heal after all.

Standing here watching the sun come up, I was reminded of something I read once, It’s a new day and everything starts over. I glanced over at Lucky. He was sitting there calmly, watching the sky. He seemed to understand it, too. As the sun reached the top peak of the mountain and washed the sky, Lucky let out a happy bark. Time to move on, he seemed to say and we set off again.

I had changed the routine up a lot more these days. Usually I ran through the neighborhoods close to home, but now, since I had a companion, I drove out to some of the more open walking trails. Sometimes the parks, the foothills of Camelback, and over by the college, ASU. There were a few mornings I persuaded Maggie to join us. The first time she laughed at me.

“I do not do the butt crack of dawn,” was her answer. But then she surprised me and showed up. I had just left a message on her voicemail when she pulled up in her little car. Lucky was ecstatic. I think he adored her as much as me. The first time she came over to meet him, it was love at first sight. A few minutes of sniffing and some enthusiastic kisses and tummy rubs, and Lucky was her willing slave. Or maybe it was the other way around.

“I can’t believe you got a dog!” she exclaimed. “He is so handsome.”

“I know, me, a dog owner. I never wanted to be tied down before. I got the idea after all the strange things going on and I was getting nervous being alone here. I started looking on the rescue sites and his pictured popped up. I had to go and check him out. Once I met him, it was all over with, and he came home with me.”

I had told Maggie about the rock incident when she came by to meet Lucky. We spent the evening trying to figure out who could be behind it but came up empty. There just wasn’t anyone in my past I could think of who would harass me like this.

It’d been quiet again lately. Once in a while, Lucky acted like he heard something late at night. He would let out a growl and wake me up. We would go investigate but there would be nothing out there.

This morning we were running some paths along the canal by ASU. There were a few other people moving about, so we were not completely alone. The pace was an easy one as we ran up and down the inclines of the path. A mile and a half into it, Lucky stopped suddenly, causing me to stumble, almost tripping over his large frame. Righting myself, I went to scold him and stopped when I noticed him looking intently toward an area off to my right, dense with vegetation. He let out a low growl and I realized his hackles were raised in warning, causing the hair on the back of my neck to tingle and my body to tense. I could see the area he was staring at, but I couldn’t see anything there through all the overgrown bushes. I pulled on his leash firmly, but Lucky wouldn’t move, he stood his ground as if waiting to attack. I glanced around me and suddenly realized we were alone. Everyone seemed to have disappeared. It was just Lucky, me, and whoever or whatever was hidden beyond my sight. My senses started screaming inside: RUN. I tugged harder on his leash and Lucky let out a sharp bark at the nothingness. His growl grew more menacing, his body lowered as if bracing himself to spring forward to attack.

“Let’s go!” I commanded sternly.

Lucky turned his head toward me, then looked back one more time before turning back to me. I tugged at his leash again and he followed, moving to my side to run next to me.

I picked up the pace of my run, glancing back a few times, but no one seemed to be following. I breathed a sigh of relief as we rounded the corner and I saw other people up ahead. I hated the feeling of being watched and not being able to figure out from where. It was just creepy.

Spotting the jeep up ahead, I slowed us both down to an easy pace to cool off.

We walked over and I opened up the back, grabbing a couple of bottles of water. I emptied one bottle into the water dish I kept in the trunk for Lucky and set it down for him. He greedily lapped it up while I drank mine.

I looked around to see if I could spot anything unusual, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. Everyone seemed to be going about his or her business. No one was sneaking around or paying any kind of attention to me. What the hell? I knew I wasn’t imagining things because of Lucky’s reaction, but this was getting old. Every time I finally started to relax and think maybe it was all over with, it started up again.

Who the hell was watching me? And why?

Loading up rather quickly, we headed home. Lucky sat straight up in the passenger seat watching the cars go by as if to let people know he was there, guarding me.

I pulled into my driveway and noticed something rolled up, tucked into the handle of my storm door in the front. After parking the jeep in the garage, Lucky and I walked around to the front and pulled the paper out, expecting to find another ad solicitation for unwanted services. Glancing down at the paper before I tossed it in the garbage can, I realized it was paper torn from a spiral notebook, the edges torn and jagged. Unrolling it slowly, I let out a gasp.

BITCH

Written in what looked like a red color crayon. I glanced around me but saw nothing. I wasn’t even sure how long this had been here. I couldn’t remember if I’d walked around this way last night. I usually came and went through my garage door. I used the front only if someone came over. This was starting to really irritate me. Notes, rocks, bottles, and the feeling of being watched.

Some jerk was trying to scare me, but who? And why? Lucky could sense my agitation and started to pace around me, looking here and there for danger. But there was no one out there. At least not that I could see.

Taking the note with me, I called Lucky and we scurried into the house, closing the garage door as I went. I felt safer inside with the doors locked, even in the bright light of the morning. Usually it was in the darkness of night I was jumpy.

I hurried into my office. Officer Campbell had given me his card and I was going to call him about this right away.