Animosity Read Online Free Page A

the crew had not yet arrived to begin their work, which was why Norman’s behavior shocked me even more than it would have otherwise.
    By the time we’d arrived within twenty feet of the place, Norman erupted into a mad flurry of barks. He lunged forward, standing on his hind legs when his leash did not allow him to go any further.
    He nearly jerked my arm out of its socket wanting to get onto that lot.
    “Damn it, Norman, what’s gotten into you?” I said. “Stop it!”
    I picked up my pace, jogging behind him to keep a hold on his thin metal chain. I feared it might snap any second.
    “Norman, stop! ” I shouted it this time.
    Still, he paid me no mind. He seemed to have forgotten I was there at all. His barks tapered off into harsh growls as we reached the construction site, and I stumbled through the gate behind him.
    “God, Norman… what is it?”
    Never before had I heard the retriever make such vicious sounds. He was always so well-mannered, the best dog in the world. Not even in the presence of my ex-wife’s new beau had he ever displayed such ferocity, and to say Norman hated that man would have been the understatement of the century.
    My heart slammed in my chest as he tugged me across the lot, past a blood-red wheelbarrow and a trio of crooked sawhorses. As the skeletal frame of the Clintons’ new home loomed above us—yeah, that was it, the Clintons , but why did I remember that now, when I couldn’t possibly care any less?—I suddenly realized something that made me feel cold, even though the day blazed bright and warm…
    I was afraid.
    Not in the way my favorite horror movies had filled me with harmless thrills when I was a kid. No, this was true fear. I realized I did not want to go any further. I did not want to see what had upset Norman so.
    Because somehow I knew—already—that what we were about to find on the lot would be bad. Very bad.
    I tugged on Norman’s leash. “Come on, boy. Let’s go. We’re not supposed to be here anyway…”
    He didn’t seem to hear me. Still growling, he stalked across the construction site, toward the rear of the property, where a thin copse of trees separated our neighborhood from Harris City Park on the next street over.
    “Norman? What the hell is wrong with you? What do you see?”
    His growl cut short. He stood there, stiffly, staring at something across the lot. His nostrils flared.
    “ Norman. ”
    He glanced back at me, let out a little whine. His tail went limp, dangled between his legs as he took two tentative steps forward. Then he looked back at me again. Barked once. This time his bark was directed my way, but it wasn’t a threatening sound. It was a yelp of concern. A warning… as if he did not want me to come any closer.
    I peered off toward the rear of the lot, holding one hand to my brow to shield my eyes from the sun. “Norman—”
    And then I saw it. Up ahead. In the shadows of those trees…
    Norman’s leash dropped from my hand.
    A cool breeze swirled about the property. Off to my left, a gold candy bar wrapper twitched and danced across the dirt like something dying. Where scant minutes ago I had wiped sweat from my forehead, I shivered now. I felt the icy prickle of goosebumps rising on my forearms.
    From somewhere far away, I could still hear Norman whining. It was a pitiful, hopeless sound.
    “Norman,” I said. “S-stay. Stay right there.”
    My knees grew weak. Still… somehow… I staggered forward. Toward the pale, crooked thing lying in the far corner of the construction site.
    The world seemed to drop out from under me when I saw her sprawled there, in a big pile of sand behind a rusty cement mixer.
    I covered my mouth with one hand. Salty tears blurred the awful sight before me, but they weren’t enough. Dear God, they would never be enough to make this go away…
    “Oh, Jesus,” I said. “Jesus… ”
    She was naked. Dead.
    She could have been no older than nine or ten.
    It was obvious from the unnatural