The Black Dog

by Jack Rainbow
(New Zealand)

The room sits empty. All the belongings gone, moved on. Old photos, memories, taken from the walls. All that remains are the marks on the wall. Blank. A boy returns from college, now a man he sits alone in this empty room. Barely recognisable without his photos, posters, awards and artwork; his life no longer present. A place he once called home, where he slept with a shroud of comfort and security now only leaves him with fear and loneliness. Even surrounded by friends and family he feels he doesn't even know himself. Loneliness. It took him to scary and dark places that were all too familiar to him. The deep chasm he worked so hard to escape from once again held him in its clutch, drawing him back in. The black dog once again taking over him. He remembers the last time the black dog consumed him, it nearly cost him his life. The constant weight of the black dog dragged him down in every aspect of his life. It dragged him away from friends and reared up in rage at his family, barking at them to leave him alone. Alone to his misery.The black dog made everything he once enjoyed unbearable, it latched on to him and the misery set in. The black dog lead him closer and closer to the edge of a cliff.
How he beat the black dog last time, the young man doesn't remember. But the overpowering strength of the black dog has tainted him once again. The black dog holds its leash, the collar firmly fastened around the mans throat. Leading him back to the edge of the cliff, the cliff that almost took his life once, and may prove to do so.