“That had to have hurt!”

Liz wasn’t the least bit surprised the racket had gotten someones attention. She wasn’t even surprised she didn’t hear them come up behind her. She was surprised she could even hear them say anything at all over the sound of her heart pounding in her ears. “I.. uhh.. he.. I just turned the corner and he was there. I ran into him and he just went flying backwards down the stairs.”

“I’d say he went down and down some more.”

“Listen!” Liz whirled around scathing words on the tip of her tongue about how this wasn’t a time to crack jokes.

“What? You act like you’ve never seen a talking dog before.” The small black terrier looked up at her with what could only be described as a look of doggy annoyance.

“So, this is what happens when you finally lose it. You kill someone and then stray dogs start talking to you.” She muttered to herself while slowly backing away from what had to be a figment of her imagination.