The Rabid Stray

My coworker, Maya, found a stray dog outside our office building and decided to bring it inside.
It was a scruffy little thing, but it had a nasty snarl and bared its teeth at anyone who came close. I tried to be the voice of reason. Maya, this is an office, I said gently. Maybe you should let it go.
She shot me a look of pure venom, accusing me of having no heart. Then she and her two little friends launched a campaign, telling everyone in our small office how cold-blooded I was.
It all came to a head when her precious stray wandered into the bosss office and mauled his wife.
Five days later, she was dead from rabies.
The story blew up. The office was in chaos. And in the midst of it all, Maya and her cronies pointed their fingers at me, swearing up and down that the dog was mine.
I was dragged away by the boss and his men, thrown into a dark room filled with vicious, barking dogs. They tore at my flesh, their teeth ripping me apart until I finally choked on my own blood, my heart filled with a burning hatred.
Then I opened my eyes.
And I was right back on that day, watching Maya walk into the office, cradling that snarling mutt in her arms.
1
"Look at him! Isn't he the cutest thing? We should totally keep him in the office!" Maya cooed, hugging the little dog to her chest.
Her two loyal sidekicks, Leah and Chloe, immediately rushed over, making goo-goo eyes at the creature. The dog just bared its teeth, a low growl rumbling in its chest. It looked anything but cute; it looked feral.
I watched from a distance, my face a cold mask.
There were only four of us in our section. Maya came from money, and to make matters worse, her uncle was our department head. Leah and Chloe knew which side their bread was buttered on, so they stuck to Maya like glue.
In my last life, it was those three who ganged up on me, who created the lie that sealed my fate. It was their word against mine, and my furious boss didn't even bother to ask questions. He just had me taken away, left to be ripped to shreds by a pack of wild animals. The memory of that agony, the feeling of my skin tearing, was still seared into my soul.
As I watched them fawn over the mutt, my mind wasn't on them. It was on survival.
I discreetly pulled out my phone, hit 'record' on the video camera, and called out to her. "Maya, that's a stray, isn't it? I really think you should get rid of it. You have no idea what diseases it could be carrying."
All three of them whipped their heads around to glare at me.
"Claire, have you got no heart?" Maya shrieked, pointing an accusing finger. "Look at this poor, adorable thing! How could we let him wander the streets alone? What if something happened to him? Could you live with that?"
"How could you be so cruel as to even suggest it?" Chloe chimed in.
"Seriously, Claire. You're really cold," Leah added, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
"I never knew you were this kind of person, Claire."
I held my ground, my voice calm and steady despite the storm brewing inside me. "This is a place of business. People are coming and going all day. What if it bites someone?"
"Look at this sweet face! He would never bite anyone!" Maya insisted. "And even if he did, my family has plenty of money. You think I can't afford to pay for a little bite?"
Leah immediately backed her up. "Exactly! Maya's family is rich. Not like you. It's bad enough you're broke, but do you have to be so heartless too?"
"Besides, Claire," Chloe said, crossing her arms, "there are four of us here, and three of us want to keep him. Your opinion doesn't count." It was a pathetic attempt to curry favor with Maya, but it was their go-to move.
"Shouldn't you at least get a cage for him, then? Or a leash?" I suggested, feigning concern. I already knew what their answer would be.
As expected, they erupted.
A leash would restrict his freedom! Dogs have rights, you know! Don't be so cruel!
The way they looked at me, you would have thought Id just insulted their mothers.
I let them rant, and when they finally wound down, I simply nodded. "Fine. He's your dog. You deal with him. I'm staying out of it."
Then, I quietly uploaded the video Id been recording to a public social media account.
The dog would bite the bosss wife in three days. For the next three days, I would document everything. And this time, when the accusations started flying, I would have proof.
2
By that evening, my video had already started to gain some traction. I scrolled through the comments, a grim smile on my face. Most of them were trashing me.
This woman is pure evil. It's a tiny puppy, what's her problem?
She's the one who should be kicked out of the office, not that adorable dog!
Some people are just monsters. How can she not feel any compassion?
A few even wished I'd drop dead.
But the rising tide of hate didn't bother me. In fact, it was exactly what I wanted.
The next day, I filmed Maya and her friends again, this time showing them feeding the dog bits of their lunch under their desks. I posted it with a simple caption: Is it really appropriate to keep a stray dog in a professional office? What if it bites someone?
The floodgates of outrage opened once more.
Shes so toxic! That puppy hasn't done anything to her!
Dogs are the most loving creatures on earth! Maybe if YOU were a better person, you wouldn't be so afraid of it!
What a witch. I hope she gets fired.
Dogs are our best friends! They can sense evil. If a dog doesn't like you, you're the problem!
The comments were ridiculous, but the more the videos spread, the safer I felt. Let them call me whatever they wanted. I was building an airtight alibi, one post at a time.
On the morning of the third day, I walked into the office to find Maya, Leah, and Chloe in a full-blown panic. They were tearing the place apart, searching for something. The dog was gone.
"Claire! Did you hide Sparky?" Maya demanded, rushing toward me. Sparky was the ridiculously generic name shed given the mutt.
"Of course not," I said, pretending to be engrossed in my phone while secretly turning on the camera again. I looked up at her. "You can't even keep track of your own dog?"
"What if he's out there somewhere? What if he bites someone?" I asked, my voice laced with manufactured concern. "This is exactly what I was worried about. An office is a public space, Maya. It's not a kennel."
"I knew it! You hated Sparky from the start! You did something to him, you vile woman!" Maya was practically screaming, her face red with rage.
"Think about it, Maya," I said calmly. "I was the first one to leave yesterday, and I was the last to arrive this morning. When would I have had time to hide your dog? And besides, it's a stray. I wouldn't touch that thing."
"There are security cameras in the hallway. Go check for yourself."
My logic only seemed to make her angrier. "I can't believe how cold you are, Claire! Sparky is missing, and you can still say things like that! You're not even human!"
She stormed off toward the security office, and I followed close behind.
The footage showed it clearly: sometime in the middle of the night, the little dog had slipped out of our office and trotted down the hall. I held up my phone, recorded the monitor, and posted the clip online.
I knew I was about to be buried under another avalanche of hate, but I didn't care.
The show was about to begin.
3
As predicted, the comment section of my latest video was a cesspool of vitriol. People called me heartless. A so-called "animal rescue" group even threatened to find me and "teach me a lesson."
This woman is a monster. What did that sweet puppy ever do to her?
Its a living creature! She has no soul!
I ignored it all and followed Maya and her crew as they began a frantic, company-wide search for the dog. I knew exactly where it was. It was in the boss's office, and his wife would be arriving any minute.
I trailed them, my phone recording their every move. I wasn't in any hurry. Leah and Chloe were calling out "Sparky! Oh, Sparky!" with such panicked desperation, you'd think they'd lost their own child, not some mangy stray.
I rolled my eyes and kept filming. Soon enough, we were near the executive suites at the end of the hall.
Suddenly, we heard a sharp bark.
The faces of the three stooges lit up. They followed the sound until they stood before the CEO's office. Their excitement quickly faded into nervousness. This was the boss's territory; they couldn't just barge in.
Maya's head snapped around, her eyes landing on me. "Claire, this is partially your fault. You go in and get Sparky."
"My fault? How is this my fault?" I asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Because of you!" she snapped. "We were so good to him, and you were nasty every single day! Your bad attitude probably scared him, and that's why he ran away!"
Her logic was so twisted it was almost impressive. "So, you need to go in there and make him like you again. Go on, bring him out and give him a nice cuddle. Then he'll see you're not so bad!"
I just stared at her, speechless. The sheer audacity was breathtaking.
When I didn't move, she got agitated. "Claire, what are you waiting for? Go!"
"Yeah, Claire, it's your responsibility," Leah chimed in. "If you don't, we're not going to be friends with you anymore!"
"Oh no, please don't," I deadpanned. "Whatever will I do?"
"You are unbelievable, Claire!" Maya shrieked, her face turning crimson. All three of them started railing against me again, calling me heartless, cruel, a monster.
"If you're so full of love and compassion," I shot back, "why don't you go get him yourself?"
Just then, a woman's terrified scream echoed from inside the office.
I knew what was happening. The boss's wife was being attacked.
The color drained from their faces. Maya shot me one last hateful glare. "You're a horrible person, Claire! Fine, I'll get him myself!"
She threw the door open and rushed inside. I followed right behind her, my phone held high.
"AHHH!"
The moment the door opened, the scream intensified into a sound of pure agony. My camera caught it all. The boss's wife was on the floor, the little stray latched onto her calf, shaking its head violently. A chunk of flesh was already torn away, leaving a gory, bloody mess.
Maya froze, her eyes wide with horror. She didn't dare take a step closer. Leah and Chloe stood behind her, mouths agape, utterly silent. They were paralyzed by the horrific scene.
"What the hell is going on?" a deep voice boomed from behind us.
I turned to see our boss. It was him. The man from my nightmares. The man who had me thrown to the dogs, his face twisted in a cold, merciless snarl.
A shiver of pure, primal fear shot down my spine. The terror was so real, so visceral, I had to fight to keep my composure.
He shoved past us, his eyes locking on the scene. When he saw the dog savaging his wife, he didn't hesitate. He drew back his foot and kicked the dog with brutal force.
The mutt flew like a soccer ball, slamming into the far wall with a sickening thud. It lay there, whining pitifully, too broken to even try to stand. The boss stalked over and delivered two more vicious kicks. The dog let out one last, choked whimper and went still.
4
In my past life, I only knew that the boss had carried the dog's corpse from office to office, demanding to know who owned it. This time, I'd witnessed the execution firsthand. The sheer violence of it left Maya and her friends trembling in fear.
"Whose dog is this?" he roared, his voice thick with rage as he knelt beside his wife. "Why is there a dog in my company?"
He turned to his wife, his voice softening slightly. "I'm getting you to a hospital."
She was pale as a ghost. She nodded weakly as someone helped her out. I knew it was pointless. The bite had sealed her fate.
When she was gone, the boss turned back to us, his eyes dark and menacing.
"Was it your dog?"
This was it. The moment of truth. In my last life, this was when Maya threw me under the bus without a second thought. It was when he slapped me so hard I saw stars. It was the beginning of five days of hell that ended with me being eaten alive.
But this life was different. This time, I had my armor. Let them try to frame me.
"No! It wasn't ours!" Maya blurted out, her face as white as a sheet. She immediately pointed a trembling finger at me. "It's Claire's! Claire brought the dog to the office!"
Her voice was shrill, desperate. "We told her not to, sir! We told her it was against the rules to have a dog here, but she wouldn't listen! She even yelled at us for trying to help!" Leah and Chloe nodded frantically beside her, their faces masks of phony earnestness.
I watched them, a profound sense of disgust washing over me.
But what happened next still shocked me. Before I could even form a sentence, a hand cracked across my face.
The force of the blow sent me stumbling backward, my head ringing. Stars exploded behind my eyes, and for a second, the world went blurry. I planted my feet, steadying myself, and slowly turned my head to face him. His face was a thundercloud of pure rage.
"What do you think this company is? A damn kennel?" he snarled. "If anything happens to my wife, I'll kill you."
The injustice of it was staggering.
"Sir, that dog wasn't mine," I said, my voice surprisingly steady. "And I have proof."
I reached for my phone, ready to show him everything.
"Claire, what are you doing?" Maya shrieked, lunging for my phone. But the boss was faster. He grabbed her arm, his grip like iron, and pushed her away.
He stared at me, his eyes narrowed. "Proof?"

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