Welcome to the Abyss

Salem

I used to never believe in the supernatural, or anything remotely paranormal for that matter.
I could easily shrug off every possession, haunting, poltergeist, and so on as a gas leak induced hallucination. It was simple, things like that--at least to me back then--- simply don't happen.
It really did take a lot for me to finally realize some things just weren't exactly...natural. Some things in the world didn't belong in it.

Logic was a fine ally of mine back then. Before her.

You see, I used to run a dog farm up north. And not like a puppy mill or anything, it was a decent small property--two acres to be exact-- where I bred and raised Huskies. Not exactly my dog of choice now that I look back on it. They were energetic and pretty sneaky, too smart for their own britches. But they were beautiful dogs and they sold well; by my second or third litter the sires had already paid for themselves.
The small dog farm had been in the family for about two generations and had always been known for quality huskies, among other dogs back when my dad ran it. He had retired since then, but still made regular visits from his retirement home in Florida. It was a pretty nice life, though it did get a little stressful when the pups came around. But I had two very loyal employees that lent a hand. One was a 15 year old boy named Mason, and the other was a good friend of mine named Dave.
Back to the story, nothing had ever come up on that farm. It was a relaxed life. But all that changed with one...mistake.
Like I said, logic and skepticism had been my ally back then. Until SHE came along.

I had a beautiful to-be sire, a liver dilute male with gorgeous brown eyes. His name was Curtis, and he was the best dog. He was gentle, kind and smart. I was ecstatic to breed him to a female and see what gorgeous pups would come about. So it was a dream come true when I found a listing for the dam of Curtis' dreams. She was a nearly all black Husky, with a white snout. It wasn't a common coat color and she had a very wolffish appearance, but the one thing that truly caught my eye were her piercing silver irises. They were like two pools of metallic ice. I should have seen it then, but I was just too eager to mix her unique coat color with Curtis'. I should have known something was wrong when I saw those eyes.

I made the two hour trip to a neighboring kennel to pick her up, with Curtis in the back seat. He seemed excited to go to a kennel and sniff out some females, but he knew better than to follow his desires and instead stuck to my side as I got out of the truck and started toward the house. A smart boy he was.
When we met the owner, they seemed...flustered and relieved all at the same time. They had exhausted, dark circled eyes and they looked like they hadn't slept in days. The woman seemed feeble and worn out. I didn't take notice of it at first, since running a kennel alone was hard work and maybe they were just stressed by their newest litter or something.
"T-this way... She's in the back.." They quickly led me around back, past countless empty kennels. The place was dead quiet, which was odd for a kennel. Not a single dog barked or whined as I walked past, as few as there were. The couple dogs I did see were in the back corner of their kennels, nervously shuddering. I was getting serious bad vibes from this place, that this place was not the quality dog kennel I had read about it being. The frazzled owner led to one lone, concrete kennel without much more to say.
And there she was. She was absolutely beautiful. Her coat was so dark that from where she sat in the corner of her cage, it seemed like no light could penetrate the fur. It made her eyes even more unearthly and piercing. As we approached, she was fixed on me, almost in a predatory or curious manner. She didn't seem to blink, just...stared. I guessed she was a nervous dog, because it was common for antsy animals to be distrusting and never take their eyes off strangers out of fear.
The kennel owner began unlocking the four heavy duty padlocks that held the door shut. Strange, I thought. But I remembered, Huskies are notorious door openers. They're smart, wickedly so. It made sense but this seemed a bit...extreme, even for a husky.
The owner pulled a chain off their belt and slowly approached the female, who didn't move a muscle. The woman easily attached the chain lead to the pinch collar around the dog's neck and pulled her out of the kennel. She didn't resist or pull, she just followed the owner out without a single problem, all without taking her eyes off me. Why did she need a chain and pinch for such a well behaved dog? The owner was now striking me as eccentric and a little on the crazy paranoid side. I couldn't wait to just get the dog and get out of here.
I exchanged a wad of cash for the chain that held my new dog, and the owner quickly backed away. "Thank you..."
That was all she said. No friendly banter or talking about dogs or anything about the one I just bought. Every other dog trade or meeting with a kennel owner usually went the complete opposite. There was always nonstop nerdy  talk about dogs and breeds, and everything in between. She didn't even give me a name, the name hadn't been on the online Listing either. What a weirdo.
I wasted no time getting out of there, as it struck me as a bad place. I had the sneaking suspicion it wasn't an upstanding kennel, and maybe had puppy mill or illegal trading going on. Luckily, I learned later, it was shut down shortly after I visited.