[seasonal event] Toil and trouble

Seiji

Several things happen all at once. But Seiji notices the dog most of all. Large, white, and swift, it bounds toward him, its voice a ringing battle cry. He freezes, caught like a startled deer. Even steps back a few paces. Certainly, he will never outrun the creature. The woman calls after it to no avail, and then — Then — Seiji sees her begin to fall. He is much too far away. The dog is between the two of them, moving still, and he dares not appraoch it. He sees it all happening as if in slow motion, as if from very far away, and is filled with a terrible knowledge: this would never have happened without him. He edges away as the dog comes close, flinching where its pointed nose lifts to sniff him. His eyes are on the woman, but she is so far away yet, and the dog is here, the dog is very present... "Hello?" Seiji calls, edging forward, trying to move around the dog. "Are you hurt? I am sorry. I surprised you..." as a child I mostly spoke inside my head had conversations with the clouds, the dogs, the dead