*"Suddenly our dog Charlie just spoke and what was strange was the first thing that he said..." Well, the story was not about Charlie, even when he played a big part and did speak at some point.

From Rapaporto, the Writing Prompt App.

"A garden is a house's heart and soul.

Where its treasures and secrets went to sleep..."

That poem had never meant much to me before grandpa passed away.

All of his life, he had spent an absurd amount of time and money in the estate's garden, growing this, fixing that, but not much had changed in my eyes. I should have asked him about it, but I didn't, then I lived to regret it...

My sister Mia and I were walking in the garden one day, discussing how much we needed to fix the water system, which had become severely outdated and a huge hazard when our dog Charlie suddenly freaked out.

He was a good old Labrador that enjoyed nothing more than long sunbaths when he wasn't busy roaming around, digging stuff up. Charlie rarely barked or got into trouble, but that day, something unnerved the dog so much that he acted like a complete lunatic. Almost feral, Charlie jumped up and down, foaming at the mouth. He growled at nothing. We told him to stop multiple times, but Charlie just took off and was gone like the wind.

The estate was big. There were many nooks and corners a dog could get into. We ran after Charlie all the way to the west side where it was overgrown and, technically, abandoned. There the dog was.

Charlie was staring at the old well. No more barking or growling, no more jumping up and down, just intensely staring with his head lowered as if he expected something to jump out and devour us all.

When I was little, there had been times my parents would leave me with Grandpa for months on end. Mia had not been born then, and I had had a whole kingdom at my disposal. Grandpa had mostly been in his own world. I remembered the time I had wandered to this exact place. With nothing to do, I had thrown rocks into the old well...

Nothing had happened to me that day besides a historical lecture from Grandpa. I had always thought he had freaked out for no reason. The well still looked as large and sinister as the last time I had seen it with the same humongous grate cover and an old rusty lock on one side.

"Leave. Go find the keys. It is coming."

I didn't imagine it. So did Mia.

As if it was not mind-blowing enough for Charlie to command us, Mia and I knew exactly what he talked about.