Bob

The two girls were inseparable, even in death they would be together.

Kelly Killer walked in front looking back and forth like a complete stranger, she was thin, but not thin enough for her school friends to call her: the skeleton. She was wearing a tight cyan-colored Lycra that reached her knees, a short-sleeved white blouse, and oversized black shoes. Every second she would crush the bugs that poked into her bare arms and stung her, leaving a lot of welts that covered a large part of her elbows as well as her forearms. She had plucked a flower a few seconds ago and was dragging it in the air after smelling it non-stop as if the smell of the flower never ended. Ellie Killer followed in her cousin's footsteps, sometimes slipping in the mud or dipping her white shoes into the muddy craters that Kelly had made. She wore a long black Lycra, plus a fluorescent green sweater that matched the orange handles on her wrists. She was also thin, you could almost tell they were both sisters by the same build they shared or by the way they had their hair done or by their almost exact resemblance.

They have both been walking for an hour now, with no fixed destination as they walked up several hills and then down the hill, as if they were lost and neither wanted to make sure they were really lost.

--Wait for me, Kelly -Ellie pleaded in a shrill voice. She seemed to be crossing over a rope, reaching out for balance and staggering back and forth-. We better go; my dad is going to kill me when he sees me with my dirty shoes -she said as she stopped.

Kelly looked back at her cousin, Ellie was worried, she could see it in her eyes.

--Ellie, no, we're close, we just take the picture and come back. -She clapped her hands together as if to pray-. Look. -She walked to her cousin, watching her steps-. You can get that out with a little water.

--Water, Kelly? They're new shoes, and if I water them, they're going to be ruined.

--Someday you're going to have to wash them with water, unless they've figured out a way to wash their clothes without using water; that would be very green.

--You're very funny, Kelly -she grumbled.

--Oh, come on, cousin. There's a nice view of the city over here, and if I show your dad the pictures we took, he might not get his paranoid fit.

--Or maybe he'll pop like a balloon because we're coming here alone for a stupid picture.

Kelly opened her mouth, impressed.

--You said stupid, Ellie?

Her cousin stared into a corner without giving her any answer.

--You're not afraid, maybe Dad is serious, maybe we shouldn't have come here alone.

--Or maybe your dad has a screw loose from his head. A very big one called a brain.

They both laughed.

--Stop it, Kelly; are you really not afraid to come here? They say a lot of things about this place like there are a lot of dead bodies or that there are killers living in this very scary place. -He looked up at the sky, at the thickness of the trees that covered much of the light and heat.

--Don't be afraid, cousin; this forest is friendly, they are only legends, the place we should be afraid of is that forest where no one returns after entering.

--What if we are really in that forest where people don't come back? Maybe they don't come back because they are killed by those bad people who live who knows where.

Kelly crushed a fly that was biting her neck.

--Ew! -Kelly said as she looked at the squashed bug in her right hand-. Ellie, let's get out of here.

--I told you to put on the fly repellent.

--And I told you to put on your sunscreen. -She scratched his left arm-. Come on.

Ellie frowned and watched her cousin continue walking. In front of her was a slope, Kelly climbed up without any problem, although she was smearing her shoes with mud and there was a moment where her right foot got stuck and she told her cousin:

--Help me, Ellie.

She didn't object, but deep down she was planning to do it. For a moment she looked at her white shoes which at that moment were no longer white but dull brown. She frowned for a moment and walked over to her cousin to help her get her foot out of the mud.

--My shoes are going to be ruined -she shouted in a low voice that Kelly couldn't hear.

--Thank you -she said.

She checked her shoes and they were sinking in the mud that seemed to be alive.

She shouted, which caught her cousin's attention.

--It's quicksand!

--Get out of there -Kelly shouted.

She took her by the hand to help her pull her shoes out of the mud. Her feet were dragging harder as Ellie shook her legs in an attempt to get out immediately. Her cousin pulled her hands as hard as she could until she saw Ellie pull her shoes out of the mud that had trapped her a few moments earlier.

--That's not quicksand," she said when she saw the mud, "that's just mud.

--Oh no, my shoes -she shrieked.

Now they were all filled with dark mud.

--Ellie, look, we're close now, we're going up the hill and taking the picture.

--But my shoes.

She knelt down. She took a leaf from the ground and removed much of the mud above it.

--Your dad will be here in the evening, we have time to go back and wash them.

--My mom did the same thing with hers and they became like... snails. Dad is going to kill me when he sees that I filled them with mud.

Kelly couldn't hold on for long and laughed.

--Ellie, admit it, your dad is very lucky to buy things that get damaged in the first wash.

Her cousin exhaled, shyly.

--Kelly, I hope she doesn't ask about the shoes today.

--If he asks about the shoes, I'll cover for you, Ellie. Your dad can be manipulated; my mom told me she did it when you were kids.

--My mom told me she did it when they were kids. -She smiled.

--Super cousins? -She held out the little finger of his right hand.

--Super cousins! -She also held out his little finger and they held on.

--Let's go through the photo and then see how they look if we clean them with wet cloths or paint them white so they don't show any mud stains.

-You come up with such silly ideas, Kelly.

She went back to looking at her back.

--Come on, and watch out for the quicksand.

Ellie smiled. She went to her cousin's step as they both continued to climb the hill and saw a path in sight a few feet away from them. Kelly quickened her steps as the seconds passed and left her cousin far behind her, crawling through the nauseous mud and a horror of what her hands would smell like at the end of the day.

--Wait for me, Kelly -she asked when she could see that she was standing up and taking a few steps down the road. She looked around the corner and into the other corner in a nervous tone-. What's wrong?

Her cousin returned to see her as she approached the road.

--Can't you hear it? -she want to know-. There are voices, but I don't know where they're coming from. Hurry up, Ellie.

She listened to him without any opposition. She pressed her way to crawl faster on that hill that seemed to be falling down every moment so she couldn't reach her cousin.

--Hurry up, Ellie -Kelly shouted, looking to each side. She swallowed her saliva uncontrollably. Her eyes were very slit and her forehead was sweating with fear-. Ellie!

She was doing her best to get to the road, but her hands were betraying her, the mud swallowing her palms as soon as she wanted to crawl and she slipped back a few inches. It was like being in quicksand, that could be in Ellie's mind, struggling with quicksand or that kind of mud from a moment ago that held her back.

--Ellie give me her hand! -she was so close that Kelly thought to say it.

Her cousin looked up and listened to her, raising her right hand in the dark mud. Kelly grabbed her hand and pulled it up in a single bound. Ellie jumped into the road.

She could hear footsteps.

--What's that? -she said in an agitated voice.

--I don't know. -She looked around her-. This way.

She didn't let go of her hand for a moment as she dragged her through the road, not letting go of her back for a second. Now there were very loud footsteps, very close to both of their ears, and they were wondering if they were actually moving away from or toward whoever was making those noises. Kelly, breathing heavily, returned to look at her back, but saw no one approaching. She looked back at the front of her. The path continued downhill and then continued up a high hill. She saw several small trees, or it could be some bushes that were before the high hill.

--This way.

--Where are they?

She squeezed his hand tighter as they went down the hill. Ellie came close to falling down as she exchanged his gaze between her back and her front. The steps increased. They reached dry land. The rocks punctured her heels at each of her steps.

--We are here. Let's hide here, Ellie.

They went to the small trees, surrounded them and knelt down.

--Who is it? -shouted Ellie.

--Shhh...

Their hearts were shaking as they jumped on their chests. Their legs were shaking a lot. Every second they shook their heads at the leaves that stung their faces as if there were poisonous ants. They could not breathe perfectly through their noses; they panted every time they inhaled and exhaled through their mouths while observing how little they saw of the outside through the spaces between the leaves. Their pupils were very dilated, so much so that they looked like frightened cats.

--Kelly, can you hear them?

--No.

They gasped.

They looked to the right at the same time.

--They are the killers.

--Shut up, Ellie -she whispered, upset-, don't say those things and don't talk so hard.

They both kept silent for a few seconds, although the gasping of their breaths easily gave away that someone or something was hiding behind the trees.

--My God -Ellie sighed-, please help us, other than the killers.

--Don't say that, Ellie -she ordered in a confident tone- there are no killers here, you know. My mom says if you mention bad lake too many times, it will happen, even if you don't want it to.

--Yeah, I'm sorry.

They kept quiet from now on, but never stopped looking from one point to another. Their legs stopped shaking. This time their breathing became quiet. They could now breathe in all tranquility through their noses without any hindrance and without calling attention to their panting.

Steps, they heard some steps approaching. They could hear them very clearly; it was like someone walking on a floor full of gravel, even though they remember that almost the whole road was full of mud, yet this way the steps could be heard, like someone walking on gravel.

--They're close -Ellie shouted.

--Don't worry, be quiet and they won't find us.

--Okay.

The footsteps grew louder.

Their hearts went numb when the steps stopped for a few moments and continued. They saw something in the spaces between the leaves of the trees. It was a blurred image, although not enough to prevent them from seeing the silhouette of a tall man. He had dark clothes and very giant shoes as if this man had the legs of an elephant. He crossed in front of the trees where Kelly and Ellie were hiding. One of them screamed. The man stopped for a few seconds. It had been Ellie, she covered her mouth with both hands while a few tears streamed from her eyes.

--God! -he sighed.

The man turned around and shook his head from corner to corner. He returned to the front and pointed his gaze at the trees. Kelly's eyes widened as much as possible as she struggled with herself not to scream as her cousin had, even though every second the elephant-legged man kept looking at the trees where they were hidden, Kelly felt she was going to be even more than Ellie.

The man looked straight ahead and kept walking.

Ellie screamed, drowning out his crying with her hands around his mouth.

--Don't cry, Ellie -she asked in a broken voice-. It's over now; don't cry it might come back.

--Kelly, let's get out of here -she howled-. I'm so afraid of this place.

--Yes, yes -she nodded-, but let's hope that man will go away.

--Did you see his feet? -She looked at her. His eyes were very swollen.

--What was wrong with his feet? I don't think it was a human.

--It must be a killer. Let's go Kelly, I don't want to be here anymore, I'm going to apologize to my dad for coming all this way, he was so right. We should never have come to this place alone because there are so many killers living in this place.

--It's okay Ellie, but don't shout; he may be nearby, look, you can still hear his footsteps.

Both of them were silent. As before, the steps were heard very clearly, although at every moment they were decreasing in volume.

--You think I didn't see?

--I don't think so, but I also think so. I thought that at any moment he was going to grab us by the neck and I don't want to imagine what would have happened next.

--Let's go, Kelly.

She nodded.

They took a moment to breathe quietly and then got up. They looked from left to right in agitation as if something deep inside them was warning them to keep an eye out for another one of those men with the elephant legs.

--Let's go.

--Yes.

Kelly Killer was again in the lead. Ellie was watching what was going on behind her back. Every time she came back to see, she thought she was going to look like that man with the elephant legs and that the worst thing about that being was not its legs, but its face, something maybe deformed or maybe something without a nose, without eyes, without a mouth; just a compact mass that somehow knew how to guide itself and not fall. Kelly stopped the passage looking at the left side of a hill below.

--What's wrong, Kelly?

--Ellie? -she replied. She looked back at her cousin; her face was filled with an inexplicable horror-. Look at that. -She pointed down the hill.

She didn't want to do it for a moment, but she had no choice but to listen out of simple curiosity. All along the way down the hill there were countless dry, crushed ferns as if someone had rolled down. Ellie continued to look further up the hill until she reached the mainland where there were many pieces of trees and rotten boards. Farther ahead there was a lake that you couldn't see where it came from, but what made Ellie's blood run cold was looking beyond the lake to the other end where you could see a forest and the silhouette of a man standing there staring at it.

--No... -Ellie shouted-. Is it the man?

--He can't be the same; he couldn't have gotten down there that fast. But that's not what I want you to look at, Ellie; look at what's in the lake.

She looked at his cousin, she was still pointing down the hill. She listened to her and his only mistake was to believe that after seeing the silhouette of that man near that forest there could be nothing worse, but she was wrong anyway. She put his hands to his mouth as soon as she saw what Kelly was really aiming at. It was a person floating in the water and spinning on an unknown axis. She didn't know why she hadn't seen it before, especially because of the man's flashy clothes.

--Did he drown? -she shouted in her cousin's ear, looking into her eyes.

--Ellie, don't be too scared. -She looked down again-. He's gone.

--What? -She looked down, too, but saw the man floating in the lake-. Who are you talking about?

--Who was at the edge of the lake, the man who might have been the one who walked here a few moments ago. He's gone now.

Ellie looked very carefully at the lake's edge and the outside of the forest.

--There it is! -she shouted.

She pointed to the edge of the forest. It took Kelly a long time to understand and guide herself in the direction Ellie's index finger was pointing. It was true, there on the edge of the woods she saw a blurred silhouette walking backwards into the trees.

--It's the woods my mom spoke to me about. -Her cousin looked at her intimately. It's that forest where strange things happen and where no one should come close because you don't go out, if you come in.

--Oh, my God. -She covered her mouth with her right hand.

--Ellie? We must help that person.

--What? Are you out of your mind? What if that man comes out of those woods?

--What if that person is still alive? -She looked at her, sure of his words.

--No… -She shook her head from left to right.

--Don't be afraid, Ellie, come on. -He took her by the hand and again Kelly was in the lead.

Her cousin resisted Kelly's walk down the hill. She placed one foot on the dry ferns and her shoe sank as soon as she wanted to place her other foot further down the hill.

--Be very careful -she said-; it's slippery. Follow in my footsteps.

--It's a bad idea -she shouted.

Kelly dragged her down the hill. Ellie arranged her hair behind her right ear while she paid attention to the footprints, or holes, that her cousin had made. She staggered for a few moments as she pulled her feet out of the holes. Her shoes came out full of liquid mud.

--Kelly!

--What? -She turned her head to look at it, her cousin was very frightened-. What's wrong with you?

--I'm so scared, we better go and tell the police about the body.

--No, imagine that he is still alive, and if we leave and when the police come he is already dead because we left without helping him.

Ellie slipped. She screamed. She let go of her cousin's hand to cover her face before going to the floor.

--Be careful.

She checked her hands, they were full of mud as well as her Lycra.

--Oh no, what am I going to tell my mom when she sees me.

--That you saved someone's life.

Kelly continued without her cousin. She held out her hands as if to balance.

--Wait for me. -She stood up.

Every meter of the way down, the floor became less resistant. Often one of them slipped and fell on his back, shouting; but they got up and went on. Kelly held on to a broken branch of a plant to go down safely the slope that had become less inclined along the meters and took a vertical form.

--Watch out!

Kelly let go of the branch and jumped a few inches down, where the path became easier to walk, and where the ferns still remained fresh.

--Come down, Ellie.

--No. -She was calculating how high she was from her cousin. Even though it was only a few inches, Ellie could see hundreds of feet she had to drop to get to the mainland-. I'm so scared.

--Jump, nothing will happen to you.

She listened to him, although not very sure at heart. She grabbed hold of the branch while leaving one of her legs out in the open and then left her left leg behind as she slid down.

--Here I come -she said.

She let go of the branch, closed his eyes and slid down. She squealed as she fell, but by the time she opened his eyes, she was inches away from his cousin. She had shrunk before she jumped and in that same position she was as close as she could get to opening his eyes.

--You see it? Nothing happened to you -Kelly said.

--It's true. -She smiled.

--We're close, come on.

Kelly took the lead again. She was walking at a fast pace to the side. For a moment, Ellie looked around worried that no one else was with them. However, nothing was in sight, except for the fallen trees that were beginning to rot in the open air.

--Don't leave me alone! -she howled.

She ran like a frightened chicken across the path of crushed ferns that her cousin had made. Not a moment went by before Ellie felt her eyes on her. Sometimes she would stop to make sure nothing or no one was following her, except for the wind that would come up and blow the fern branches off her legs, and she would get scared and stop to confirm that it was really the fern branches and nothing else.

Kelly got out of the fern path, but now her steps slowed down as she got closer to the lake. She turned around to see his cousin Ellie, who was walking with her arms outstretched to her torso and looking in all directions in an attempt to reassure the voice that was always whispering to her that there was someone else with them that there was no one else. Kelly's face showed a horror and disgust that was incomprehensible at first sight.

--What did you see, Kelly?

Both were silent, clinging to the sound of the wind blowing over the ferns.

--He's dead -she said.

Just hearing those words, Ellie was petrified, with blood that had stopped to lower her temperature. She could no longer feel her heartbeat. He looked like he was dead. She wanted so badly to run away, but at the same time she felt that her legs did not obey her every time she said in her mind: run!

--No -she shouted.

With some effort, she put his hands to his mouth and drowned out a scream.

--Ellie, come here. -He turned his eyes from corner to corner-. The killer could be anywhere.

Those words worried Ellie very much; she listened to him from the first moment, shot out of her position and answered her cousin's call. They both looked from one side to the other, but saw nothing, something that at least left them alone for a few seconds.

--You were right, Ellie. -Her cousin looked at her with a scowl-. We should never have come to this place by ourselves, we should have come with someone else or an adult.

--Then let's leave as soon as possible before... -She interrupted herself.

For a moment she was curious about what her cousin Kelly had seen, yet when she answered the question that flitted through her mind, she never knew she was going to hate herself for that stupidity. She looked away from the lake when she did so and realized the reason for the horror and disgust her cousin felt. She saw the man's body floating in the water very clearly. He was a tall man, to her eyes it seemed that he must have been two meters tall, but that was only pure imagination of the first impression. He was wearing a white shirt, which moved at the same time as the water when the wind was blowing and moving it; also he was wearing long pants of light blue color, full of water in the inner part, and showed the man's bare feet, something that at those moments could be appreciated by the putrid color of his skin. The worst was not that, nor the smell that at every moment appeared in his nose, something similar to rotten meat and wet skin or fish skin. Even so, what really shook her was when the body rotated on an indecipherable axis and showed her the state of the skull; it was split in half, someone must surely have cut it at an angle with a sharp axe, succeeding in cutting off half of her face. Inside the hollow head there were thousands of flies and worms feeding on the body.

--Kelly, let's go -she shouted.

--Yes.

They swallowed at the same time as they looked in all directions in case someone had appeared without them noticing. A weight came off their shoulders when they verified that they were still alone as usual, but...

--Kelly -whispered Ellie in a muffled, shy voice-. Look at that.

Her cousin turned on her heels at Ellie's call, she was aiming straight ahead, along the side bank. At first she didn't understand what she meant, but after she saw a dark spot in the distance, she could see things. The first thought that came into his head was that this dark spot in the distance must be the man with the elephant's legs; at each moment he thought his idea was more accurate as the image took the form of a large creature. Kelly glanced to focus and realized that it was not the elephant-legged man, unless he was walking on all fours to terrorize them. She could already imagine it. Both petrified as two trees waiting for the creature that originated the dark spot, but by the time the creature took shape, it was too late to run for both; there was the man walking on all fours, shaking his head from side to side like a complete madman. Kelly took a breath and recognized the creature: it was a dog, it was approaching them, although it seemed that it had not yet seen them. It sniffed the ground and then jumped up and down and bit a branch, shaking it from side to side.

--It's a dog -she said.

--I hope it doesn't hurt us -she said in a broken voice.

--Calm down, Ellie, maybe he's gone or maybe his owner is nearby.

--Okay.

They held hands, sweating a lot. Their hearts were pounding very nervously at those moments when the dog looked at them closely and then ran at great speed towards them both.

--Kelly, let's run!

--My legs can't move.

The dog took shape as it ran; it was a very oversized rottweiler. It wagged its tail from side to side and slowed down every time it was near them.

--Aww, look at Ellie -he said stepping forward-. Isn't he cute?

The rottweiler sat three feet away from them, waving his tail as if he were sweeping the floor. He was smiling at them, or that at first glance seemed to be what he was doing when he was also panting with his tongue out of his mouth. He had a yellow rope tied around his neck and a piece of leftover rope was swinging in the air.

--Kelly, those dogs scare the hell out of me.

--Oh, don't be too scared. -She walked over to the dog and touched his head-. You can see it doesn't do any harm? -she said as she returned to see her cousin-. Is very friendly. -She went back to the dog and licked Kelly's fingers-. What do you call yourself, smiling friend? -she said to him.

She shook his right hand, the dog raised his right paw.

--How clever!

Kelly held the piece of rope that was in the air. She looked at it very carefully and had no doubt that the rope was torn off, as there were many traces of bite marks on the rope.

--Ellie. -She looked at his cousin-. I think he ran away from home.

--What?

--I think -she looked back at the rottweiler- that... -She frowns.

There was something under the chain formed with the rope that caught his attention. She reached out with his right hand to remove the rope. It was a necklace she had tied to a plate, something she recognized as a piece of cylindrical wood of a yellowish color; she was not very clear about what that thing was.

--Bob -read.

--What?

--It's called Bob. -He pointed to the cylindrical plaque where the name was carved.

Kelly turned the cylindrical plate out of curiosity; his eyes widened when she saw what the cylindrical plate really was, a finger, a petrified thumb, or one that had been dipped in varnish to give it a yellow hue. She released them with her thumb and jumped up with a shuddering cry.

--What's wrong with you?

--It's a finger! -replied Kelly, hysterical.

The thumb danced from corner to corner and showed her the dry nail, which at some point must have been forced out of the finger. The nail was broken in half, even though it showed a considerable amount of flesh of a reddish color.

--A finger? -she asked, dismayed.

--Someone carved the dog's name on a… human thumb.

Bob, the dog turned his eyes for a few moments to the right and then looked at them, panting.

Ellie, after a few seconds, wanted to know what the dog was looking at and looked to the left side, but her fears were just about to begin at that moment. Her mouth wanted to open to utter something, however, her lips remained completely closed so that she would not speak. Her entire body was paralyzed by the image in front of her. It was the man with the elephant's legs, standing on the other side of the lake; he was staring at Ellie, or so she thought. He was dressed entirely in a dark color. As she may have thought a moment ago, the Elephant Foot Man had nothing on his face, just a gelatinous mass, no eyes, no nose, no mouth, but one thing was for sure, the man was looking into her eyes.

--Kelly -she shouted, though his call sounded like a whisper that didn't attract his cousin's attention-. Kelly! -she said louder; this time her cousin did hear her.

She turned around without taking off her head the image of that finger bathed in varnish so that it would take on that consistency and yellow tone. She saw Ellie with her eyes on the left side. The girl's hands were shaking a lot, as were her lips. Ellie slowly turned her head to look at Kelly's eyes as she struggled with herself to get the words out of her mouth so they wouldn't get stuck in the middle of her throat.

--He's back -she said in a choked voice

Kelly folded her arms, somewhat shyly.

There was a brief period of silence until they spoke again.

--Who? -she said, even though she had an idea in her head, but wished deep down it wasn't real.

--He, that man, the one with the big legs!

A pair of tears came to Kelly's eyes.

--Please don't play games.

--I'm not -she whispered.

No matter how much Ellie told him about the elephant-legged man, she didn't believe him, praying that it was all in his imagination, that she would blink and find himself in his room, sleeping in his comfortable bed surrounded by countless giant stuffed animals, yet every time she blinked, no matter how hard she closed his eyes, she realized that it was all very real, more so than usual.

She took a deep breath and turned his gaze to the other side of the lake. There was the man with the elephant's legs; he had nothing for a face, it was like continuously seeing the head of a bald person. He was standing still, which worried Kelly a lot, that this way of standing still, with his eyes resting on them, was not a sign of relief.

--Is he the one who appeared when we hid behind the trees? -Ellie wanted to know

--He couldn't have gotten here that fast... -She sighed-. Can you see what's tied around his neck? I don't see it, but I think it's...

She kept his mouth shut so as not to name it. Her suspicions were right; for a moment she looked at the mysterious thing the man was wearing around his neck; it was the same color as the thumb on Bob's necklace. It didn't take long to deduce that this thing, something like a giant shell, was the rest of the hand bathed in varnish.

--We should never have come to this place.

Ellie didn't want to see the man anymore, her cousin was going to in the next few seconds because she was disgusted to see that man without a face. Kelly pointed to the floor and then looked up at her cousin; she had a lot of fear expressed in her eyes.

--What's wrong?

Now a thousand ideas were running through Kelly's mind, like the man with the elephant's legs across the lake was another man, and the guy they almost ran into on the road was behind them. It also crossed the possibility that the man with the elephant's legs was standing behind it without any explanation of how he crossed the lake without being seen.

Ellie raised her right index finger and pointed it at the dog. Kelly, fearing what would happen, turned on her heels to see what filled her cousin with terror. She looked shyly at the rottweiler, but the dog was no longer the same, no longer the same as a few seconds ago. He was smiling at them; his features looked human, like those of a deranged person. His eyes shone bright yellow.

--Oh no!

Kelly put her hands to her mouth as tears streamed from her eyes.

Bob opened his mouth at a very slow pace that allowed them to see very clearly each of his teeth; at least those were normal, they were like a killer dog, giants as well as sharp crayons. He stuck out his tongue as far as possible so that the saliva would fall to the floor as if it were a water tap, although no water but a sticky substance similar to honey, but opaque white, was flowing out.

The two girls screamed, drowning out the screams with one hand around their mouths.

The dog vomited more saliva and walked towards them, moving his tongue as well as a pendulum to mark the honey-like substance on the path he was walking on. His movements were very clumsy, having a certain similarity to those of a person who was beginning to walk for the first time, each of his legs colliding with the other or sometimes contracting in such a way that they were a gelatinous substance with uncontrollable spasms.

The screaming continued. They both screamed uncontrollably as they backed up and watched the rottweiler open its mouth wider, as if to hold it to one of them.