Hey Mom, u won’t believe it! Found myself in Spencerville, tryin 2 bring Lucy back 4 a while, bt realized it ain’t right. Grasped that we can’t control fate, n we’ll reunite when time’s right. Miss her loads, Bt she’s happy in the afterlife. Luv, Lulu 🐶💔🌈

Listen to the story here.

Once upon a murky day in the extraordinary town of Spencerville, they said it was impossible. But here I found myself, trying to bring back the spirit and essence of our beloved English Bulldog, Lucy, who had left this world and was most certainly gallivanting among the Eastern White Westie Woods. As I pondered the absurdity of my task, I couldn’t shrug off the lingering hope that somehow, I could bring Lucy back, even just for a little while, before we’d be reunited for good in Spencerville.

It was all incredibly peculiar and felt as if someone had woven a grand illusion around me. My heart was racing with anticipation, and I gleefully watched the sun descending below the horizon, its infamous hue reflecting my somewhat sinister purpose. As I stood outside her favorite local haunt, the Bone Appetit, I shivered and clutched at my collar, feeling oddly vulnerable.

“Oh Lucy, what a world we’ve made for you, and yet, you’re not here to revel in it,” I whispered, my voice drowned by the sinister howling wind. A malicious thought crossed my mind, and a crooked smile crawled across my face. “Well, perhaps I could simply bring you back, if only for a moment.”

I crouched in an alley, adjacent to the Yappy Yogurt, methodically assembling an unusual concoction borrowed from the depths of despair and desire. My obsession grew stronger as the darkness cloaked me, and I stared at the ominous little potion bottle I had.

As the clock struck midnight, my heart thumped in my chest; it was time to attempt the impossible, to make our dear Lucy walk among the living again. I knew it was foolish, even dangerous, but as Dorothy Parker once said, “The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.”

I gave a heavy sigh and swallowed the concoction whole, feeling both unnerved and invigorated by its acerbic taste. Colors swirled around me as the potion took hold, weaving its insidious magic. At first, I felt lightheaded and then came the sensation of rising, floating within the clouds. And, caught in the thick of it all, was Lucy. There she was, her plump body, white coat, and an innate sense of belonging radiating from her. She briefly glanced over at me, her dark eyes filled with amusement and familiarity before she turned away, running off into the distance with her friends Bella and Blue.

It was then when it hit me like a ton of bricks—what have I done? Was I meddling with something beyond my control? Nay, my comprehension? Suddenly, I could hear a distant echo of laughter, a sinister kind that makes dread crawl up your spine. Did my blind determination plunge me into unfathomable danger?

I chased after Lucy and her fur family, my heart pounding with fear and uncertainty. She pranced majestically, securely, making her way to Bulldog Bay, seemingly unperturbed by my growing paranoia. Desperately, I tried to keep up, my fear suffocating me as the grim reality began to dawn. This wasn’t about Lucy at all. Instead, it was about my human need for control, the burning desire to manipulate fate to suit my needs. Oh, what madness, what treachery!

In the ebbing moments as the potion’s effects wore off, I found myself coughing and sputtering as I dragged myself back into the alley. My body trembled, fraught with the horrific revelation that Lucy wasn’t mine to control, nor to manipulate. She belonged in this vibrant town of Spencerville, free as a bird and as alive as ever.

I realized the dire importance of relinquishing control, yielding destiny and its workings to time. Embittered but wiser, I left Spencerville with a heavy heart, biding my time. For in the end, as the echoes of Lucy’s laughter reverberated in my ears, I knew we’d find solace in each other’s embrace once our sojourns in our respective worlds reached their culmination.

The End.