He was a veterinarian and a Boxer, so how bad could it be?

I've been sitting on this story for a while, because it's a little weird, but I've been wanting to tell it, and I have a feeling that people in this community will appreciate it.<br><br>So this happened when I was maybe 14 or 15, sometime in the mid-90s. I was hanging out one of my friends, let's call her Marissa. She had a stepdad, let's call him Steve, who was a vet. And he had been sitting on this Boxer puppy he had planned to adopt out, but ended up getting called away to work for a few weeks, and the pup was still at the clinic. So he asked if I could house sit and dog sit for him over Christmas break, and Marissa and I could have a slumber party, so there would always be someone there. He'd left a bunch of instructions on feeding and walking the dog, and said we should be good to go.<br><br>The dog was super sweet, but a little rambunctious, like a puppy tends to be. But overall, he was well-trained, and was really easy to take care of. I remember he was super protective of me and Marissa, and would bark at pretty much anyone else, even if we said it was ok. But he was very obedient and we could shut him up with a command pretty easily.<br><br>We'd been there a few days, and Marissa had left for the night when I heard a knock at the door. The dog was asleep on the floor next to me, and he started barking pretty aggressively. I looked through the peephole, and it was a guy with a bunch of boxes and bags, kind of overweight, with a red face and greasy black hair. He looked kind of familiar, but in a vague sort of way. I said, through the door, "Hi!" And he said "I have your groceries!" And I said "I didn't order groceries." And he said "Well, I have groceries for the guy who lives here," like I was some kind of idiot. The dog was losing his shit at this point, but I really wasn't afraid because it was just a guy with groceries, even if it was weird.<br><br>I was about to tell him I wasn't going to let him in, when I remembered that Steve owned a few clinics, and it was possible he'd ordered some groceries that I didn't know about. But I still wasn't going to let the guy in, because that just seemed crazy, especially since the dog was acting so weird.<br><br>The guy started getting angry when I told him I wasn't going to let him in, and he tried to shoulder the door open. I was surprised because I'm sure I locked it. The dog went fucking nuts and was barking so loudly I couldn't even hear what the guy was saying, but he was definitely yelling at me, and possibly even the dog. I backed away from the door and kind of lost my shit. I called 911 on the house phone and dialed Steve's cell number on my cell phone.<br><br>The guy pushed his way in, and dropped all his groceries. But it was weird, because his groceries were all pill bottles, and one of them broke on the floor, so he started muttering to himself and crouching down to clean it up. I was talking to the 911 operator, and they said they were getting ready to send someone over, although I was pretty sure they'd be too late, because this guy was coming towards me and he looked really angry.<br><br>The dog was barking at him, and I was standing behind the island in the kitchen, and I was so scared because this guy was right there and he was so angry, I was starting to think about how I was going to die and stuff. But then he shouted at the dog, "Shut up you stupid fucking dog!" Which made the dog start barking even louder, and he even nipped at the guy's pants. The guy kicked the dog in the ribs, and I heard him yelp, so I rounded the island and ran at the guy, saying "Hey! Don't kick my dog!" And the guy rounds on me and starts coming towards me.<br><br>So I grabbed the biggest knife I could find, which was a chef's knife, and it must have look big as hell to the guy because his eyes got really wide and he backed off. I jumped back over the island, like it was going to protect me or something, and the dog started barking even louder, and I could tell he was getting ready to charge, and I kept telling him no, because I didn't want him to get hurt. The guy shouted at the dog again, and then he turned and ran out the door.<br><br>The cops showed up maybe two minutes later, and they were looking for the guy, but I didn't see which way he went, even though they asked me about a million times. Then they asked me if I knew the guy, and I said no, but he looked familiar, and that's when one of the cops started describing the guy, and then it hit me.<br><br>The guy was the manager at the Wendy's I worked at, and he'd just asked me to come work the night shift on Christmas with him, which I turned down. I didn't really like the guy, and I didn't want to be at work on Christmas. But he'd been pushing me, saying I needed to be there, because it was Christmas and people needed fast food. It was such bullshit, and I think he just wanted me to be there for some fucked up reason. So I told the cop all this, and he said "So you turned him down, huh?" And I said "Yeah, I don't want to work on Christmas." And he just nodded and wrote some stuff down.<br><br>The next day, Steve came home, and Marissa came back over, and we told him the whole story. He kind of got quiet and he called someone on the phone, and they talked for a while, and then he told us that the guy who had tried to get in was my boss, and that he had been embezzling money from corporate, and that he was in deep shit, and he thought Steve might have figured it out, since he was in such deep financial trouble, and he figured robbing his house would be the answer. And then he told me that he'd never figured it out, but he was suspicious, which is why he'd left town, just to be safe.<br><br>He said that they'd never caught the guy, and he'd probably just quit his job and left town himself, but if I saw him again, I should run the other way and call the cops. And that was it, even though it wasn't really it, because something about the story just didn't make sense, but I didn't ask any questions. He just gave me $20 to take Marissa to the movies, and then he went into his room, and left us alone with the dog.<br><br>And that dog, God bless Boxers, because they're the best breed in the world, but that dog was like my bodyguard, because any time anyone came near me or Marissa, he'd be right there, growling and baring his teeth. He was such a sweet dog, but he didn't trust anyone, and I really can't blame him.<br><br>So that's my story. It's not really a horror story, but I feel like it kind of fits with what I've seen here. So I guess the guy from Wendy's, let's not meet. Especially not on Christmas.