Hello and welcome to the episode 139 of Real Life Goal Stories.

I have six spooky stories for you today and the last story comes from August the 12th 2021 and story number one comes from Sarah.

Our dog Boyd was always an old gentleman in personality. He wouldn't have been out of place on an old portrait, majestic and staring into the distance.

A few years ago I was sexually assaulted and was spiraling into a really bad place.

I moved back home from uni for the summer and hadn't told anyone what was wrong. I would just bottle it up and break down when I was alone.

In this time Boyd became really protective of me, not aggressive but like a quiet guardian, always there.

He was a massive dog, so it was like what I imagined having a dire wolf at my side would be like.

He was a calm, quiet presence and he looked after me.

After I had a panic attack one day, he even walked me to bed, literally hurried me there and then lay with me.

I couldn't tell anyone though, because then I would face questions as to what was wrong with me.

He died two years later. He had a tumor on his heart which was restricting the blood flow, eventually causing a fatal stroke.

He was put to sleep. I dealt with my PTSD and carried on with life. But PTSD never really goes away.

Fast forward to last week, five years after Boyd passed away. I had a dream so vivid it was like the assault was happening all over again.

I woke up and could hear barking from outside. In my state I just assumed it was one of the other dogs.

We now have another two, so I got up shaking and crying to go and let Barney or Caesar back in.

I didn't think at the time that it was odd for one of them to have been let out and then left outside.

My mind wasn't focused enough to be that logical.

I went downstairs and opened the door to the garden. Neither Barney or Caesar were outside.

But I was immediately hit by a sense that Boyd was there. I could smell him and then felt the pressure of him leaning against me and his fur brushing my bare leg as he passed by me to go inside the house.

The sensations were so visceral and overwhelmingly real that if I had closed my eyes it would have seemed like Boyd was physically there.

Immediately I felt calm. Feeling him there just grounded me. I wasn't in that dream space anymore where that bastard was attacking me.

Everything felt safe again.

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