It was a gloomy day, and I had come to this desolate shoreline because I needed to get out of my house, there was too much drama at home. My brother was off in college, my girlfriend had the flu and was bedridden, my mother was off at work and I was STILL unemployed after five months.
I was getting tired of handing out resumes and going door to door trying to solicit myself.
No one was hiring now, and I was beginning to lose faith in myself. I had taken refuge at the local beach. There had been a spectacular squall the night before and all kinds of strange things had washed up. I felt the spray as the steel gray waters crashed ashore.
I scanned the coast Something was that rolling around in the waves up ahead, I got a glimpse of it is the surf receded. It flopped around as the waves crashed ashore. It took several seconds to take in what I was seeing, at first I thought I was staring at a plush toy, but as I neared I realized with horror that it was a REAL dog not a stuffed animal!
It was a shiba inu, and I could tell that the poor thing was knocking at death's door.
It was having trouble holding its head up and it was beginning to shake and convulse, it sputtered and looked at me with the deep azure wells that were its eyes and died in my arms.
There was a collar with a bell that was engraved with the name Titan. There was no other tags or other information I could use to contact his owners.
I felt the newly forming tears on my face blowing away in the wind.
"How did this happen? " I asked myself Suddenly a horrific picture painted itself in my mind.
Had someone intentionally thrown this dog overboard?
"what kind of person could do something like that " I shuddered wiping the tears and sea spray from my face.
" Well you gave it your all my friend, but it just wasn't enough, " I said.

I was turning to leave when I noticed that the seagulls were already pecking on his body. I shooed them away and continued down the beach towards home. I turned back a final time and was astonished to find that Titan's dead body was gone, the sea had reclaimed what was rightfully her's.
I headed for home.
I felt absolutely terrible that I couldn't save him. I walked up the sandy road that lead to my house, I could see my beat up car sitting In the driveway, there wasn't a single part of it that wasn't dented scratched, or rusted I laughed at myself and realized that the silver lining in all of this was that I was incredibly thankful to be alive now.
I climbed the concrete steps and unlocked the door. I figured that maybe I should take a shower, then and go out and distribute more resumes. I felt trained, I didn't want to go out but I figured that I didn't have much of a choice I needed to find a job. I opened my bedroom door and a small torrent of sea water flowed from inside. I froze, what in the heck was happening?
Why was there water flowing from my room?
We lived a quarter mile from the beach and the rest of our neighborhood wasn't flooded, so where was all the water coming from?
I waded through the ankle deep flood, it was then that I noticed something at the edge of my field of vision.

I turned around, a wave of terror overcame me,
I tried to scream and found that I was slightly paralyzed.
There was a decisive splash as I fell to my knees.
I had never believed in the paranormal, but now my beliefs were being challenged.
Sitting above me on my bed was Titan's spectral form.
I had always thought of ghosts as being ethereal beings that looked like they were made from smoke and vapor, It appeared that my visitor was much more solid looking. And yet he was still translucent,
I could see through him to my bed's headboard. His fur was matted with gooey strands of seaweed, that dangled, dripping seawater teardrops on my bedspread, The bell attached to his collar was covered in rust. His body was covered in bloody gashes, he looked at me...no INTO me with his coal black eyes, the eyes that had seen beyond the veil. A wide grin spread across his face as he panted, the bell jingled softly and he slowly faded away, I blinked and was surprised that the water had also disappeared. I felt the carpeting, it was bone dry!
A chill ran down my spine,
" I really need to get a job, before I lose my friggin' mind " I growled, I decided to skip the shower.
I quickly changed into a blue linen shirt and a pair of khakis. I grabbed a single copy of my resume I looked at my car and remembered that it only had a quarter tank of gas. I decided to walk into town, the wind had died down and the clouds were slowly giving away to sunshine

It was a quiet morning no more then two cars passed by. My skin was still crawling from the experience in my bedroom. I smiled faintly, at least the weather seemed to be improving. I crossed over the railroad tracks that bordered the downtown area. It was kind of upsetting I had gone through several years of culinary school and the only job in the industry I had ever held was a dishwasher......
it was sort of depressing, but I remembered the tired old mantra
"practice makes perfect, " I scoffed.
"kind of hard to get experience when no one is hiring " I passed by the local diner, I saw someone removing a "help wanted" sign. Some other lucky chef or waiter had been hired. I walked past another restaurant called The Cedar Room. I went inside and talked to the Maitre'd. I told him that I was looking for work and handed him a resume. He smiled and said that they weren't hiring yet and told me to come back next week. I left feeling less then satisfied. If I came back next week they would tell continue to tell me that they weren't hiring yet, I had seen it a hundred times before. They were politely telling me to bug off. I decided to go home, they had kept the copy of my resume. I walked back through town, I was surprised how empty the streets were. I was crossing the tracks at the edge of my neighborhood when something hit me; I stumbled onto the sidewalk and landed on my back suddenly a jeep flew across the tracks and crashed into a nearby tree. If I hadn't fell there was no doubt I would have been roadkill The driver stumbled out and puked, he was obviously drunk. I looked for what hah it me it was only then that I noticed the wet paw prints on the sidewalk. They steamed and quickly disappeared. I thought I heard a faint ringing nearby.
" Titan? " I croaked
" Did you do that? " I suddenly noticed more prints where there hadn't been any before. Gradually the ringing faded away and then was no more.
"thank you," I said hoarse, wiping the tears from my face, It was then that I heard sirens in the distance.
"let the police sort this mess out" I thought and continued on home.

It took a few days to sink in, but now in retrospect I realize just how lucky I was. I am totally convinced that Titan's spirit pounced on me saving my life. Suddenly my luck started to improve

The following week despite my instincts I returned to the same restaurant again with another resume. I was surprised when I was hired on the spot. Even now three years later, I still occasionally hear the faint jingle of Titan's bell, and I know even to this day he is watching over me.