The Dog Suicide Bridge

A bridge with a dark past, dozens of shattered bodies, no explanation.

Martino is thirteen, with a hyper protective mother, a complicated father and an affectionate mongrel called Rumo. Martino wanted a dog for two reasons: to get out of the house at least three times a day, and to impress Serena, who knows everyone but him… and now he’s about to be devoured and has to save himself and his four-legged friend from the talons of darkness, at all costs. With Rumo he feels protected, especially since he’s felt a strange presence following him closely. Too closely. In the shadows. He doesn’t remember exactly when it started, but now he hears it wherever he goes. Even though he’s half deaf.

At the same time, in town the dogs have started killing themselves by jumping off the historic Devil’s Bridge. Martino and his friend Serena are the only ones investigating, and they’re horrified when the guilty party appears before their eyes: an infernal creature that looks like a black hound. Scarface. Martino is terrified. How can he take on a beast like that? But he has to: to save Rumo and himself from the talons of darkness. But also to find his place in the world, and finally be free from every ‘monstrous’ fear.

• A story about the fear of the unknown: dark, threatening, inscrutable, it waits for us in the shadows until we decide to face it.
• A mystery/horror story inspired by Anglo-Saxon folklore and legends.
• Fears don’t only come from outside, in the form of enemies, but from inside too: the fear of facing the world.