Your old friend (hires)

Your old friend had been worrying you in the past few days.

After meeting basically every other day for a coffee, and sending texts and funny memes to each other until late every night, suddenly communication had stopped. You had waited for hours just for no one to show up, and your calls were now going straight to voice mail. After days of silence, you finally decided to show up at your friend's place, but you could see from outside the lights were off. Despite your friend's car being parked in front of the house, no one replied when you rang the doorbell one, two, ten times.

You had always told everything to each other, why the sudden disappearance?
You thought maybe you had said something wrong without meaning it, something offensive... But you had always said everything to each other, you didn't think something like that could end a friendship of many years.... no, definitely something was up. Even your friend's coworkers had no idea what was going on, as your friend hadn't showed up on the workplace either. Worry once again filled your heart.

You rang the doorbell once again. You had the keys to your friend's house, exactly because you had always been so close, and you could trust each other in case something happened. You would never just use those keys and enter uninvited, but this was becoming an emergency, right? You hesitated on the door for a good half an hour, before finally going in with a deep breath.

Once inside, you could perceive something wasn't right. You looked for the light switch, and almost fell as you stumbled on something. A... broken chair..? You panicked. You realized you should've called the police instead of going inside like that. The room looked like it had been looted. Broken furniture everywhere. Shattered glass on the floor, and what looked like your friend's clothes from the last time you had seen each other, torn into pieces. What had happened? Thieves? Murderers?

You really didn't have time to wonder much further. The moment the light had turned on, a strange sound started. It was muffled, but it sounded like your friend's voice, coming from the bedroom. You called your friend's name, and the sound got stronger. Your friend was crying.

You tried opening the bedroom's door. It was locked.
"Are you here?" you called, but the crying sound only got stronger, followed by a strange, distorted bark. "Please let me in!"
Only a loud screech in response.
You were scared, but your friend was the most important person in the world for you. The door seemed flimsy enough for you to just....

CRASH!

Your well placed kick broke down the lock, as expected. This room also had all the lights turned off, but pressing down the switch didn't do anything. Maybe the lightbulb was broken, maybe...

You didn't need the bedroom's lights anyway. Enough light was coming in from the corridor for your eyes to see... it.
The monstrous, deformed, hunched shape sitting down naked on the floor. Its huge claws had left three inches deep slashes on the walls. Its mouth was filled with terrifying, bestial teeth. But that wasn't the point, now. The sighs and cries you had been hearing, that you thought were coming from your friend... They were actually coming from it.

You tried to scream, but no sound came out. You tried to run, but your legs couldn't move. You were paralyzed in fear, or maybe... maybe it wasn't fear...? You saw the creature's lips move, trying to form words, but only snarls were coming out. Now that your eyes were getting used to the dim light, you could see it clearly. The monster had tears running down its cheeks.

It finally was able to speak. With what was DEFINITELY your friend's voice.

The monster spoke your name.

"...I'm... sorry... I... didn't... show up...", before its voice turned into a growling, crying mess again.