When Colors Fade

Zero

Oh boy, we had a lot of work to do. Scarlet got very bad grades, but I remained persistent. "So, where did I mess up on this one?" she asked, referring to the fifth problem on her math quiz. "Not much", I said,"you just subtracted wrong, this would actually turn out to be a negative number." She stared at the paper for a second. "Wait I got it! So my answer would just be changed to a negative number, but the digits stay the same...right?" Actually, that was correct. "Yeah, see? You're getting it now." I glanced at the clock on the other side of the room. "Scarlet, I think I need to go. I don't want my dad to...get mad or something..." it was still raining, but I wouldn't mind. "Yeah okay, thanks for helping me...your eye looks better." I could open it more, so the swelling must have went down. "Yeah I'll be fine, see you tomorrow," I said as I walked out the door. I was used to being in Scarlet's warm living room, so the rain was freezing. My apartment came into view and I sped up. When I made it to the door, I fearfully opened it. The bottles and ashes lay on the floor while my dad was passed out on the couch. The ice pack, now water, still lay on the kitchen floor. I cleaned up the water, threw away the bottles, and vacuumed the ashes. Maybe this way he wouldn't be so angry when he woke up. I went outside to take the trash out, and there, laying in the street, soaked with rain, was a white dog. It appeared to be a puppy, but I couldn't see too well. I quickly ran to its side. It looked up at me with wide eyes and licked my hand. Now that I was close to it, I was that it was a puppy, a male pit bull puppy. I picked him up and brought him inside. Dad was thankfully still asleep. The puppy shivered in my arms as I went to find a towel. I wrapped him up, brought him to my room, and lay in my bed. He curled up in my arms and closed his eyes, still shivering. I thought about Mom now. When it was raining, we would always curl up and watch movies. Mom always liked The Nightmare Before Christmas, so that was usually what we watched. Her favorite was Zero, Jack's dog. That's what I would name the puppy curled in my arms. Zero. I thought about Mom again. I remembered the hospital, the last time I hugged her. I wished I could have just one more hug, or just one more movie night with her. A tear escaped my eye and rolled down my cheek. Zero perked his head up and licked the tear off my face. Feeling better, I thought of how I had someone to care about me, now two someones, and closed my eyes. I was asleep almost instantly.