The Lost Pup

Six

The smell from the ruins of the building had left many years ago. The old burnt and rotten stench of wood now had the lingering smell of dust.

Even though the building had been damaged from the war, it still held a sense of beauty within it.

I let myself roam freely for a few minutes, taking it all in. I hadn't been back here for many years. For a long time I would constantly look for more answers on what had happened to cause my home to be destroyed, but I only came back empty handed. I knew there was a war, but deep down I wanted to know more, like why we were attacked and why was I the only one to live? Who started all of this?

I knew I had to stop coming here often. If I didn't stop, I would get caught up in too many of the bad memories. I knew I would fall into a dark place and not know how to escape.

To this day, no other territory owned up to attacking the Oasis tribe. Over twenty years and still it continued to be a mystery to everyone, including myself.

I knew we were attacked. I had been there. My vague memories of it proved to me that it was true, even though I had been young and not fully understood the idea of death and destruction.

I was young and innocent, until my village was torn apart. People I loved joined the moon above us and for a long time I couldn't understand why.

Growing older and fending for myself, I learned many things. I taught myself how to live and to survive. I knew deep down I needed to. I knew I needed to stay alive. I needed to right the wrongs of our history somehow.

I just needed to figure out how to do that.

Passing the old rotted staircase, a small memory of me sliding a mattress down it caused me to smile.

I may have had many bad traumatic things happen over the years, but the good memories of my life had always stood strong. I may have been bitter to everyone for what had happened, but I knew being bitter and angry would keep me strong and alive.

At the end of the day, I was a rogue wolf living on her own land.

I had come to a door at the back of the house. This door was one of the few that still stood up perfectly. The hinges still were intact and the wood of the door hadn't looked like it had aged one bit.

I put my hand on the dust covered golden handle, turning my hand and opening the carved wooden door. The squeaks echoed throughout the house and likely had also echoed through the forest too. I squirmed a little at the noise being so loud, hurting my ears for the briefest of moments.

With a quick breath I took a few steps forward, trying to let my eyes adjust to the darkness clouding the room.

This room had once been an office. The old books and papers that once stood proud on the shelves now had carried a heavy weight of dust.

There was a beautiful red wood desk that had been place in the middle of the room. One of the legs had been broken, leaving the desk sitting at an unstable angle.

In the far corner of the room, there were old boxes which carried random objects from folders, to lightbulbs, to small glass vials.

'Just what I needed', I thought.

Marching over to the smallest box, I had carefully opened it up to reveal hundreds of simple glass vials. Each held a small cork on the top.

Lifting one and knowing that was all I needed for my blood, I hurried out of the office and strode to the back entrance of the house. A large chest stood by the doorway and I had quickly opened it up rummaging through to find two matching boots that would fit.