Crystal Water

Chapter 6

The next morning I got up from the box and stepped outside. The sky was clear, and no clouds were to be seen. It was all blue. The ground was still a little damp to the rain must've stopped around sundown yesterday. My stomach growled for food, and I realized I hadn't eaten anything at all yesterday. I stood up from where I sat and looked around. Memories flooded back to when I was just a pup. I remembered the first time mother took us out to find food, when Markus and I went to find food while Hady went his own way. I paused my thoughts. That was the last time I saw Markus. I remembered. I can barely remember him. But I knew he was my best friend. We looked so much alike, and only our eyes told us apart. We both had black and brown pelts. But I had amber eyes, and Markus had brown.

I took a step forward and looked at the path Markus and I took the last time I saw him. Maybe I should go that way and take a walk down my memories. I began to walk towards the trail. Taking in the scent of it, I couldn't find Markus's. Of course, I said to myself. He's been gone for months. I padded down the tail, and remembered when Hady got into a fight with Markus and I. I was at the spot where we Hady took his own way, and Markus and I walked our way. Hady had went to the left, where a tire was leaned against a tree, and Markus and I took the cardboard path, where rotten cardboard boxes lay. I remembered that smell I caught, and found it again. It was faint this time, and smelled a little different.

As I neared the building where I lost Markus, I remembered the small thin-plastic covered hole in the wall. But it wasn't there anymore, just a wooden plank covering it. I guess the humans didn't want anything getting in there again. But as I padded along the wall, a giant entrance lay open, with a clear glass on each side of the two entrance doors. I padded closer, aware and skeptical of my surroundings as I neared maybe danger. Taking one step closer to the doors, I peered inside, and found exactly what was left in my memory since the last time I was here. Tons and tons of cardboard boxes. I saw shadows around the corner, but didn't dare to go inside and look. The last time I was in there I lost my brother. And it was the only time I had been in there. But I swore I saw the shadow of a dog's body. And two humans around it. I could see two gray shapes, their shadows, on a giant cardboard box along the wall on the far side of the building, and a flatter shadow near the taller's legs. But in case one of the humans came over to the door, I quickly trotted away, taking cover behind debris a few feet away. And as I padded along the building once more, I kept thinking about that shorter shadow. It could've been a dog, but I only smelled human. And I couldn't hear any dog noises. I thought. No. It wasn't Markus. I've already gotten past his death. I can't have any hopes he's still alive in there, and torture myself to think he's in a horrible situation, and that I'm not doing anything to help him. Or I hadn't done anything to help him all this time.

I kept walking and came to a stone ground. It was similar to the one that lines the buildings on it's sides, but it was a little bigger, smelled way more of humans, and led around the other side of the building, to where I had never been. I have never been this far away from home. But as I neared, I noticed the stone ground was thin, and it left a bit of earth on each side. It was definitely different from the sidewalks I was used to. But I decided to walk down it. It wasn't like I had anywhere to go. No one was waiting for me back at home. Maybe there was a better place beyond where I lived.

As I took a step on the larger sidewalk, I peered around the corner and looked down the way. I could see a giant land of stone, with large, shiny objects sitting idle around the sides and center, while most of the stone ground lay empty. They reminded me of the slightly larger objects that sometimes drove around the building where we lost Markus. She called them trucks. I also saw a few humans walking in and out of buildings, carrying thin plastic that held weirdly-shaped objects inside. I remembered mother telling me how bad humans could be, how they would take you in and hurt you. She told me that that was what happened to her before she was sent to the pound then taken in by other people for a while, until they brought her and us here. But mother also said there was a small chance of finding those nice humans. She said they were rare. I wondered what being brought in by a nice human was like. Was it a luxury? Would you be feed whenever you wanted to? Would you have to hunt for your food? Would you be able to go anywhere you wanted? I was lost in my thoughts and didn't realize I was still walking down the lane until I bumped into something. I staggered back, startled by the oncoming. Looking up, I looked in horror as I saw two humans leaning over me. Bu they didn't have a hurtful look in there eyes, like all of the other humans I had encountered in my life. They had a softness, a caring look in their eyes, like they wanted to help. But what was there to help me? Were they even nice humans? Is this just a trick to lure me to their home to hurt me?

I took another step back and shook my head, trying to clear it. No. I said to myself. I need help. Maybe they can help me. Maybe they will. Plus, If it were a trap, what difference would it make? I'm already suffering back there. And I think if I live any longer down there, I'll starve to death.

Then it hit me. My stomach was howling for food. And it decided to grumble just when I began to think about it. I think the humans heard it. As I studied them, and they studied me, I began to make out one was a female, and one was a male. It just looked like it. The female let out a small little noise as she heard my stomach, and bent down to be my height. She stretched out her hand to my face, and out of instinct, I sniffed it. I looked up at her just as she ran her hand down my head. It felt good. I felt comforted by her, and she began to scratch my ear, and the male crouched down too. But after about two minutes, the two humans began to talk to each other, exchanging glances. A couple seconds later the man left and the woman sat next to me, her hand on my back. I sat down next to her, and pushed down to lay, resting my head on my paws as she began to rub my head again. I didn't know what was happening or going on, but somehow I knew it was going to be okay. And that I was going to be okay.

A few minutes later the man came back with something in his hand. It smelled like food, and immediately I jumped up, but forced myself to stay sitting. I looked up at him, panting. He crouched next to the woman and me and emptied the objects in the thin plastic he was carrying. I saw a clear bottle with what looked like water in it. There was two plastic bowls next to it, and a tin can of something. The woman grabbed the clear bottle and one bowl, while the man grabbed the tin can and the other bowl.

The woman poured the water into the bowl and pushed it towards me. It wasn't brown like the puddles by my home, and I gladly lapped it up in a matter of seconds. It tasted so good and clean, and as I finished the water, the man pushed a bowl of pink mushy stuff towards me. I sniffed it. It smells like food. I thought. As I hesitated, the man made a noise and pushed it closer to me, like he was encouraging me to eat it. I took a bite. It didn't even taste bad. I liked the meat-bread, chead, and bird-meat way better back at home. But it was so hard to find.

After I ate the food they gave me, they put something around my neck and attached a string to it. The two humans stood up and pulled the string attached to my neck, like they were trying to lead me somewhere. It somehow felt natural, and I gladly stood up and followed them. They led me to a round shiny object in the middle of the large stone ground that I saw just before I met these two humans. It was a silver color, and they opened a door in the back of it, leading me inside. Once they made sure I was fine, they closed the door and re-entered the object through the front, which I thought was strange. I watched as the man grabbed something out of his pocket and stuck in into a hole of the object. It then roared to life, and started moving. I forced myself not to freak out, but for some reason I felt it getting hot. It was such a large change from the temperature outside my lungs were getting heavy. I just sat there panting, hoping it would all be over soon.