Bloom

14. bitten hoodie strings

Zephaniah

"Blood," I whispered, intensely staring at the humid substance Cooper just threw up. Crouching down in front of it, I observed the stain while reaching for Cooper's ears, fiddling with them.

"What's wrong, Coop?" I asked sadly, trying to observe his behaviour, to see if anything was odd or off, to see if he was acting differently than he normally did, but, I couldn't see, and, he couldn't talk.

Standing up, I motioned for him to follow me, slowly walking down the stairs. "Baba!" I said loudly. "Baba! Dad!"

"Yeah?" I heard from over the small office we had in our house, mostly for my dad's job, but he gave me the opportunity to use it as my study room as well.

Walking into his office, I fiddled with my fingers as I looked at him, noticing the pile of papers on his desk. I didn't mean to bother him, so I hesitated to speak up- not wanting to upset my dad by intruding and interrupting his work.

"What's wrong, Zephaniah?" He asked softly, encouraging me to speak up further, as I couldn't quite read his expression.

I swallowed, blinking my eyes as I turned my attention to Cooper. "He threw up and- and there was blood also,"

"He did?" He asked with a frown, standing up only to crouch down in front of Cooper after that. "Let me see," he mumbled, opening Cooper's mouth.

Baba inspected his mouth for a minute or so long, my mind wandering to completely other things such as how sad Tara's behaviour had made me a few days ago.

I had been excited telling Haven about Cooper, but felt stupid afterwards as usually no one understood why he meant so much to me, how an animal could mean more to someone than a human.

Keeping my mouth shut after that as that was probably better, I did like the help she gave me, as I finally understood the given lectures much better. She was very chatty, though, which made me slightly upset as I couldn't always follow her words.

It made me feel a little helpless, and I'd stay awake longer than usual, worrying about if she maybe asked me some questions and I didn't hear because I couldn't follow- and therefore didn't answer. It'd make me rude, perhaps.

"Zeph?" Baba waved his hand in front of my face, dragging me out of my stare moment.

"Baba," I answered, looking at him.

"You probably need to go to the vet. I thought maybe it could be a tooth, or something, but I don't see anything so it must've been his.. puke, yeah." Dad gave me a sad smile, his hand resting on my cheek briefly.

I swallowed, "Now?"

"It'd be the best, I think. Better too early than too late." He said, his expression making me feel nervous as I, again, couldn't quite read it.

I moved myself closer to him, wanting comfort but not really knowing how else to make that clear. Staring down at Cooper, I slowly petted his head, feeling how dad wrapped his arm around my neck.

"It will be alright, Zeph." He mumbled, pressing a kiss to my head. "Go on. You know the way, yeah? Will you be alright?"

I hummed sadly and walked over to the front door where my shoes and jacket were. Putting them on, I attached Cooper to its leash and walked outside the door, starting the exhausting journey.

It wasn't exhausting because it was slightly far, but it was exhausting because I'd be focused on too many details, I'd hear too much, I'd see too much and that made me tired.

Going to the vet on my own wasn't something I feared anymore, as dad and mum had encouraged me to go when I was younger for Cooper's checkups and vaccinations. They thought it was an important responsibility as well as a good opportunity to help me feel more comfortable going places I didn't know.