I start grooming his fur, softly, from up-to-down while he's sitting on the bed wagging softly his tail. "I need to buy you a brush as well" I say standing up. I walk to my closet, take some clothes and hand them to him.
A few minutes later, we're walking outside the house. I get into the driver's seat while he sits on the passenger seat. I drive into the nearest town –that's almost two hours away- and park in front of a store. I start leaving the car but he pulls me back in. "Listen, Will. . . I'm not sure. . ." He says looking at me. "C'mon. Everything is fine. Also, there's almost nobody around". I say leaving the car and walking into his side of the door.
I open his door and show him my hand to help him get down the car, even if he doesn't need to. He takes it and gets down the car, then, he starts looking around scared. "Hey, it's fine" I say putting a hand on his back. We walk inside the small store.
Ms. Patterson, an old woman that owns the store, quickly gets closer to us. "Hi William. Oh look at you! Is this your son?" Asks the woman looking at Collin. He looks at me, with a combination of scared/confused face, and I start laughing. "No, it's a friend" I reply looking at her. She stands on tip toes to grab Collin's shoulder and looks at him from feet to head, "Nice costume! Where did you get it?". Collin's frozen, so I help him "It was limited version. I bought it years ago for him. And he likes it so much he wears it everywhere he goes" I reply while the woman smiles at him. "C'mon Collin" I say walking into a section of men's clothes.
He helps me with some shopping bags while we walk back to my truck. We get in and I drive into another store. I park my car and look at him "Ok, here I prefer to go alone. I think you won't like this store" I say looking at him. He chocks his head, "Why?". I chuckle, "Well it's a Pet's shop so there're lots of animals inside".
I enter into the store and start walking around. 5 minutes later, I get back into my car with a shopping bag. "Ok, I bought this, for your fur" I say giving him a big brush. He grabs it and start examining at it. "And this, I liked it so I bought it for you" I say giving him a plush of a grey dog. He grabs it and hugs it. "And this, If you want to play" I say chuckling handing him a small tennis ball. He just looks at me serious.
I start laughing while he grabs the ball. "Thanks" He says putting the ball on his shopping bag. I drive back home and park my truck in front of my house. We climb down the truck with the shopping bags and enter into the house. I look at him, "See? Nothing to worry about. The woman wasn't even scared". He looks at his dog plush, "Yeah, she wasn't. I was". I chuckle and sit in a couch of the living room. I grab the TV remote and turn the TV on. Again, the UFO things. –People still commenting on their social media about this strange lights on the sky. And some of them are even posting photos and drawing of what they think it's the— And I turn off the TV.
"Hey noo, turn it on" Say Collin looking at me. I turn the TV back on while he sits down next to me. –might be around us. The government told us to better stay in home until they figure what's going on. In other news, the people are starting to buy the new lat– And I turn off the TV. He looks at me and hugs his dog plush, "Listen. . . Will, I think I should leave".
I stand up, "No, It's not save outside" . "But it's not save for you to have me. You've been very nice with me but you are in danger. I don't want you to get hurt" He says looking at me. Then we stay in quiet, sitting on the couch, he stays hugging his dog plush while I'm just staring at the floor.