"Bait."
I was in a daze.
"For rodents? Do you have any around the house?... Miss?"
"No, of course not. We were um," I managed to speak holding back my tears, "we were at a stadium today, and she ran under the stage and she was licking her lips when I found her and-"
"Kelly, I need you to get me the charcoal now." The vet interrupted my blubbering to speak to his assistant.
"I didn't see her eat anything- I saw her licking her lips- she seemed fine!" I sobbed.
"We are going to induce a forced vomit for Ripley." The vet continued as he shaved a section of hair off of Ripley's front leg, ready to insert an IV drip.
"Miss, can I take you outside? Inducing vomiting can be hard to watch." Kelly came to my side as she held both of my shoulders gently.
"Will she be okay?" I hiccupped as she ushered me out of the room.
"You came to us at the right time. Any later might have been fatal. There's a coffee machine near the front desk, you're welcome to use it while we help Ripley. She'll be okay, she's in safe hands. Brett is one of the best vets in this area of L.A." Kelly smiled sadly as she walked back into Ripley's room.
I tried to slip my coins into the coffee machine and press the correct buttons, but my shaking hands made it incredibly hard. I found a seat with my cheap, hot coffee and stared up at the clock on the wall; 10:30 PM. Izzy would have been well and truly in the middle of the concert. He's going to come home to an empty house, I didn't leave a note, he's going to see green vomit everywhere, and he's probably going to freak out. I guess I can call home and leave a message on the answering machine for him to listen to. What the fuck am I going to say? "Hey, Izzy, it's just me. Ripley might die. See you soon..."?
My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud GHAACK come from Ripley's vet room. It sounded like the vet was successful with getting her to finally vomit properly, but I was still yet to find out to see if getting her to vomit would be enough to save her life. I was cursing myself for not investigating her mouth when we were under the stage, or even going over to see what she had her head buried in. Could she have just eaten the bait, or did she eat a dead rodent that had eaten bait? Why didn't you go over to her?! I kept replaying the images in my head from when we were under the stage and I could not feel more stupid. If I had no suspicion or concern to Ripley licking her lips when I knew deep down that she had gobbled something, how could I be a good mother?
"We need to keep her here tonight." Brett the vet said as he emerged from operating room.
"Is she okay?" I gripped my cheap coffee cup.
"We seem to have removed the poison from her stomach, she isn't vomiting solid matter anymore, but we'll need to keep a close eye on her overnight and keep her hydrated." He continued to speak as he dried his hands with paper towel. "We'll give you a ring early tomorrow morning to give you an update. Will you be alright to drive home tonight?"
I nodded as I looked down at my shoes.
"Will Ripley be okay?"
He looked hesitant to reply.
"I don't want to give you any false hope, but I don't want to bring your hopes down either. It's just best if I call you tomorrow for an update."
I skulled the rest of my coffee, which had turned cold, and rose from my chair. I wasn't sure if the caffeine had hit my body already as I could feel my hands start to shake. I didn't want to look Brett in the eyes, I just stared down at my feet before I left.
"I'll hear from you tomorrow then." I could feel the lump in my throat form, and my eyes felt heavy.
*
Izzy's P.O.V.
Duff and Slash stumbled drunkenly together off stage as the deafening crowd cheered behind us. It was a great show, nothing too out of the ordinary though. Axl had shown up on time which calmed me for the whole show; it was the first show I'd played in a while where I wasn't high on anxiety. I had settled into the routine of being happy when I finished playing as it meant it was time to see Mel. I walked past groups of groupies calling my name, as well as the rest of the bands' names, and the (what felt like) hundreds of roadies while I made my way to the back exit of the arena. I looked behind me as my feet hit the asphalt of the back car park to see the chaos of the concert disappear when the arena door finally closed, and I enjoyed the night air fill my lungs. The adrenaline in my body wore off as I drove along the busy highway; bright headlights of other cars flashed past me which soon became a blur in the back of my mind. Mel and I still hadn't talked properly about what had happened in the past couple of weeks, but I had no intention of pressuring her. I was sure she would just want to unload one day and I would be there for her.
It wasn't a long drive back home from the show, and by the time I reached my street I saw Mel's car coming my way. She let me go first in the driveway as she pulled up in front of our house. I was just about to turn the engine off when I heard a wail come from outside, and I could see Mel running towards my car in the rear-view mirror. In a split second, I opened my door and slipped out of my car, and as soon as I was standing straight Mel ran straight into me and wrapped her hands around my torso. I immediately embraced her trembling body as she sobbed in my arms.
"Hey, hey, what happened?"
That seemed to make her cry more.
Flickers of scenarios flashed through my mind; she got robbed, someone assaulted her, her parents died, she was in a car accident... or they were happy tears? Is she pregnant? Nope scratch that, we haven't slept with each other since we lost the baby.
"I'm so sorry, Izzy. I've fucked up, I'm so sorry." She hiccupped as she pressed her face into my chest.
"What? What happened? Where have you been?" I tried to ask calmly, even though at this point I started to panic.
"Um... It's Ripley."
More panic.
"You know when she ran under the stage?" Mel asked quietly.
I nodded.
"Well, I'm pretty sure she ate something down there." She sniffed.
"What happened, Mel?" I demanded seriously.
"She ate some rat bait or some kind of poison. The vet is sure by her symptoms it's bait."
"Where is Ripley?"
"At the vet." Mel looked up at me with her bloodshot eyes.
It felt like someone had taken the ground from underneath my feet. Ripley was my puppy, she was roughly 5 years old at this point, and she had been through so much with me. My puppy...
"Is she okay?" I tried to hide it as best as I could, but I could feel the water filling up in my eyes.
Mel started to cry too.
"The vet didn't really say, she has to stay overnight."
Mel's arms tightened around my body.
"No."
I pushed Mel off me and tried to get back into my car.
"Izzy, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to get my pup and bring her home."
"Izzy you can't, she needs to be looked after properly- "
"I need to see my dog, Mel!" I didn't mean to yell, but it happened.
Mel looked scared and shocked at the same time, and that's when I couldn't do it any longer; I couldn't hold it in. I gripped onto the steering wheel and let my head hang as the tears fell from my eyes. I sobbed, and once I started it felt like I couldn't stop. I hadn't let myself go and cry like that for a long time, the last time I remember really crying was back when I was a junkie; I barely let out any tears when Mel miscarried, I tried my best to conceal my emotions from her when we initially went through it, I felt like I had to be strong for her. However, the thought of my puppy being sick and possibly dying because of some fuckwit putting rat poison in an arena, destroyed me. Even though my eyes were squeezed shut as I tried to restrict the flow of water from them, I could sense Mel had crouched down next to me from outside the car. She placed one hand on my back and her other on my thigh closest to her.
"Izzy, there's nothing we can do, we just have to wait. They said they'd call us tomorrow." She breathed out heavily.
I opened my sore eyes and took a deep breath in. In the corner of my eye, I could see Mel drop her head as she let out some more silent cries. I finally made the decision to get out of my car after sitting there staring ahead at the house's side fence in front of me for what felt like a good solid 20 minutes. Mel rose with me as I peeled myself from the car seat and we slowly made our way inside the house. I was instantly disturbed at the deathly silence in the house; without realising before, I always expected and was excited to hear Ripley's heavy tail thumb against the wooden floorboards, or the sound of her happily grunt whenever she saw us enter the house or even the little clicky-clack of her nails on the floor.
The house instantly felt bereft, and I felt completely numb.
~
Hey guys, sorry about the delayed update. I don't want to give away too many spoilers... but we are getting close to the end of this book 😭I think I'm reluctant to update because I don't want this to be over! Anyway, as always let me know what you thought. Comment and vote xx