#9
The morning was still as the sun came streaming through the sliding glass door. Something seemed missing though.
I wandered through the living room, then poked my head outside and looked over the dew tipped grass. It looked undisturbed, and empty. Apparently Steve didn’t follow me home last night.
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Lost Steve, Lost Comet
I closed the door, and wandered into the kitchen. As I sifted through the couple containers I had in the fridge, I couldn’t help but think about how I yelled at him. How I blamed him for everything that’s happened.
Then I thought to myself, “He’s was better off without me. I mean, I can barely take care of myself. I’ve dropped out of college, I’m unemployed, and I’m going to lose my apartment. What was I doing with a dog?”
Taking a deep breath, I pulled out the last of the Chinese food, and sat on the floor as I twisted in in circles. Back and forth. Side to side.
I looked up expecting to see Steve staring at me with his big black eyes, but when he wasn’t there, I went back to the food.
Just one more spin. To the left. To the right.
I leaned around the counter and looked at the door. Still no sign of him.
“That’s it!” I said throwing the fork into my food.
I jumped to my feet and bolted out the door, sprinting as fast as I could to the office where I last saw him.
The Last Place Before Comet Lost Steve
The sight of the imposing skyscraper made my stomach turn. This was the last place I had seen Steve, but it didn’t look like he waited around for me.
I decided, against my better judgment, to go inside and ask if anyone had seen him.
As I walked in, the receptionist glared up at me and hovered her hand over the phone.
“Can I help you?” She asked coldly.
“Yeah, um, I was wondering… you haven’t by any chance seen a dog around here, have you?” I asked sheepishly.
“I thought I recognized you,” she answered triumphantly. “You’re that guy from yesterday.”
She leaned back in her chair and continued, “I don’t blame that dog for ditching you after the way you yelled at him.”
“Neither do I,” I replied as I stared at the floor.
I think she could tell how guilty I felt, because all of a sudden she softened her crossed arms and stiff glare.
“Look, there’s a butcher shop a couple blocks from here. Maybe he went that way looking for food,” she suggested.
My heart skipped at her obvious suggestion and I thanked her before running out of the building to search for my lost Steve.
I wandered down the littered alleyways, trying to think like Steve, hoping I might run into any sign that he had gone this way.
Finally, I made it to the butcher shop and after talking to the manager, I began to lose hope that I’d ever find him. So I sat outside kicking myself for ever chewing Steve out. I mean, even the receptionist called me out on that.
Before I could fall to deep into my self pity, I noticed a few droplets of dried blood on the sidewalk in front of the alley.
“You’re by a butcher shop,” I told myself. “That could be anything’s blood.”
I let my eyes wander into the alley, and they set upon a banged up crate adorning deep bite marks and scratches.
“Well that’s not normal,” I thought.
I made it to the other side of the alley searching for anymore potential clues, and I just happened to find one.
The road behind the butcher shop had four tire marks burned into the asphalt, headed towards the outskirts of the city.
“I lost Steve, he wasn’t taken. Why would someone take him? This is ridiculous!” I told myself as I stepped down the road, searching for more breadcrumbs.
The Lost Steve Is Found
After about an hour, I found myself staring at an abandoned warehouse with a shiny black sedan sitting at the door.
“I sure hope I’m not right,” I thought as I climbed the fire escape ladder.
But wouldn’t you know it, I was right.
Inside, the warehouse was a maze of crates and packing paper, but from above, I had the perfect view of Steve growling and pulling at a chain wrapped around his neck.
Before I could get to him though, the girl Steve had attacked the day before stood in front of him with a burly man holding a syringe.
“What a useless mutt,” she commented as the man jabbed the syringe into Steve’s neck.
He fell to the ground breathing heavily.
“Finally,” the man commented. “Too bad we had to use the good stuff though.”
“That’s beside the point. Right now we need to get him ready for sale.”
“Do you really think we’ll get a good price for him?” The man asked.
“With that kind of strength? He’s certainly not worthless that’s for sure,” she answered as they wandered back through the crates.
Once they had gone, I jumped off of the second floor onto a stack of crates, and quietly parkoured my way down to Steve. Once I go to him, he rolled his head back to me, and his ears weakly perked up. Not gonna lie, I nearly lost it seeing those puppy dog eyes again.
I ran to him, slipped the chain off his neck, and scooped him up in my arms, whispering, “I’m so sorry Steve. I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have said those things. I shouldn’t have blamed you. Oh Steve….”
I trailed off as my eyes began to water, and his whippy tail began to wag.
“Oh, how touching.”
Both Steve and I whipped our heads around only to see the girl sneering at us.
“So, you’ve found your mutt. What will you do now?” She mocked as she reached into her back pocket.
I looked at Steve and could feel his anxiety soar at the sight of her. So, I tightened my grip on him, jumped to my feet, and began sprinting through the crates.
“Hey! Get back here!” The girl cried.
I don’t think she expected that reaction. And honestly, I didn’t know I could carry Steve until that exact moment.
Saving Steve
Steve whimpered in my arms as I dodged through the warehouse, running away from the girl’s screams.
“Don’t worry Steve, I’m not letting you go. Not again,” I assured.
Finally, I saw a light shining through a door to the outside world.
I stepped forwards, and the barrel of a gun was buried in my hair.
“Stop right there,” a man’s voice demanded.
I heard the click of a gun, but, it sounded farther back. Then, I turned, and saw the man himself was now being held at gun point by the receptionist I had talked to earlier.
“Drop your weapon,” she comanded.
I stared at her in shock and she chuckled at the sight of me carrying a fully grown dog that was now wiggling to get out of my arms.
As I set Steve on the ground, she explained that she was an undercover cop, who had been watching this family for a while. After I showed up this morning, they followed me, and used me as a diversion to gather evidence proving the family had been selling illegal drugs.
It would’ve been nice to know I was bait, but I thanked her anyways for saving me, and after she asked a few routine questions, Steve and I went home, crashing on the floor together.
I looked over at him, and smiled knowing he was back with me.
But just as I thought the day was over, a fist pounded on the front door.
I staggered to open it, and my balding, pudgy landlord was standing in the hall.
“Comet! This is the last straw!” He threatened. “Your rent is due by tomorrow or you’re out!”
“I’m sorry. I just haven’t been able to find any work, ” I tried to explain.
“No excuses!” He sneered. “I want your key, on my desk, by 10 tomorrow night. I’m being generous by giving you the whole day to leave. Now if I were you, I’d get packing.”
He stormed off and I shut the door behind him.
Before I could collapse in on myself though, the no longer lost Steve stood behind me, as if he was waiting to comfort me.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and jeered, “Jokes on him. I lost the key months ago.”
Steve barked, and I smiled, because really, as long as I have Steve by my side, I think we just might be invincible.
That’s It!
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