The Other Side

I watched the sun set over the clouds~~~~

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I stared into the setting sun, wishing the day didn't have to end. But I knew it had too. I just wasn't ready yet. The day had been perfect.

"At nightfall," they had told me. But that was it, nothing else. So I don't know what was at sunset, but something was coming.

A few loose strands of hair whipped around my head, and I sighed.

The sun was getting low and lower in the sky.

Was this it?

I tried to calm myself. I really liked sunsets, but if this was the end.... maybe it was a good way to go?

I didn't want to think about it.

I reached my arms out for the beagle at my feet.

"Oh, Toby," I sighed as I scratched behind his ears. I looked at him for a second longer, then at the sun, closer now to the lake then at had been before.

I watched as the sky turned pink, and purple, and blue.

What was going to happen to me?

I felt a shot of panic, I didn't know what was going to happen to me, and I hated being the person not in on the joke, or left in the dark. So being left in the dark now, honestly scared me.

I looked into my dog's chocolate brown eyes, wishing I would just be able to know.

The bottom of the sun finally hit the horizon, and I closed my eyes. After a minute, I still felt nothing.

I opened one eye slowly, looking down, over myself, I pulled back the sleeves on my sweatshirt, and I looked fine. I clutched Toby closer, he was fine too.

I breathed out a sigh of relief, and in that second, there was a bright flash.

Suddenly, I was on my back, strewn across the ground like a ragdoll, struggling to find the right way up.

When I finally found the right way, I sat up slowly, "wow," I breathed.

All around me was darkness, but the sky..... it was full of stars. I honestly could care less for what had just happened to me. It was gorgeous and I never wanted to leave. It was something out of a fairy tail.

I looked around at my feet, and Toby was gone, just like that.

"Toby?," I tried to yell, but no sound came out. So I tried again.

Nothing.

What the hell, I thought.

I closed my eyes, taking another breath, that's what I did to get here, maybe that's how I can get out.

After a minute, I opened my eyes slowly again, and nothing had changed.

Except... it had. I was surrounded by orbs.

They were glowing, all different colors in the center.

What it this, where am I?, I thought, knowing I couldn't speak.

One of the orbs came closer, right in front of my face, and I heard a whisper.

The sound was familiar. It brought back memories...

Grandma?, I mouthed, still no sound coming out.

This was impossible. It had been over fours years now that my grandma had passed away...

Was I in the underworld?

The strange orb came closer, and I extended my hand out. The orb landed in my hand and it quickly melted away, the orb now becoming a small butterfly in the palm of my hand.

Then the sky changed, showing me memories of me and my grandma.

A silent tear rolled down my cheek, and when I looked again, the butterfly was gone, and the pictures changed. I recognized the place though, my grandma and grandpa's cabin, their happy place.

Now the image of the cabin had the butterfly I was previously holding in my hand, my grandma, and a slightly bigger one, my grandpa.

Together again.

But I still wondered where Toby was.

Suddenly, his collar dropped into my hand, and a orb floated close, into my other hand.

I brought it close to my face, and new images filled the starry sky, and I felt my stomach drop and all the blood leave my face. It was all the memories from me and Toby.

No, no, no, no.....

"Wait!," I wanted to scream, but still couldn't.

The world couldn't take my dog, he had barley even lived, I mean...

My thoughts were in a snarl.

The orb was gone, and the pictures changed yet again, Toby, in his happy place.

All the orbs were gone then, and it was just me and the night sky. Alone in the darkness.

I clutched my hands to my stomach, closing my eyes.

The flash happened again, and when I opened my eyes, it was now sunrise, I was still on the same beach, but now strewn across the rocks instead of the log I had been perched on.

Again I sat up slowly, then I remembered that I was yet again seeing things. Toby had died over more then eight years ago, and I was missing my dog.

My mind still constantly ran over all the things we could be doing right now if I still had him at my side.

I started into the rising sun, watching the pink and red and orange clouds, wishing things were different, but what could I do to change any of this?

Nothing, absolutely nothing.

I trudged back to my camper van waiting for me in the closest parking lot, my head down.

When all of a sudden, I heard a soft whine to my right.

My head snapped in that direction and I narrowed my eyes at it. The tall grass moved and I took a small, slow step toward the weeds.

As I moved closer, the whining continued, and when I parted the grass, there was a small beagle, puppy, no more than a few months, at least.

I picked him up under the arms, holding him up to my face experimentally, pinching myself just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. "Well aren't you just darling," I whispered to him. He touched his wet, black, nose to mine, and I smiled.

I headed back to my camper van in a better mood, holding the small dog like breakable glass.

I wrapped him in a blanket, setting him gently in my lap.

I pulled out of the parking lot, looking back at the rising sun, tears rolling down my checks while I smiled.

I gave one last look to the lake, then I was off to the store to buy food for my new little companion.

The love of a dog never leaves you, they will just keep coming back until they find you.