My Best Friend Charlie

Mummy and Daddy looked sad today. I saw Mummy crying in the kitchen as she was cleaning up after dinner and Daddy had his arm around her. They were whispering to each other but I have really good ears and could hear them talking. Mummy kept saying, “Kayla will be so upset when she finds out.” That’s me. My name is Kayla. I wonder why Mummy thinks I’ll be upset.

Last Friday I turned seven years old. I had a party at my house with a bouncy castle, and a big orange and yellow cake with a really tall giraffe on top. Giraffes are my favourite animals. My nanny and grandad came to my party, and so did my cousin Jake, my auntie Megan, and my uncle Henry. I was allowed to choose five of my most favourite friends from school to come to my party and I chose Mia, Ellie, Annabelle, Flora and Lola. They all gave me a present, and we had so much fun playing in my garden and Daddy put the music on really loud so we could dance together.

I have a dog called Charlie. He is really big and has brown hair and always sleeps with me at night. I have lots of friends but Charlie is my most favourite. Sometimes I share my food with him at dinner time and I always cuddle him every day. Charlie had lots of fun at my party, too. All my friends loved stroking him and throwing the ball in the garden for him to catch and bring back. I wanted to jump on the bouncy castle with Charlie, but Daddy said that he was too big and his claws could make the bouncy castle go pop and then nobody would be able to jump on it anymore. But it was okay because Charlie watched everyone bounce and we played with him after.

Charlie has looked sad too lately. He is always looking down and his eyes are all runny. His tail doesn’t wag as much as it used to anymore. Mummy said that Charlie is quite old and needs to get lots of rest now. Daddy doesn’t take Charlie out for walks as much as he used to. Just one little walk a day as Charlie gets really tired. Mummy said that my birthday party was the most fun that Charlie had in ages and that he used all of his energy being such a good boy for my friends and playing with us and he may not be able to run around like that again.

It’s Wednesday today. I went to school and tried really hard to practise my maths. Maths is my least favourite lesson because I don’t really like numbers. I’m good at counting and can count all the way up to 40 and my teacher said that’s really good. But I’m not sure how to add them together. Today my teacher — her name is Miss James, and she has curly blonde hair and glasses and is really nice — asked me if I have three apples and then someone gives me two more, then how many apples will I have altogether? I can count to three. That’s easy peasy, but when I need to think of any more numbers and do adding, I get confused and have to count from the beginning again. I think maths is very hard.

Mummy picked me up from school and she said we could go straight to the park as long as we were home before dinnertime. I love the park, it’s one of my most favourite places. The park we go to has a really big green slide. When I was little, I used to find it scary, but I’m a big girl now and I think it’s so much fun to slide down it. When we got to the park, I went straight on the slide and shouted “wheeeeeee” as loud as I could as I was going down it. Sometimes it makes my belly feel funny, as if it is doing a somersault. Mummy always sits on the bench and watches me to make sure I’m safe when I run around at the park. Today, she kept looking at the floor and her eyes looked watery. She seemed a bit sad. I ran over to her to ask if she wanted a cuddle and she said “Yes please,” and gave me a big, massive hug. When I want to go on the swings, Mummy helps me sit on one and pushes me really high. Mummy says I need to hold on really tight or I could fly into the sky if I let go. I don’t want to fly into the sky. The sky is a bit too high and I don’t like being that high if I’m not holding on to anything. My friend Mia said she wants to be an astronaut when she grows up. She said she wants to fly to the moon and go in a rocket. I think that is a bit scary. When I grow up, I think I would like to look after animals and maybe work in a zoo. I love the zoo. My favourite animal, the giraffe, is there and I could see it every day.

When we got home from the park, Charlie was asleep on the sofa. Normally when he hears me come home, he runs to the door and gives me a big wet kiss to say hello and I sit on the floor and cuddle him. But he must have been really tired today. Daddy was making dinner in the kitchen and it smelt really yummy, it was spaghetti and meatballs. My favourite. Daddy doesn’t usually get home from work until it’s almost my bedtime, but he was home early today. I asked why and Daddy said because today is an important day. When I asked him why it was important, he put his finger on my nose and squished it and said “boop.” I laughed as I think it’s really funny when he does that. I ate my dinner with Mummy and Daddy and I made a big mess as there was lots of sauce. Charlie normally sits under the table near me and I share my food with him, but he stayed on the sofa today. Daddy said he had a busy day and needed to lie down.

Mummy helped me have a bath after dinner and then said I could spend time with Charlie even though she usually tells me to go straight to bed and reads me a story. That made me really happy. I got my favourite book called Gerry Giraffe and His Busy Day, and I laid down on the sofa with Charlie and showed him all the pictures and told him the story. Charlie opened his eyes a little bit to look, but he didn’t move much. Poor Charlie, he must be really, really tired today. Mummy and Daddy let me lay with him for a long time until the sky went black, and it was really quiet. I knew it was very late when my eyes got sore and Daddy carried me to bed and tucked me in. I felt him give me a kiss on my head and then go downstairs. I’m not sure if I was asleep for a long time or just a little bit as when I woke up, it was still dark outside. Sometimes I wake up at night and I sneak downstairs into the kitchen and get a biscuit from the biscuit tin. I have to be really careful as the biscuit tin is kept in the cupboard which is quite high up and I have to drag a chair over to stand on it so I can reach. Sometimes I wobble but only if I look down.

I slowly crept out of my bedroom to get a biscuit. I always try really hard to remember that the floor makes a creaky sound at the top of the stairs, so I tried to balance on my tiptoes and be extra quiet. When I got halfway down the stairs, I could hear Mummy crying and Daddy talking quietly. It sounded like they were in the kitchen. I sat on the stairs so I could listen and stayed really quiet, like a mouse. Everybody has seemed very sad lately and I don’t know why. I listened really carefully, and I heard Daddy say, “I’ll take Charlie to the vet first thing in the morning before Kayla wakes up.” My tummy started to feel like it was sinking down to my toes. Why is Daddy taking Charlie to the vet? Charlie doesn’t like the vets, it makes him really scared. Charlie won’t be happy about this at all.

Mummy made a loud gulping sound as if she was swallowing a mouthful of tea while crying. Then I heard Daddy’s voice again. “At least Kayla got to spend some time with him tonight. Tomorrow, you take her to school as normal, and when she gets home, we’ll tell her that Charlie has gone to live with his friend.” I’m Charlie’s friend. Why can’t he stay here with me? Charlie’s other friends are Mummy and Daddy and I know there’s a little dog called Molly that he sometimes sees when he goes for a walk. I don’t think he’d want to live with her, though. Charlie likes it here the best. I sat on the stairs for a long time because I didn’t want to go back to bed. Then I felt sad too. I didn’t want Charlie to go anywhere.

It’s been quiet for a very long time. I’m still sitting on the stairs now. My tummy still feels strange, and I’m tired, but I feel like I’m stuck to the step. I don’t understand why Charlie has to live somewhere else. Mummy is still crying, and I don’t want to make her more sad. I feel really sad too, but I don’t want Mummy and Daddy to tell me off for not being asleep. So I’m going to go back to bed now and I’m going to be extra quiet. I’m not sure if I can sleep for a while, as I can’t stop thinking about Charlie. I want to cuddle him again, but this time I won’t ever let go. I’m Charlie’s best friend and he is going to live with me forever. My eyes feel wet. I’m squeezing them shut really tight and I’m going to wait for morning to come so I can ask Mummy and Daddy what’s happening. Maybe I’m already asleep and I’m in a bad dream. I hate bad dreams, but Mummy always tells me they go away eventually and I just have to think of happy thoughts. So I’m going to think of Charlie and pretend we’re running around in the garden together, just like we did at my party.