Thank You

It was a cold November day. Daniel Stark was walking home as another normal day ended in Greenwood High. He checked his watch and knew he had a shift in the local department store in fifteen minutes. He hurried up his pace, pulling the brown scarf tighter around his neck. As he walked, someone ran past him pushing at his arm. Daniel stumbled a little as a girl’s voice said, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”

“Watch it,” Daniel stated, annoyed. He looked at the girl standing in front of him, her auburn hair tied up in a ponytail and she looked anxious as she stared at him with brown eyes. Apparently another guy who was chasing her, stopped in his tracks and said, “Sorry about that Stark, it was a mistake.”

Daniel looked at both of them and realized they were from his class. He just adjusted his scarf and walked on without another word. “What’s his problem?” the guy said in a low voice.

“Never mind him, let’s go,” the girl replied and thankfully they left.  

Daniel finally rounded the corner and walked on ahead. Of course, everyone from his class ignored him because he has always been a difficult person to deal with. Daniel wouldn’t really describe himself as friendly or kind, he would always snap whenever anyone talked to him. He just didn’t enjoy anyone’s company and he felt better when he was alone.

Daniel reached the department store and being greeted happily by Tom, (who had just finished his shift) Daniel went to change in the department store’s navy blue shirt. “How was your day?” Tom asked as Daniel stepped out of the storeroom.

“Fine,” he replied.

“I had a pretty fine day too,” Tom said, smiling.

Did I ask? Daniel wondered in his head but only nodded in response. He secretly thought how anyone can be so cheerful for the whole day. Wasn’t it exhausting? “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then, Dan,” Tom said after changing from his shirt and walked out the glass door with a wave. Daniel sighed and sat down in the chair. He took out his notebook from his bag and decided to complete an essay, that way when he went home after an hour and thirty minutes, he could finish his other two assignments.

“So you work here, Stark?”

Daniel looked up and saw the same two classmates who had bumped into him earlier. The girl was holding two bags of chips and a bottle of coke. Daniel calculated the sum and stated the amount. “Here you go,” the girl said handing over the money, smiling at him. “Thank you.”

Daniel only shrugged as the boy said, “Does it hurt to talk or…?”

“We should go,” the girl said, giving her companion a glare. Then giving Daniel a sweet smile, she said, “Sorry to disturb you, Daniel.”

“That’s kinda his job,” the boy muttered but the girl pushed him towards the door as the boy grunted and said, “Sophie!”

“Let’s go, Ryan,” Sophie said and they were gone. Daniel continued with his assignment. It wasn’t the first time some of his classmates saw him in the department store. He didn’t really care anyway. The evening went by with a couple other customers and then he was changing from his shirt to his school uniform. Pulling his scarf tighter around his neck, he told the other two people managing the store that he was leaving.

“Would you please take out the trash, Daniel? Thank you,” the other man who was stacking boxes told him. Daniel obliged and went to dump the trash in the back of the alleyway. As he walked home, he decided he would finish the assignments before making dinner, when he suddenly noticed soft scampering noises. He stopped walking and turned around to see a Jack Russell Terrier that looked about two years old.

The dog began wagging its tail as Daniel furrowed his eyebrows at the dog in confusion. He noticed he didn’t have a collar so it must be a stray. “Sorry little guy, I don’t have food,” he told the dog and began walking again.

However, the dog scampered in front of him and began sniffing at his sneakers. “Hey!” Daniel said, taking a step back due to surprise. The dog still wagged its tail and with a sigh, he walked ahead of the dog, ignoring it. But the dog kept following him. Halfway down the sidewalk, Daniel turned around to see that the dog was still there. “I told you I don’t have food,” he said again. “Now go back. Go.”

But the dog didn’t and still followed him on until he reached his apartment. The dog walked up the stairs with him till the third floor. Daniel looked at the dog as he opened the door; the dog seemingly looked pleased to have followed him. Shaking his head, he told him, “Fine, stay right there. I’ll look for something for you to eat.”

Daniel rummaged through the shelves and found a couple of biscuits for him to eat. He gave them to the dog as he munched on it, happily. “Now you may leave after you finish,” he told the dog as he walked inside and shut the door, taking out his notebooks to complete his assignments. He was one of the good students in class; he had always taken his education seriously. His parents used to tell him that education was the key to success and since he always wanted to study in the big city rather than stay his whole life in this small town, he had always been devoted to studies. His parents were proud of him; he knew that in his heart, even though they passed away two years ago when their house caught fire. Ever since then, he has had a difficult time coping with his emotions.

Daniel sniffed and wiped his eyes. His father’s earnings were passed on to him, according to the lawyer, and with his help he lived in a comfortable enough apartment and joined high school. He would have to leave it once he graduates next year and he would go and study in New York City or San Francisco or some big city like that. He began crying at the thought of his parents now and how unfair it was that they won’t be seeing him achieve his dreams of settling in a big city. He heard a scraping noise then and for once he became silent. What was that noise? Apparently it was coming from the door. Daniel walked over to the door and slowly opened it when he saw the same dark brown eyes of the Jack Russell Terrier looking back at him.

“You’re still here?” he asked, eyebrows raised as the dog rushed inside his apartment happily, bounding on top of the couch and running all over the room. “Hey! Hey! Stop, wait!” Daniel said, running after him everywhere and then towards the dining room where the Jack Russell Terrier dodged all the chair and table legs and then jumped up the kitchen counter where he crashed a mug. Daniel and the dog both got startled at the sound of the cup crashing to the clean floor that they just stared at it together. Daniel broke free from his trance and taking the advantage of the still dog on the counter, he jumped towards it. But the dog outsmarted him, jumping down and Daniel fell to the other side of the kitchen floor.

“Owww,” Daniel said, rubbing his back as the dog came up to him and licked his face. “Wait, stop, what?” he sputtered, then finally standing up he looked at the dog’s cheerful face and actually laughed. He didn’t remember the last time he laughed so heartily. “Look what you did,” he said, looking around the room sighing, but not getting angry with him either. The dog just wagged his tail. He gave him a bowl of milk and Daniel began cleaning the crashed mug. He noticed the dog sleeping on his doormat after ten minutes. “Unbelievable,” he muttered to himself, sighing.

~

It had been three days since the Jack Russell Terrier accompanied Daniel to school. Every morning, they would walk the 25 minute walk from his apartment to Greenwood High. Daniel decided to call his new acquaintance Jerry. Jerry became really attached to Daniel in such a short amount of time and surprisingly, the latter enjoyed his company as well. During lunch, he used to sit outside and feed Jerry some bread or biscuits he bought. Then, as the day ended, Daniel and Jerry went to the department store together. Jerry would roam around outside and after his shift was done he came bounding at his side. Daniel let him sleep on the doormat in his apartment although he still had difficulty in teaching him how to potty train.

It was finally a Saturday and Daniel decided he would teach Jerry to play fetch in the small park. “Alright, Jerry, sniff the ball,” Daniel said as Jerry followed his instruction. “Now, fetch!” Daniel threw the ball a certain distance and Jerry ran behind it happily. He came back just as excitedly with a ball in his mouth. Daniel smiled and patting on his head he said, “Good boy.”

“That’s the first time I’ve seen you smile,” a voice said, and Daniel turned to look at Sophie, who was smiling pleasantly at him. She was followed by Ryan who raised his hand in a form of greeting as he said, “Hey, man.”

“Hey,” Daniel greeted back.

“Did he just…he said hey,” Ryan said, pointing at him.

Sophie rolled her eyes and looking at Jerry, she said, “Is this your dog? He’s so cute!” She went to pat Jerry a top his head and he licked her hand. “Aww, what’s his name?”

Daniel hesitated for a while before saying, “Its Jerry.”

“That suits him really well,” Sophie said, then taking the ball she said, “Wanna play, Jerry? Wanna play?”

Jerry bounded after her as Sophie threw the ball and Jerry chased after it. “She loves all animals,” Ryan said, walking next to Daniel. “I hope you won’t mind if Sophie and Jerry become the best of friends.”

“Oh I don’t mind, Jerry might need a more cheerful friend,” Daniel said, bluntly.

Ryan looked at him, grinning and said, “Was that your attempt to crack a joke?”

Daniel only shrugged. Then he asked, “So how long have you two been dating?”

“What?” Ryan asked looking at Daniel in a surprised manner. “You don’t mean me and Sophie?”

“No I meant you and Jerry,” Daniel replied, rolling his eyes.

Ryan laughed and said, “No, no, Sophie is my stepsister. My Mom divorced my Dad who was abusive towards her. Then she married Sophie’s amazing Dad after her mother passed away. It was fate that made these two amazing people to unite. And thus, we’re siblings.”

“You’re really dramatic, you know that?”

“So I’ve been told,” Ryan replied. “How’s your parents’ doing?”

“They passed away two years ago,” Daniel replied. Ryan began apologizing but Daniel just brushed it off as Jerry gave him the ball next and he threw it for him.

~

By the end of November, every one of his classmates knew that Daniel owned a cute, good-natured dog named Jerry. Daniel had been hanging out with Sophie and Ryan and surprisingly enjoyed their company. They used to feed Jerry treats and cookies during lunch which Jerry enjoyed greatly. Daniel's other classmates would come and talk to him once in a while and when they greeted him, he greeted them back nicely. Sometimes they asked for his help when they didn’t understand an assignment and he would gladly help them in return. He began to accept his classmates slowly and realized that it was so much better than staying all alone. Daniel was becoming friendlier with everyone and they were befriending Jerry too. On the weekends, he spent time with Jerry in the park, sometimes with Sophie and Ryan, but mostly it was just him and Jerry.

However, in the second week of December during lunch, he didn’t find Jerry anywhere. “Where’s Jer?” Sophie asked, coming to stand next to him.

“I don’t know,” Daniel said, looking around worried. Ryan joined them shortly and after looking at the whole school compound, they decided to look outside the school. As they did, they saw a cluster of people there. Daniel furrowed his eyebrows and the three of them walked towards the crowd. Apparently, there was an accident, a car slid through the slippery road and hit something. And that something was –

“Jerry!”

Daniel pushed through the crowd and saw the unconscious dog lying motionless. Panicked, he took off his brown scarf and wrapped it around him, feeling a faint heartbeat. Sophie’s voice came next, saying she called the vet and they would be here shortly. Daniel held the Jack Russell Terrier like a baby, everything else a blur. When the vet finally arrived in their van, Daniel still didn’t let go of Jerry. Sophie came with him.

Once the vet fully checked Jerry, she shook her head and said, “We’ve stopped his external bleeding, but I believe the shock of being hit by a car has caused him to go into a coma.”

“He’ll be alright though? He’ll wake up?”  Sophie asked, as Daniel was still in shock.

“We can’t really say in these cases,” the vet said, uncertainly.

~

To Daniel, the feeling was like losing his parents all over again. His chest just felt hollow, he didn’t have an appetite and he was back to shutting his feelings all over again. “Please eat something,” Sophie said, trying to hand him a homemade cupcake.

“No thank you, I feel really sick,” he said, quietly.

“He’ll wake up, Daniel,” Sophie said.

“He won’t,” Daniel replied, blankly. “It’s been three days and you heard how the vet was so unsure. He won’t wake up.”

“Don’t say that, why would you say that?” Sophie said, on the verge of tears. “Have a little faith.”

“Because the things I love and truly care about…have a chance of being stolen away from me,” Daniel said, tears forming in his eyes.

“That’s not true, Daniel, don’t say that.”

“First my parents, then my house, now Jerry…,” Daniel said, pressing his palms in his eyes. Honestly he didn’t know what he would do if Jerry left him. Even though it was for a short time, they had both grown to be very fond of each other. It would be equal to losing a brother or best friend.

“Ryan’s dramatic ways are getting to you, you know,” Sophie said, putting an arm around his shoulder comfortingly as she sniffed. She was having a hard time hiding her tears too.

“Daniel Stark?” the vet came out of Jerry’s room. Daniel closed his eyes; he knew what was to come. Jerry was gone too. Just like his parents. I’m all alone again, he thought.

“Your dog has regained consciousness.”

“What?” Daniel asked, weakly.

“Your dog, he’s awake, please go and see him. I’ve done a few brain scans and it seems he’ll make a full recovery.”

Daniel blinked back tears as he rushed inside. He saw Jerry lying on a small bed. When Jerry saw Daniel, it was like he was smiling. “Jerry!” Daniel exclaimed, tears rolling down his cheeks, as he stroked his back happily. “You’re alright! You’re alright!”

“I’m so glad,” Sophie said, standing behind him.

Jerry licked Daniel’s hand and few tears off his face. He felt so happy that he didn’t have to spend such a brief time with his friend, his brother; he made him his old cheerful self again; who changed his cold nature which made him have other friends as well. Thank you Jerry, Daniel thought. And thank you God for not taking him away from me. Now he knew he still had many more memories to make with Jerry and he wouldn’t waste even a second of it.