My Human Was Gone

Disclaimer: Contains content regarding epilepsy

My eyes fluttered open as the sun glared down at me. Couldn't he grant me 30 winks? Nevertheless, I rose from my bed. I've had my bed since I was just a pup. It used to be filled with white fuzz, but since I turned seven, it has started melting, and the color has faded to brown. The blue rim has a hole from when I chewed through the fabric, with green stuffing pouring out. 

My bed was warm, and when I stood up, my belly began to freeze as my paws hit the cold floor. I could feel the crevices between the brown tiles. To wake up, I shook my whole body back and forth, listening to the tags on my collar bounce off each other.  

Beep beep beep. Every morning, right after the sun rises, the alarm goes off. The alarm doesn't stop beeping until my human whacks it. I took a deep breath and jumped onto the human bed. It was much higher than the dog bed, and I struggled to climb every morning. The covers matched the blue in my bed, and it felt soft on my wet nose. I moved toward the large lump on the bed and dragged my nose to the back where the human's head stuck out. My whiskers brushed over her face as I began to lick her cheek. 

She squirmed backward; I knew that was my cue to stop licking. Her bright blue eyes shot open. She threw her arm out of the covers and slammed it down on the alarm, and the box stopped screaming. Then she turned to me, and her face of disgust faded into a smirk. "Good morning, Goof," she said. Then she lifted her other arm and ran her nails through the fur on my head. Her eyes glowed as her smile got wider and wider. She's been with me my whole life. 

My human made a long sigh and pushed herself off of the bed. I leaped by her side, closing my eyes as my paws landed on the cold floor. Next came my favorite part of the day. My human opened the door to a cupboard and scooped a cup of food into a silver bowl that sat right next to my water. Both bowls sat in a stand placed on top of a blue mat shaped like a bone. I got utterly lost in my breakfast as she put the bowl down. They may look just like brown pellets, but they're the best thing I've ever had. 

Before I knew it, my human was all dressed for the day. She was sitting on the corner of the bed, tying her shoe. She wore a band around her arm that a white wire stuck out of and connected to her ears. She stood on her hind legs and bent her torso, her hair flying over her head. It was black but glowed brown in the light shining through the window. Her hair was tied back with a strand hanging down both sides of her face when her body came back up. 

She looked down at me with her piercing blue eyes and cocked her head, so I cocked mine back. "Let's go, Goof," she said as she began to walk toward the door. She stopped at the coat rack and pulled a vest off the hook. The vest was red with a huge black label running down the side, reading, "Seizure Alert Dog." I lifted my nose, and she pulled it over my head, and something clicked below my belly. Then her hand grabbed the door handle, and it swung open. She opened a second door; then we were outside. 

Within seconds my human began to run. We ran to the side of the road while cars passed us. She didn't seem to mind, so I didn't either. Soon enough, we reached the park(My favorite place in the world). We passed trees and rocks and even other dogs. Out of nowhere, she stopped, her breath got heavy, and she started smelling weird. I pawed at her, signaling her to sit on the wooden bench no further than 30 feet from us. "It's ok, Goof, I'm ok." She wasn't ok; she was stubborn. Since she wasn't listening, I had to make a scene. I started to bark as loud as I could. Panic overcame her face, and her heart pounded as she ran to the bench. 

My human put both of her hands to her face, and tears started to trickle down her face. Her white and blue eyes turned red as I followed her moving pupils. "You're the best, Goof," she said, "Everything will be ok." But she couldn't even look at me. Eventually, she got up, but she still smelled a little funny. I kept a close eye on her, looking up at her every few seconds. 

After a few glances, she stopped dead in her tracks, and her breath stopped short. I looked into her eyes, but there was no emotion. Her face was stoic, and all the life in her was drained and replaced with ghostly skin and glassy eyes. I looked around to see what she was staring at, but there was nothing. Then she fell forward, lying prone on the ground. I nudged her slightly with my nose, and her body flopped backward. Her ocean-blue eyes rolled back, and her chest lifted off the ground. Her limbs flew into the air, in motion, with her chest falling to the ground. 

I jumped onto her torso to stop her from moving. Then I laid over her, and my weight made her unable to wiggle. Seconds later, her eyes closed. I inched toward her face and licked her cheek, but she didn't squirm or twitch. Panic came over my body, and I began to howl. Soon enough, a man came running over and looked at me with sorry eyes. Then he picked up his phone and began to talk. He knelt by her side and kept putting two fingers on her neck and repeating, "Kat, wake up," until more men came running over with a tiny elevated bed. 

One of the men pushed me off my human, lifted her onto the bed, and started rolling her away. I scrambled to my feet and chased after the bed. But before I could reach her, the men put her in a big white box with wheels, and it started to roll away. I began to howl again as I chased after the box. Soon she started to leave my vision, so I followed the sirens that came from the pack. After a little while, the sirens began to fade away. I looked around, but no sign of my human, not even a slight smell. I had no idea where I was, so I lay down and watched the cars pass. 

After some time, a car parked beside me, and a man marched toward me. It was the same man that knelt by my human, but there was no sign of her with him. "Come, Goof," he said. I didn't trust him, so I neglected to follow his direction, but the closer I moved toward his car, the more it smelt like my human, so I jumped in. She was here, I could smell it, and my tail started to wag. After some searching, I concluded that she wasn't in the car, but she must be close, and soon enough, the car door opened. I jumped out, and I was standing below a colossal building. The man took a huge breath and walked forward, so I followed him. 

When we got to the door, it opened for us, and he marched right up to the desk. Someone came out from behind the desk and started pointing. The man followed the lady's direction with me at his side. I could smell my human. Her scent got stronger and stronger as my nose dragged along the ground. We turned into a room, and there she was, lying on a white bed with wires coming out of her. Without a thought, I jumped onto the bed with my tail wagging uncontrollably. I licked her face. Her ocean-blue eyes glowed with life again. She smiled and grabbed my head to pull me closer. "Oh, Goof, I love you so much," she said. Then she leaned forward and kissed my forehead. I placed my head on her chest and closed my eyes. 

Before long, we were back in the car, heading home together. She was alive, she was safe, and every worry seemed to fade. When the car parked, we got out, but we weren't at home; maybe it was his home. 

That night we watched a movie on the couch with the man. I laid partly on my human, and she ran her hands through my hair as the film played. The man sat in the corner of the couch with his arm around her, but I didn't mind. When the movie ended, we walked up the stairs, and the man and my human climbed into a vast gray bed. Since there wasn't a dog bed, I jumped on the bed and lay down by their feet. 

When the sun rose again, I glared back at him. Doesn't he know I had a rough day? I closed my eyes and tried to ignore his ray, but the alarm started to scream. Would I have to wake both humans? I crawled up the bed, and the man woke up and slammed the screaming alarm. The room went quiet as I licked my human's face. There was no response; her eyes didn't open. I looked at the man, but he had fallen back asleep. I guess I did have to wake them both. I licked his face till he groaned and sat up. He grabbed my human's arm and shook her, but there was still no response. He touched her neck with his fingers again, and panic filled the air. "Come on, Kat, please," he repeated.

The man picked my human up and ran down the stairs. She wasn't moving. Then he left and closed the door on me. I wasn't worried because I trusted him now. I thought they would both come back soon, so I hopped on the couch and nuzzled my head into a pillow. My world went dark, and I fell back asleep. 

The sound of the crunching gravel woke me up. I looked out the window, and the sun had gone down. I jumped up toward the window and watched the car pull in. Before I knew it, the door opened. My human was about to walk through. But she didn't. The man closed the door behind him and sat on the edge of the couch. I jumped next to him and rested my head on his leg. His face was in his hands, and low whispers came from his mouth. 

I sat up and licked the man's face. He turned his head, and his eyes were filled with sorrow. Then his body fell back, and he grabbed a piece of paper on the way down. I moved towards his shoulders and looked at the paper. It was a picture of my human. He ran a finger along the page and then closed his eyes. 

I sat by the window the rest of the night, waiting for my human, but she never came. A few days passed, and the man started doing everything with me. I waited for her by the window every day. Years passed, and the only person who walked through the door was the man. My human never came back to me. My human was gone.