Heart On A Platter

Thoughtful Beginining

As I cock my head and sigh as I can finally admit this was not what I expected when I admitted my deepest desires to Declan.

"This was not what I meant when I said steal a dog" I admit to him as I cock my head and the small beagle I'm facing copies me. "He would be more appealing if he belonged to someone else" I say sarcastically as he just silently rolls his eyes and a young woman approaches us as he smiles at her.

"Julia?" Declan sounds surprised as he announces her name to the rest of the shelter and I chuckle in pity for the man. He was really whipped by this Julia, and she didn't even know it.

"What are you doing here Declan?" She ask him as she tucks the bangs that spilled from her ponytail behind her ear.

"Helping a friend" he spills as I sigh and I push past him and introduce myself.

"I'm Rose" I say as I introduce myself, "So, may we steal one your animals?" I ask her as she smiles. "Preferably a snake or something that speaks dominant" I ask her as she nods.

"We only carry dogs and cats in the shelter. If you want a snake I can point you in the direction to the pet store.

"What she means is....." Declan cuts me off as he steps in front of me and I push him back.

"So......what are the chances you'll let me steal one?" I ask her as she starts to laugh and soon it dies down as she sees I'm being serious.

"Are you kidding me?" She shouts as I rolls my eyes at her opposition to my plan. "You can't steal a dog!" She say, making me sound like the lunatic.

"Oh, come on!" I say, trying to convince her. "It's not like the dog has a home to go back to anyways!" I say as she had enough of me.

"OUT!!!" She screams as I roll my eyes and flip her off as I walk out the door of the animal shelter and rest on a concrete bench as I watch a heated looking conversation between Declan and Julia unravels as I sigh.

"Come on" Declan say after thirty minutes of fighting with her and I sigh.

"It's not your fault!" I try to comfort him but it come off more hostile than I wanted it to come off. "My wants are just as impossible as me being normal" I say as I walk to the truck and slouch in the passenger seat.

"I just want to be normal" I plea as I look up through Declan small sunroof in his truck and I smile as I hear the driver door open.

"I know that the answer is no" I admit to him as he frowns and looks at me as I laugh.

"Just because I can't feel doesn't mean I'm and idiot" I confess, "I have common sense, I just wanted to see if may through the adrenaline rush I could feel something. Not just this mundane nothingness I'm left to feel night and day" I say as I look into his eyes and reason to him. "I just want to be normal, and if I can't.......what's the purpose of being here?" I ask him as he sighs.

"Let's go to the park" he says as he starts the truck and I sigh and just nod.

"Okay" I agree as the park right down the street from my house seemed better in my head. As I remembered the huge jungle gyms and swing set that littered the park but as I got out Declan's truck and finally saw what I'd neglected to visit my breathing stopped. It felt like my heart stopped at the sight of the flat landscape and the excavated dirt as I laugh.

"Isn't it so amazing?" I ask Declan as he furrows his eyebrows at my question. "That this all used to be a child's world?" I ask him as I walk to a bench and collapse into the sculpted concrete wall on my back. "That adults could ruin such a thing? Disastrous, if you ask me! But that's the purpose of humans right? Their just here to ruin the already good things we have, ashamed to be one!" I rant as I sit there silently and he tries to break the silence several times with his smile, eye contact and even bouncing his leg as I sigh and suddenly the silence breaks for us. As a small, commercial looking van pulls into the park and I look up at Declan as I see Julia walk out of it with a something golden in her hand.

"I know you said you wanted to steal a dog but this is the best your going to get Declan Steele" Julia say as she lowers her arm and I finally see the animal in her hands, it's a golden puppy.

"I chose something to match her personality" Julia say as she takes off her grey mitten and the dog snaps at her and instantly bites her.

"He's supposed to be put down next week" she say as I push past Declan and grab the puppy from her hands and hold it in the air as I take a long look at it and chuckle.

"Cute" I scoff as I bring the puppy to my chest, as he lays in my arms and chews on my hair.

"He was abandoned at two months old" Julia say as I look down at the puppy, "Since then he's hated people, one could only guess he was abused and malnourished when we found him" she say as I sigh.

Humans always sounded like the worst. When I was a child I had to believe in them, after all I was one of them. But through the years it became harder when they knew their mistakes and kept dragging other things down with them in their downward spiral.

"Declan told me a bit about you" Julia tells me as confusion takes over me. "I know your not sick but I hope you get better soon" she say as she waves bye to Declan and I smirk.

"You told your girlfriend about your charity project?" I ask him as he nods.

"It not like that, I just thought if she knew more about you she'd help" he says as I shake off his intrusive nature and smile as I let my fingers trace the little guys soft fur.

"I always thought that people who named their animals things like Oreo, Sunshine and Ice cream were stupid but I have the perfect name for him. And I might hate myself for it" I tell Declan as his eyes rise from the pavement and to the dog.

"What is it?" He ask me as I scoff as I can't believe it's about to come out of my mouth.

"Greatness, that's the perfect name for him" I admit my name outbound as Declan nods. "Because he's gone through so much, it makes him the definition of greatness" I explain as he nods his head at me in agreement .

"What is that smile?" He ask me as I close my eyes and continue petting the half asleep dog as I chuckle.

"It's something I haven't ever felt before" I say as I've caught his attention. "Sitting here, with a animal that I just met but I know he finds comfort in my arms. The scars I made myself and doesn't judge me for it, I feel at home. Something I've honestly never felt before. It beats the mundane void that I've always felt I've been stuck in" I sigh as I let my emotions out as he smiles as I nod my head in disbelief. "So I'll let you help me, but I'm not a charity case. I'm just something that needs some help being resembled, and there nothing wrong with that."