Through The Fog

Amelia and the Riverbed

Branches cracked left and right, making a riot in my quiet nook of the forest. I stood up to see the ungraceful pack return. Then I scanned through the crowd, aching excitedly to see my friend again.

A clumsy scampering of feet sped around the corner and lunged at me. My two arms splayed to the east and west to greet her. And she collided into my ribs as softly as she could manage.

"What are they feeding you?" I strained the words out as I tried to catch my breath. She bounced around happily in reply. Pitched-black fur dancing freely in the wind. My little friend had tripled in size since I met her about a month ago. I was not prepared for this new reality as much as I expected it.

"Sit down let me look at you." I fussed with her in words she likely could not understand, so my hands did the talking for me. As my fingers ran through her fur, I mused at how this beauty had no name, then the name Amelia threw itself unconscionably at me, fitting.

"Okay, Amelia, let's go for a walk before you leave again." Knowing the way her pack moved, she would be gone in thirty minutes, an hour tops.

So we sprung into action as the little giant bounced like a wave beside me. Towards the road and to the desolated apartments and the river. The river where we first met.

Off she went again in a hop and a sprint to make a world record attempt at drinking the river dry. I laughed as I dropped down beside her to get a bit of it for myself before she was successful, wondering to myself how a creature of her kind could not swim.

Amelia looked up at me with wide adoring eyes as she licked my shoulder. I smiled over at her, returning the tender adoration. And then, without warning, she barked sharply into my ear, her body stiff like an oak tree. Her teeth sunk into my ragged shirt, tugging and begging me to move, but it was already too late. Something dragged me into the water, helpless and afraid. W-what?!

Suddenly and all at once, my vision turned grey as though life itself had gone mute. A sharp pain radiated from my ribs as I held onto the small puff of air left in my winded lungs. Pain flooded my head when the thing released me as my feet touched the riverbed. With my last bit of energy, I tried to push myself up, only to meet the grave reality of my paralysis. Death was both instant and delayed.

Then the pain reached my soul as I pictured the little Amelia above me, hoping for my return. I begged God to take me quickly, to end the suffering before it ended me. I exhaled my last breath and released my grip on reality...

Splash!

*****

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