(Ivann's POV)
Not even a week later, all too soon, everything changed. I was at work, preparing for one of the biggest meetings of my career, when I got the call from Rebecca. I about dropped the phone when she told me the news. My heart broke and my world came crashing down around me.
"W-when?"
"They are to pick them up today, at their school," she answered.
"We don't even get to say goodbye to them?" I asked, tears stinging my eyes.
"They want to avoid any kind of scene that could happen from taking the pups from you, at your house," she told me. "If you want to say goodbye to them, I'd suggest that you go tell them now before it's too late," she said, in a saddened tone.
"I'm leaving now," I told her as I hung up.
As I bolted through my office door, I almost ran right into Quill. "Ivann, where are you going? We have a meeting, right now!" he yelled as he chased after me.
I didn't listen to him. Yes, the meeting was important, but it wasn't the most important thing to me. I about crashed into someone as they stepped off of the elevator. "Watch it!" They growled. I ignored them too as I got in the elevator and mashed the button for the lobby.
"Ivann, wait! What's going on?!" Quill shouted as the doors closed, just before he could reach the elevator.
This can't be happening. This has to be some kind of sick, twisted joke. It just can't be real. The doors opened up, and I ran out of the elevator, and, this time, I crashed into someone. We both fell to the floor in a whirlwind of fluttering papers.
"What the fuck!" The tiger snarled, showing his large teeth and growling.
I looked right at him and tried to speak, but nothing came out of my mouth, even though it moved.
"Ivann!" Quill called from behind me and I scrambled to my paws and ran to the exit. "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with him," I heard him tell the tiger as I burst out of the building.
I froze, instantly. There he was. The ghost from my past, standing at the crosswalk on the other side of the street, looking at me. He didn't move; he didn't smile or try to wave at me, he just stood there, unmoving, looking across the street at me. I don't know why, but something felt off about him. Slowly, he turned and walked away, lost in a crowd of people. In those last few seconds, I could have sworn that I saw tears in his eyes.
"Who was that?" Quill asked as he walked up behind me.
"Someone I used to know," I told him, my voice barely above a whisper, and then I ran to my car.
I'll find out later - an old friend of ours will email me - that my ghost will actually become a ghost. Later that night, he'll take his own life in the bathtub of his apartment. No one will know this until the landlord comes to pick up his rent and address the complaints from other tenants about the smell coming from his apartment three days later.
I called Sean as I cut across the city and told him what was happening. "I'll be there," he said as I heard him rushing out of the restaurant, customers and servers grumbling as he pushed past them. He was just getting out of his truck as I pulled up to the school and slammed my car into park. "Where are they?" he asked as I got out of my car and hurried over to him.
"They should still be in class," I told him as we both sprinted up the school steps to the front doors.
We spotted the pups in the hallway, with a female coyote and a tall male mutt. They must be the pup's parents. We walked towards them. They were talking to the principal and there was someone else with them, a lanky female ferret. She must be their caseworker.
"Ivann!" Anthony yelled when he saw us approaching.
He started to run to us, but the tall mutt grabbed him with a growl. Sean put his hand in mine as he let out an angry breath.
"You shouldn't be here," the ferret scolded in a squeaky voice as she stepped in between us and them.
"We just want to say goodbye," I told her.
"I don't think that would be wise," she said, her eyes betraying her words.
"Please," I begged. "Just let us say goodbye to them."
"I'm sorry, but I can't," she said meekly, and then she turned and walked with the pups and their parents to the exit at the other end of the school.
"I just wanted to say goodbye," I repeated as I felt the sting of tears in my eyes. "You can't just take them! Not like this! Not without letting us say goodbye!" I yelled as I tried to chase after them, but Sean gripped my hand, keeping me back. "They can't take them!" I growled at him as I fought to get my hand out of his. "Why are you letting them take them?!" I asked him, angrily. He didn't speak, but I saw the devastation within the tears in his own eyes as he pulled me into his arms. He cradled me in his arms as my knees gave out and I fell to the floor. "We only had them for a few months. I don't want to let them go. They're our pups," I sobbed against his chest.
One of the teachers walked up to us and said, "sirs, you are disrupting the classes. I'm going to have to, please, ask you two to leave."
Sean nodded in agreement and helped me to my paws, and then he walked me out to my car. "Go home. I'll be right behind you," he told me as he opened my car door for me.
When I got to the house, I went straight to Anthony's room, without a single word, and curled up into a tight ball on his bed and just cried. Sean soon joined me, crawling into the small bed and pulling me close to himself. Even though he was quieter than I was, I could still hear him sobbing as he cried into the fur on the nape of my neck.
